Just washed out

6:30am Thur Dec 2007 two of us were at Gatwick airport. Been up for about 24hrs so not quite with it but we were slowly progressing out of work mode and into holiday mode. Most of the lads were already there. We were due to land at 7:30am Fri 21st Dec 2007 and the plan was to make a quick escape to Kosgoda and on Sat “nip” down to Galle and catch the last day of the final day of the SL Vs Eng Test match.

After checking in and doing the traditional duty free rounds we were standing in queue for a McBreakfast meal. Mahela had his double century and declared at 499, England had just come to bat. It took about 10 - 15 min for us to get to the front of the queue, by then Eng were 33/6. Now it was looking like there wasn’t going to be a 5th day. Our plans start to go south.

We call the boys already in Lanka to check if everything was ready to go. More bad news accomadation in Kosgoda has pretty much fallen through. Plans B and C were set in motion and we got ready to board the plan. Next update was due when we were in transit some 7hrs later in Doha, Qatar.

When we landed in Doha, England were all done in their first innings for their lowest ever score against Sri Lanka 0f 81. And unsurprisingly put straight back in for a second go. Update from the boys, plans B and C ain’t looking good. Also weather reports for Galle were not good, rain predicted for Fri and Sat.

7:30am had landed in Colombo and by 10am at home sat in front of the TV. England were not looking as easy to shift this time around but with plenty of time Sri Lanka could still win this one. By now it was confirmed no accommodation and strong chance of rain so we bagged the idea of actually going down south to watch it and settled in front of the TV. At 102/1 on Fri evening and rain predicted it was still a dead cert that England were going to go from No. 2 to No. 3 literally over night. It was still up to the weather gods as to if SL were to go from No. 5 to No. 2 or 3.

And then the rain started to pour in Galle. It was not too long gone 12pm on Sat. It was a really disappointing end to a bit of a weird test series. There were many records broken and some brilliant batting performances by Sanga and Mahel that made some excellent displays by the likes of Vandort, Dhilshan, Jayasuriya and Vass forgetable. We deserved to win 2 - 0 and rise to No. 2 and Eng performance was so rubbish that then deserved to loose as such. In any case it is a series victory and a rise in the ranks.