8:25pm And that will be a wrap from us. Not quite what we were looking forward to, and a bit of a damp squib for both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who would have wanted to sign off with a win. We will be back tomorrow, though, with renewed hope of having a full game of cricket, and it promises to be a cracker, with Australia taking on South Africa. Until then, from Madushka, Ranjith, myself (Shashwat) and all of us here at ESPNcricinfo, it is goodbye!

Chamari Athapaththu, Sri Lanka captain: I will try to control what I can control. I feel, as a team, expectation is high when we came into this World Cup. Unfortunately, we lost first game against India and then against England. We did a lot of mistakes in the field, with the bat and with the ball. Did not go our way unfortunately but we will focus on what we can do in the future. (Blend of youth and experience) We have good young players and good senior players. The seniors always talk to youngsters and give advice. As a captain, I am trying to free all the girls, and ask them to play positive cricket. We have a good domestic structure, we are playing a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka, and hopefully we can play a lot of good cricket in the future. (On how close they are to the top teams) Compared to SA, NZ and India, we beat them sometimes in the last few months, and we beat England in England in another format (in T20Is). Whoever plays their best cricket, wins. We have to improve in our batting, play for longer and play our natural game. Most important thing is patience. I think we are very close (to the top teams), but we need to improve on our cricket. If we do so many mistakes, we cannot win the game. We did so many mistakes against India and England, and that is why we are in this position. (On if she will keep playing for Sri Lanka) Hopefully, I played a couple of world cups. I am 35, looking forward to play some cricket and build for the future. This is toughest conditions, playing in rain and under lights, let's see what we can do in the future.

Fatima Sana, Pakistan captain: (Reflections on the World Cup) We were very good in bowling and in fielding, but we are lacking in batting. In couple of matches, we were up to a very good mark and we were very close against Australia and England, but unfortunately, we were not crossing the line, and that is the main thing. (On performances against Australia and England) As a captain and youngest captain, these matches give me a lot of boost. The only thing is weather did not go in our favour in the England match and the other matches. ICC must arrange good venues for World Cup because we are waiting for four years. We are not playing much cricket in the recent past. Definitely we need much more cricket after the World Cups. Next year, we have T20 World Cup as well, and hopefully we get more cricket and we prepare well for the next big event. (On their upcoming assignments) Let's see what PCB arranges for us. After this, we have two series. We are waiting, let's see (what awaits us). (Pressure of captaincy) I am in a learning phase, and I am always watching Kane Williamson. He also lost a close World Cup but (he is) still smiling. As captain (and youngest captain), you have to believe in yourself. Hopefully in the next World Cup and next matches, we are a much stronger team. (On note from mascot before the national anthem) She said to take her number and that she was my biggest fan. I was laughing because I am always standing by her side during the national anthems. I love her company. When I saw our legends, like Sana and Bismah, I was literally a net bowler in the West Indies series in 2017. When Hayley and Dottin came to practice, they were praising my bowling and that boosted my bowling. They also boost us when we are standing and talking to each other. If we are a good human being, you have to do these things.

8:06pm No ground staff working on the covers now and Athapaththu did seem to gesture to the dressing room that this game may have been called off. And now there is official confirmation too. The game has been called off. Rain 5-0 Women's World Cup.

7:59pm The pitch now wears an uncovered look. The umpires had a chat to the curator and the two on-field umpires and the fourth umpire then move away from the pitch. Not sure what to make of that, but we should hear about that and the prospects of this game.

Sam: "How many overs expected?" -- Tough to say at the moment. Contingent on when play resumes.

Walt: "Kiwi here. Can confirm the weather has played havoc with the men's T20I series between us and England, and will likely come around again in the forthcoming ODI series too. Been hammered from both ends!"

7:50pm Fidel chimes in saying the inspection is underway currently. The band is belting out tunes with full gusto, even as the umpires indulge in a more measured and sombre chat. There are a few areas they seemed to be concerned about going by their body language (although I may not be the best body language reader out there).

Paritosh: "In hindsight the Sri Lanka vs New Zealand match getting washed out hurt them both simultaneously. The current match and India vs Bangladesh match would have been very very interesting from semi-final spot perspective."

KK: "I live about 2000 km away from the stadium (...in Mumbai) and it just started raining here " -- So, that means speed of rain > light > sound, in that order?

7:44pm Fidel tells me there will be a pitch inspection at 7:50pm local time. He also adds, though, that most of the ground remains under covers meanwhile.

Suresh: "Glad that the match between India vs Newzealand could be completed yesterday although rain interferences were there .. would have waited till Sunday had the match been washed out" -- NZ would be sick of the rain they have come up against. And to compound matters, they might be heading back home only to be welcomed by some more inclement weather at this time of the year...

7:33pm Hello again, everyone. There is some activity around the covers and it looks like they are being peeled off. And Fidel informs me that the rain has stopped too. Well well, what have we here then?!

7.28pm Ground remains fully covered, no word from Fidel as yet to any potential movement. Here's Shashwat once more then to run the rule over the comments section.

Maverick: "I don't think AI will ever be able to match the typing speed of ESPNCricinfo commentators when Sir Jadeja is bowling. Just saying! "

DaWolf: "@Lunch - money talks, and the various men's series generate a lot more of it. In a series taking place in India & Sri Lanka, it's simply not possible to compete with the IPL or the Mens T20 World Cup. It's still possible to schedule better than this IMO."

Odinlass: "Nothing we say will be heeded, or even heard, by those with the power to improve this sport and its management. It's quite glum really. We are going to keep talking about the issues. Circinfo will continue covering them. But the administrators won't budge. One day it may well come crashing down. Who knows."

Jeevan: "This is inter monsoon season of Sri Lanka. In this period raining is all around the island. Forget about ICC I am sure SLC should know about this, that we dont organized outdoor events in this time of period."

Khanjan: "Is Cricinfo developing AI tool to respond to comments they receive? You already have StatsGuru. " --- Few things in this world AI won't be able to handle, and I think filtering comments based on relevance, match state, and how appropriate it is, is something that will likely always require a human touch.

DaWolf: "Looking through the various options, something around February 2025 would have been good. That's a year before the Mens T20 World Cup, but similar dates and venues. The only real conflict would have been the Women's T20 World Cup in October 2024, but that's still a few months apart."

7.10pm Time to get our hopes up again: "Rain seems to have stopped," says Fidel. "But the whole ground is virtually covered. Looks like they are starting to peel them off again." "Nope it's drizzling again," interjects Fidel. The covers, needless to say, remain firmly in place.

lunch: "@daWolf, who are these schedulers that you empathize with? there must be some overlap between them and those with the money and power to say 2 months per year for IPL and no other cricket allowed in that time. there's a clear hierarchy in cricket and sadly the women's game is not a priority due to money. it's shortsighted, but that's how it is"

Iqbal Siyal : "How many comments does Espncricinfo receive within one minute? How to they manage to read all of them if a number of comments come from the fans simultaneously." --- A peak behind the curtain, so to speak: We have a feed of comments, which is updated periodically. It's certainly not an unmanageable amount, and even if it gets too much, it's rare when there are multiples worth publishing.

SachinVehale: "what this match could have been for Srilanka , had there not been any washouts. might have been SF qualifier " --- IMHO, Colombo is a pretty great venue (rain aside) for tournament matches. Genuine test of both batting and bowling skill, and not merely a run-fest, or indeed one unfair to batters.

DaWolf: "In slight fairness to the schedulers, they have to avoid the IPL, the Mens T20 World Cup & ODI World Cup, the Women's T20 World Cup etc. And it gets crazy hot in India in the middle of summer. Not quite as easy as it first looks. "

Issac: "I also blame PCBs reluctance to travel to India. India did not travel since 2008, and hence declined for CT as well. But Pak did travel in 2023, no reason why they should stop, just as a way to get back. All washed off Pak matches could have been proper results. " --- Think we're well past finger pointing at this point, Isaac. The fact that a game of bat and ball is being impacted by matters completely unrelated to the players or officials involved means that common sense has long been removed from the equation.

Faizan: "This worries me about the men's T20 WC next year..." --- February should be much better in terms of weather, if current climate patterns hold.

Will: "Fear not Madushka, your AI overlords will rust in the weather of Colombo " --- Though the water from those rains might by then be an increasingly rare commodity, considering the amount of water consumed by said overlords. Apologies for the grimness on an already gloomy evening.

Rc: "WWC : washout World Cup"

jangi: "live 10 mins away from ground and the rain is almost finished hopefully we can have a restart soon" --- This has been the way each and every evening in Colombo, sadly. Very stop start.

Jeff David: "Seconded, Divy. Espncricinfo is an increasingly rare bird, no ChatGPT and quite the turns of phrase! Salut!" --- Cheers Jeff, but be informed my AI overlords have taken your comment poorly.

Maulik: "Doesn't Sri Lanka have grounds in other parts of the country?" --- They do, Maulik, some developed in the dry zone developed entirely with the idea of hosting games during the monsoon season. The only issue is that logistically, Colombo is the most convenient. Though considering matches are taking place all over India, this doesn't seem like it would have been an insurmountable obstacle. But alas, I would never ask anyone to attempt to put themselves into the mindset of an SLC or ICC administrator.

Divy: "'But it comes down even harder, as if taking umbrage with the Sri Lankan skipper.'Surprised that Cricinfo Comms provides such Shakespearean content without cost despite the victory of consumerism across the globe."

Akindu: "I dont care how much the ground staff has been paid for this tournament, its not enough :)"

6.37pm This from Fidel at the ground is not promising: "A proper torrential downpour on now. Bit areas of the ground uncovered. It's going to be a challenged to come back from this."

Vinod Rajpal: "The Player of the tournaments are back with the covers !"

Pretty tough work for the ground staff to bring the covers on as well, with there being quite a stiff breeze.

6.34pm And just like that the rain has returned! Covers coming on. Chamari staying on the pitch with her players, hesitant to leave in the hopes that it's a passing shower. But it comes down even harder, as if taking umbrage with the Sri Lankan skipper. Now all the players leave the pitch.

JJ: "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I live 30/35 minutes away from the ground and it's raining quite heavily :("