Rain again steals show as Sri Lanka seal series 1-0

For the second time in three days, the weather had the final say. 

The third and final One-Day International (ODI) between West Indies and Sri Lanka was abandoned without a ball bowled yesterday, handing the visitors a rain-hit but decisive 1-0 series victory after their 41-run win in the opener.

Saturday’s second ODI had already been washed out, and for West Indies captain Shai Hope, the frustration was palpable, but his post-mortem was refreshingly frank.

“We can’t control Mother Nature,” Hope said after the abandonment. “It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t get in two solid games of cricket to give ourselves a chance to get back into the series. But we still have to learn the importance of playing every single moment we get, because we didn’t know what was going to happen today, or the previous ODI.”

While the rain robbed the home side of a shot at redemption, Hope refused to let the series washout become a total loss. He pointed to genuine signs of progress from the first ODI in a match West Indies lost despite a spirited fight.

“I still have to give credit to the guys for what they did well. I think the bowlers hit their straps, especially in the first powerplay. Those are areas we’ve fallen on in the last couple of years, so it’s good to see we can pick some positives from that first ODI,” he said.

“We can’t control the weather. Hopefully, we can take those learnings into the New Zealand series.”

With the Sri Lanka chapter closed frustratingly, and the T20 series is set to begin on Thursday, Hope urged his team to remain focused for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, with those fixtures carrying serious World Cup qualification implications.

“Extremely important. I’ve always stressed it, every single game matters. Especially now. I wouldn’t say it’s crunch time yet, but with the importance of every game, we need to look at it as the last one.

“Not to put pressure on the group, but to emphasise what we have to do over the coming days. Keep learning from these experiences. I hope the guys can transfer all the knowledge and communication we have amongst each other into more successful performances as a team.”