On Friday morning, England and Australia awoke with the knowledge that one of them would almost likely see their T20 World Cup chances vanish by the end of the day, but in the end, water evaporation became the central concern. Scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., the match was eventually called off almost two hours later, allowing both teams to continue fantasizing about reaching the semi-finals for at least a few more days.
After nearly four days of persistent precipitation, it appeared as though the teams would be less likely to suffer losses than galoshes. But when the covers were removed from the pitch at approximately 7 p.m. – to loud cheers from fans for whom this was by far the most exciting action they had witnessed all day – and the groundskeepers began a frantic half-hour of soaking and mopping, there was the prospect of cricket in the air, as opposed to the persistent drizzle.
Two inspections of the field were conducted, but the rain returned a few minutes before the third was supposed to take place, putting an end to all hope. With the match between Ireland and Afghanistan abandoned in the afternoon and all teams granted one point, Group One remained wide open.
England is second in the group, behind New Zealand in terms of net run rate, and is tied with Australia and Ireland with three points. On Saturday, New Zealand will meet Sri Lanka in Sydney, with no precipitation expected.
The focus will then shift to Brisbane ahead of a pivotal 48 hours. On Monday, Ireland will play Australia, Afghanistan will play Sri Lanka and England will play New Zealand on Tuesday. Except for a few hours of rain on Tuesday morning, the weather in Queensland, around 1,500 kilometers north-east of Melbourne, is forecast to remain warm and dry for the whole week.
The abandonments mean that only one of the five matches originally due to be played in Melbourne has taken place as scheduled, with one other game – Ireland’s victory over England – concluding being cut short by rain. Two additional matches are scheduled for the city: the Group Two finale between India and Zimbabwe on November 6, and the final itself a week later.
“It hasn’t stopped raining since the England game,” Ireland’s Andrew Balbirnie commented following the cancellation of their match. “It’s simply so rainy outside. You may arrive in Australia assuming you won’t need a hoodie or a raincoat, but the weather has changed drastically since our arrival three or four weeks ago. But it’s not something we can control, so we don’t worry too much about it.”
Even though October is typically the wettest month in Melbourne, the city and much of the east coast of Australia have been experiencing a bizarre convergence of meteorological phenomena this spring: the Indian Ocean Dipole, the Southern Annular Mode, and La Nia, when strong trade winds blow west from the Pacific Ocean.
Christie Johnson, a senior meteorologist at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, told the Guardian, “We’ve been in a really rainy spell in Victoria and all along Eastern Australia for a time now — there’s been flooding from Queensland to Tasmania.”
“It is not uncommon for Victoria to see numerous weather systems in the spring, but this year is exceptional by historical standards. Together, the three climate factors are creating the perfect storm.”
Numerous months ago, meteorologists predicted an exceptionally wet spring. In addition, the sort of rain that has plagued the event has been peculiar, with Melbourne being drenched in the drizzle for the majority of the last four days.
“We tend to see more intermittent showers, and possibly more thunderstorms, as opposed to continuous rainfall,” Johnson explained. “This is a characteristic of the tropical moisture being pulled across Victoria. It would be more prevalent in Queensland, where there is more humidity in the air. We have a drier environment, and it is rare for tropical rainfall to reach this far south.”
With several months’ notice of adverse weather, however, tournament organizers had a backup option they could have utilized. Three kilometers to the east of the MCG is the less-famous Marvel Stadium. There have been a total of 24 men’s ODIs played there, and five Big Bash League matches will be played there during the upcoming season. The record attendance for a cricket match is 44,316.
A third of the nine men’s international matches played in Australia in October before this year were held there. According to its website, Marvel Stadium’s retractable roof “ensures that events are held in optimum circumstances regardless of the weather outside.”
