Television creates a farce at T20 World Cup
"As jokes go, Saturday night's Twenty20 World Cup Group C clash between Sri Lanka and South Africa was one of the least funny," writes Hamish Bidwell for Fairfax News
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"As jokes go, Saturday night's Twenty20 World Cup Group C clash between Sri Lanka and South Africa was one of the least funny," writes Hamish Bidwell for Fairfax News. "A highly anticipated match between two of the tournament heavyweights, it was reduced to little more than a farce by the broadcasters."
Scheduled to begin at 3.30 pm (local time), in the southern town of Hambantota, rain caused a delay. By the time the ground was fit for play, it was still only about 5pm but, rather than a full match, the teams were told they were having a seven-over-a-side slog. This was not because of the threat of more rain or because it was now late at night. No, the teams were sent into this ridiculous spectacle because there was another game in Colombo scheduled to start at 7.30pm.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo