Fair-weather fans turned off by rain-interrupted schedule at T20 World Cup in Australia

Abandonment of the Afghanistan versus Ireland and Australia against England matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Oct. 28, because of rain, raised many an eyebrow for those following the 2022 International Cricket Council Men’s Twenty20 World Cup.

There is little doubt that Melbourne’s weather can be mercurial. September to January are its wettest months.

This year, Australia’s east coast has been hit by an unusual combination of three climate drivers. In October, Melbourne received 149 millimeters of rain, more than double the month’s long-term average.

This is not to say that the other venues for the tournament are not prone to rain in October and November. Sydney has experienced its heaviest October rainfall on record but escaped the problems faced at the MCG.

On Wednesday, rain arrived in Adelaide to influence the outcome of the India versus Bangladesh game. Hence, it would be unfair to blame the schedulers for selecting Melbourne on rainfall statistics.

Faced with two matches between teams which attract the highest audiences – Australia and England, and India and Pakistan – who would not allocate them to the stadium with the largest capacity? The MCG can host 90,000 spectators.

One of the criticisms which has been levelled against the competition’s organizers is that, although the MCG does not have a retractable roof, there is another sports stadium in Melbourne, the Docklands (Marvel) Stadium, which does. Why could that not have been used instead, or have been part of a contingency plan?

It hosted the first ever indoor international cricket match against South Africa under a closed roof in 2000 and is currently used in the Big Bash League. However, its capacity for sports is 53,000 and reducing a crowd