Will the Weather Spoil South Africa's Chances at the T20 World Cup 2022 Again

One of the most disappointing days for South Africa and its cricket fans was November 11, 2007, when South Africa was eliminated from the 2007 ICC World Cup T20 tournament at the group stages after their defeat to England in their final group game. It was an absolute shocker, given that they had been one of the favorites to win the tournament and were playing in front of their home crowd at Johannesburg's Soccer City. The team's performance only got worse in their next two matches against Australia (lost by 18 runs) and New Zealand (lost by 11 runs), with both teams scoring more than 200 runs in each of those games. South Africa hosted the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, but was plagued by rain throughout the tournament, and had to endure playing their semifinal on the reserve day after all their other matches had been washed out. The disappointing showing led to many questioning South Africa’s abilities to successfully host major cricket events; it also led to the ICC making significant changes to the way that future tournaments will be conducted. But could it happen again? Is there any way that South Africa can avoid being victims of the elements? If so, how?  South Africa will host the T20 World Cup in 2022 after India stepped down as host due to political and environmental concerns about the event in the wake of numerous tragedies over the last few years due to smog and the smoke from firecrackers during celebrations. However, South Africa has not had much luck with hosting major sporting events in recent history, so there are worries that the nation may not be able to live up to expectations at this time. Why it matters The ICC has been reluctant to host Cricket World Cups in countries with monsoon seasons for years. The 2015 Cricket World Cup is a prime example of that. India, which hosts seven matches, has heavy rainfall during its monsoon season every year. But because it’s such a large country, hosting so many games there isn’t an issue. However, that wouldn’t be possible if they hosted all of their matches in one central location. In 2022, South Africa will host all of its matches in two stadiums: Cape Town and Durban. Cape Town will play host to eight group-stage matches and two quarterfinals while Durban will play host to six group-stage matches and two quarterfinals. Both cities have rainy summers but Cape Town tends to get less rain than Durban. Still, both cities average more than 100 millimeters (about 4 inches) of rain per month from June through September. That means there’s a high likelihood of weather impacting matches throughout those months. So what can be done about it? Well... not much really. Analysis  After rain disrupted last year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup tournament, fans and players of Team South Africa are facing similar challenges once again. South Africa, which is hosting this year’s tournament, is known for its warm weather and sunny days. So far though, it looks like there will be plenty of rain disrupting some of South Africa’s matches as well. There has been enough rain in Durban to force England to move their matches out of their usual venue, Kingsmead Stadium. A quick look at some stats for Cape Town suggests that precipitation and temperature are running lower than normal. It’s likely that we will see a repeat of last year’s weather patterns. The current outlook is for an early, wet winter with more favorable conditions for farmers in July and August, We can only hope for favorable weather conditions. If not, then maybe next time. Here’s hoping South Africa gets another chance to shine on its home turf! Conclusion Yes. The weather has doomed South Africa’s chances in every single men’s cricket world cup since 1996 and history will repeat itself in 2022. Cricket, as with every sport, is about managing all three aspects of a match: skills (batting/bowling), tactics (fielding/running between wickets), and luck. In each of South Africa’s six matches so far, they have only managed two out of three. In their opening match against India, they were skillful but unlucky; in their second game against New Zealand they were tactically sound but unlucky, and so on for each game since then. Even if South Africa wins their remaining two games – which are both against Bangladesh – it won’t be enough to progress from group play because rain is forecast for both games.