ICC World Cup 19 | Mashrafe Mortaza and Dimuth Karunaratne left disappointed after Bristol washout

After a second consecutive match at the marquee event was cancelled earlier today due to heavy showers, the captains of the two outfits agreed that it was quite a disappointing experience but that they could use the opportunity to prepare better for their future games in the competition. With both teams having won a game apiece so far in the quadrennial tournament, the match was anticipated to be a highly competitive one but the fans were in for disappointment due to the weather.

“For all the teams, coming to the ground and not playing is disappointing and frustrating,” said the Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza.

His team made a strong statement by defeating the Proteas in their opening match in the World Cup but have since squandered an opportunity to win a close match against New Zealand after being on the front foot for long before getting humiliated by the hosts in their most recent match.

“This is how the tournament is going, we got our chances against New Zealand, we couldn't get going in the England match, but it was frustrating today. I think Shakib will be fine. He still has four-five days to recover. Taunton, yes, is a very small ground, and especially against West Indies, it isn't going to be easy. But we don't have much of an option apart from playing hard,” he added.

Sri Lanka’s previous game against Pakistan had also been cancelled without either team getting to even step onto the field, which means Sri Lanka have played only two of the four possible matches so far in the tournament. After being on the wrong side of a humiliation in their World Cup opener which the Black Caps won by 10 wickets, they made a good comeback by winning their next match against Afghanistan. However, when they next take the field, it would have been 11 days since they last played a match.

“The last few games have been washed out, so these kind of tournaments aren't easy. It is a bad time for us. We just play some cards, but it isn't easy, we have to switch on and off all the time. These kind of things can happen but we have to get used to it. We can keep practicing and train harder for the Australia game. Definitely, in every match, we need to play for a win. The middle-order is trying to play hard and prove their worth, hopefully in the next game,” said their skipper, Dimuth Karunaratne.

Sri Lanka will face off against the Kangaroos on Saturday in their next match whereas the Tigers will go head to head against West Indies on Monday.