Maldives ends Lankan tour on wet note

The Maldivian national team's tour of Sri Lanka ended on a wet note when their final match against a Kandy District Cricket Association XI was called off without a ball being bowled due to rain at the Asgiriya International Stadium, Kandy on Monday.

Team coach, Sri Lankan born Neomal de Silva said, although the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka had done a great service in arranging this tour, it was really unfortunate that two out of six matches were washed off due to bad weather.

"The boys have really improved a lot and, now at least, they have learnt how to play a game of cricket. They have never got a chance to play a match at an international venue, since the grounds in the Maldives are really small," said De Silva, who promised that the results of the tour would be visible at the oncoming Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournament.

De Silva said this was the first time that the Maldivian cricketers had played cricket on turf pitches and it was a good experience for them to score runs on big grounds too.

"The Maldivians have the skill and the talent to play cricket at a higher level, but it was only recently the country has concentrated on the game properly. They should pick up the game quickly, provided the neighbouring countries extend a helping hand, since the country does not have adequate ground facilities," said de Silva.

The Maldivian team's last two matches of their six-match tour, was washed out by rain. They lost the other four games against Sri Lankan oppositions.

The nine-day tour to Sri Lanka was mainly aimed at match practice in preparation for the ACC limited over tournament where eight non-test playing nations in Asia vie for the ACC cup in the United Arab Emirates.