{"id":247081,"date":"2022-10-28T11:32:03","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T11:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247081"},"modified":"2022-10-28T20:57:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T20:57:42","slug":"washout-not-disastrous-for-world-cup-aussies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247081","title":{"rendered":"Washout 'not disastrous' for World Cup Aussies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne's inclement weather robbed Australia\ufeff of a chance to snag two points for victory and improve its dire net run-rate in the T20 World Cup<\/a> on Friday night, but cricket legend Mark Taylor<\/a> says the outcome is "not disastrous".<\/p>\n

About 8.50pm, Australia's match against England at the MCG was abandoned without a ball being bowled\ufeff, with officials deeming the sodden outfield unsafe for play.<\/p>\n

Australia and England, in a battle to be the second team to advance in group one with the pool-topping New Zealand well positioned, received one point each.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Red flag' moment that forced Barty retirement<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Commentator 'sorry' for inflammatory Wallam call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Legend's widow makes urgent plea to AFL boss\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

As Taylor took into account Australia's remaining pool matches, against Ireland at the Gabba and Afghanistan at Adelaide Oval, the former Test captain\ufeff remained optimistic about the hosts' title defence.<\/p>\n

"Obviously getting on and winning would have been ideal, but the fact that we've got Ireland and Afghanistan to go means that if we play well enough and win both of those games and win them well enough we may well still go through," Taylor told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Obviously it's going to depend on other results … but bear in mind that England are in the same boat as us and they've got New Zealand and Sri Lanka to go.<\/p>\n

"So, from that point of view it's not disastrous, although, as I said, a win would have been a lot better."<\/p>\n

Despite pinpointing the clashes with Ireland and Afghanistan as prime opportunities to secure healthy wins, Taylor warned against being complacent.<\/p>\n

Ireland sprung a World Cup shock when it defeated \ufeffEngland on Wednesday night<\/a>, scraping home against the gun outfit by five runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.<\/p>\n

"They've got to be a little bit mindful because we saw what Ireland can do to England," Taylor said.<\/p>\n

"So, first and foremost, concentrate on winning the game, and if you get an opportunity … to improve your run-rate, go about it. But as we saw with England, if you take one of these, dare I say it, less-fancied nations \u2014 if you take them lightly you end up getting hurt."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/T20WorldCup\/status\/1585937726490157057<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Taylor, who was at the MCG for his Nine commentary duties, was among those annoyed by the rain.<\/p>\n

In fact, the 104-Test icon was also irked by the officials' handling of the situation.<\/p>\n

"I'd have liked to seen them get on today or, in a way, call it earlier," Taylor said.<\/p>\n

"We were sitting there at probably eight o'clock, quarter past eight, when they had an inspection, and I thought then that they had to either start then or call the game off. The pitch or the surrounds, which were obviously the concern, weren't going to dry out. It's about 12 degrees here in Melbourne at night with little wind. It's not going to dry out any more. So, I think at eight o'clock they could have said, 'All right, it's suitable to play or it's not'. So I think they could have been more decisive with that decision.<\/p>\n

"And I think, as I've always thought, particularly with these T20 games, you've just got to try to get them on, get people out there playing. I think once you start it's amazing how you stay on.<\/p>\n

"So I would have liked to see a little more expedience around that decision that was made around quarter past eight."<\/p>\n

Former England captain Michael Vaughan\ufeff took to Twitter to vent his frustration, ripping the decision to schedule the game at the MCG instead of Marvel Stadium, which has a roof.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelvaughan\/status\/1585873692051279874?s=46&t=_EkkSzUfrnQVCGklcpVlVQ<\/a><\/p>\n

But Taylor doesn't share Vaughan's view.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I think the MCG is a much better cricket ground than Marvel Stadium, to be totally honest," Taylor said.<\/p>\n

"Yes, you're always a chance of rain, but you can't organise your calendar around what might happen.<\/p>\n

"If you go back to the Olympics 20 years ago in Sydney, about the same time of year it (the weather) was magnificent.<\/p>\n

"You can't hold the ICC (International Cricket Council) or anyone responsible for La Ni\u00f1a. It's an unfortunate time of the year.<\/p>\n

"Marvel Stadium \u2014 yes, it's got a roof. But I prefer to see games in Melbourne at the MCG."<\/p>\n

The MCG match between Afghanistan and Ireland, which had been scheduled to begin\ufeff at 3pm, was also abandoned due to rain.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne's inclement weather robbed Australia\ufeff of a chance to snag two points for victory and improve its dire net run-rate in the T20 World Cup […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247081"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247083,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247081\/revisions\/247083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}