The tri-series cricket match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka was called off without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain here on Thursday. The match will have a fresh start on Friday, which has been kept as a reserve day. There will also be a fresh toss, the organisers said.
Heavy rain lashed the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium when the match was just about to start at 2.30 pm local time and the rains continued after New Zealand captain Ross Taylor won the toss and elected to bat.
Anticipating rain, the ground staff had kept most of the ground, including the pitch, under covers and there was a ray of hope for a truncated match after the downpour stopped for a while at around 4 pm local time.
But the heavens opened up again and with rain persisting the umpires called off the match at around 6.20 pm. The umpires had earlier kept 8.15 pm as the cut off time but seeing that there was no sign of rain abetting, they called off the match.
At the end of the first half of the tri-series, New Zealand and India are on five points with one win each from two matches and a bonus point. Sri Lanka are on four points after their opening match win over New Zealand though they did not get a bonus point from that victory.
Sri Lanka took the field at the backdrop of off-spinner Suraj Randiv being banned by their cricket board for bowling a no-ball in the last delivery of their match against India on Monday to deny Virender Sehwag a century.
A six-member committee of Sri Lanka Cricket headed by its chief D.S. de Silva also docked senior batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan off his entire match fee after local media reported that he suggested Randiv to bowl the no-ball.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara was also warned to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.