Angelo Matthews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne lead Sri Lanka cricket revival. Experienced trio save Sri Lanka some blushes against Afghanistan – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka Sports editor) Afganistan showed the cricketing world that their lack of Test cricket experience will not be a long term deterrent as they made Sri Lanka sweat before recording a ten wicket win in Colombo. The plucky Afgans looked done and dusted when they folded for 198 in a sorry first innings effort. But they fought back with bat and ball after Sri Lanka’s batters galloped to a 241- run first innings lead. Their batters then hit their straps to give Sri Lanka some anxious moments overhauling the deficit without any discomfort against an attack that destroyed them in the first innings. Sr Lanka’s pacemen found their early success hard to replicate as the wicket appeared to flatten out to batter friendly conditions ...
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Sri Lanka’s bowlers put Afghanistan to the sword in Colombo and in command to win Test – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka Sports editor) Sri Lanka’s bowlers wreaked havoc on Afghanistan, bowling them out for 198, and then raced to 80 fo no loss on day one of the only Test at the SSC stadium in Colombo. It was a day out for the fast men as Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando combined with spinner Prabath Jayasuriya to unravel a potent Afghanistan batting line-up in just over half a day to set up what appears a historic first Test win against the visitors. The Afgans were all at sea on a seaming wicket which was exploited by a resurgent Sri Lanka side that has been reshuffled to include some veterans who were overlooked for a while. Only Rahmat Shah who smacked 91 off 139 balls with 13 fours had ...
SRI LANKA CRICKET NEWS – By Victor Melder Chairman of cricket selectors Upul Tharanga said that Dhananjaya de Silva has been appointed the new captain of the Sri Lanka Test team succeeding Dimuth Karunaratne. Kusal Mendis will be the vice-captain. De Silva will become the country’s 18th Test captain when he leads Sri Lanka in the one-off Test against Afghanistan next month. Karunaratne was Sri Lanka’s Test captain from 2018-19 till 2023 leading his country in 28 Tests with 12 wins, 10 losses and 6 draws. He captained Sri Lanka to three series victories, a rare 2-0 win in South Africa making Sri Lanka the only Asian country to win a series in Rainbow Nation in 2018-19, and 2-0 wins against West Indies (2021) and Ireland (2023). (Daily Financial Times, 6.1.2024) The first One Day International (ODI), played at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, between the touring Zimbabweans and Sri Lanka, ended ...
Two New Cricket Captains for Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Item in The Island, 31 December 2023 ….. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi Dasun Shanaka’s reign as Sri Lanka’s white-ball captain has come to an end as Sri Lanka’s new selection committee appointed Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga to lead the ODI and T20I sides, respectively. With Dimuth Karunaratne currently leading the Test side, this is the first time Sri Lanka have three different captains in the three formats. Shanaka first captained Sri Lanka in 2019, on the team’s first tour to Pakistan since the 2009 Lahore attack, but it was not until 2021 that he became their regular captain. Under him, Sri Lanka won 23 out of 41 ODIs and 22 out of 48 T20Is. The highlight of his tenure was the 2022 T20 Asia Cup victory in the UAE where Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in the final. Also notable were ODI series wins against South ...
Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs furious after the batting debacle against India scoring only 55 runs, then losing to Afghanistan by 7 wickets – By Sunil Thenabadu After this disastrous batting display against India collapsing for a paltry 55 runs ,thereafter to Afghanistan by seven wickets , to console the irritated fuming cricket fanatics very appropriately the Minister of sports and youth affairs Roshan Abeysinghe had requested the President and the supporting staff of the Sri Lanka Cricket to resign immediately before he takes drastic action. The Minster of sports and youth affairs Roshan Ranasinghe via his media division has expressed his discontentment on the dismal performance of our cricket team once again in the hands of India losing the WC encounter by a massive margin of 302 runs the worst defeat inflicted on Sri Lanka since participating in all world cups from year 1975.The defeat recently has made all ...
India rout Sri Lanka once more sending an ominous warning to the rest in the World Cup. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports editor). India sent tremors through the World Cup with another demolition of a completely out of tune Sri Lanka and duck season would best describe the Islanders pathetic run chase at Wankhede stadium. If there were doubts about the one sided Asia Cup final, India dispelled all of them as their bowlers ran riot to give them five more runs, 50 all out in the Asia Cup, and 55 all out here and a 302 run win. Chasing 357 Sri Lanka were never in with a chance as Mohamed Shami and Mohamed Siraj wreaked havoc on a clueless Sri Lanka batting line-up after Jasprit Bumrah prised out usually consistent Pathum Nissanka in his first ball. This set the stage for what could be a record five ...
Sri Lanka stutter in warm up games but may still provide some fireworks. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports editor) Sri Lanka made an inauspicious start to the World Cup losing both warm-up games to Bangladesh and Afghanistan and the writing on the wall about their chances of success seems dismal to say the least. Just recently they overcame both these teams in the Asia Cup before making the final against India. But the preparation since has see both Asian neighbours step up their campaigns while Sri Lanka’s course appears at this stage to be heading backwards. Both losses were convincing, by seven wickets to Bangladesh and six wickets to Afghanistan, and throws up concerns about the composition of the team that has failed to deliver with and without Skipper Dasun Shanaka who seems to be the focus of attention rather than the team’s overall performance. Apart from ...
ICC World Cup squads announced Source:Dailynews The ten countries have finalised their squads for the ICC Cricket World Cup on Thursday (28). The matches will commence from October 5. India team led by Rohit Sharma will be looking to become the fourth consecutive host nation to win the tournament, a run which began when they lifted the trophy themselves in 2011. Defending champions England, welcome back Ben Stokes, who has come out of ODI retirement as his side look to retain the trophy, while Kane Williamson will be hoping to win his fitness battle having been named to lead 2019 runners-up New Zealand. Last edition’s runner-ups, New Zealand will meet England in the opening game at Ahmedabad on October 5 and the final will be played at the same venue on November 19. Each team will play nine group stage matches before the semi-finals and all teams are expected to ...
Sriraj and India scuttle hapless Sri Lanka to grab Asia Cup – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (Elanka Sports Editor) Sri Lanka went from heroes to zero in just over 15 overs as India gave them a thrashing in the Asia Cup final they can Never forget. Just days after relegating world number one ranked Pakistan to the sidelines in a heart stopper, Sri Lanka just rolled over and let themselves be humiliated in front of a packed home crowd, and an entire population, losing without a whimper. Excuses about winning the toss in overcast conditions and electing to bat does little to convince me that there is more to it than meets the eye. It would be vindicated if they were without a coaching staff who do not give advice on these matters before the toss. Yes, India were favourites to win it with a highly skilled and far ...
Sri Lanka scramble into Asia Cup super fours but skipper Shanaka’s form slump is concerning. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (Elanka Sports Editor) Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka finds himself in a serious predicament unless he is able to extricate himself from a form slump that questions his place in the team, albeit in winning form. Shanaka’s return from the last few games have been mediocre to say the least, but his leadership qualities appear to have saved him so far. How long that prevails will be dependant on the next games in the Asia Cup. His axing at this stage, with the World Cup in India just around the corner, will not be an ideal scenario. Whether the team will gel under a different leader in the World Cup will be closely scrutinised by the country’s cricket administrators. Either way he can take the pressure off himself with ...
