9.22pm Live pictures are back, and good God, the ground looks thoroughly soaked! And they've pulled the telecast. Looks like we might not have a presentation after all. Makes my job that bit more easier. The next match is lined up in a day's time, but it is in Hambantota again, so hopefully our dear Mr Rain God remembers to press the correct button then. This is Alagappan Muthu, saying sayonara

shihan: "@ Rain God..Now dont worry about the wrong button..but make sure next time not to press any buttons..just watch the game.."

Uwaisul Karnain: "Man of the Match - The North-west monsoon for his unbeaten knock which turned the match on its head." I think its the Northeast?

9.00pm And that's it, folks. We have word from the ground that the match has been called off New Zealand had a battle on their hands after Sri Lanka made 288 and Malinga showed no signs of rust as he made the ball talk. Do stick around though, our Sri Lanka correspondent, Andrew Fidel Fernando, will pick out the plays of the day and of course the match report. And there is still the presentation

Sri Lanka batted quite well after being jolted with a wicket first ball. Kumar Sangakkara was immensely fluent, both off the back and front foot. His cover drives were absolutely breathtaking as usual, and Tillakaratne Dilshan formed the backbone of their innings with a patient 81 off 114 balls. New Zealand's spinners Nathan McCullum and more so, Anton Devcich, slowed things down for a while, but Angelo Mathews played a terrific innings and his 64-ball 74 took Sri Lanka to 288 for 9. It looked to be an interesting chase, with Malinga striking early but then the heavens opened and no amount of praying was enough to appease their fury.

Shane: "@Murihikukid What are saying mate. As much as I would like to say that NZ are on decline, Rosco certainly is not a one dimensional leg side slogger. He elegantly cover drives and is strong through point. 8 odi and test centuries with an average in 40's won't be a "one dimensional slogger mate. And secondly leave IPL beside :-)"

Daniel Alexander: "Only the rain has to stop, the SL ground staff will get the ground ready in no time"

8.40pm Huzzah! News from the ground. The cut-off time is 10.12pm, which means, first, the rain has to stop, which it hasn't yet, and second the ground should be returned to a state that can support play, in the next hour or so.

Roshan Abeysinghe tweets: Sadly the rain is still persisting in Hambantota though it has weaken a bit.

kamal nainwal: "if u want's bating pratice without losing match then come to srilanka win toss bat 1st and then rain will come in 2nd ing. and then u have no need to bowl ."

Anthony Francis: "I live 2 miles north of the stadium and its bucketing down here. !!! Game over i feel !!!"

Suween: "@Anish Venkata: I don't think you watched this match mate. The bowlers had swing in the pitch and in the air earlier when NZ were bowling but they were very inconsistent and Dilshan and Sanga put them away. This pitch is more helpful to bowlers and the boundaries at Hambantota are big. Hence we didn't see 10+ Six's scored in an innings like the Ind vs Aus series."

Harish Medlari: "But then I feel the lesser the number of overs to face the better it is for the Kiwis as they have no chance of completing the full 50 over quota or even coming close to the actual score of 280 odd so anything less than 30 overs is a boon fo the kiwis!!"

Rain God: "Sorry guys. I accidentally pressed the wrong button. I've fixed it so rain should disappear in 30 mins." Are you sure?.

Anish Venkata: "I just feel sorry for McClenaghan. He had a terrific series against England in England followed by impressive performance in CT. These sub continent pitches are turning to be a free gateway to batting run fests. I bet the same Sri Lankan batting order would find it tough playing McClenaghan outside the sub-continent."

Phil: "@murihikukid as a kiwi, this hurts, but you're painfully right..."

Uwaisul Karnain: "Enough is enough. ICC must ban rain in Sri Lanka on match days!"

Utsav Batra: "Why are they not trying peter fulton in odis too? When everybody is getting a go,why not give fulton one more go especially considering his performances in test matches !!!!"

8.04pm Oh dear, I'm afraid we have bad news. It seems the rain has become quite heavy in Hambantota. Brace yourselves, folks

murihikukid: "Whats wrong with you...?? Can't you see that "Rosco" is now a one dimensional leg side slogger and will be lucky to get a bid in the IPL auction...while Bazza has not scored runs for the last few years ? We don't need them but the problem is our selectors keep selecting the over 30 brigade as development players... next thing Martin Crowe will be in the team?? mk"

Shane: "Sadly, I know the answer for NZ's demise. We don't have large talent pools like other countrues have and cricket is always a 2nd or 3rd fiddle sport. And the retirements of flem, macca, bondy, astle and absence if Dan hit us harder than we thought. Injuries and Kiwis have always been together as well. I bet no one might be watching this game here in NZ. Even I have lost the habit of watching Black Caps and the results do support"

Saj: "First the Sri Lankan board remove the test matches from the South African tour. Then, the Zimbabwe cricket board cancelled the Sri Lankan tour altogether. & now the rain is depriving us, Sri Lankan fans to watch our cricketing heroes in action... Really disappointing & depressing..."

Kiri: "Due to wet conditions, fielding will be harder. The ball will be heavier so it will be easier for runs making. I'm predicting no swing, but Lasith Mallinga doesn't need it because he only has one place to aim at."

It looked a terrific game folks, with Malinga swinging the ball every which way as if it was magic. And Tom Latham too was rather impressive with how well he kept those searing yorkers out. How will the rain affect the ball though, will it keep swinging? Can New Zealand take advantage of this delay? Hopefully play resumes soon and we can find out.

7.51pm Commentator Roshan Abeysinghe tweeted seven minutes ago that it is still drizzling in Hambantota

Saurabh Vimal: "I think West indies and NZ suffering from same problem they have the batsmen who dominates IPL through the session but cant do much about their country"

Aman is very vague with his allegiances: "Rain Rain go away let us watch some cricket... . i meant wickets ;)"

7.42pm Okay, so if the match continues on, i.e with the assumption that the match consists of 50 overs, New Zealand should be 87 for 1 or 102 for 2 or 122 for 3 in 20 overs to win.

But, if the entire match is shrunk to 20 overs only - NZ should get 166, the wickets lost are not a problem.

News from the ground is that rain has reduced to a drizzle now. Keep your fingers crossed, folks.

Mark has kindly produced the equation for us: "If the match is reduced to 20 overs, 153 in 15.4 overs would be quite an ask: almost 10 an over."

kamal nainwal: "i dont think that this new NZ team can handle slinga and his yorkers if match starts so nz might be hoping for more rain ."

rana: "I have heard that there is an old saying in Sri Lanka. In order to bring rain, bring cricket to Sri Lanka."

7.20pm pavankp: "can anyone tell me wht is the par score fo nz after 20overs to this chase" Should the match be reduced to 20 overs, messrs Duckworth and Lewis decree that New Zealand must be 166 to win the match. We'll get you the cut-off time as soon as possible.

Aamil Dharani: "Why is the New Zealand team getting weaker and weaker? It started with the retirement of Fleming, now Vettori's absence and the only 2 big batsmen in the team: Baz and Rossco are also not playing. Even the team management wouldn't be expcting this team to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka !!"

Shishank Dahiya: "A match without a rain disruption in SL is not complete.!!"

7.10pm The covers are coming on now as the rain gets heavier and the players are walking off

Lots of feedback and comments coming in for Malinga.
Uwaisul Karnain: "One would expect Malinga to be bit rusty having not played competitive cricket of late except for those 2 practice matches against SL A team. But he is right on the mark, isn't he?"

Annan Boodram: "Malinga's ODI performance continue to remind us of what a loss to Shri Lanka's test cricket his unavoidable absence is."

Groundsmen are ready with the covers beyond the boundary

It's started drizzling at the ground