There are very few occasions in cricket that rain is good.
If your team is losing is one. If the game is already heading towards a tedious draw is another.
Generally rain is no good at all for cricket.
But T20 is different.
Think of T20 like a gremlin, not an actual gremlin but the gremlins from the 1984 film “Gremlins“.
In that film the little creatures start off as tiny cute little Mogwai. They are largely inoffensive and children love them.
But there are rules of keeping a Mogwai;
Don’t feed him after midnight.
This one makes no sense, how does the Mogwai know what timezone he is in, and more importantly, isn’t it always after midnight whether it is 1 minute past midnight, or 23 hours and 59 minutes.Don’t expose him to bright lights.
So he is a nocturnal animal, but he can’t eat after midnight…Don’t let water touch him.
Apparently his own saliva and the water that is included in most foods is ok.
The thing about T20 is that rain should ruin it, but like the Mogwai, all it does is turn this inoffensive cuddly toy into a merchant of death.
My single favourite thing about T20 cricket right now is how crazy it all gets when the rain comes down.
It shortens the game, ensuring we don’t have to live with all those boring “middle overs”.
It means one team has a massive chip on its shoulder, and generally increases their performance.
It makes the game closer.
It makes the whole contest farcical and manic.
Andre Fletcher’s batting was reminiscent of many of those Gremlins when they first get their freedom.
Scotland used the Gremlins last year when Iain O’Brien got his notes mixed up and gave Scotland the perfect start in a Gremlin affected 7/7 match.
Even yesterday, when the rain ended the game early, Andy Flower was pissed off at the Gremlin’s making Ireland’s job easier.
It is a shame Lalit is probably not around anymore, he is one person who could probably bring rain into the IPL, although the IPL has its own monsters.
