ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Governing body defends schedule, says reserve days for every match will prolong event

After the Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka encounter in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was washed out, becoming the third match so far to have been abandoned due to rain, fans and experts began to criticise the scheduling of the tournament where no reserve days have been assigned for the matches. Late on Tuesday, ICC CEO David Richardson, who will step down from the post following the World Cup, released a press statement, justifying the move. [caption id=“attachment_6781821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Cricket World Cup trophy. Reuters[/caption] In the release, he stressed on complexity of organising such a lengthy tournament. The statement read, “Factoring in a reserve day for every match at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup would significantly increase the length of the tournament and practically would be extremely complex to deliver. “It would impact pitch preparation, team recovery and travel days, accommodation and venue availability, tournament staffing, volunteer and match officials availability, broadcast logistics and very importantly the spectators who in some instances have travelled hours to be at the game. There is also no guarantee that the reserve day would be free from rain either.” Richardson said that factoring in reserve days would mean uplifting the the number of staff, which is already a staggering 1200. The statement further read, “Up to 1200 people are on site to deliver a match and everything associated with it including getting it broadcast and a proportion of them are moving around the country so reserve days in the group stage would require a significant uplift in the number of staff. We have reserve days factored in for the knock-out stages, knowing that over the course of 45 group games we should play the large majority.” Not to forget, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka washout set a tournament record for most number of abandoned games. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, click here