Rain wreaks havoc on final day of Twenty/20

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Torrential rain forced the abandonment of the penultimate preliminary match in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship between Barbados and Guyana without a ball being bowled.

Bleak weather descended on the Trinidad & Tobago capital around 12 noon, and when it eased almost three hours later, the Queen’s Park Oval resembled a lake, rather than a premier sports facility.

Both teams arrived at the ground about an hour before the scheduled start, but West Indies Cricket Board officials informed them half-hour later about the cancellation of the match, and this meant the two sides would earn an equal share of four points.

It left them both tied with 10 in total, following victories in their other two preliminary matches against Combined Campuses & Colleges and Windward Islands.

The Barbadians however, finished in the top spot of Group-B with a superior net run rate of +0.975 ahead of the Guyanese (+0.361), under the tie-breaker rule.

The abandonment sets up two intriguing semi-finals today at the same venue, where Guyana will face hosts Trinidad & Tobago from 16:00 hours before Barbados meet Jamaica in the other semi-final four hours later.

The grand final between the two semi-final winners is tomorrow from 20:00 hours. The third-place playoff game will be played at 16:00 hours between the two semi-final losers.

But the prospects of the semi-finals and the final being contested also look depressing, unless there is a dramatic change in the weather. If the semi-finals are not contested, the four teams will advance to the respective finals based on net run rate, meaning T&T (+1.869) and arch-rivals Barbados will play in the final, and the consolation final (third place) will bring together Guyana and Jamaica (+0.318).

The matches will be replayed (re-started) on Sunday should there be no play in the respective finals tomorrow.

If there is still no winner on the field of play, the winners will be the team with the higher net run rate throughout the competition.