Rosario - Atrocious weather conditions in Rosario, Argentina on Thursday night forced the much-anticipated women's World Cup hockey match between world number three China and the world's 12th-ranked Investec South Africa to be postponed.

The match was initially delayed from 19:30 (SA time), but a further decision was made to delay it further due to a waterlogged pitch.

The match was then postponed and at 21:30 (SA time) a decision had yet to be taken on when the match would be re-played.

It was initially intended that the second and third matches in Thursday's Pool B schedule; England v South Korea (22:00 SA time) and Spain v Argentina (00:00 SA time) would go ahead as planned.

However a decision was taken 30 minutes later that the England v South Korea would also be postponed, while the Spain v Argentina encounter was still on track.

Should the England v South Korea match have gone ahead, it would not have been in South Africa's best interests, as head coach Giles Bonnet's team are due to meet the English roses on Saturday at 19:30.

This would have meant, assuming the SA v China clash takes place on Friday, as appears inevitable due to the nature of the match schedule, it would have given South Africa a day less to recuperate.

It would also have meant that South Africa's match against the Koreans on Monday would have been their third international inside four days as opposed to the Asians' three in five.

At least South Africa captain Marsha Marescia and the team now know that the playing fields are level again.