The ongoing T20 World Cup has been interrupted several times by rain and inclement weather. With the business end of the tournament upon us, these could have greater consequences for pariticpating teams. Here are the regulations and provisions laid out by the ICC in the case of weather-related delays. 

Reserve days

Reserve days are days provided (usually the one immediately after the scheduled date) by the tournament organisers for a match to be completed, in case that is not possible on the scheduled day. In the early editions of the World Cup, even league matches had reserve days, but packed schedules led the ICC to restrict reserve days to the knockout stage.

Also read: Guyana semi-final between India and England under severe rain threat

 

The reserve day came into play during the 2019 ODI World Cup, when the India v New Zealand semi-final was interrupted by rain, and the teams had to resume their match the following day.

According to the ICC's Playing Conditions, reserve days for the 2024 T20 World Cup are in place only for the first semi-final and the final. None of the group stage or Super Eights matches had a reserve day and several matches were washed out, and the teams had to share points.

The first semi-final, scheduled for Tarouba, Trinidad on June 26, has a reserve day allotted on June 27. However, the second semi-final scheduled for June 27 in Guyana does not have a reserve day, in order to allow the winning team to have a travel day on June 28 ahead of the final on June 29. Sunday, June 30, is the allotted reserve day for the final in Barbados.  

Cut off times

In the case of inclement weather ahead of a scheduled match, there is a certain amount of time the umpires will wait before announcing that the game will have to be shortened. Clause 13.7.3 of the ICC's Playing Conditions for this tournament had extra time allotted for first- and second-round matches.

The cut-off times are different for the semi-final and final matches.

Semi-final 1, scheduled for an 8:30pm start on June 26 in Trinidad, will be allotted extra time of 60 minutes on the same day, as well as 190 minutes of extra time on the reserve day of June 27. Offering all the extra time on the same day could make the match spill over into an inconvenient time for all involved; players, fans and broadcasters.

Read more: Where the South Africa-West Indies low-scoring thriller was decided

Cut-off times for the India-England semi-final

The second semi-final, however, does not have this issue. Scheduled for a 10:30am start on June 27, it does not have a reserve day and so all 250 minutes of extra time have been allotted to the same day itself. 

This means, a 20-over match can start as late as 250 minutes (2:40 pm local time, 12:10 am India time, 7:40 pm BST) after the originally scheduled start of play.

For knockout matches to constitute a result, a minimum of 10 overs have to bowled unlike the 5-over cut-off for other T20Is. According to an ESPNCricinfo report, the latest a 10-over match can start for the India-England semi-final in Guyana is 4:14 pm local time (1:44 am India time, 9:14 pm BST). 

The final starts at 10:30am local time on June 29. It has a reserve day on June 30, and both days have been allotted extra time of 190 minutes by the ICC in order to complete the match.

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