There is no encouraging news for Sri Lankan off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan. The weather forecast for the remaining days of the ongoing Test at Galle are:u00a0 showers at times, rain, sometimes heavy rainfall in the mornings and very strong wind-blowing conditions at the speed of 10 to 14 miles per hour.

"Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board has chosen the wrong days for this Test match in Galle", said Baldeva Samarsinghe, Director General at Meteorology Department. "It is the rainy season (May to September) in this part of the world and matches could have been held at some other time".

When reminded about Muralitharan's farewell Test and that the bowler himself is on the verge of 800 Test wickets, the DG said, "Yes, I know that but it is not in anybody's hands".

It will be unfortunate if the Test is not completed. "It is not that it will continue to rain for all the five days but there can be intermittent rain throughout this week which may spoil the sport," the weather expert said.

Galle has a small meteorology office but they collect and measure the rainfall every three hours, note the wind condition, temperature and send information to their headquarters in Colombo.

The writer is a freelancer