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COLOMBO - It was meant to be the biggest party in Sri Lanka since the national team won the 1996 World Cup, but monsoon rains, a brilliant century from Adam Gilchrist and a rebel air raid on Colombo left fans despondent.
The air attack left large parts of the capital in darkness as thousands crammed around television sets to watch their side slip to a 53-run defeat at the hands of Australia in Barbados.
"Everyone was left confused and depressed," said Abnusha Fernando, who watched in a restaurant in central Colombo.
Sri Lanka's capital had buzzed in anticipation in the hours leading up to the World Cup final.
The previous day had witnessed multi-faith religious ceremonies in temples around the cricket-crazy island to bless the national team and pray for victory.
Minutes before the scheduled start of the game, Colombo resembled a ghost city at dusk with empty streets as people packed into bars, public parks, sports clubs and homes to watch Sri Lanka take on Australia.
The party started badly as a tropical thunderstorm left thousands of fans scrambling for cover in the open-air park near parliament that was showing the match live on a giant screen.
In Barbados, the game was delayed three hours by rain, too.
When the cricket finally started, Gilchrist dampened the party mood further with a blistering 149 from 104 balls leaving Sri Lanka to chase an improbable 282-run target.
Hopes for a miracle run started to grow when Kumar Sangakkara (54) and Sanath Jayasuriya (63) kicked things off with a 116-run partnership.
But shortly after 0100 local time, the authorities suddenly cut power to the city and anti-aircraft batteries opened up on the skies to thwart marauding Tamil Tiger rebel planes making bombing runs on oil industry targets.
Methsiri Kulasasekera, a 22-year-old kitchen assistant, was watching the match on the big screen near parliament with several hundred other people when the shooting started.
"I thought it was firecrackers being lit for the match," he said. "We saw tracer bullets lighting up the sky. People left quickly, and they didn't show the match after that."
Bars and restaurants closed their doors as the police shut down the city's main roads.
The Tigers, who are fighting for independence in the north and east of the island, bombed two oil facilities north of the capital.
Those who could flicked on private generators and continued watching. When the two-hour power cut ended, the rest found Sri Lanka sliding toward a defeat in darkness at the Kensington Oval.
The mood was ruined.
A spokesman for the rebels said last week that some Tigers would probably be watching the game, but he forebodingly added that the appearance of the Sri Lankan team in the final would not affect the group's normal activities.
"It was a dirty thing to do," Colombo security guard Sarath Leelaratna said of the attack. "Everyone in the country was watching the match. To do this on a day like that is dirty."
- REUTERS
