ICC scraps reserve days for World Cup pool matches

The International Cricket Council on Monday announced that there will be no reserve days for rain-affected matches in the preliminary round of next year’s World Cup. In a joint statement, ICC and the World Cup Organising Committee said the decision was taken by the ICC Executive Board for the logical necessities of completing the tournament.

‘‘The ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 is a significant logistical challenge. The tournament is taking place in three countries, at 15 venues over 43 days. For this to be managed effectively, the schedule needs a degree of certainty in the first round,’’ said ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed. However, reserve days will still apply to matches from the Super six stage of the tournament from March 7 and the two semi-finals on March 18 and 20. For the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on March 23, two reserve days have been set aside.

World Cup Executive Director, Dr Ali Bacher, also said the reason to scrap the reserve days in the preliminary round was based entirely on logistical necessities.