SRI LANKA CRICKET NEWS
(OCTOBER 2025)
Compiled by Victor Melder
Sri Lanka’s cricket board on Saturday announced expanding its coaching team with the induction of Julian Wood, known for his power-hitting programme, and spin specialist Rene Ferdinands. Wood, who had worked with the national team briefly in July, will begin a one-year stint this month, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. “Wood conducted a special one-week training programme with Sri Lanka’s national squads, assisting them in preparation for upcoming international assignments, including the ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup,” the statement said. It said Ferdinands began working with the national team last week. “During his two-year tenure with Sri Lanka Cricket, he will lead spin bowling training, match preparation, performance analysis, and player development,” the statement added. Sri Lanka’s former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya continues as head coach, a position he has held since October last year. Jayasuriya, widely regarded as one of the greatest one-day international batsmen, was pivotal in Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup victory. (Sunday Mirror, 5.10.2025)
Batters Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dhananjaya de Silva are set to make their comebacks for next month’s tour of Pakistan, as Sri Lanka look to steady a fragile batting line-up ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup. The tour will feature a three-match ODI series followed by a T20 tri-series involving hosts Pakistan and Afghanistan, beginning on November 11. Both Rajapaksa and de Silva were key figures in Sri Lanka’s triumphant 2022 Asia Cup campaign but were left out of this year’s edition, when the selectors gambled on an all-rounder-heavy squad, a decision that backfired. Chief selector Upul Tharanga confirmed that both these players have been added to a preliminary squad that would soon begin their preparations for the Pakistan tour. “They are both being included,” said Tharanga. “We have a squad of about 22 for the World Cup. It is from that we have to select the team. Both Rajapaksa and de Silva have been training throughout at the High-Performance Centre and are in good frame.” Rajapaksa’s recall brings back a player who, at his best, is a match winner. A fearless stroke-maker, he thrives under pressure. His unbeaten 71 in the 2022 Asia Cup final against Pakistan remains his most memorable white-ball innings in career. Across multi-nation tournaments, he averages 31.40 with a strike rate of 138.12, numbers that underline his big-match temperament. But his form since then has been patchy at best. Over the past two years, the 33-year-old has struggled to stay fit and consistent, managing just 57 runs in nine matches. His batting average has plummeted to single figure digits, costing him a place in the Asia Cup squad. The Pakistan tour could well be his final audition before selectors finalise their World Cup plans. As the countdown to the World Cup begins, their return brings a flicker of hope — that experience, discipline, and a touch of old fire might finally help Sri Lanka rebuild a batting unit capable of competing with the world’s best. Sri Lanka has a minimum of 11 T20 internationals and the Lanka Premier League (LPL) to finalise their World Cup Squad before the T20 World Cup which is scheduled to take place in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 9, 2026. (Sunday Times, 12.10.2025)
Afghanistan have pulled out of a tri-nation series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka next month after three local cricketers were killed in an attack, the country’s cricket board said on Friday. The ACB said that the players had travelled from Urgun to Sharana in the eastern Paktika province on the Pakistan border to take part in a friendly match. It said that “after returning home to Urgun, they were targeted during a gathering” in what it described as “a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime”. The ACB named the three players as “Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon”, and said that five other people were also killed in the attack. It said that it “considers this a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family”, while extending its “deepest condolences and solidarity to the bereaved families”. The ACB said that it had decided to withdraw from next month’s tri-series “as a gesture of respect to the victims”. “The massacre of innocent civilians and our domestic cricket players by these oppressors is a heinous, unforgivable crime,” wrote Afghan international cricketer Fazalhaq Farooqi on Facebook. Another international player, Mohammad Nabi, added: “This incident is not only a tragedy for Paktika but for the entire Afghan cricket family and the nation as a whole.” (Daily Mirror, 18.10.2025)
Zimbabwe replaced Afghanistan in Pakistan’s upcoming triangular T20I series at home next month. The series, which will be played from November 17 to 29 in Lahore and Rawalpindi, will also feature Sri Lanka. Earlier today, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced its withdrawal from the tri-series following the death of three local cricketers in what it alleged was a cross-border attack in the Urgun district of the country. In a post on X, the ACB claimed that several lives had been lost in the attack, including three local cricketers who had been returning home after playing a “friendly” match in Sharana, the capital of Paktika province. “The ACB considers this a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family,” it said in a statement. Describing the incident as “tragic”, the ACB said “as a gesture of respect to the victims” it had “decided to withdraw from participating in the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series.” The ICC and the BCCI joined the ACB in mourning the loss of life of the cricketers. The PCB has not made any official comment on the situation following Afghanistan’s statement, but told ESPNcricinfo the tri-series would go ahead as scheduled, with Afghanistan replaced by another side. In the statement announcing Zimbabwe’s participation, the PCB merely said it had been notified earlier of “Afghanistan’s inability” to participate in the tri-series. The series will begin with Zimbabwe taking on hosts Pakistan in Rawalpindi before playing against Sri Lanka at the same venue two days later. All remaining games will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. (Sunday Island, 19.10.2025)
