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Sport Nation
Why it's not just rain that has washed-out the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup
Jamie Lawlor • October 20th, 2025 11:00 am
Izzy Gaze and Jess Kerr leave the field as rain disrupts play between the White Ferns and Pakistan | Photo: Lahiru Harshana / Photosport
Yet again, another match at the 2025 ICC Women's World Cup has been abandoned due to rain, leaving the rest of the tournament in limbo.
Due to ongoing political tensions between India and Pakistan, the BCCI (The Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) decided to appoint Sri Lanka as a second host for the tournament for Pakistan to play its matches.
Sport Nation host Scotty Stevenson says that there is more than what meets the eye when it comes to the decision for Sri Lanka to be a second location for the World Cup.
“I want to talk about the stitch-up that this tournament has become…
“I was in Sri Lanka last week, and let me tell you, it's as predictable as Christmas that in Sri Lanka and Colombo at this time of year, at about 6.30 to 7 o’clock, it rains.
“It is a disgrace that the tournament organisers have allowed the games to be played in a city where anyone would have told them it rains at night.”
Photo: AP
Out of the nine matches that have been played in Sri Lanka - five have been impacted by rain, four of them ended without a result.
Stevenson says that it doesn’t make sense why the ICC would schedule a World Cup in a country that is currently in the middle of a monsoon season.
“The Australian game abandoned, England's game against Sri Lanka no result, New Zealand no result.
“Who agrees to this stuff when Sri Lankan cricket must know what the weather's going to do, because it does it every year.
“If they had played those games as day games, every one of those games, barring maybe the Australian game, would have been played. There would not have been a drop of rain during either innings.”
Sumo questions why World Cup day-nighters were scheduled in Colombo | Scotty & Izzy
The Sport Nation host says that this decision from the ICC to shift matches to Sri Lanka could be a ploy for the BCCI to game the system to favour their own team.
“How do you schedule a tournament that happens once every four years and essentially ruin that tournament for at least three teams?” Stevenson questioned.
“Forget the TV broadcast and prime time, we all know that's what it's about... It’s ultimately for the biggest market in cricket.
"But surely, the sanctity of the tournament and the respect you should have for the participants in the tournament must outweigh the revenues you want to derive from the broadcast; it's a farce.
“I'm talking about Sri Lanka's tournament. I'm talking about Pakistan's tournament; potentially, England. It's not just about New Zealand.
“I'm saying the tournament itself has been somewhat clouded by the fact that they've scheduled games at a time where they know it's going to rain.
“It is ridiculous.”
Three more matches are scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka; however, after two back-to-back rained-out matches, the White Ferns play their next two ODIs in India looking to cement the last semi-final spot.
