Weather forecasters are often panned for their incorrect predictions but sometimes their forecast does come correct.
Unfortunately, the weather experts were just that, in their forecast for Pallekele on Tuesday, as the first match in the two game T20 series between the ICC’s top ranked country, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, currently ranked in seventh position, was washed out without a ball being bowled.
Such was the severity of the downpour that occurred in the evening, that even the toss became a pointless exercise, and the match was eventually declared abandoned by the umpires an hour and 45 minutes after the scheduled start, which would have been at 7 pm local time.
Weather has ruined the tour so far, with all three ODI matches prior to the T20 contest being rain affected. With the second T20 match also scheduled for Pallekele on Thursday, there is every chance that the series will be drawn without the sides ever setting foot on the pitch.
Should the second match fail to materialise, both sides will feel hugely frustrated, as they try to establish their teams, and their patterns of play ahead of next year’s World Twenty20, which will take place in Bangladesh.
The Black Caps will continue to be skippered by quick bowler, Kyle Mills, who continues in the role, with Kane Williamson still injured, and senior players, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor rested.
If the side can cope, assuming that a match takes place, without three of their “big guns”, then they will gain a huge amount of confidence as a team, going forward towards Bangladesh in 2014.
