COLOMBO (Reuters) Holders Australia’s long-awaited World Cup rematch with co-hosts Sri Lanka was washed away by a torrential downpour on Saturday, the first in this year’s tournament to fall victim to bad weather.The Group A match, a replay of the 2007 final, was tantalisingly poised when the skies opened after huge black clouds had hovered overhead. Sri Lanka were 146 for three after 32.5 overs having won the toss.Captain Kumar Sangakkara (73 not out) and Thilan Samaraweera (34 not out) were sharing an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 71 runs when the players scampered off the field.Several huge puddles could be seen swiftly forming after the skies opened at just after 5pm local time and with the rain not relenting three hours later, officials called off the match.With no result possible, the teams will be awarded one point each.“It was shaping up to be a helluva match but here we are watching it monsoon down,” one of the umpires, Ian Gould, said miserably.Sangakkara shared his sense of letdown.“The game was really poised at that time, 18 overs to go and we were realistically looking at anything close to 250 or slightly above. It would have been a great game of cricket had it continued,” he told a news conference.His opposite number Ricky Ponting added: “I am probably disappointed for the crowd more than anything today.“I believe this ground and this game were sold out pretty much on the day the tickets were on sale. It would have been a terrific World Cup match if it wasn’t washed away.”The fans will not receive a rupee in compensation. “There won’t be any refund of the tickets because the match was played. If there was not a single ball bowled, then we would have refunded the money,” Suraj Dandeniya, Sri Lanka’s ICC World Cup director, told Reuters