Summary
Well, there’s not much to summarise today unfortunately. We started with a light drizzle and the hope of an exciting match to follow, but those hopes were slowly washed away in a flood of Colombo rain. Eventually logic prevailed and match officials decided not to make the teams sit and watch the rain fall for another 2.5 hours until the cut off time to have a 20-over match expired. Alyssa Healy and Chamari Athapaththu shook hands and the players are getting a few selfies in with the crowd before packing up and heading back to their hotels.
Thanks for joining us, hopefully you’ve been kept somewhat entertained even with the complete lack of cricket taking place. Join us next time – until then, stay dry and maybe try dreaming about cricket tonight?
Match abandoned
Word has just come through from the ground that the game has officially been abandoned. Not unexpected news, but disappointing for both teams nonetheless.
So, what are the implications for the tournament if this match is washed out? Firstly, as we have already touched on, it is good news for England. Australia will jump up above them for now, but if England get the win against Bangladesh on Tuesday, they will leapfrog Australia again. This match is unlikely to do anything drastic, like keep Australia out of the semi finals, but if India and England can continue to rack up wins, they can keep that psychological edge of being a point out in front of the defending champions.
I’ve now begun researching rainfall in Sri Lanka and my preliminary investigations have led me to the conclusion that October is indeed an incredibly rainy month in Colombo particularly. That news doesn’t help us at all, but isn’t it a nice silver lining of a rain delay when you get to learn something?
OK, here we go with part two. I know you’ve been on the edge of your seats.
Lover – This is sweet pop, it’s delightful and happy, but with a bit of authority to it as well. It’s Darcie Brown to a tee.
Folklore – This one is a bit broody, it’s cottage-core, it’s the pandemic, it’s Tahlia McGrath.
Evermore – A sister album to Folklore, it’s mysterious and vibey. Georgia Wareham is Evermore.
Midnights – I can’t go past Alana King for this one. A return to bold pop for Taylor, it makes a statement and so does King.
The Tortured Poets Department – This one is poetic, full of longing and stories yet to be told. It must belong to the return queen herself Sophie Molineux.
The Life of a Showgirl – This is the easiest one – Phoebe Litchfield is surely living the life of a showgirl, but with fewer feathers and sequins and more reverse sweeps.
Before we get into part two, Mark Hooper has dropped in with an email to save me from myself:
This rain can only help England with their run rate, surely?
Personally I think England need little help with their net run rate after that massive win yesterday, but yes – not giving Australia a chance to rack up their own massive wins is always quite useful.
I just saw a video on Instagram of the Australian players being quizzed on their Swiftie status, so I thought I’d bring you some rain delay content that nobody asked for – an absolutely non-definitive list of which Australian players represent which Taylor Swift era. Here’s part one:
Taylor Swift (debut album) – For classic, old school Taylor Swift vibes, it has to be Ellyse Perry. She’s been around since the dawn of time, she’s a debut album to her core.
Fearless – I can’t go past Ash Gardner for this one. She’s bold, she’s a little bit country, she scores centuries. She is Fearless.
Speak Now – This is an album with authority and that means it must be Alyssa Healy. What else do wicketkeepers love than being given permission to Speak Now?
Red – This honour belongs to Beth Mooney. If you’re asking why, you’ve clearly never seen the colour of her face when she has batted for longer than 10 minutes.
1989 – A classic of the pop genre, this is the album that launched Swift into superstardom. For me, this one is Annabel Sutherland – a star on the rise indeed.
Reputation – This one is a bad girl for sure. Unfortunately there are no bad girls in the Australian team, they are all sunshine and golden halos. But Megan Schutt has a little bit of bite about her, like maybe she has the potential to be a bad girl in her post-cricket life, so she gets this one.
Apologies if you’re getting bored of hearing about this rain, but I would just like to make it clear how very wet it is out there.
It's a proper shower now. Looks really unlikely. Packed press box. Just allround heartbreaking this for Sri Lanka especially. #AUSvSL #CWC25 @sportstarweb pic.twitter.com/jpQ6lanwHV
— Lavanya 🎙️🎥👩🏻💻 (@lav_narayanan) October 4, 2025
News from the ground is that it has continued to get darker, with clouds setting in. Lightning is still flashing away in the background and the light drizzle that we started with, back when we were full of bright hopes for the game ahead, has turned into heavy rain. The broadcasters have gone for a nap and are just giving us a black screen with “Please stay tuned. There’s a weather-related delay” flashing on and off the screen. Things are grim my friends.
An update from Cricket Australia’s Laura Jolly. We’re still about 3.5 hours away from that cut off time, so strap in I guess?
Very dark and wet in Colombo now - still lightning around and we've started losing overs. Cut off time for 20-a-side is 8.08pm #CWC25 #AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/2krYSQUmEA
— Laura Jolly (@JollyLauz18) October 4, 2025
This same ground is set to host India v Pakistan tomorrow and Emma John has some insights into the broader implications around that game. A good read while we’re waiting for weather-related news.
If you’d like to save me from typing into the void, please send me an email! You’ll find the link at the top of the page. Whether you’ve got predictions for the tournament, a favourite moment from the matches played so far or a particularly useful insight into Sri Lankan weather – I want to hear from you!
The rain continues to fall in Colombo. We’ve now hit the one hour point since the scheduled start time of the match, so from here we’ll lose overs from the game. We’ll let you know when we get updates about how many overs that’s likely to be and any tentative start times.
No new updates from the ground, so let’s take a look at what Chamari Athapaththu can do. As I mentioned earlier, she is the key to the Sri Lankan team and here is a great summation of what she can do.
From friend of the OBO Mrinal Asija, it seems like the lightning is not easing up in Colombo.
#CWC25 pic.twitter.com/PucaQQn4Br
— Mrinal Asija (@mrinaaal) October 4, 2025
At least someone is enjoying the rain delay – Phoebe Litchfield is always a vibe.
Phoebe is Phoebeeing while the rain delay is here! #CWC25 #AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/Igkolnab2q
— AsliBCCIWomen (@AsliBCCIWomen) October 4, 2025
Some news from the ground now – groundstaff had started to take the covers off, but just as they began, lightning reared its ugly head and they went right back on again. At least 20 overs per side is required for the match to be counted and an extra hour of playing time is allotted to make up for delayed starts. So there’s still a chance we get a match in today, but we will have to continue waiting for now.
Updated
And here’s something I prepared earlier about the next generation of Australians and what the team will look like in the future, poised as we are at the end of an era.
If you’d like to read up on Sri Lanka’s first game of the tournament before we get underway here, we’ve got you covered there as well!
If you’d like some more reading material while we wait for this rain to clear, check out Raf Nicholson’s fantastic report on England’s demolition job of South Africa yesterday.
While you’re waiting for news from Colombo, we’ve got another cricket blog running – keep an eye on the Australia v New Zealand men’s T20 in Tauranga with the excellent James Wallace.
Seems like they take their covers pretty seriously in Sri Lanka – this looks like it’s going to keep the outfield pretty dry.
There's been some thunder and light rain around Colombo this morning, and another sprinkle just now has seen the full-ground covers pulled back on. Toss is due in 15 minutes, which looks unlikely at this stage #AUSvSL #CWC25 pic.twitter.com/r87MfG2EdZ
— Laura Jolly (@JollyLauz18) October 4, 2025
Start delayed due to a wet outfield
Not a fantastic update to have to share first up – seems like delayed starts are the trend in Australia’s matches today. Rain also delayed the start of the Australian Men’s team’s game against New Zealand earlier today! News from the ground is that the rain isn’t heavy and people are walking around without umbrellas, but it is continuing to fall at the moment. We will keep you updated!
Updated
Preamble
Hello and welcome, wherever you’re joining us from around the world!
It’s time for another match in the women’s Cricket World Cup, with Australia searching for their second win of the tournament after a hefty defeat of New Zealand a couple of days ago. Sri Lanka will be hoping to bounce back from their opening round defeat at the hands of their co-hosts India.
Sri Lanka have never beaten Australia in an ODI before, with Australia winning all 11 matches between the two teams. However, I think we can all agree that 11 is not a statistically significant number here – I don’t think we can say with certainty that Sri Lanka aren’t capable of coming up with a win.
They certainly nearly managed it back in the 2017 World Cup when Chamari Athapaththu scored 178* from 143 and the Australian bowlers did not seem to have a plan to counteract her. It was only a captain’s knock of 152* from Meg Lanning that saved the day for Australia that day.
Athapaththu holds the key to Sri Lanka’s chances once again in this match – if she can rack up a big score, her team may be able to pull off the upset. The Australians will know this and will be looking to target her weakness – when she is starved of runs early, she has a tendency to get frustrated and throw her wicket away trying to up the run rate.
It’s shaping up to be a fascinating match, so let’s get started! And remember you can send me an email – details are at the top of the page – if you’ve got any insights to share.
