SRI LANKA CRICKET NEWS – (JANUARY 2020) – Compiled by Victor Melder

The national cricket team will undertake their first assignment of this year taking wings to India today for a three match T-20 series. The opening encounter will be played on Sunday (January 5) in the eastern city of Guwahati. The port city in the state of Assam is bordering China. The remaining two games will be played in Indore (January 7) and Pune (January 10). The team will fly to Madras today morning, where they have a five hour layover before taking the next flight to Guwahati. The Sri Lankan series is sandwiched between the tours of West Indies and Australia. Lasith Malinga’s side will not be playing in any of the major cities with all premier cricket centers allocated for the West Indies and the Australians. The tour was not on the Future Tour Programme (FTP) and the Sri Lankans are replacing Zimbabwe. Former captain Angelo Mathews returns to the side after being overlooked for the shortest version of the game for more than a year. Mathews last played a T-20 International in August last year. The selectors had indicated that Mathews should start bowling again if he were to be considered for T-20 cricket. The injury prone all-rounder has resumed bowling and he is expected to share the new ball with skipper Lasith Malinga in the three match series. The spotlight is on Malinga’s captaincy after the team suffered successive series losses under his leadership. Dasun Shanaka, meanwhile, led the team for a 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan away from home after several seniors pulled out of the tour due to security reasons. Fast bowler Kasun Rajitha was drafted into the 16 member squad after Nuwan Pradeep got injured while training lead up to the tour. The squad was approved by the Ministry of Sports only last evening. Sports Minister Dallas Allaperuma had instructed SLC to submit squads for approval 14 days prior to the team’s departure. SLC sources said that practically it will be impossible to submit teams two weeks prior to the departure. SLC is expected to take up the matter with the Minister. There will be a lot of focus on T-20 cricket this year with the T-20 World Cup scheduled later this year in Australia. Sri Lanka needs to play a qualifying round ahead of the tournament also in Australia. The former champions will play Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Oman in the qualifying round in Geelong in the state of Victoria before the tournament proper gets underway. Prior to that, Sri Lanka will host South Africa and India for T-20 series. (Daily Island, 2.1.2020)

The first T20 match between the touring Sri Lankans and India, scheduled to be played at Barsapaa Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, was abandoned due to rain. India won the toss and chose to bowl, but that’s as far as the weather allowed.

India beat the touring Sri Lankans by 7 wickets to win the second T20 played at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. Scores:

Sri Lanka – 142/9 in 20 Overs (M.Perera 34, Fernando 22, Gunathilaka 20,  Thakur 3/23, Saini 2/18, Yadav 2/38, Sundar 1/29)

India – 144/3 in 17.3 Overs (Rahul 45, Iyer 34, Dhawan 32, Kohli 30no, de Silva 2/30, Kumara 1/30)

Player of the match: Navdeep Saini (India)    

India beat the touring Sri Lankans by 78 runs to win the third and final T20, played at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. Scores:

India – 201/6 in 20 Overs (Rahul 54, Dhawan 52, Pandey 31no, Sandakan 3/35, de Silva 1/27, Kumara 1/46)

Sri Lanka – 123 in 15.5 Overs (de Silva 57, Mathews 31, Saini 3/28, Thakur 2/19, Sundar 2/37, Bumrah 1/5)

Player of the match: Shardul Thakur (India)

Player of the series: Navdeep Saini (India)

India won the 3-match series 2-0.

The national cricket team has got a hectic schedule in 2020 where they will play nine Test matches, 12 ODIs and at least 16 T-20s. They will be playing more T-20s than the other two formats for the obvious reason that this year the World T-20 will be staged in Australia in late October. This is apart from the Asia Cup, also a T-20 tournament to be played in Pakistan. Accordingly, Sri Lanka will host England and Bangladesh in Tests at home while their Test tours will be only to the African continent. Later this month, they will travel to Zimbabwe and will spend Christmas in South Africa. While the series against Bangladesh consists three games, all other series scheduled are two Test series, Sri Lanka Cricket officials told The Island yesterday. Bangladesh will be here in June. The biggest attraction of them all will be India’s tour to the island. Virat Kohli’s side will play three ODIs and three T-20s followed by South Africa who will also play a similar number of games. West Indies are due in February to play three ODIs and two T-20s. A home series against Zimbabwe comprising three ODIs and two T-20s is unconfirmed. In October, Pakistan will arrive for three ODIs and two T-20s. Sri Lanka need to play a qualifying round ahead of the World T-20 where their opponents will be Ireland, Oman and Papua New Guinea. Currently, Sri Lanka are ranked sixth in Tests, eighth in ODIs and seventh in T-20s. Lasith Malinga’s side needs to win at least one of the three T-20s in India to avoid slipping to number eight in T-20 Rankings. If they lose all the games, Afghanistan will overtake them. (Daily Island, 3.1.2020

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) this week decided to terminate the contract of suspended Head Cricket Coach Chandika Hathurusingha after a one-man committee found him guilty for all six charges of failing to discharge his obligations under the contract, creating disharmony within the team and for gross insubordination. The report which was tabled at Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting comes just days after enraged Hathurusingha sent a letter of demand to the tune of US$ 5 million for wrongful termination of his contract and causing damage to his reputation. The letter of termination will now be served to Hathurusingha who remained suspended since August last year. SLC has charged him on six counts including failing to prepare the Sri Lanka team physically and mentally for tours; failing to build confidence of players in need to [sic] support; for creating disharmony and failure to build team spirit; failure to adhere to the ICC’s Code of Conduct; insubordination; and acting in a manner which is totally unbecoming of a National Head Coach. The report was prepared by Justice Lalith Jayasuriya against the alleged breach of contractual obligations by Hathurusingha. “By the said report, Mr. Hathurusingha was found guilty for all the six charges levelled against him for failing to discharge his obligations under the contract, creating disharmony within the team and for gross insubordination,” a SLC ExCo submission reads.(Sunday Times, 12.1.2020)

Sri Lanka Tuesday named a 15-member squad for the two-match Test series in Zimbabwe, the first in the African nation since its suspension was lifted by the ICC. Both Tests will be held in Harare, the first from Sunday and the second starting on January 27th, Sri Lanka’s cricket board said. Zimbabwe last played a Test match in November 2018 when they toured Bangladesh and they were barred from ICC events in July last year because of political interference but was readmitted by the International Cricket Council three months later. Sri Lanka squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lakshan Sandakan and Suranga Lakmal. (Daily Island, 15.1.2020)

The touring Sri Lankans beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets to win the first Test, played at Hararare Sports Club. Scores:

Zimbabwe – 1st Innings 358 (Ervine 85, Kasuza 63, Masvaure 55, Tiripano 44no, Raza 41, Embuldeniya 5/114, Lakmal 3/53, Kumara 2/82)

Sri Lanka – 1st Innings 515/9 dec (Mathews 200no, Mendis 80, de Silva 63, Dickwella 63, Raza 3/62, Nyauchi 3/69, Williams 2/104, Tiripano 1/82)

Zimbabwe – 2nd Innings – 170 (Williams 39, Taylor 38, Lakmal 4/27, Kumara 3/32, Embuldeniya 2/74)

Sri Lanka – 2nd Innings 14/0 (Karunaratne 10no, Fernando 4no)

Player of the match: Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka)

Test debut: Ainsley Ndlovu, Victor Nyauchi, Kavin Kasuza, Brian Mudzinganayama (Zimbabwe)