You wait four years for a World Cup, but if you’re a player or fan in Colombo then you may have spent most of this tournament staring at the rain rather than enjoying some much-anticipated cricket.
Five of the nine matches staged in the Sri Lanka capital have been affected by rain – with four ending in no result – causing former England spinner Alex Hartley to say the conditions had “ruined” the World Cup.
October is monsoon season on the island, with 300-370mm of rain anticipated in the month.
“I don’t really know what anybody was expecting to be completely honest. You have a tournament in Sri Lanka during monsoon season, it pretty much rains at the same time every single day,” Hartley, who won the tournament in 2017, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It’s ruined this World Cup – it’s been a real shame.”
All bar two of Sri Lanka’s group games are being staged at the R. Premadasa Stadium, as are all of Pakistan’s matches because of the ongoing political tensions with India, who are hosting the majority of the tournament.
Fatima Sana’s side sit bottom of the tournament standings and are facing elimination having seen their past two games washed out, including one against England where they looked well placed to win.
“You don’t want to come into a 50-over World Cup going ‘oh, well let’s hope we get a T20 tonight if it rains a little bit’. It’s been a little bit too predictable and really disappointing,” added Hartley.
“I toured Sri Lanka 10 years ago in October and every single one of our training sessions got rained out every single afternoon.
“The games in Sri Lanka could have, and should have, started earlier – that’s the only way you could have got the games unaffected.”
All matches are being played as day-nighters, with a 10:30 BST start and 15:00 local.
New Zealand have also seen their past two games in Colombo rained off, and the T20 World champions currently sit out the qualification places for the knockout stages.
“It’s extremely frustrating, let’s be honest. You wait four years for a World Cup and to have suffer through the rain,” said New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, who at 35 is likely to be playing in her last 50-over World Cup.
“I hope in future editions, they think of playing earlier in the day. We have seen the rain comes in the evening so play at 10 or 11. For the game, to be scuppered by rain is a real shame for me.”
BBC Sport has approached the International Cricket Council (ICC) for comment.
England’s sole fixture in Colombo was the game against Pakistan, where they slipped to 133-9 but saw the game called off during their opponents’ chase.
Nonetheless, England coach Charlotte Edwards has also been critical of the situation in Sri Lanka.
“You want to play as much cricket as you possibly can. I don’t know if things could have been changed that the games start earlier because of the monsoon season.
“I just hope that the teams that are playing there get some cricket this week, because you want to be playing games in the tournaments like this and it’s very frustrating that they’re not at the moment.”
If Pakistan were to qualify for the knockout stages then their matches would be held in Colombo, but given they are unlikely to qualify there are likely to be just two further matches staged there – between Pakistan and South Africa on Tuesday and Sri Lanka and Pakistan on Friday.
The weather for both days?
Rain.
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