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Rain rain go away
By Ranil Abeynaike
Rain is Cricket's worst enemy, when the sport was mainly played in England a hundred years or so ago, it was known as the "Summer Game". Now ten teams play at International level and many more play at a lower level. The game has to go round the year.

Sri Lanka still has to fit in fixtures according to the time available, according to calender of some of the senior test playing nations. In any case England does not tour from Mid April to September. That is their summer, their home season . Similarly Australia does not tour in the months from October to January.

They did that for the first time when they slotted a short one day series in India which was concluded recently. That was done as it had two advantages. This year they experimented with Bangladesh . Next year Sri Lanka are scheduled to tour in June, July. There will be no games in any of the six major venues, but all games will be confined to the Northern territory. But what of monsoonal weather? Obviously much attention has not been paid to that aspect. Sri Lanka experiences two monsoon.

Theoretically the South - West monsoon should bring in rain from end May to early August and the North East monsoon in October and November, Rain should go on until year end in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. Monsoons get delayed or at times descend prematurely. There are depressions caused in the days whcih bring in gusts of wind and rain, thunderstorm during heat waves, all forms that can disrupt cricket.

What is the remedy. Dambulla is part of the answer. Bearing the period mid October to December. its any for the rest of the year. There was a lot of rain leading upto the first game on that venue.Luckily it kep t dry in the day.

That is important It was dry when the second one dayer was to be played at the Premadasa Stadium. Some areas of the grounds were soggy. They are the low areas on the grounds. The incorrect efforts used by the ground authorities made one area into quagmire! Many other venues in Colombo would have been playable at 10.00 a.m. that day. What is essential for an International cricket ground is to have an even outfield with a gradient for the water to flow naturally away from the centre square;.

A drainage system that ensures flow to a periphery drain and from there onto a road drain. All this is essential. the grass on the outfield must also have a thin blade. That helps water on the surface to reach the soil quicker and also assists evaporation through more available pores. The R. Premadasa Stadium lacks most of these requirements.

The governing body does not lose. They have insured themselves against loss of revenue through rain. TV broadcasters will lose should they not have insured this time span. The players lose out on obtaining a result and the experience. it is the spectator who loses the most. they pay money and end up getting no entertainment. Upgrading conditions to counter wet weather is essential for any international cricket ground.

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