More rain effects play

18/8/06 – Friday, today promised much as I pulled back the curtains.

I was greeted with sunshine bursting through my window so I went down to breakfast with my match day kit on. I saw Rahul Dravid in the breakfast room and told him that I’d spoken to the groundsman and he reckoned that play could start on time. Dravid then pointed out to me that rain was now falling outside and it was getting darker and darker. Sure enough it rained heavily; we went to the ground with heavy hearts only to have our worst fears confirmed that there were huge puddles all over the ground. We decided there was no point staying and that we would reconvene at 12.30pm. It was remarkable what the ground staff had done, no puddles a few damp patches but the umpires Billy B and Asoka de Silva decided play would start at 2.30pm. At last some play after a week of inactivity which seemed like a month! But our hopes were dashed just 3 overs into the contest as another huge black cloud appeared on the horizon and deposited its load all over the SSC. Very frustrating but you can’t beat the weather so it’s back here tomorrow to see if we can at last get a game of cricket in!

17/8/06 – Thursday

I woke up late this morning and after breakfast logged onto the internet in my room to discover that Stuart had been chosen as the ‘Young Player of the Year’ by the Cricket Writers Club of England. This was another proud moment for me as both myself and Stuart’s mother had been invited to the dinner where he was going to receive his award and because of the change in fixtures I would now be able to make it. The rest of the day passed relatively quickly because I was flying around on ‘cloud 9’, but I did visit the new ground that we’d be playing theODI matches at (the Singalese Sports Ground) and then I came back to the hotel to watch England playing against Pakistan in the 4th Test at the Oval.

16/8/06 – Wednesday, it’s a Day/Night game today.

Sri Lanka are due to play India for the 1st time in this series. I had Breakfast at the normal time but it’s wet again so the PCT decide to go to the ground at 11am for an early inspection. The Premadasa Stadium has had just about enough rain for the moment. The sun is shining but the ground is very wet so we decide to return to the ground again at 2.30pm for a further inspection. The inspection was not required because it rained again so today’s play was called off.
Billy Bowden had found a jewellery store just down the Galle road from the hotel. Qudsi Jewels is nothing to look at from the outside but inside it’s an Aladdin’s Cave. Sapphires are a speciality in this part of the World and I have always been taken by glinting jewels and sapphires are my birth stone so I ended up doing some business with Mr Qudsi.
I got back to the hotel to hear a rumour that South Africa were going home! It didn’t take long before the rumour to be confirmed. They had had an independent security revue which suggested that there were doubts over security. I was a little disappointed with the security revue because, as far as I was aware, no-one from the revue company (based in Dubai) had come to Sri Lanka to see the situation for themselves. However the SACU had rightly accepted the decision and decided to pull their players out of the tournament and out of the country. Nothing stands still for long in these parts, within the hour and with sponsors and TV to think about the Sri Lankan Cricket Board had come up with an alternative plan which involved a 3 ODI series between India and SL, which was accepted and due to start on Friday the 18th August.