No walk-in-the-park for Sri Lanka in Galle-BY CALLISTUS DAVY The Sri Lanka team celebrate winning the five-match ODI series against Australia 3-2 at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday night ahead of the Test series starting in Galle on Wednesday Source:Sundayobserver Elated by their triumph in the ODI series, Sri Lanka will be looking for a repeat of the home Test series against Australia in 2016 when the two teams leave aside the fanfare of white ball cricket and get down to more series stuff with the first of two Tests starting in Galle on Wednesday. Sri Lanka had a 3-0 clean sweep of Australia the last time the two teams played in a Test series in the island but the difference this time will be that the home team will be without their supreme match winning spin bowlers Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera. The duo accounted for 41 ...

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No Selectors but Sri Lanka picks disputable squad to South Africa-BY CALLISTUS DAVY Lahiru Udara Igalagamage: Outsmarted the big guns but no place in the Sri Lanka squad Source:Sundayobserver Sri Lanka’s best in-form but internationally untested batsman Lahira Udara Igalagamage has been sent into cold storage after a 22-member squad was selected for a high-intensity training camp outside Colombo in preparation for next month’s tour of South Africa with no official sanction. The 22 players, some of them regulars and made up of seven fast bowlers, were picked on what is said to have been “internal advice” meaning recommendations given by Sri Lanka Cricket’s technical advisers in the absence of an official Selection Panel whose term expired two months ago. ...

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Left-arm quick from Hungama could be next big thing in cricket-by Rex Clementine Source:Island Left-arm quick Dilshan Madushanka has suddenly become the talk in cricket circles after he was drafted into the Sri Lankan squad that will tour South Africa later this year for the Boxing Day and New Year Tests. The 22 players who will go on the tour will begin a week-long residential training camp in Pallekele later this week and all eyes will be on Madushanka. The 20-year-old hails from the fishing village of Hungama in the Hambantota district. His father is a fisherman and his talent was spotted by former fast bowling great Chaminda Vaas. A couple of years ago, Madushanka had turned up as a net bowler in Hambantota as Sri Lanka were training and Vaas referred him to former Test captain Hashan Tillakaratne, who was the Head Coach of the Under-19 side. ...

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