Watch England versus India live on Sky Sports Cricket from 3.30am on Thursday
Thursday 5 March 2020 06:32, UK
Former England captain Charlotte Edwards says it will be "totally unfair" if rain decides who qualifies for Sunday's ICC Women's T20 World Cup final.
England face India in the first semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday - a match you can watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from 3.30am - but the prospects for play look bleak, with heavy rain forecast.
With no reserve day factored in for the game, or the second semi between South Africa and hosts Australia, it means India and the Proteas would progress to the final by virtue of finishing top of their respective groups.
"I couldn't believe there isn't a reserve day in place," Edwards told Sky Sports News. "England will be kicking themselves they didn't top the group. It's going to be a disappointing day tomorrow for all involved.
"It has to be looked at in my opinion. This is a massive event for all of the players. There's the opportunity for the players to play in front of 90,000 people at the MCG (in the final) on Sunday and, to have the four best teams going into the semi-finals, it just seems totally unfair.
"If I was playing now, it would be such an awful situation because you train so hard for these events. I guess rules are rules and let's hope this storm misses us, but it doesn't look like it will."
In response to criticism about the lack of any provision in the event of rain affecting thesemi-finals, an ICC spokesman told Sky Sports News: "The ICC T20 World Cups are short, sharp events where reserve days are factored in for the final.
"Allowing for any other reserve days would have extended the length of the event, which isn't feasible. There is a clear and fair alternative should there be no play In any of the semi-finals with the winner of the group progressing."
Fellow Sky Sports pundit and former team-mate of Edwards, Lydia Greenway, admitted that she could see both sides of the argument.
"I think if you speak to the players, they'll have two sets of different answers," she said. "South Africa and India won't mind at all, but England and Australia will be desperate to have a reserve day.
"If you look at it from a spectator's view and you look at the schedule, the argument is that they've got two days between the semi-final and the final so why can't there be a reserve day?
"But from the ICC's point of view, they would be reluctant to change the rules halfway through the tournament. From my point of view, you can definitely see both sides of the argument."
England Women's captain Heather Knight says her side is prepared for whatever the elements throw at them.
"We'll have a chat about what our strategy is, we'll be quite clear about how we want to do things but we'll have to be flexible," she told the International Cricket Council's website.
"A lot of us have played in rain-reduced games before and it's all about who switches on the fastest, who adapts very quickly and who ultimately performs in that short space. It can be quite manic if it is a rain-reduced game.
"The good thing about our team is that we've got a lot of variety, a lot of different skillsets bowling and batting, so we feel like we can adapt to any situation we're thrown in to.
"You just have to focus on the job you've got to do, focus on winning ball by ball and trying to keep really calm, really clear and really simple."
Watch the Women's T20 World Cup semi-final between England and India live on Sky Sports Cricket from 3.30am, then stay tuned for South Africa against Australia from 7.30am.
