6 instances when rain affected a team's chances at an ICC tournament

#1 South Africa at the 1992 World Cup

South Africa had to endure a sad ending to their fairytale return at the 1992 World Cup

South Africa came back to international cricket in 1991 after a 21-year long suspension from the sport owing to apartheid. And their first major tournament was the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The Proteas began the tournament well by beating Australia in their first group game but lost their following two matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

However, the World Cup debutants won four of their remaining five matches to qualify for the semi-finals and were up against England. The match was held at the SCG where England batted first. And courtesy of a massive 83 from Graeme Hick, the English reached a total of 252/6 in 45 overs.

In reply, Andrew Hudson and Adrian Kuiper kept South Africa in the chase through their scores of 46 and 36. Then Jonty Rhodes came in and scored a 38-ball 43 to maintain the scoring rate for South Africa. Following Rhodes’ departure, Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson batted steadily and took South Africa to 232/6 in 42.5 overs, needing 22 to win from 13 balls.

At this point, rain interrupted play and as a result, two overs were lost with South Africa now needing 22 to win from 1 ball. Had rain not interrupted play, then South Africa could have chased down the target within 13 deliveries especially with someone like Brian McMillan at the crease. South Africa’s World Cup journey thus came to an unfortunate end and England were through to the final which they went on to lose against Pakistan.