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World Cup 'ruined' by 'predictable' Colombo weather
The Island
|October 20, 2025
You wait four years for a World Cup, but if you're a player or fan in Colombo then you may have spent most of this tournament staring at the rain rather than enjoying some much-anticipated cricket.
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ICC WOMEN'S CWC 2025
Five of the nine matches staged in the Sri Lanka capital have been affected by rain with four ending in no result - causing former England spinner Alex Hartley to say the conditions had "ruined" the World Cup.
October is monsoon season on the island, with 300-370mm of rain anticipated in the month.
“I don't really know what anybody was expecting to be completely honest. You have a tournament in Sri Lanka during monsoon season, it pretty much rains at the same time every single day," Hartley, who won the tournament in 2017, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"It's ruined this World Cup it's been a real shame."
All bar two of Sri Lanka's group games are being staged at the R. Premadasa Stadium, as are all of Pakistan's matches because of the ongoing political tensions with India, who are hosting the majority of the tournament.
This story is from the October 20, 2025 edition of The Island.
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