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 ...
Blog Archives
‘Hurricane’ Stonis wreaks havoc on hapless Sri Lanka – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE Marcus Stonis single handedly destroyed Sri Lanka’s aspirations with a brutal batting performance that catapulted Australia back in contention to defend their T20 World Cup title. The bouncy Perth track ince again proved to be Australia’s happy hunting ground against lesser teams unable to counter the speed and trajectory, but no issue for the Australian batsmen. Stonis was a man on a mission bludgeoning a hapless Sri lanka attack to all parts in a memorable knock of 59 off 18 balls with 6 sixers and 4 fours. Until he arrived at the crease, Sri Lanka appeared to be able to defend an under par total of 157 for 6 in their allotted overs. But his arrival spelt doom for Sri Lanka as he scattered the bowling with disdain to record the fastest half century while ...
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 clip the wings of flying Dutchmen to enter Super 12’s. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka Sports Editor) It was a game not for the faint hearted as Sri Lanka made heavy work of an assignment meant to be a formality before advancing to the Super 12’s against a spirited Netherlands. The highly rated Lankans did nothing to let the rest of the world sit up and take notice and be excited of what to expect from them as their batters struggled to come to grips with the two paced wicket at Kardinia Park before scrambling to safety and finally able to post a defendable score. The Papare band blared, the fans were over exuberant as the norm, but the early mood in the air was one of trepidation and anxiety about the unknown as they scratched and struggled to 36 for 2 off the first 6.4 overs. ...
Pride of the Lion’s in main frame for some fireworks at T20 World Cup – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka Sports editor) Sri Lanka warmed up to a beautiful Melbourne spring day at the MCG and soon sounded out their intentions for the upcoming World Cup T20 tournament in Australia with a convincing 33-run win over Zimbabwe. Fresh from a successful Asia Cup triumph, the Lankans showed no signs of letting up in different conditions by quickly adapting to the bouncier and quicker wickets here, as they rev up preparations to get through the qualifiers before the big event commencing on October 16. Early indications suggest that the flighty Lankans will trouble some of the top teams and although it seems far fetched at this stage, they certainly can emulate their previously seemingly improbable Asia Cup success. Although warm up games don’t usually carry the same significance, it gives some indication ...
Kangaroo’s move in for Lion’s annihilation – By Trevine Rodrigo in Melbourne Lanka’s curators must be scrambling to reverse their preparation of spitting spinning tracks to docile less venom turners in an endeavour to give the technically flawed local batsmen fewer worries against Australia’s superior bowling. Usually accustomed to terrorising visiting teams in Galle, the Lankans were embarrassed by Australia’s spinning duo, Nathan Lyon and Mitch Shwepson who bamboozled the local batsmen and swing the scales the other way. To be bowled out in a similar way to a T20 disaster by Australia in the first Test, the Lankans will be smarting about the hopeless capitulation by their batsmen who failed to address a first innings debacle after the Aussies gave them a lesson on defiant fighting batting qualities in their first dig. Same venue, similar conditions, see Pat Cummins men with their tails up and much more the dictators of ...
