India vs New Zealand, World Cup 2019: Rain played spoilsport in the big-ticket match in Nottingham on Thursday (Reuters Photo)

The English weather is playing the villain as quite a few matches at the ICC Cricket World Cup have been affected due to rain. The latest victim of wet weather is the ongoing big-ticket clash between India and New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Thursday.

Continuous spells of drizzle have delayed the start in Nottingham and chances of play are looking bleak. The umpires had two inspections during the rare stoppage of drizzle and weren't happy with the wet patches at the Trent Bridge.

India vs New Zealand, World Cup 2019: Live updates

Fans have been left frustrated as rain delays and washouts are slowly starting to dominate the narrative around the World Cup.

Even as live visuals came from Nottingham, a section of India fans posted images of Eden Gardens which was completely covered during a rain threat in Kolkata in the past and wondered why Trent Bridge didn't have similar protection when it was raining on Thursday.

Why don't they cover the whole ground in England, including the outfield? In fact, considering the weather conditions in England, it is more important.

See how the Eden gardens in India is being covered. #INDvNZ @cricketaakash @vikrantgupta73 pic.twitter.com/IFVOOy38V1 Vaibhav Salgaonkar (@TheSalgaonkar) June 13, 2019

Notably, only the main pitch, with a hover cover, and the square was covered during the drizzle and the outfield was left without protection.

'Could they have used more covers?'

Wondering why the England and Wales Cricket Board weren't ready with more covers even with wet weather predictions in the United Kingdom, former India captain Anil Kumble, speaking to Star Sports, said: "It's the water that's runoff from the covers. My question is there's been plenty of rain, there was a prediction for a lot of rain this week. Could they have reinforced more covers in Nottingham and covered most of the area of the ground?

"The advantage in one sense in England is that you have a large cover. But the disadvantage is when it rains like this. The areas around the bowling run-up are wet," Kumble added.

India vs New Zealand, World Cup 2019: Rain delayed play in Nottingham on Thursday (Reuters Photo)

Batting great and former West Indies captain Brian Lara concurred.

"It's a huge tournament. A lot of money is invested. We knew from a long time ago that this [rain threat] was a great possibility. They should have ideally thought 'hey, let's have some extra covers, extra labour so that we have a bit of cricket," Lara said.

Meanwhile, former Australia batsman Dean Jones suggested that the Nottinghamshire county could have borrowed some labour from nearby counties for the repair work during rain delays in important World Cup matches.

"Edgbaston used to have covers all over the ground. I think it took about 12 minutes to get the entire ground covered. Look if it's a continuing drizzle... I am with you... such an important tournament and the Nottingham county curators are working here. Why can't they get some people from Derbyshire and get the work done? They might be thinking of that right now, the ICC... to double up the labour," Jones said.

Two matches -- Pakistan vs Sri Lanka and Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka -- have been abandoned due to rain so far and the one between West Indies and South Africa saw a No Result after rain played spoilsport.

Even as several former cricketers and support staff have been questioning the absence of reserve days for all matches, the International Cricket Council has said it's impossible to have rain days, considering the logistical difficulties. The semi-finals and the final have rain days at the World Cup.

"Factoring in a reserve day for every match at the World Cup would significantly increase the length of the tournament and practically would be extremely complex to deliver," ICC's outgoing Chief Executive Dave Richardson had said in a statement.

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