Australia okay with no reserve day rain policy

POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa, Feb 19 AAP - Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist believes the best sides will progress at the World Cup despite the contentious decision not to provide reserve days for washed out matches.

With little separating a lot of teams, maximum points in the pool phase are being banked on against easy-beats Canada, Bangladesh, Namibia, Kenya and Holland in the battle to reach the Super Sixes stage.

The X-factor is rain that produces a draw between a powerhouse nation and a side it would normally thrash - like the West Indies being forced to share the points with Bangladesh, severely jeopardising the Windies' chances of going through and giving South Africa renewed hope.

Australia plays Holland tomorrow and Namibia next Thursday at North West Stadium at Potchefstroom, where rain is a common occurrence. The defending champions are most likely to advance to the Super Sixes regardless of the weather, but valuable points are in jeopardy.

And then, next month, abandoned semi-finals will not be rescheduled, with the highest-ranked teams from the Super Sixes advancing to the big one on March 23.

"I never thought there should be reserve days, but on seeing what happened the other day, it could be really costly to the West Indies," said Gilchrist.

"At the end of the day, the best team is going to get through to the semi-finals at least."

Australian coach John Buchanan said the 44-day tournament was long enough without extending it to compensate for poor weather.

"We might be here for another two or three months extra and I'm not sure that's a good thing for anybody," he said.

"While the simple solution might be to say 'have a rain day,' I'm not sure whether it would be the most effective solution for the tournament organisers and the tournament per se.

"In cricket, historically, sometimes weather favours certain teams. There's always been that so-called unfairness due to weather. Maybe it could be improved, but that's what we've got at the moment."

The only rain days planned by the International Cricket Council are for the final, when the following two days have been set aside to ensure the biggest match of the tournament is decided by runs and wickets, not precipitation levels and previous results.