Friday’s World Cup fixture between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Bristol was washed out without a ball bowled.
- No play, whatsoever, possible in Bristol
- Sri Lanka jumped to third position on 10-team log
- Pakistan skipped from eighth to fourth
Inclement weather across the region eventually forced umpires Nigel Llong and Ian Gould to cancel the match more than five hours after the scheduled start.
The outcome afforded Sri Lanka and Pakistan a point each. The Sri Lankans moved from seventh to third in the 2019 tournament’s 10-team standings – and the Pakistanis from eighth to fourth.
Captain Dimuth Karunaratne had hoped to mitigate concern over Sri Lanka’s under-performing batting order during Friday’s match. Sri Lanka slipped to 137 all out in defeat to New Zealand at the start of the tournament – and earlier this week collapsed from 92 without loss to 201 all out against Afghanistan.
‘I believe this is the best batting order we have. I’ve played a lot with Kusal Perera, I have faith in him. Lahiru Thirimanne is a reliable player who can pace his innings. The middle order is okay,’ said Karunaratne during Thursday’s pre-match media conference.
‘Angelo Mathews is a player with a lot of experience, and this sort of thing happen to players however good you are. But with their experience, once they get going, you cannot stop them from scoring runs. I have plenty of faith in them and I think they will perform well against Pakistan.’
Thursday saw Australia beat the West Indies at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Saturday will see England host Bangladesh at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff – and Afghanistan clash with New Zealand in Taunton.
Photo: Getty Images
