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Dileep Premachandran in Colombo
August 19, 2006
11.30am Match called off
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Another torrential downpour has forced the umpires to call off the first one-day international between Sri Lanka and India at the Sinhalese Sports Club. If the weather clears up, the second match of the series will be played here tomorrow.
11am Pitch inspection at 1.45pm (0815GMT)
In keeping with the general theme of the past week here in Colombo, a smidgen of hope was quickly replaced by more rain and more disappointment for the few who had gathered with the expectation of watching some cricket. Instead of wondering how Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar would do in tandem - they have only opened together twice before, the last occasion being over five years ago - it was once again time to check the weather forecasts, though the dark sky above gave enough hints.
It had dawned sunny and bright, and an inspection was expected at 10.30am with a view to starting play an hour later. But just as the ground staff were taking off the covers, with the clock edging towards 10am, there was another torrential downpour. The umpires announced an inspection for 1.45pm, but the downpour seems to have more or less ended any hope of getting in even the 40 overs required for a result. The second match of what should have been a three-game series is pencilled in for tomorrow, and Sri Lanka Cricket - who have enough on their plate after South Africa's withdrawal - will desperately hope for some kindness from the weather gods.
Associate editor Dileep Premachandran gave up the joys of studying thermodynamics and strength of materials with a view to following in the footsteps of his literary heroes. Instead, he wound up at the Free Press Journal in Mumbai, writing on sport and politics before Gentleman gave him a column called Replay. A move to MyIndia.com followed, where he teamed up with Sambit Bal, and he arrived at ESPNCricinfo after having also worked for Cricket Talk and total-cricket.com. Sunil Gavaskar and Greg Chappell were his early cricketing heroes, though attempts to emulate their silken touch had hideous results. He considers himself obscenely fortunate to have watched live the two greatest comebacks in sporting history - India against invincible Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001, and Liverpool's inc-RED-ible resurrection in the 2005 Champions' League final. He lives in Bangalore with his wife, who remains astonishingly tolerant of his sporting obsessions.
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