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Originally Posted by Adamc
It's an example of personification - assigning the human quality of 'cheating' to the weather (or the D/L system). It's quite common in English. The 'cheating' in this instance is the perceived unfair outcome. Just because you disagree that it was unfair or are otherwise unfamiliar with the usage doesn't invalidate the use of the phrase in this context.
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Not to be pedantic, but I have never ever heard anyone ever say anything along the lines of 'England have been cheated of a win by the weather'. Merriam Webster defines 'cheating' as 'to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud'. I am sorry but I fail to see how England were deceived by the weather or how they were on the other side of any type of fraud. You could say that England were denied victory by the weather, but cheating implies something completely different and far more serious.