The International Cricket Council on Sunday defended the scheduling of the World Twenty20 as monsoon rains threatened to ruin the tournament in Sri Lanka. “This was the only period available in the Future Tours Programme this year to conduct the tournament,” an ICC spokesman told AFP. “All the teams were aware of it.” The two-yearly tournament, being held in Sri Lanka for the first time, coincides with the traditional start of the monsoon season in the region. The first four days of the event, which opened on September 18 and continues till October 7, stayed rain-free before bad weather on Saturday affected both games in Hambantota and Colombo. The match between South Africa and Sri Lanka in the southern port town of Hambantota was reduced to seven-overs-a-side, which the Proteas won by 32 runs. In Colombo, Australia were 100-1 in 9.1 overs chasing West Indies’ total of 191-8 when heavy rain forced the match to be called off in front of 18,000 fans at the Premadasa stadium. Australia, who still needed 92 more from 65 balls to win the game with nine wickets in hand, were declared winners by 17 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis method that decides rain-hit games. The forecast for the rest of the tournament is for worsening weather. “There will be showers at times in the western, southern and central provinces,” meteorologist Pabodini Karunapala told AFP. “By the first week of October, we will start getting more rains.
