Florida Rain Could Propel U.S. Cricket Team to Second Round

As South Florida battles heavy rains and flash flood warnings, the U.S. men’s cricket team could end up being an unlikely benefactor of the situation. The potential washout of their first-round ICC Twenty20 World Cup against Ireland could see them gain a shock entry into the “Super 8s” round of the tournament ahead of cricketing powerhouse Pakistan. The U.S. vs Ireland game is scheduled to take place at the Broward County Stadium in the Miami-area city of Lauderhill at 10:30 a.m. local time on Friday.

Cricket games are usually played in roofless stadiums—like the one in Lauderhill—and the playing conditions state that play must be suspended and the pitch must be covered in the event of a downpour. A match can begin, or resume if it is halted mid-way, after a bout of rainfall only when the umpires deem the ground is dry and does not pose any safety issues for the players. While rules allow for a shortened game if a dry window opens up the persistent rainfall, cloudy conditions and standing water in parts of Broward County are likely to make that difficult.

If the game is called off, the match will be declared a draw and both Ireland and U.S. will be awarded one point each—instead of the winner getting two and the losing side getting zero. This would bring the U.S. team’s total points tally to five, guaranteeing them a second-place finish in Group A behind India—as the three other teams in the group, Pakistan, Ireland and Canada, can only reach a maximum of four points.

The tournament is the world championship of the “Twenty20” (T20) format—which is both the youngest and shortest version of international cricket, with matches usually lasting around three-and-a-half hours. This is the U.S. team’s first-ever appearance at the T20 World Cup as they received an automatic entry for co-hosting the tournament with the Caribbean nations who play under the West Indies cricket banner. Despite being unfancied, the U.S. team has had a fairytale run so far. In the tournament’s first game, the U.S. team beat Canada convincingly after a stellar batting performance by Aaron Jones. The team’s biggest win—and one of the sport’s biggest upsets—came on Thursday as they beat cricketing powerhouse Pakistan after taking the game into overtime. They lost their third game against India—one of the favorites to win the tournament and the sport’s financial powerhouse—but managed to put up a close fight on a New York pitch that was treacherously difficult to bat on.

The U.S. team is made up of a mix of players who played professionally in other countries including India, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa. The team’s main star with the bat, however, has been the Queens, New York-born Aaron Jones. The side’s pace bowling attack has been led by former India Under-19 and Mumbai player Sarabh Netravalkar—who played a key role in the team’s upset win against Pakistan. Netravalkar’s exploits have earned him the spotlight both at home and in India. The 32-year-old Mumbai-born left-arm bowler works full-time as a “Principal Member of Technical Staff” at Oracle’s Bay Area office. Despite his stellar bowling even Netravalkar appears to have not anticipated the U.S. qualifying for the second round of the World Cup as his out-of-office notification on Slack says he would be away from work until June 17—the same date as when the first round ends. His employer doesn’t appear to mind his newfound fame, however, as Oracle has tweeted about his on-field success.