England left to sweat ahead of India semi-final by rain in Guyana

Forecast rain arrived ahead of the semi-final in Guyana (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (AP)

England faced a nervy wait in Guyana as their T20 World Cup semi-final against India was delayed by rain.

The gloomy forecasts came true as showers peppered the Providence Stadium in Georgetown, rendering a scheduled 10.30am start impossible.

Controversially, there is no reserve day for the game despite taking place in the region’s rainy season, leaving England in danger of being ousted without a ball bowled.

In the event of an abandonment, India would take their place in Saturday’s final against South Africa, having finished top of their Super 8 group while England came second.

This match is alone among the three knockout games not to have a spare day scheduled but an extra 250 minutes have been allocated to get a minimum 10-over contest in.

Speaking on the eve of the match, England coach Matthew Mott took a measured view but suggested the International Cricket Council should assess its policy.

“It’s something we’ve known about since the start of the tournament so to cry foul over it now probably doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said.

“But I’m not going to lie, it would be great to have a reserve day because the weather can change from day to day. We’ve been through that the entire tournament sweating on weather reports, so that’s nothing new to us but in an ideal world maybe that’s something the ICC need to look at long term.”