If you want a rainbow you have got to put up with the rain. However, the cricketers from West Indies and Sri Lanka were not in search of a rainbow but a Test match win and they would have left disappointed at the end of the fourth day of the second and final Test of the Sobers/Tissera series at the P Sara Oval, as play was completely washed out.
When the team buses pulled into the Oval on a cloudy Sunday morning the equation was simple—West Indies needed 224 runs to win the Test and Sri Lanka needed to capture nine wickets before they reached there.
Batting first, the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 200 and the West Indies stuttered in their reply to close at 163 all out.
Armed with a lead of 37 runs on first innings, the home team made 206 all out in their second turn, leaving the West Indies to get 244 to square the Test series 1-1. They ended play just after lunch on the third day at 20/1 and were hoping to get on the park yesterday but it was never to be.
The rain did not fall hard at all but there was a constant drizzle throughout the day that made sure the entire ground kept covered. The umpires had three inspections and finally called off play at 3 pm, when it was obvious that the drizzle would not stop to allow the cricket.
In Sri Lanka it is customary that they cover the entire field, but the constant drizzle and the length of time the covers were kept on led to sweating underneath and this was also a factor in calling off the play.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) cricket operations manager Carlton Bernadus explained to Guardian Media, that they normally employ 150 men to pull covers during a Test match. “It is costly when you think that you have to employ 150 men for five days but we are about making sure we get as much cricket as possible.” Even that strategy could not work yesterday as the drizzle never let up.
The men manning the covers were mostly indoors for the entire day and would not have had to do much for their US$10 a day salary yesterday.
