England cite Future Tours Programme congestion as reason for visiting Sri Lanka in monsoon season

The conditions should not come as much of a surprise; November and December represent the worse of Sri Lanka's two monsoon seasons, with around 600mm of rain falling on average across the two months

England have released a statement explaining the timing of their tour of Sri Lanka after rain interrupted the one-day international in Kandy on Wednesday.

The toss was delayed as groundstaff grappled with unpredictable weather around the Pallekele International Stadium, just as their equivalents in Dambulla had for both the first and second games of the series last week.

The initial encounter was rained off after 15 overs of England's innings, while the second was won by the tourists on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern following another evening storm.

The conditions should not come as much of a surprise; November and December represent the worse of Sri Lanka's two monsoon seasons, with around 600mm of rain falling on average across the two months in its capital Colombo.

^{The rain has been largely relentless during England's tour of Sri Lanka so far}

And those statistics have been cited by critics of England's trip this autumn.

In response, England have stated that the complexities of the Future Tours Programme - the overarching matrix of international matches - left them with little choice when it came to the dates of their trip.

"In respect of touring Sri Lanka at this time of year: The Future Tours Programme is congested involving 13 Boards whose schedules all interconnect, so there are unfortunately a number of tours that have to take place outside prime match-staging periods," a statement read.

"After hosting England, Sri Lanka spend the rest of the 2018-19 season touring New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

"They play their first match in New Zealand on December 8, which left very little wriggle room given our final Test in Sri Lanka is finishes on November 29."

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