Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton on Monday slammed the umpires’ decision to carry on with their Super 12 match against South Africa at the T20 World Cup even in “ridiculous” amounts of rain.
In a weather-hit, stop-start match in Hobart, South Africa were on the brink of victory in their revised chase of 64 in seven overs when a final spell of showers forced a washout.
Quinton de Kock with an unbeaten 47 off 18 balls had steered the total to 51-0 in three overs, but South Africa and Zimbabwe shared a point each in Group 2.
Photo: AFP
“I don’t think we should have even bowled a ball, to be fair, but the umpires are the guys making those decisions out in the middle and they seemed to think it was fit to play,” Houghton said. “I disagree with them, but there’s not much I can do off the field.”
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat, but their innings only began after a rain delay of more than 2 hours, 30 minutes and the match was reduced to nine overs a side.
Zimbabwe managed 79-5 before De Kock replied with a flurry of fours and a six before the rain arrived again, forcing the umpires to cut further overs.
“The rain had got so heavy at one stage it was ridiculous,” Houghton said. “For most of the evening it was misty with mizzle, but it got to the stage where we could hear it thumping on the roof in the dugout. To me that’s no longer mizzle and drizzle — that’s time to get off the field, and the field was wet when we started, it was wet when South Africa fielded, so they were difficult conditions for both sides, but it just got more and more wet as we bowled. I don’t think the conditions were right to carry on playing.”
Zimbabwe fast bowler Richard Ngarava slipped and had to be taken off injured.
“He’s lying in the changing room with a bunch of ice strapped to his ankle,” Houghton said. “Obviously, we’re not too happy about the fact he’s not in a great space for bowling at the moment.”
South Africa coach Mark Boucher said Zimbabwe would have wanted to carry on if they had got into a similar position as the Proteas.
“We bowled with a ball that was quite wet as well,” Boucher said. “We were in a very good position. You walk away from this game thinking we were hard done by.”
The washout has left South Africa in a tricky spot in a group that includes heavyweights India and Pakistan. Only two teams from the group make the semi-finals.
Japanese badminton star Chiharu Shida on Tuesday told Chinese fans to “stop stalking” her, adding that she was “very scared” by the unwanted attention. Shida, who won women’s doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics last year, has a strong following in China partly because of her engagement with the local culture. The 27-year-old, currently competing at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, has been dubbed the “Badminton Goddess” by fans and media. She hit out at some supporters on Tuesday, accusing them in an Instagram post of taking their fandom too far. “Every time we compete in China we always experience the harm
Two people died on Thursday after fans and police clashed outside the Estadio Monumental in Santiago ahead of a game in South America’s Copa Libertadores, Chilean authorities said. The fatalities happened shortly before the match between Chile’s Colo-Colo and Brazilian club Fortaleza, when police blocked about 100 fans when they attempted to enter the stadium. There were conflicting accounts of how the fatalities occurred, with local media reporting that one of the dead was a 13-year-old boy. The other victim was an 18-year-old woman, according to a relative at the hospital where she was treated. The fans died after being caught underneath a
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
RSS