Rain frustrates West Indies in Jamaica

Persistent rain at Sabina Park Jamaica not only caused the third One Day International between West Indies and Sri Lanka to be abandoned on Monday, but also resulted in West Indies losing their first home series in the format for three years.

Sri Lanka won the opening game of the three match series by 41 runs at Sabina Park, but the second match was also abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The result means West Indies also missed out on critical points in their race to automatically qualify for next year’s World Cup ahead of the March 2027 cut off date, which will see the top nine ranked teams automatically qualifying.  

The West Indies currently occupy 10th position.

Speaking following the abandonment, West Indies captain Shai Hope said lessons could be learnt from the series defeat.

West Indies captain Shai Hope (left) and Sri Lankan skipper Kusal Mendis (. (Photo Credit: Randy Brooks)

“We can’t control Mother Nature. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t get in two solid games of cricket to give ourselves a chance to get back into the series.

“But yeah, we still have to see the importance of playing every single moment because we didn’t know what was gonna happen today,” Hope said.

Hope maintained a positive outlook despite the series defeat and noted that his side played well in segments of the opening game defeat.

“I still must give credit to the guys when they did well. I think the bowlers hit their straps, especially in the first power play. There’s some areas that we fell down in the last couple of years, so it’s good to see we can pick some positives from the first ODI, [and hopefully] we can take those learnings into the New Zealand series,” he added.

Hope was also keen to stress the importance of clinching the points available in the upcoming series against New Zealand in the Caribbean, with World Cup qualification still pending.

“I always mention and would continue to stress it, every single game matters. Every single game is very important for us. I wouldn’t say it’s crunch time as yet, but we need to look at it as the last one. Not to put any pressure on the group, but we just got to keep learning from these experiences,” he said.

Before the ODI’s against New Zealand, Hope’s focus will switch to the upcoming three match T20 series against Sri Lanka.

“We just want to see a turnaround. You want to be on the winning end of any series regardless of the format. We didn’t get the success in this ODI series, but we’ve got some experience that we can bank on.

“Most of the guys coming off the World Cup had some success over there, unfortunately not the ultimate success. But we’ve gotta lean on the experience from the guys, the knowledge that we have as a T20 group, and try to put our best foot forward in terms of turning things around in this series and getting this win in the T20 format,” Hope said.

(KH)