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.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the