Eoin Morgan is confident England’s tour to Sri Lanka during the monsoon season can still produce worthwhile cricket after the one-day series opener in Dambulla was abandoned owing to a sodden outfield and after only 60 minutes of play.
The day-night match had begun on time in sunshine and England moved to 92 for two from 15 overs after being inserted but then four hours of heavy rain left sections of the playing surface soaked and deemed dangerous by the umpires following what appeared to be an impressive clear-up by 60 groundstaff.
There are reserve days set aside for Saturday’s second fixture at the same ground (the forecast is poor) and the fifth in Colombo. The administrators who scheduled a tour during one of the island’s wettest months must surely be feeling sheepish but the England captain does not expect it to be a wasted trip.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” Morgan said. “Unfortunately, when the covers came off there was a lot of overflow and it left three or four areas of concern. It gets to that stage where player safety is paramount and I think they made the right call.
“But we have two games with reserve days – not to sound pessimistic – and we will get some games in.”
Morgan, who handed a debut to the fast bowler Olly Stone and opted for Liam Dawson as the third spinner, was unbeaten on 14 with Joe Root, 24 not out, for company when the officials called on the ground staff in advance of the impending deluge.
It followed the loss of Jonny Bairstow, caught behind on 25 off the seamer Nuwan Pradeep after striking four fours, and Jason Roy, who gifted a catch to mid-off when trying to take down the mystery spin of Akhila Dananjaya on 24, in the space of four deliveries.
The pair did bring up a landmark during their 49-run opening stand, becoming the first England partnership to pass 1,000 ODI runs together in a calendar year in only their 18th innings. Nick Knight’s and Marcus Trescothick’s 794 runs from 24 in 2002 is the next best on the list.
Chris Jordan will join the squad for the one-off Twenty20 international on 27 October.
