LAUDERHILL: Heavy rain and a waterlogged outfield led to the abandonment of the T20 World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Nepal on Tuesday in Florida.

The result meant that Group ‘D’ leaders South Africa, who have won all three of their games, became the first team to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

Rain had poured down for most of the day, with flood warnings in place around the region, but a break in the weather led ground staff to begin the task of trying to dry the field.

However, to the disappointment of the large and lively contingent of Nepalese fans in the Central Broward Stadium, after an hour of working on removing the standing water, officials called the game off, leaving the teams to share the points.

Sri Lanka, having lost their opening two games against South Africa and Bangladesh, are now on the brink of mathematical elimination from the competition.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s team are bottom of the group with just one point and look certain to crash out unless other results go their way.

“It’s not going to be easy for us and it would be a miracle actually,” Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana said of their chances of advancing. They will conclude their group campaign against the Netherlands on Sunday and Theekshana acknowledged nothing had clicked for them in the 20-team tournament.

“We didn’t bat well, we didn’t assess the conditions really well and our plans, everything went wrong,” the off-spinner said.

Nepal are also winless after two matches and face South Africa on Friday.

“Obviously we want the sun to shine and have a proper game,” Nepal coach Monty Desai told reporters. “We know that we are walking into the unknowns. We have never played South Africa before.

“But at the same time, the morale in the camp (is high)…”

Rain and thunderstorms are predicted for the remainder of the week during which India, Pakistan, Ireland and Canada have fixtures scheduled in Florida.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2024