Sri Lanka cruise past Afganistan and dare to dream – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka sports editor) Wanindu Hasarsnga De Silva and Dhananjaya De Silva gave Sri Lanka a Silver lining, and the daring hope of delivering Skipper Dasun Shanaka’s bold prediction that the Asia Cup champions can make the T20 World Cup semi finals. Not mission impossible, but still a realistic possibility, Shanaka’s dream has to align with beating one of the favourites England, in their final commitment which is a tough ask . But not impossible in this unpredictable format. Sri Lanka recovered from a New Zealand hiding to strangle Afghanistan’s batting before chasing down an under par 145 to cruise to a six wicket win with 9 balls to spare. Afganistan gave the Sri Lankans a worrying period when their batsmen appeared to be in control and heading to build a unbeatable run chase. But Sri Lanka ...
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SRI LANKA WIPE THE SMILE OFF THE IRISH – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE Sri Lanka’s bowlers stifled a dangerous Ireland batting line-up and then the familiar picture of an in-form Kusal Mendis stepped in, bludgeoning a hapless Irish attack, smashing an unbeaten 68 off 43 deliveries to give them a glimmer of hope of surprising many in this edition of the T20 World Cup. A backup pace attack did an incredible job to restrict and bamboozle the Irishmen before the big guns, Wanindu Hasarsnga De Silva and Maheesh Theeksheena strangled the run flow while picking up wickets at random to give the batsmen the relief of an achievable target. There was no panic, as the Sri Lankans plotted a cool calm and calculated chase. With little terrors in the Irish attack to deal with, there was no disorientation like in the game against Namabia. Missing explosive Pathum Nissanka, Sri Lanka ...
Sri Lanka at the T20 World Cup Preliminary Matches –by Michael Roberts In forecast to myself I thought that the Sri Lankan Squad that had snaffled the Asia Cup in the Gulf arena would face a difficult situation in Australia notwithstanding the lower-placed teams in their initial round of matches. For one, the Australian playing conditions would be quite different, both in terms of climate, pitch conditions and the size of the playing fields. For another, the Namibian team is made up of tough outback country Boer-types who do not take a backward step; while the Dutch have many experienced campaigners. The Sri Lankans have not been helped by injuries to the promising medium-pacer Madushan and then to Chameera and, now, possibly Pathum Nissanka. This meant that Lahiru Kumara was playing today, the 20thOctober. Bowling the last over with Netherlands last wicket-pair in and the injured Van der Merwe batting, ...
Trinity v ACM Lafir in the 1950s Commemorating 100 years of Trinity v St Anthony’s cricket by Errol Fernando Dr Lakshman Karaliadde a British Sri Lankan doctor gave the Dr BS Perera memorial oration on the invitation of the Anesthesiologists and Intensivits of SL in 2010. He wanted some of his Trinity College and Kandy friends to attend. He rang me from his home in Kandy to invite me for the oration and asked me to let him know who of my Trinitian friends I was in contact with, in order to invite them too. I mentioned YU Chang and Gamini Fernando, old school friends, mean rugby players and inveterate Marine Drive (Colombo Plan ‘Gota’s Road) early morning walkers. They had already been invited. I could not recall any others. To be helpful, I told him that I meet ACM Laffir who was for his sins an Old Anthonian. ...
Lakmal motivation to spur Lankans on- By Trevine Rodrigo in Melbourne (eLanka Sports editor) photo source: stuff.co.nz Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne believes the impending retirement of legendary swing bowler Suranga Lakmal will spur the team to a better showing in the second Test at Bengaluru. Lakmal, one of the best Test bowlers going around and a terrific exponent of variation, has been Sri Lanka’s main strike weapon for a number of years. The 35 year old veteran has decided to call time on an illustrious 13- year career throwing Sri Lanka’s transition plan into turmoil while searching for a suitable successor. Lakmal described his time with Sri Lanka as satisfying but said he made the call to retire in the interest of the country’s future rather than focus on personal achievement. In 69 Tests, Lakmal grabbed 170 wickets at 36.38 at a measly economy of 3. In 86 one-dayers he took ...
India crumble SL by innings and 222 runs Source:dailynews.lk Hosts India defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs inside three days in the opening test at Mohali on Sunday( yesterday) to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.Rohit Sharma’s captaincy tenure in the longest format of the game kicked off with India’s remarkable win in Mohali. Sri Lanka made 178 in their second innings after getting bundled out for 174 in the first. India, who declared their first innings on 574-8, enforced the follow-on. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an unbeaten 175, picked up four wickets in the second innings for a match haul of nine. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took 4-47. R. Ashwin celebrates with Rohit Sharma after picking up Lahiru Thirimanne’s wicket. After bundling out Sri Lanka for 174, India decided to enforce follow on as the tourists trailed by 400 runs. The visitors put ...
They came, they saw and realized the mountain was too high to conquer – by Trevine Rodrigo Photo Source:abc.net.au Watch Highlights of the 4th T20 ODI – Sri Lanka vs Australia Sri Lanka’s aspirations to gain some solace from a lost series against Australia hit an expected low as they struggled against a rampant World Cup champion sans it’s best pace attack to reveal why they have plenty to do before the upcoming World Cup in this part of the world. Funny but most experts would have predicted a closer game knowing that Australia wasn’t at full strength as they focused on resting some stars for the upcoming Pakistan tour. But the depth of Australian cricket was in full evidence as the second rungers emphasised to the visitors that they are still not upto the standard to challenge the best in the world. Australia’s second string attack raised awareness that in ...
Lankan T20 team takes wing for Australia – by Dhammika Ratnaweera Source:dailynews.lk Sri Lanka T20 cricket team led by Dasun Shanaka left for Australia yesterday early morning to take part in the 5-match T20 series which is scheduled to commence from February 11. However, the Sri Lanka team is facing its biggest challenge with a few players who have tested positive for COVID-19 before this tour. Earlier, interim coach Rumesh Ratnayake, fast bowler Nuwan Thushara, and trainer Dilshan Fonseka had tested positive while all rounder Chamika Karunaratne had been detected with the virus during a test that was conducted before his departure. Professor Arjuna de Silva, head of Sri Lanka Cricket’s medical unit said, “Chamika has to wait for his second report to confirm and so far we can’t confirm his illness and measures have been taken to isolate the cricketer at this stage.” Prof. Arjuna further said, “fast ...
Dimuth to lead Sri Lanka in Test Series against West Indies – Sunil Thenabadu (Sports editor – eLanka) Opener Dimuth Karunaratne sans any surprise has been preserved as the captain to lead Sri Lanka for the two-test series against West Indies which is scheduled to begin from November 21 at the Galle Cricket Stadium.Both Tests are scheduled to be played at The Galle International Cricket Stadium The national selectors who are strongly contemplating on young talent have elected newcomers in dashing batsmen Charith Asalanka, Kamil Mishara, and leg spinner Suminda Lakshan and seamer Chamika Gunesekara based on their domestic performance to reinforce the team which was not performing well in the recent past. The other highlight of this squad is that there are ten specialised batsmen, two all-rounders and four spin bowlers while six fast bowlers are drafted in to keep the options wide open for selection. The batting department is spearheaded ...
Dickwella, Gunathilake and Mendis given a pardon, permitted to play in domestic cricket- Lanka Premier League to commence on 5th December By sunil Thenabadu (sports editor-eLanka) Banned Sri Lanka cricketers for misconduct for breaking the Bio-Bubble while touring England with SL team Niroshan Dickwella, Dhanushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis in June this year have got a reprieve before their one year ban period expired have been granted permission to play in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) that will have top players both overseas and local in action when it begins on December 5 in Sri Lanka. The three players were banned from both international and domestic cricket and fined Rs.10 million each at a time they were also involved in a pay dispute with Sri Lanka Cricket. The squads: Jaffna Kings: Faf du Plessis, Thisara Perera, Wahab Riaz, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shoaib Malik, Usman Shinwari, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Avishka Fernando, Upul Tharanga, Chaturanga de Silva, ...
