24 September,2012 07:58 AM IST | | AFP
"This was the only period available in the Future Tours Programme this year to conduct the tournament," an ICC spokesman told AFP. "All the teams were aware of it."
The two-yearly tournament, being held in Sri Lanka for the first time, coincides with the traditional start of the monsoon season in the region.
The first four days of the event, which opened on September 18 and continues till October 7, stayed rain-free before bad weather on Saturday affected both games in Hambantota and Colombo.
The match between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Hambantota was reduced to seven-overs-a-side, which the Proteas won by 32 runs.
In Colombo, Australia were 100-1 in 9.1 overs chasing West Indies' total of 191-8 when heavy rain forced the match to be called off at the Premadasa stadium.
"There will be showers at times in the western, southern and central provinces," meteorologist Pabodini Karunapala told AFP. "By the first week of October, we will start getting more rains.
