When Rain Rule helped England enter the final

The 1992 World Cup was known for the number of innovations that were introduced in the tournament. While most innovations like coloured clothing, white balls, made the game livelier, - rain rule was heavily criticized.

Rain rule had an adverse effect on the outcome of few matches in the round robin stage like India vs Australia, England vs Pakistan and so on but the most important to got highlighted was the second semi-final between South Afria and England. 

South Africa won the toss at Sydney Cricket Ground and put England to bat first. England post a competitive total of 252/6 in 45 overs. Graeme Hick was the top scorer for England who made a brilliant 83 from 90 balls.

South africa responded in a positive way and stage was set for a perfect thriller when rain interuppted the play. South Africa needed 22 off 13 balls with allrounder Brian McMillan and wicket-keeper Dave Richardson at the crease. The equation was more in favour of the proteas as the two batsmen were set and hitting the ball quite well.

Rain delayed the match by 12 minutes due to which the victory target was revised from 22 runs from 13 balls to an impossible 22 runs from one ball for South Africa. This happened in two phases - At first the target was revised to 22 from 7 balls and later on to 22 from 1 ball. After the tournament, this rule was replaced with the Duckworth-Lewis method coming into effect for the 1999 event onwards. 

The short burst of rain made a mockery of the rain-rule. England won the semi-final but South Africa won the sympathy of all present in the ground. 

England advanced to the final and lost the title to Pakistan.

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Sahir