Sophie Devine Expresses Frustration After Consecutive Washouts in Colombo

The weather in Colombo has washed out many games in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup. This situation has left everyone frustrated, especially the captain of the New Zealand Women’s cricket team. She said that events like the World Cup are highly important, but having multiple washouts in such tournaments is far from ideal. She urged the administrators to look into this situation and make better schedules next time.

"You wait four years for a World Cup and to have rain play such a massive part in it is disappointing. I hope that in future editions they think about playing the games earlier in the day.” said Sophie Devine at the post-match press conference.

She said that the matches usually start in the afternoon, so event organizers can make little changes to the schedule keeping in view the varying weather conditions.

“We've obviously seen here that the rain usually comes in the afternoon, so [there is an] opportunity to potentially play these games at 10-11am in the morning and try and get a game in. Because that's what all these teams want, is to be able to play cricket. You've waited for so long and you want to test yourself against the best and to be scuppered by rain, it's a real shame for me." said Sophie Devine.

In the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup, matches are scheduled to start at 3 PM local time in Colombo. Unfortunately, the timing has not done any favors to the tournament, as three of the last four matches have been washed out due to continuous afternoon rain.

In the match against Pakistan, Sophie Devine thinks that her side was at the dominant position. She was hoping to make more inroads into the Pakistan batting lineup, however, the weather didn’t allow them to do so.

"I thought we had a little bit of hope seeing the South Africa game [against Sri Lanka] the other night, where they were off for five hours, and managed to squeak a game in. Look, we thought we were in a decent position, we just needed the rain to hold off and unfortunately it didn't happen for us today." said Sophie Devine.

Speaking about the mood in the dressing room, Devine said that the players are a bit upset. They were hoping to play a full match today, however, the weather denied them to do so.

"Oh, look, to be honest, it's pretty flat. I mean, we wanted to play today, we were really up and about for today's match. We just want to be playing cricket, so for us now, we know that the situation's extremely clear.” said Sophie Devine.

She explained that the upcoming matches in the tournament have become very crucial for them. They need to win all those matches to book a spot in the knockout stages. The challenge against India would be definitely tough, as they know the home conditions better than the visiting New Zealand team.

“We just need to win both games, starting with India in Mumbai - so, a real big challenge for us - but we're really excited about it. I know that the girls don't need to be pumped up anymore to be able to take them on so, we'll head back to India tomorrow and look forward to those challenges." said Sophie Devine.

New Zealand now have just two matches remaining in the ICC Women’s World Cup. They will play their next game against India, followed by a clash with England in Visakhapatnam. Both of these matches are crucial because they will decide the fate of the Kiwis in the remaining tournament.