T20 World Cup: We haven’t had a good history with rain, says South African coach Mark Boucher | Cricket News

HOBART: Denied by continuous showers, South Africa coach Mark Boucher suggested his team was better off with a no result in the first round of the T20 World Cup instead of being knocked out by rain again in the knockouts.
Zimbabwe set a target of 80 in nine overs, which was revised to 64 in seven overs after a brief rain break in their first T20 World Cup match, South Africa were at 51 for no loss in three overs, with opener Quinton de Kock goes strong with an 18-ball unbeaten 47.
Rain then got in their way, as in the 1992 World Cup semi-finals and the 2003 World Cup, leading to the match being called off.
“Yeah, we haven’t had a good history with rain,” Boucher said at the post-match press conference. “But rather let it happen in the first game when we are still in control of what we can do.”
The start of the match was delayed by more than two hours, and it was reduced to a nine-overs-per-side affair.

Play resumed after a brief interruption with one over in South Africa’s innings, but as soon as it started to rain again, umpires Ahsan Raza and Michael Gough decided to call off the game with South Africa 13 runs away from completing their chase under the Duckworth/Lewis method.
Boucher said his team was eager to keep playing, with the team on the verge of victory.
“We are here to play a World Cup, and we wanted to play. It looked like both captains wanted to play at the start. If you look at the game before (at the same ground, between Bangladesh and Netherlands), the pitch was also quite wet.
“The bottom line is that players don’t make those decisions. The officials are there to make those decisions.”
Boucher said that if Zimbabwe were in their position, they too would want to continue playing.
“We were in a very good position. So if we walk away from this game and think we finished hard and whether the game should have happened or not… If Zimbabwe were in our position, they would want to keep playing. ”
Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton said his team should not have even bowled a ball.
Houghton slammed the conditions at Bellerive Oval, saying they were unsafe and ridiculous.”
“I understand the need to try and (play) these games for the public and the people watching on TV, and the need to try and get a result in slightly inclement weather,” Houghton said.
“But I think we passed that mark in this game. I thought there were four or five overs where we should have come down.
“I don’t think we should have even bowled a ball, to be fair. But the umpires are the guys who make those decisions in the middle, and they seemed to think it was fit to play. I don’t agree with them, but there is not much I can do off the field.
“The rain got so heavy at one point it was ridiculous. For most of the evening it was misty but it got to the point where we could hear it banging on the roof in the pit. For me isn’t it anymore. mess and drizzle. time to get off the field.
“I don’t think the conditions were right to continue playing.”