Women's T20 World Cup 2020

[bigfluffylemon]

Freaking ridiculous that there is no reserve day for the semis. Apparently there can't be because 'they have to fly from Sydney to Melbourne on Friday'. That's a one hour flight. They can do it on Saturday. Or even Friday evening after the game. People frequently travel between the two for the day for work meetings etc. It's not onerous. If it were Perth that might be a different story, but come on.

Feels a bit like a double-whammy for England. South Africa top the group due to washout, then go through to the final due to washout. Ok, as DF says, you can't really begrudge South Africa topping the group, they did beat England fair and square, but their win was not guaranteed, and to have them march to the final having only played and beaten one good team, and thrashed two rubbish ones, cheapens the whole tournament.

As we said all along though, this sort of tournament one slip-up can be fatal, as we're seeing.

Ok, being a bit fatalistic, semis haven't been washed out yet, but given the rain coming down here today and the forecast, I am not at all hopeful.

[ianp1970]

I wasn't complaining on an English behalf: SA won their match and would have still topped the group if zero points were awarded for a wash-out. More a case of thinking that this wouldn't have been allowed to happen in the Men's event (the semis would likely be prime time on consecutive days at different venues) - so why was it here? Plus, if the players/organisers/broadcasters/spectators wanted a double-header semi-final in Sydney, just play it on a Wednesday instead...

[bigfluffylemon]

: SA won their match and would have still topped the group if zero points were awarded for a wash-out.

Just to quibble - England were actually ahead of SA on NRR, which was the first tiebreaker for this tournament. Head to head only factors in if there is an equal NRR.
https://icc-static-files.s3.amazonaws.c ... -clean.pdf

But I agree with everything you've been saying about the situation. And as I said, while a little miffed on England's behalf, they lost to South Africa fair and square, so South Africa deserve to win the group.

[sussexpob]

I know that this isnt going to be a politically correct statement, but in the absence of a way to phrase this in such terms, Ill just have to chuck the hand grenade in the room; am I the only person who is suspicious about Shafali Verma? I sat reading the BBC article on her today, and my wife sitting next to me asked "who is that young boy"...... so I guess its not just me.

She does look......er.... very much masculine.

[bigfluffylemon]

I reckon it is pretty much just you. Her boys' haircut and other styling is on purpose as a result of/protest against gender discrimination in cricket in India.
https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/shafali ... ma-2111372

[bigfluffylemon]

Absolutely bucketing down in Sydney at the moment, with 2 hours to go. Radar is showing constant rain for hundreds of kilometres around Sydney.

Given the double header, play would need to start by 4.30pm local time and be uninterrupted to give a complete match for England-India. I am not optimistic.

[bigfluffylemon]

England-India abandoned, so India advance. As predicted, but disappointing nonetheless. I wonder if this will prompt a review of the absence of reserve days. It does seem daft.

Let's see if Australia-South Africa will go ahead. There's a lot of rain still on the radar, but the end is in sight - there might be a gap at some point this evening.

[Durhamfootman]

there we go

thank goodness they had a rest day 4 days into a 2 week comp and before Pakistan had even played a game or there might have been player burn out

I understand the desire to have double headers and I broadly support it, but not having a reserve day seems like a very basic error. I doubt it will allowed to happen again. At a time when the authorities are supposedly trying to develop the women's game and raise its profile, this just suggests that it still isn't particularly important to them.

[sussexpob]

I reckon it is pretty much just you. Her boys' haircut and other styling is on purpose as a result of/protest against gender discrimination in cricket in India.
https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/shafali ... ma-2111372

I think the article in your post rather contradicts the point about it just being me; it appears that she was able to play in an all boys team for much time with no one thinking anything untoward, so Id have to conclude that those she was playing with also thought she looked masculine to the point of believing she was unquestionably a boy. There are enough physical characteristics that mark out the defence between sexes, I am not sure a short hair cut makes a child looks "identical", as the rather bemusing quote in that article claims. So the reality of it would appear quite the opposite and that many people have assumed she was male. Not that I wanted this to be a lingering point, I am just merely stating to that when I see her, I believe she looks more male. I reference our earlier conversation on gender/intersex and my differing social/sporting context opinions to justify why that matters to me. In the realm of society, I dont care at all what she is or chooses to be.

We discussed age fudging between Adi recently on another thread, and it seems clear in India what someone says they are is often a work of fabrication, even when passports and birth certificates are taken into the equation (a fact Adi stated, not me). The BCCI nowadays have to go back to first registrations at clubs and schools to often ascertain key facts about a person; if they were to do it for Verma, they'd find her registered as a male with a different name. Call me a cynic, but if you were looking to cover your tracks, the backstory goes a long way to doing that.

[Durhamfootman]

it didn't even occur to me that somehow just enough time might be found to help Australia avoid England's fate

funny that

[Durhamfootman]

no worries about the scheduling now, presumably

[Alviro Patterson]

Unfortunate for England not to play their Semi-Final match, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

Say that there was a reserve day in place and England v India was played to a full 20 overs, the losing semi-finalist playing a reduced 12 over a side game would be aggrieved with the playing conditions. I am sure the tournament directors have thought of all possible scenarios.

A fairer solution would be to play both semi-finals on consecutive days, but if there was a risk of rain then you change the start time to ensure matches are completed in full.

[bigfluffylemon]

I reckon it is pretty much just you. Her boys' haircut and other styling is on purpose as a result of/protest against gender discrimination in cricket in India.
https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/shafali ... ma-2111372

I think the article in your post rather contradicts the point about it just being me; it appears that she was able to play in an all boys team for much time with no one thinking anything untoward,

I don't want to derail the thread, so I'm not going to go into this any more after this, but I think the article implies quite the opposite about your comment above about whether anyone was 'suspicious' of her, which implied you were suggesting she was in some way not eligible to play as a woman, or gaining an unfair advantage in doing so. Despite the fact that she'd registered as a boy to play in children's clubs, and her appearance, both of which you would think would invite enhanced scrutiny about her gender and eligibility, as far as I can tell, no-one who knows her or has been involved in her career has raised a murmur of concern about whether she actually is a woman and able to represent India Women (and there are articles out there with interviews from people who knew her family growing up, former teammates etc.). If there really was something up, is it plausible that none of the hundreds of people who had been involved in her career so far, played with or against her, shared a locker room etc. would not have come forward and said 'hang on a minute...'?

If you were only commenting on her looks, then I misunderstood, and clearly it's not just you.

[bigfluffylemon]

I am sure the tournament directors have thought of all possible scenarios. .

You're giving them more credit than I do...

It is a shame for England, although the tournament directors must have been relieved that South-Africa-Australia was able to be completed and they get their Australia final on international women's day. Let's face it, only a final involving Australia and one of England or India was ever going to fill the MCG, so it's worked out pretty well for Cricket Australia.

As we have all said, England could have beaten South Africa but didn't, and India won all their group games, so the result is as fair as it can be under the circumstances. Given how England benefited from obscure playing conditions in the men's world cup, I don't think we have the right be upset when we end up on the other side of such conditions...

Final should be a cracker. And the weather is set to be perfect for it. May the best team win.

[ianp1970]

[quote="Alviro Patterson"]Unfortunate for England not to play their Semi-Final match, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

Say that there was a reserve day in place and England v India was played to a full 20 overs, the losing semi-finalist playing a reduced 12 over a side game would be aggrieved with the playing conditions. I am sure the tournament directors have thought of all possible scenarios.

A fairer solution would be to play both semi-finals on consecutive days, but if there was a risk of rain then you change the start time to ensure matches are completed in full.[/quote]

My original point was that having no contingency at all was asking for trouble - as it turned out in the first semi-final...

Different venues on consecutive days (both with a reserve) should be the norm. if that is still insufficient time for a result, then it would just have to be considered unlucky, I guess, with the tournament differentiation particulars deciding who wins/qualifies...