Rain sends Sri Lanka, Bangladesh into Asian Games semis

Rain continued to disrupt the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday, with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh advancing to the men's cricket semi-finals after their quarter-final matches ‌were abandoned without a ball being bowled. Sri Lanka had been scheduled to face Nepal, while Bangladesh were set to take on Malaysia. However, a second consecutive day of no play at the Korogi Sports Park, on the southern outskirts of Nagoya, meant ⁠the higher-ranked teams progressed automatically to the last four. Jarrad Shearer, the games' sports director, could not hide his disappointment after organisers spent an entire year converting a baseball diamond into a cricket venue, only to see minimal action. "Cricket, like baseball, you can't play it in the rain. A year of my life on this, and it rains," Shearer said. Sri Lanka will now take on defending champions India, while Bangladesh face Pakistan in ‌the ⁠semi-finals on Thursday. Bangladesh will be without Najmul Hossain Shanto, however, after the batter was ruled out of the tournament due to a fever and infection. Despite the washouts, Shearer remained optimistic the weather would clear in time for the ⁠top-tier cricket. "Come tomorrow morning it will be all hands on deck to dry up the areas that aren't under the covers. We've got some soppers, we've ⁠got some squeegees, some big old brooms, we've got sponges. "Plus, it's supposed to be sunny and 32 C (89.6 Fahrenheit), so with any ⁠luck we'll soak up as much water as we can in the morning and the sun will do its work in the afternoon."