India-Lanka cricket series called off

Colombo: The rain-hit One-Day series between India and Sri Lanka was on Sunday finally called off, bringing an anti-climatic end to a tournament which had run into rough weather from the very first day.

After six frustrating rain ruined days, the Sri Lankan cricket board officially decided to cancel the series after a meeting with the Indian team management late in the evening.

Speculation that the series would be called off was doing the rounds since afternoon but the formal announcement was made by Sri Lankan cricket board media coordinator Samantha Algama in the evening.

The Indians had been greeted with torrential rains since landing in this troubled capital city and were involved in just 16 minutes of cricketing action in the last six days.

The two boards have tentatively decided to reschedule the series next year.

"There is no point in going on with the series as the weather is showing no signs of improving," a Sri Lanka Cricket official said.

The three-match series was hurriedly organised after South Africa, scheduled to feature in a tri-nation series, pulled out citing security concerns following a powerful bomb explosion about two kilometres from the team hotel on Monday.

However, the inclement weather for the past few days ensured that the two teams were mostly confined to their hotel rooms.

The first One-Dayer saw only 3.4 overs being bowled before rains intervened and since then it has been a frustrating wait for the players. Play could not resume even on the following day.

The second game was also abandoned without a ball being bowled on Saturday as heavy rains continued to lash the city throughout the day.

"There is no point in persisting with the teams going to the stadium everyday and coming back to the hotel without a ball being delivered, the official said.

The rain-affected matches have turned to be a big embarrassment for the organisers who had decided to stage all the matches in Colombo. The initial schedule had alloted a few matches to Dambulla.

The timing of the series had also raised eyebrows among local fans as the monsoon is normally active during these months.