IANS, Colombo, March 26: There were showers at daybreak here and the weatherman forecast a thunderstorm and more rain as the city prepared for the Cricket World Cup quarterfinal between Sri Lanka and England at the R. Premadasa Stadium Saturday afternoon.
It rained Friday too, forcing the Sri Lankans to cancel their morning practice session. Another sharp shower in the afternoon and tarpaulins came out to cover the entire outfield.
Heavy rain washed out the group A match between Sri Lanka and Australia after 32.5 overs on March 6, leaving a packed house of 35,000 disappointed.
However, one reserve day has been provided to take care of rain interruptions in all the knockout games, including the semifinals and the final.
Play will be continued from where it stopped on the scheduled day of the matches if it spills over into the reserve day, as per the playing conditions of the tournament.
'There shall be one reserve day allocated to the quarterfinals, semifinals and final on which an incomplete match shall be continued from the scheduled day,' say the playing conditions.
'Every effort will be made to complete the match on the scheduled day with any necessary reduction in overs taking place and only if the minimum number of overs necessary to constitute a match cannot be bowled on the scheduled day will the match be completed on the reserve day,' the playing conditions say.