ODI series postponed due to bad weather

The confusion surrounding the one-day leg of West Indies' tour of Sri Lanka has ended with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announcing that the five-match series has been postponed to late January 2011 because of the bad weather all across the island. The decision, made after an understanding was reached by the boards and the television partner, was announced shortly before the first ODI was scheduled to begin in rain-hit Hambantota. West Indies will fly home on Friday.

"The weather in Sri Lanka has been most disappointing throughout the tour and a practical decision had to be taken in the best interest of cricket, the fans and the players," WICB chief executive, Ernest Hilaire, said. "It made little sense to have the teams turn up for matches which they knew were not going to take place and this would have caused frustrations to fans and officials as well.

"The weather is beyond any of our control and the WICB will now work with Sri Lanka Cricket to ensure that the matches are rescheduled to a time when the weather is more favourable for cricket."

There was no clarity over whether the ODI series would be postponed or not on the eve of the first ODI in Hambantota, where it had been raining incessantly. Reports had suggested that SLC and the West Indies board were working on rescheduling the series, but SLC denied this, while the West Indies team management would not officially comment on the development. Adding to the confusion was Chris Gayle's Twitter update - the former West Indies captain tweeted as early as Wednesday afternoon that the series had been officially called off and that he was headed out of the country.

Brian Thomas, SLC's media manager, told ESPNcricinfo that the two boards were "looking at postponing the series yesterday [Wednesday]." He said the delay in the making the decision was because they decided to wait one more day to see if the weather would improve.

Rain has been the only constant during this ill-timed tour, with the players spending most of the time during the drawn three-Test series in dressing rooms. The weather-induced stalemate pushed Sri Lanka from third to fifth in the ICC Test rankings, and Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, went on to describe the series as the worst of his life.