Sri Lanka v Ireland: Match delayed due to wet outfield – Cricket News Update
The scheduled Tri-Nation One Day International (ODI) clash between Sri Lanka and Ireland has been delayed due to wet outfield at the Grange Cricket Club, Edinburgh, today, July 11, 2011.
The match was due to be started at 10:45am local time (09:45 GMT) but the inhospitable weather has not yet allowed the players to step out into the field.
The conditions got worse because of the heavy overnight rain at Edinburgh. A few moments ago, the Umpires walked into the middle to inspect the prevailing conditions and decided to delay the game since the conditions are not suitable for play yet.
The match officials also called for a pitch inspection at 1:00pm local time which means that there will not be any play for next few hours. After heavy showers in the morning, the weather dried up for sometime but the recently-started drizzling has once again forced grounds-men to cover the pitch.
The Lankan Lions are coming to the game after playing a thrilling ODI series against England, which was eventually won by the home side 3-2. After suffering embarrassing defeats in the Test and ODI series, the game against Ireland will be Sri Lanka’s massive opportunity to put their game back on the winning ways.
On the other hand, the Irishmen also tasted a bitter 2-0 defeat to Pakistan in the recent ODI series. A few days ago, International Cricket Council (ICC) reversed its decision to restrict the World Cup 2015 to just 10 teams, allowing minnows such as Ireland to participate in the mega event.
The Irish team will have to put up a decent performance in today’s game in order to justify their place in the showpiece event.
There are still a lot of empty seats in the stadium as the fans of both teams are waiting for the conditions to improve. The inspection is due at 1:00pm and the play is expected to start at 1:45pm, provided no more rain at Edinburgh.
Ireland Squad:
AR Cusack, GH Dockrell, DT Johnston, NG Jones, GJ McCarter, JF Mooney, KJ O'Brien, NJ O'Brien†, WTS Porterfield*, AD Poynter, WB Rankin, PR Stirling, AR White, GC Wilson
Sri Lanka Squad:
LD Chandimal, TM Dilshan*, DPMD Jayawardene, S Randiv, SHT Kandamby, FDM Karunaratne, KMDN Kulasekara, RAS Lakmal, SL Malinga, AD Mathews, BAW Mendis, BMAJ Mendis, NLTC Perera, KTGD Prasad, KC Sangakkara†
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