CWC Executive Director Bacher reconfirms rain interrupted match procedure

ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 Executive Director, Dr Ali Bacher today reconfirmed the tournament policy for reserve days, in cases where matches are seriously affected by adverse weather.

Dr Bacher said: "This is the biggest World Cup ever, with 54 scheduled matches involving 14 teams playing in three countries. Of the 43 days from the opening ceremony to the final, cricket is due to be played on 33 of those days.

"Logistically, it would have been impossible from an organisational point of view to have included reserve days for matches in the Group Stage. As it has turned out, only two matches of the 40 played so far have been rained off. These were the fixtures between West Indies and Bangladesh and today's game between Zimbabwe and Pakistan", said Dr Bacher.

The ICC also confirmed that the four other games affected by rain and decided on the Duckworth Lewis method would not have benefited from reserve days. Each of these fixtures, South Africa v New Zealand, Zimbabwe v Namibia, Australia v Holland and South Africa v Sri Lanka, had completed the required minimum of 25 overs per side, which constitutes a game under the D/L system. Reserve days would not have been used in any of these cases.

Reserve days will be available for all Super Six and semi final games, while the final has been allocated two reserve days, as a contingency against prolonged bad weather.

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Jon Long: 083 417 5518