England skipper Jos Buttler was understandably left disappointed after their crucial T20 World Cup clash against Australia was abandoned due to rain but insisted that the right call was made as conditions were not fit to take the field.
For England, it was their second successive game that was affected by rain. While not a single ball was bowled on Friday, England had lost to Ireland via DLS method after rain played spoilsport towards the end of the game.
"They (the umpires) had some big concerns and, I think, rightly so. The outfield is very wet, there are some areas within the 30-yard circle which were not fit to play. As much as we all want to play cricket, it has to be safe and it certainly wasn't that," said Buttler.
"I think every bowler who bowled there would have had concerns. Player safety is really important and it wasn't fit to play whether it's our bowlers or Australia's bowlers. I think that the right call was made."
Even the afternoon game at the MCG between Afghanistan and Ireland was rained out. Melbourne has been experiencing unusual rains at this time of the year though cricket season in Australia starts from November.
Asked about rain making their road to the semifinals tougher, Buttler said: "I don't really have any frustrations. I am not a weather expert in Australia at this time of the year, but we all want to play full games of cricket. Of course we do."
"Naturally we play a sport which is in the open air and the elements are a huge part of our game. They affect the surfaces we play on, they affect conditions in an intriguing way, and that's what makes our sport really unique."
"But now, unfortunately, we've had two games affected by the weather. You don't want to be involved in those games, but it's going to happen wherever you play in the world."
Defeat for either England or Australia would likely have spelt the end of their campaign, but instead Group 1 remains wide open, with the day’s earlier match — between Ireland and Afghanistan — also rained off at the same ground.
The old rivals still have a chance of reaching the last four, with England, locked on three points in Group 1 alongside Australia and Ireland after three matches, needing to win their final two games against New Zealand in Brisbane on Tuesday and Sri Lanka in Sydney the following Saturday to stand a chance of going through.
