Sri Lanka vs South Africa, 2nd ODI at Colombo, Jul 23 2013 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11.10pm It's over. Called off. Sri Lanka win by 17 runs. It would have been a tough chase for South Africa even if it was a full 50-over chase. With Amla unavailable due to injury, it became even tougher.

Man of the Match today should be the groundstaff who have put in some serious hard work today.

Post-match presentation:

The Man of the Match is Dinesh Chandimal, for his battling 43.

AB de Villiers: "Much better game from us, the bowling did okay, the batsmen let us down, very disappointing. It's not over yet, three big games coming up for us now. Amla is injured, not too serious, hopefully we'll get him ready for the next match. He was scheduled to come out to bat after the next wicket fell. I think we have the potential and the talent in the batting unit." He says the much-improved fielding was one of the positives today.

Dinesh Chandimal: "When I went to bat, we were four down, I just assessed the pitch and then played my normal game. We played on the same pitch before, that's why I opted to bat first. Angelo will come in for the next game, we have our fingers crossed for winning the game."

That's a wrap of our coverage for now, Firdose Moonda's match report is being updated here, and Andrew Fernando will have more analysis later on. Thanks again for all the thoughts on subsitutes, DRS and everything else. See you on the 26th for the third ODI.

11.00pm Andrew Fernando's latest: "All the covers are coming on, chances of further play are slim, just in terms of how long it would take to peel them off again."

jee1: ""The D/L method,which is used to calculate par scores in rain affected matches , sets a higher score while reducing the overs for side batting side , by saying that second batting side will have clear idea of how many overs they play , unlike the side batting first..But why does it not take into consideration , the pitch conditions and the outfield after it rains??It becomes difficult for side batting side to play on a damp pitch,giving advantage to the bowling side..""

AP: "@Jee1, while the batting conditions do change on account of a wet outfield and damper pitch, the bowling/fielding conditions also change on account a wetter ball which is more difficult to grip for both spinners and fast bowlers. Fielding is also trickier with fielders slipping around and bounce on the outfield is lot less uniform. It is usually assumed that the negative changes to batting are evened out with the negative changed to bowling/fielding. Hence those factors are neglected."

Ben: "jee 1 is bang on with the pitch condition. I have always sided with D/L just because there is no better alternative at this time. However, D/L is lacking in taking the pitch condition which in this case clearly favoured SL..."

10.49pm Rain stops play. The umpires took a bit of time discussing whether to stop play, but the rain is pretty steady now, which means the covers are coming out.

The cut-off time is 11.15pm, which means it is unlikely we are going to get more cricket today. Even if the rain stops soon, it will take a while for the covers to be take off and the outfield dried.

Par score at this stage is 121 for 5.

Elvis Joseph: "Rain came 2 overs late for South Africa!"

Tej: "There are better alternatives than the D/L method - but no one is prepared to listen. Just schedule the 50 over games with two days in mind including nights with lights. The public pays for two sets of 50 over and they should get their money's worth. It is as simple as that."

"Rain getting harder," says Andrew Fernando

Perera returns to the attack. Batting Powerplay taken

Par score after 21 overs: 121 for 5, 127 for 6

The DL sheet is handed over to McLaren, who is giving it a close read, as he well should. It has started drizzling again, the ground staff are taking their place outside the boundary

Par score after 20 overs: 117 for 5, 124 for 6