Rain plays spoilsport in Rawalpindi as Australia, South Africa share a point each

RAWALPINDI, Feb 25:

The Champions Trophy match between Australia and South Africa was abandoned here on Tuesday due to persistent rain, forcing the two Group B heavyweights to share a point each.

The weather did not allow even the toss to be completed. With the conditions not getting any better, the match officials called off the game a little more than three hours after the scheduled start time.

The cut-off time for the game was 7.32 pm but the officials made the call much earlier with no weather improvement in sight.

After the no result, South Africa and Australia shared one point each and it means that Wednesday’s contest between England and Afghanistan has turned into a virtual knockout with the loser becoming the third team to be eliminated from the ICC event.

“Yeah, it is frustrating – well, we’d have obviously loved to get a game of cricket. Like I said, you would have had two sides who were confident coming into the game.

“The previous result that we caught against Afghanistan, which I thought was quite clinical and obviously now against a tough outfit in Australia to get over the line then would have done well from the confidence point of view,” said Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma on the washout.

Tournament hosts Pakistan and Bangladesh were knocked out of the event on Monday after suffering two successive defeats.

Both Australia and South Africa had won their opening game against England and Afghanistan respectively.

“I did look on the Apple weather a couple of days ago and I saw a few days of rain. But yeah, I didn’t expect it to be washed out. But yeah, not ideal, but can’t do much about it,” said Australia captain Steve Smith.(PTI)

Interestingly, it was Australia’s fourth abandoned game in their last eight outings in the Champions Trophy. They next play Afghanistan in Lahore on February 28 while the Proteas face England in Karachi the following day.

The semifinalists have already been decided in Group A with India and New Zealand progressing after two wins in as many games.

Rain is predicted in Rawalpindi as well as Lahore and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)will be hoping it doesn’t play spoilsport in the coming days.

Pakistan is hosting an ICC event for the first time in 29 years. With the host nation already out of the semifinal race, the PCB already faces a challenge in keeping the local fans interested in the tournament. (PTI)