Sri Lanka reached the semi-finals of the men’s cricket competition at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday without a ball being bowled, after rain wiped out its quarter-final against Nepal.
The match at Nisshin, in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, was abandoned without a ball bowled, according to ESPNcricinfo’s scorecard. Under tournament regulations, the higher-ranked side advances when weather prevents play — sending Sri Lanka through.
Every semi-finalist decided by the weather
All four quarter-finals were lost to rain, though across two days rather than one:
| Quarter-final | Date | Advanced |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong v Pakistan | Mon, Sep 28 | Pakistan |
| Afghanistan v India | Mon, Sep 28 | India |
| Nepal v Sri Lanka | Tue, Sep 29 | Sri Lanka |
| Bangladesh v Malaysia | Tue, Sep 29 | Bangladesh |
Each was abandoned without a ball bowled. NewsFirst reported that the washouts created “a rare scenario in which every semi-finalist was decided without a ball being bowled.”
For Sri Lanka the position is more unusual still. As one of the four highest-ranked entrants, it received a bye through the group stage — which ran from September 24 to 26 and involved only Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal in Group A, and Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman in Group B. Sri Lanka therefore entered the tournament at the quarter-final stage and has reached the last four without playing a single delivery at these Games.
The semi-finals
Both semi-finals are scheduled for Thursday, October 1 at Nisshin:
- Bangladesh v Pakistan — 9.00 a.m. local (5.30 a.m. in Sri Lanka)
- India v Sri Lanka — 2.00 p.m. local (10.30 a.m. in Sri Lanka)
The final and the third-place play-off follow on Saturday, October 3.
Context
Rain has repeatedly disrupted the cricket at these Games: a Group A match between Nepal and Japan ended as a no result, and the Malaysia–Oman group fixture was also abandoned.
Sri Lanka’s men’s squad is captained by Sahan Arachchige, with selectors having left out most first-choice T20I players and recalled Niroshan Dickwella after five years. The women’s team lost the gold-medal match to India earlier in the Games.
Sourcing note
NewsFirst’s report describes all four quarter-finals as having been abandoned but does not distinguish between the two match days; the day-by-day breakdown above is from ESPNcricinfo’s fixture list. NewsFirst places the matches in Nagoya and ESPNcricinfo gives the venue as Nisshin — these are not in conflict: the ground is Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin, a city inside the Aichi-Nagoya Games footprint. Sri Lanka times are converted from ESPNcricinfo’s own GMT figures rather than from the local-time column.
