Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton has slammed the umpires’ decision to carry on with their Super 12 match against South Africa at the Twenty20 World Cup even in “ridiculous” amounts of rain. 

In a weather-hit stop-start match here on Monday, South Africa were on the brink of victory in their revised chase of 64 in seven overs when a final spell of showers forced a washout. Quinton de Kock with an unbeaten 47 off 18 balls had steered the total to 51 for no loss in three overs but both teams shared a point. “I don’t think we should have even bowled a ball,” said Houghton, whose team won the toss and elected to bat, but faced a 150-minute rain delay after which the match was reduced to nine overs a side. Zimbabwe posted 79-5.