Thunder storm ends gritty battle

The rain,meanwhile,kept pouring relentlessly,creating a multitude of puddles all over the army-green tarpaulins that covered the playing area.

Bare-chested,dripping wet and with pink shorts hanging well below his waist,he essayed a number of graceful shots with an invisible bat before dancing in front of an amused crowd. The ultra-enthusiastic and probably intoxicated fan was not the only one who braved the rain and trespassed onto the almost completely covered field at the R Premadasa Stadium on Saturday. Unlike in India,the encroachers were not dragged off the ground by police personnel but chaperoned out. The rain,meanwhile,kept pouring relentlessly,creating a multitude of puddles all over the army-green tarpaulins that covered the playing area.

Tait strikes early blow

The signs had been ominous from early in the day,well before the Sri Lankan and Australian teams entered the field for the highly-anticipated clash between the finalists of the last World Cup. And by the time opener Tillakaratane Dilshan and pacer Shaun Tait got involved in a squabble,dark and gloomy clouds had already converged over the stadium from at least three different directions. With constant thunder and lightning lighting up the sky,there seemed to be a battle raging in the heavens too.

While Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera steadied their team8217;s slightly shaky ship,it seemed only a matter of time before the imminent downpour would flood the stadium. The Sri Lankan score read 146/3,with the Australians having delivered one ball short of 33 overs,when the two teams finally walked off and the groundstaff rushed in. The eventual result or no result seemed pretty obvious then and there even though the umpires took a further two hours to call off the contest.

Underestimating Australia perilous

By then,Ricky Ponting and his bowlers had done enough to make it clear that underestimating the three-time defending champions would indeed be a perilous exercise in the coming weeks. Shaun Tait and Brett Lee had bowled with venom with the new-ball. Both Sri Lankan openers were made to hop in their crease . And it was a pacy yet wide Tait delivery that accounted for Dilshan.

Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson too looked impressive in their respective spells,while off-spinner Jason Krejza seemed to settle into his role as his team8217;s frontline spin exponent. Ponting8217;s use of his fast bowlers in short spells also seemed judicious considering the humid conditions. At one point,all four Australian pace bowlers had bowled four overs each. Steve Smith,meanwhile,had provided two sparkling moments in the field an acrobatic catch at point in addition to an off-balance direct-hit to get rid of Mahela Jayawardene. The Sri Lankans meanwhile looked jittery,and Sangakkara,despite remaining unbeaten on 73,never looked settled at the crease.

While the players sat in the dressing-room,the dancing in the stands continued into the 8211;night oblivious to the rain. Well before the security personnel all donning black overcoats positioned themselves strategically around the ground,it was clear that the two teams would have to settle for a point each. And along with bringing an anticlimactic end to Australia8217;s winning streak in the World Cup,the unsavoury weather had also all but ended Sri Lanka8217;s hopes of topping their group.