The problem of night-time dew for the side fielding second under the Gaddafi Stadium floodlights is so acute that after about 15 overs, the ball feels and acts like a bar of soap.
Arjuna Ranatunga, captain of World Cup holders Sri Lanka, claims that losing the toss and being made to bowl in the evening reduces a side's chances of winning by up to 40 per cent.
Sides fielding at night have the utmost difficulty handling the white ball, with the ground sopping wet and the ball as greasy as melted butter. Regular ball changes do little to help: the more a player wipes it on his towel, the more discoloured it becomes and the harder to see. By then it does not swing, seam or turn.
The players have condemned the conditions. South Africa's Allan Donald terms it ``ludicrous'', the West Indies captain Courtney Walsh ``quite impossible''.
The West Indies have lost the toss in all three of their games, and even their most experienced quick bowlers have struggled. Walsh says, with a rueful smile, that there is only one answer: ``Change to daytime.''
Two other captains, South Africa's Hansie Cronje and Pakistan's Wasim Akram, supported his calls for rescheduling the remaining matches, including tomorrow's final. There has also been pressure for two balls to be used in each innings.
Yet the power of television and the International Cricket Council's rigidity have condemned the teams to carry on with what has become little more than a lottery, the spin of a coin almost guaranteeing success or failure.
A captains' deputation approached Majid Khan, chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, only to be told that television commitments the series is being shown live in Asia and in South Africa - and commercial sponsorship deals prevent a change of timing.
Match referee Ahmed Ebrahim, from Zimbabwe, was sympathetic to the idea of using two balls, but could not find a consensus of views among the teams.
He then discovered his hands were tied by ICC playing regulations which state that one ball only must be used per innings. The ICC do not allow the referee the power of executive action to deal with an emergency.
In an effort to alleviate the problem, rubber piping is dragged over the outfield during the evening drinks breaks but Cronje said: ``It makes little difference.''
So a major international series marking the 50th anniversary of Pakistan's independence seems doomed to a soggy denouement.
South Africa ended a run of nine straight international wins by Sri Lanka when they beat the World Cup holders by 66 runs in the final preliminary game yesterday.
Lance Klusener, the Natal all-rounder several English counties tried to sign last summer, won the man-of-the-match award for his half-century and his first four wickets in the space of 14 balls. Batting as a pinch-hitter, Klusener's fifty came up off 35 balls, including nine fours and a six. His six for 49 was his best one-day international bowling performance.
Both sides were experimenting with their formations before they meet again in the final tomorrow for the £12,000 prize.