West Indies first warm-up game on their tour of Sri Lanka was abandoned on Monday, after torrential downpours over the weekend washed out two full days of play.
The poor weather raises fears that the tourists may start a three-Test series against Sri Lanka next worryingly short of match practice.
Large pools of water covered the outfield at Nondescripts Cricket Club after an early morning storm and with play always unlikely the West Indies players went for an indoor training session.
The team will now leave Colombo for the southern town of Matara hoping that the weather improves for their last scheduled practice game on 8-10 November.
Captain Carl Hooper, admitted that the untimely bad weather was frustrating: "We really wanted to play the last two days of this game, with the Test series not being far away."
"The bowlers really need to have a proper run-out here so that they can get used to the pitches and the humidity," he said. "Unfortunately, in the nets here, they have to bowl off shortened run-ups."
"We can't do anything about the weather though and we are just hoping that the weather improves for our final practice game in Matara."
West Indies batsmen enjoyed the sunnier conditions on Saturday and piled up 334 for seven against a Sri Lanka A with Hooper scoring a serene century. Hooper, however, was disappointed that the batsmen hadn't occupied the crease for a longer period.
"I would have preferred it if the players had had more extended stints in the middle," he said. "A few of us got starts, but only Brian (Lara) and I batted for two hours or more and only I had a really decent amount of time out there."
He was happy with his form: "I have been feeling good with the bat and have been hitting the ball well since the domestic one-day tournament back in the Caribbean."
Brian Lara scored 43 from 103 balls on Saturday and was far from his best, but he, at least, showed no signs of being hampered by his hamstring injury.
"Brian was keen to spend time in the middle, so that he could get used to the pace of the pitches," said Hooper. "He had a decent hit and lets hope he gets a second one in Matara. His hamstring seems ok. He got through a conditioning session today without any problems."
© CricInfo
| Teams | Sri Lanka. |
| Players/Umpires | Carl Hooper, Brian Lara. |
| Tours | West Indies in Sri Lanka |
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