The bloated international calendar throws up enough forgettable cricket as it is. Surely then we can sidestep rain-ruined farces such as the opening T20 between England and South Africa in Cardiff.
England captain Harry Brook summed up the mood perfectly after his side lost a contest that lasted just 12.5 overs in total, admitting: “It was a bit of a shambles of a night.”
You felt for Brook and all the other players from both teams who were forced to go through the motions to fulfil an obligation even though the wet conditions were deemed hazardous enough for England, with an eye on this winter’s Ashes, to leave out fast bowler Jofra Archer.
“As soon as we knew the game was shortened we didn’t think it was quite safe for Jof to play,” Brook said. “The outfield was sodden and he’s got a lot of cricket to play in the next few months so we decided to not play him.”
Good for Archer. But what about everybody else? Archer may have a long history of injuries but he is no more likely to harm himself on a greasy outfield than anyone else.
Jofra Archer was not risked because of the conditions (Photo: Getty)“It was very wet but they’re decisions the umpires and match officials make,” Brook said apologetically. “We don’t get to decide. We’ve just got to go out there.”
For what it’s worth, England lost this match by 14 runs after failing to chase down a rain-adjusted target of 69 in five overs.
It came after South Africa’s innings was cut short at 97 for five after only 7.5 overs.
After three hours of waiting, and a miraculous break in the rain, this was meant to be a nine-over-a-side game. Another deluge made that a pipe dream and South Africa ultimately won a contest that was reduced to a lottery by the Welsh weather.
With more rain forecast for the final two matches of this series in Manchester on Friday and Nottingham on Sunday, there could be even more of this morale-sapping fare before the week is out.
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With that in mind, will England risk Archer in sodden conditions in either of those games? “God knows,” said an exasperated Brook. “We’ll see what happens.”
As for preparations for the next T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka that starts in February, this night in Cardiff will be of very little value to either side.
There’s a reason why knockout games in that tournament have to constitute at least 10 overs per side in the event of rain – because these five-over shootouts are fair to nobody.
At least in the group stages, there is something riding on those five-over thrashes.
For bilateral series, though, would it not make more sense to call matches off, particularly when one side clearly believes conditions are not fit enough to guarantee the safety of all their players, as was the case with Archer and England on Wednesday night?
At the end of it all, Brook was asked by The i Paper whether matches that are shortened to within an inch of their life such as this were really worth it? Did the fans that came to Cardiff get value for money or have a good night out?
“I don’t know, you tell me, you were watching it?” came Brook’s reply.
A shake of the head from this correspondent followed, with Brook responding: “It wasn’t worth it, there’s your answer, it wasn’t worth it then.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
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