Rain, Rain Go Away And Don't Come Back Another Day

With the Pro40 (a limited overs competition where each side bowls and bats for 40 overs) cricket season over for most English counties, except Glamorgan and Worcestershire who face a play-off next weekend, fans can reflect on their particular counties fortunes.

However, some clubs and fans may have some reason to feel aggrieved at the cards they have been dealt by Mother Nature in the form of rain.

Lancashire are one of the clubs who have been relegated from Pro40 Division One and they, more than anyone, can curse their luck at the number of "No results" they have had.

Out of eight games they have still played four so only have themselves to blame for winning just one and losing three of them but the Red Rose county have had more "No results" than any other side.

Every county has to contend with the weather with washouts being very common in England but do Nottinghamshire and Somerset, who had no "No results" in the Pro40 have an unfair advantage over Lancashire as technically they have played four more games.

While one point is given for a "No result" and all four washed out games could have been lost by Lancashire, could a reserve day or a rearrangement be taken into consideration as who is to know what Lancashire may have done against Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Middlesex and Durham?

The Pro40 competition may have drawn its last breath as it is being replaced by a Twenty20 tournament next year but the principle of rain ruining Cricket will still apply.

"No results", while obviously being bad for counties in terms of points and financially, are not the be all and end all with Sussex who won this years Pro40 and Hampshire who finished second both having two washouts.

This is not just a problem in Pro40 as it happens in Twenty20 and almost every round of fixtures in the County Championship sees a match disrupted by rain at some point.

The big question is what can be done, its not like a roof can be built on top of all the grounds like some Football stadiums, so the only plausible solution is to have reserve days and rearrangements but that makes an already packed schedule even more crammed.

If Cricket is going to become a more financially astute sport and constantly attract the crowds then something needs to be changed from the attitude that if rain postpones a match then that's the end. Hopefully, something can be done to make sure that counties do not get any advantage over each other through something that nobody can control.