Because cricket matches take such a long time, are played in open-air stadiums, and cannot be played when the ground is wet, they are highly prone to being interrupted by rain. According to the rules of the one-day game, each team must face a minimum of 120 deliveries of the allocated 300 for the game to be counted. Anything less than that and the match is considered a no-decision and the two points that goes to the winner is shared between the two teams.

Given that England is notorious for its rainy spring season, it was quite a miracle that the first ten matches of the current World Cup managed to be completed with only one match being slightly shortened by rain. But that good fortune ended and now two games out of the last five have been washed out by rain. This is highly disappointing for fans but cricket fans are well aware of the major role that rain plays in the game and take it stoically.

One of the canceled games was the one today between South Africa and West Indies. Given that South Africa needed to win all six of its final games to be sure of making the semi-finals, this no-decision may have sealed its fate, which is too bad. West Indies will also regret the lack of a completed game because they had hopes of beating a reeling and demoralized South Africa that had lost its first three games and this would have boosted the West Indies chances of making the semi-finals. Currently the table leaders are New Zealand, England, India, and Australia, with West Indies in fifth place.

Oddly enough, a lot of the international games played in Sri Lanka are badly affected by rain. This is because other teams visit Sri Lanka during their own domestic off-seasons that happens to correspond to the local rainy monsoon season. Hence it is not unusual for games to be frequently interrupted by torrential downpours. One by-product of this is that Sri Lanka has become the nation that is the fastest when it comes to bringing out the covers when it begins to rain and drying the field after it ends.