Colombo’s downpour of disappointment
The ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup has been overshadowed by one persistent, frustrating factor that had nothing to do with bat or ball. Colombo’s monsoon rains have left a trail of abandoned games, shattered aspirations and widespread frustration, prompting fresh questions over scheduling and planning for the sport’s most prestigious event for the women.
Sri Lanka’s campaign never really stood a chance once the clouds decided to intervene. On Friday, their final match against Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium fizzled out after only 4.2 overs. That was the third time in just five matches that Sri Lanka didn’t get a full game. All those plans drawn up in team meetings, the hours of training, the hunger to make a mark on home soil, washed away. Literally.
Rain has been a constant spoiler at RPICS
The statistics tell a story that nobody wanted to write. Eleven matches were supposed to be played in Colombo. Only four managed to cross the finish line without help from the Duckworth-Lewis method or ending prematurely. Five were abandoned outright. A World Cup turned into a waiting game, where the biggest battle was against weather apps and grey skies.
Sri Lanka, a team fighting hard to climb the rankings, were left stranded by the very conditions they know all too well. October afternoons here are infamous. Yet five of their matches were placed in Colombo during peak monsoon, which feels like an open invitation to chaos. Every time they gathered momentum, the rain did the job of slowing them down.
Pakistan can hardly be blamed for feeling just as bruised by the experience. Three of their fixtures in the capital never left the runway. No wins, no rhythm, just frustration. Captain Fatima Sana, diplomatic but clear in her message as she summed it up with the simplicity only sport can provide.
“We wait four years for this tournament,” she said.
“Weather did not go in our favour. ICC must arrange good venues for World Cups.”
At 23, leading her team on the biggest stage, she has already learned the hard truth that timing matters. And this tournament’s timing was off.
New Zealand will replay the what-ifs for a long time. Two abandoned matches and a third decided by DLS ended their semi-final dreams before they had the chance to fight for them. Sophie Devine, likely playing her last 50-over World Cup, could barely hold back her disappointment.
“You wait four years for a World Cup and to have to suffer through the rain,” she said, calling for earlier start times in future tournaments.
Morning sunshine in Colombo is far more reliable than evenings soaked in thunderstorms. The forecast was not a secret. Everyone saw this coming, except apparently the people who made the schedule.
Political tensions between India and Pakistan forced the shift of matches to Sri Lanka. Even so, Colombo’s well-known monsoon was a warning sign bright enough for anyone to see. Organisers bet against the weather. The weather won.
Chamari Athapaththu tried her best to take the philosophical route. She urged her teammates to control the controllables. Yet there was no masking the irritation of watching dreams dissolve into puddles before a ball could be properly bowled.
For all three teams – Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand – the rain did more than just disrupt play. It denied them momentum, robbed batters of form, curtailed bowlers’ opportunities and diluted the intensity of performances that define World Cup campaigns.
With the action now shifting to India, optimism hangs in the air again. All anyone wants is cricket that decides cricketing outcomes. The rain has had more than enough say.