November 05 Tuesday 2002
Reserve days ruled out for World Cup pool matches 

LONDON: Pool matches at next year's Cricket World Cup will be played without reserve days for bad weather, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed Monday. ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said that rain could not be allowed to hold up the schedule while all 14 teams were still participating in the competition.

Although the bulk of fixtures will be played in South Africa, first round matches in the two pools are also taking place in Kenya and Zimbabwe, making re-scheduling even more difficult for tournament organisers. Speed said: "The ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 is a significant logistical challenge. The tournament is taking place in three countries, at 15 venues over 43 days.

"For this to be managed effectively, the schedule needs a degree of certainty in the first round," he added.

World Cup executive director and former South Africa captain Ali Bacher said too many knock-on effects would be created by the inclusion of reserve days in the pool phase.

"Everything, including hotel accommodation, air-travel and satellite television time, would have had to be double booked to accommodate these reserve days," said Dr Bacher.

"Logistically for the teams, their supporters, the local and overseas media and the organisers, this created several potential risks to the tight schedule and had the potential to disrupt the remainder of the tournament.

"In the end, there was little option but to move away from the reserve days for the first round."

However, reserve days will still apply to matches from the second phase Super 6 stage of the tournament. And for the final itself, due to be played at Johannesburg's Wanderers ground, organisers have done their best to guard against bad weather by scheduling two reserve days.

First round matches where no play is possible will see teams share the points.

In all other rain-affected World Cup matches, the Duckworth-Lewis system of recalculating scores, now used in all one-day internationals, will come into effect. Australia, along with West Indies the only sides to have won the World Cup twice since its inception in 1975, will arrive in South Africa as the reigning champions.

The tournament opener sees South Africa face West Indies at Cape Town's Newlands ground on February 9 with the final scheduled to take place at the Wanderers ground, Johannesburg, on March 23.