Lions Cricket

ICC Twenty20 International Rankings

2011-10-25T10:49:00.001+05:30

ලොව ප්‍රථම වරට අන්තර්ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් සභාව මගින් ඔවර විස්සයි20 ලොක ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම් අද පෙරවරුවේදී ඩුබායි හී දී මාධ්‍යවෙත ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලදී.

ඊ කැපී පෙනෙන සිදුවීමක් ලෙස පෙන්න්වාදිය හැක්කේ ලොව අනෙක් රටවල් අභිබවා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉතා ඉහළ අවදානයක් දිනා ගනිමින් ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම වල ඉහළ ස්ථාන දිනා ඇති බවයි.කණ්ඩායම් ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම් අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දෙවන ස්ථානය ප්‍රසාද ලකුණු 126ක් ලබා ගනිමින් අතකරගෙන සිටින අතර පසුගිය විස්සයි20 ලොක ශූරයන් වන එන්ගලන්තය ලකුණු 127ක් සමගින් ප්‍රථම ස්ථානය ලබා සිටී.

Reliance ICC Twenty20 International Championship Table

	Team	*Matches	Points	Rating
1	England	10	1273	127
2	Sri Lanka	8	1009	126
3	New Zealand	9	1056	117
4	South Africa	8	900	113
5	India	5	558	112
6	Australia	11	1223	111
7	Pakistan	12	1164	97
8	West Indies	8	711	89
9	Afghanistan	3	224	75
10	Zimbabwe	7	376	54

එසේම පන්දු යවන්නන් අතර අජන්ත මෙන්ඩිස් පෙරමුණ ගෙන සිටින අතර, ලසිත් මාලිංග 10වෙනි ස්ථානයට පත්ව ඇත. පසුගිය තරග කාලය අතර මාලිංගගේ දායකත්වය ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලබා නොගත් අතර ඔහුට විවේක ලබාදීම නිසා මෙසෙ ස්ථාන අතර පෙරමුණ ගැනීමේ අවස්ථාව නොලැබී ඇත.එසේම පසුගිය ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු තරගාවලියේදී කඩුළු 6ක් ලකුණු 16ක් තුළ ලබා ගැනීම විස්සයි20 තරගවල හොදම පන්දු යැවීම ලෙස සදහන්ව ඇත. (සම්පූර්ණ සටහන)

Reliance ICC Twenty20 Championship Bowling Rankings

ID	Rat.	Name	Career Best Rating

1	748	B.A.W. Mendis	748 v Australia, 08/08/2011
2	727	G.P. Swann	770 v Pakistan, 07/09/2010
3	721	Saeed Ajmal	766 v South Africa, 10/05/2010
4	711	N.L. McCullum	711 v Zimbabwe, 17/10/2011
5	703	J. Botha	724 v West Indies, 20/05/2010
6	689	Shahid Afridi	819 v Sri Lanka, 12/08/2009
7	682	S.W. Tait	782 v Pakistan, 07/07/2010
8	671	D.J.G. Sammy	688 v England, 25/09/2011
9	653	Harbhajan Singh	706 v West Indies, 09/05/2010
10	652	S.L. Malinga	679 v England, 25/06/2011

එසේම පිතිකරන අංශයේ ප්‍රථම ස්ථානය එන්ගලන්ත ක්‍රීඩක එයින් මොගන් ක්‍රීඩකයා අත් කරගෙන ඇති අතර ලංකාවේ සුපිරි පිතිකරුවන්වන. මහෙල 4වෙනි ස්ථානයේද, ඪිල්ශාන් 6වෙනි ස්ථානයේද සංගක්කාර 7වෙනි ස්ථානයද අත් කරගෙන සිටීම විශේෂත්වයකි.

Reliance ICC Twenty20 Championship Batting Rankings

ID	Rat.	Name	Career Best Rating

1	832	E.J.G. Morgan	866 v India, 31/08/2011
2	799	B.B. McCullum	824 v Australia, 28/02/2010
3	793	K.P. Pietersen	873 v Australia, 16/05/2010
4	784	D.P.M.D. Jayawardena	787 v West Indies, 07/05/2010
5	742	S. Raina	742 v England, 31/08/2011
6	733	T.M. Dilshan	814 v New Zealand, 02/09/2009
7	732	K.C. Sangakkara	769 v West Indies, 07/05/2010
8	714	Umar Akmal	716 v Zimbabwe, 16/09/2011
9	701	S.R. Watson	715 v South Africa, 13/10/2011
10	700	G.C. Smith	750 v Zimbabwe, 10/10/2010

...

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉතා අවම විස්සයි20 තරග ප්‍රමාණයකට සහභාගී වූ අතර එහිදීද උපරිමයෙන් ක්‍රීඩා නොකල අතර විශේෂ ක්‍රීඩකයන් විවේක ගන්වා ක්‍රීඩා කලේය. එසේ තිබුයදීත් ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම් අතර මුල් ස්ථාන දිනා ගැනීමශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පැවැත්වෙන එළඹෙන විස්සයි 20 ලොක කුසලානය කෙරෙහි වැඩි බලපොරොත්තුවක් තබා ගැනීම රුකුලක් වනු ඇත.

සංගක්කාර වාර්තා පොතට

2011-10-25T10:44:00.000+05:30

සිය ටෙස්ට් දිවියේ 8 වැනි ද්විත්ව ශතකය වාර්තා කළ 33 හැවිරිදි කුමාර් සංගක්කාර වැඩිම ද්විත්ව ශතක ප්‍රමාණයක් රැස් කළ 3 වැනි පිතිකරු ලෙස පෙරේදා වාර්තා පොතට එක්විය. ටෙස්ට් පිටියේ වැඩිම ද්විත්ව ශතක රැස් කළ පිතිකරුවන් ලැයිස්තුවේ පෙරමුණේ පසුවන්නේ ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ශ්‍රීමත් ඩොනල්ඩ් බ්‍රැඩ්මන්ය. ඔහු ද්විත්ව ශතක 12ක් රැස් කරගෙන තිබේ.

දෙවැනි ස්ථානයේ පසුවන කොදෙව් දූපත් හී බ්‍රයන් ලාරා ද්විත්ව ශතක 9කට හිමිකම් කියයි. “පීඩනය යටතේ පිතිහරඹයේ යෙදීමෙන් තරමක සතුටක් ලැබුවා. ප්‍රසන්නත් හොඳින් පිත්ත හැසිරුවා.

විශේෂයෙන් දෙවැනි නව පන්දුවට ඔහු ඉතා විශිෂ්ට ලෙස මුහුණ දුන්නා” තරගයේ වීරයා සම්මානය දිනා ගැනීමෙන් පසුව සංගක්කාර ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

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වැඩිම ද්විත්ව ශතකලාභී ක්‍රීඩකයෝ

ක්‍රීඩකයා ශතක ද්විත්ව ශතක

ඩොනල්ඩ් බ්‍රැඩ්මන් (ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව) 12

බ්‍රයන් ලාරා (බ.ඉ.කො) 9

කුමාර් සංගක්කාර (ශ්‍රී ලංකාව) 8

වොලි හැමන්ඩ් (එංගලන්තය) 7

විරේන්ද්‍ර ෂෙවාග් (ඉන්දියාව) 6

මාවන් අතපත්තු (ශ්‍රී ලංකාව) 6

ජාවේඩ් මියන්ඩාඩ් (පාකිස්තානය) 6

මහේල ජයවර්ධන (ශ්‍රී ලංකාව) 6

සචින් තෙන්ඩුල්කාර් (ඉන්දියාව) 6

රිකි පොන්ටිං (ඔස්ටේ‍්‍රලියාව) 5

රාහුල් ඩ්‍රාවිඩ් (ඉන්දියාව) 5

Sangakkara, Prasanna Jayawardene earn draw for SL

2011-10-24T08:01:00.000+05:30

Sri Lanka 197 (Mathews 52*, Junaid 5-38) and 483 (Sangakkara 211, P Jayawardene 120, Gul 4-64) drew with Pakistan 511 for 6 dec (Taufeeq 236, Hafeez 75, Ali 70) and 21 for 1

A frustrating day for Pakistan ended in a stalemate

Kumar Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene defied Pakistan for six hours, batting almost till tea on the final day to earn a draw for Sri Lanka. After losing five wickets on the fourth evening while still needing 81 runs to make Pakistan bat again, Sri Lanka benefited from six dropped chances in the second innings. Pakistan's bowlers toiled as much as the heat allowed them to, but their effectiveness was blunted by an unyielding pitch, abysmal catching and resolute batting. Both Sangakkara and Jayawardene achieved personal landmarks, with the former reaching his eighth Test double-century, putting him behind only Don Bradman and Brian Lara.

The sixth-wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Jayawardene - easily the highest for Sri Lanka against Pakistan - ate away whatever advantage remained with Pakistan after yesterday's five dropped chances. Azhar Ali finally ended Pakistan's despair after 73 fruitless overs, trapping Sangakkara leg-before with a legbreak just before tea. Aizaz Cheema had Jayawardene caught behind with the third new ball but it was too late to make up for the largesse of all those missed chances in a match affected by some average umpiring from Tony Hill. Umar Gul cleaned up the tail, leaving Pakistan an improbable 170 to get in 21 overs. Pakistan's top order did not give the slightest impression of going for it, and the game was called off after ten rather pointless overs as Tillakaratne Dilshan let the game meander beyond the start of the final hour.

Sri Lanka could afford to indulge in such psychological banter after Sangakkara and Jayawardene had carried them to safety, the slowness of the pitch allowing them to defend without much trouble. Sangakkara - who had looked near-immoveable after a couple of reprieves yesterday - allowed Jayawardene to take charge, but still put the loose ones away, reaching 200 with a nudge to the fine leg boundary off Cheema in the 143rd over. Jayawardene lofted Ajmal for a straight boundary in the 148th over to bring up a potentially match-saving century after having got a duck in the first innings. Not at any stage did they show even a hint of getting bogged down, unlike batsmen from both teams in the first innings.

Jayawardene, dropped by Wahab Riaz on 11 last evening, was much more positive today, breaking free with a swept boundary when Saeed Ajmal tried to tie him down early with two fielders around square leg. A tiring Junaid Khan - who had kept charging in with energy and going past the outside edge - was pulled emphatically over midwicket.

Pakistan's frustration slowly turned into resignation, a shame given the way they dominated this game for four days, apart from their fielding, which ruined the untiring efforts of their bowlers in the end. As in the first innings, Cheema epitomised Pakistan's willingness to give it everything on a pitch which held up so well in the heat, it could have been good for five more days.

An over from Cheema, the 137th of the innings, told Pakistan's tale of luckless perseverance. After four testing deliveries, Cheema bowled a loopy slow delivery that completely befuddled Jayawardene outside off stump. A ripping reverse-swinging yorker followed but Jayawardene somehow managed to dig it out, almost falling over. The unwavering Cheema was back in his next over with another slower ball followed by another accurate yorker, only to be denied without fuss by Jayawardene. This after Cheema had been denied by umpire Tony Hill after hitting Jayawardene on the pads right after lunch.

Azhar's unexpected strike at the stroke of tea brought relief for Pakistan and they eventually got through the tail with the third new ball but not before Rangana Herath had been grassed by Gul at extra cover, the sixth drop of the innings. Herath stretched the innings till 168 overs, leaving Pakistan to rue their generosity on the field and in hindsight, their cautious approach with the bat in the first innings.

World Test cricket championship in doubt

2011-10-13T08:12:00.002+05:30

England's hopes of hosting an inaugural World Test Championship in 2013 appear to be in serious doubt.
After an International Cricket Council executive board meeting in Dubai - at which the global body's decision review policy was also significantly amended - it seems the originally scheduled Champions Trophy is a much more likely fixture in the 2013 summer.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has been an enthusiastic advocate of the introduction of a Test championship, between the top four teams in the table, and major venues in England were primed to host the semi-finals. The intention then was to stage a final at Lord's, the home of cricket.

But it seems reluctance on the part of broadcasters, wary of being able to maximise the event commercially or at any rate better than the 50-over Champions Trophy, may scupper the plans. Lorgat said: "It would be unfortunate if the Test Championship is delayed to 2017, but the board needs to balance several objectives."

An ICC statement, following this morning's press conference, explained the apparent snag. "The ICC executive board confirmed their preference to host an ICC Test Championship in 2013 but recognised the significant commercial challenge in trying to replace the Champions Trophy.

"Without the support and consent of the ICC's broadcast partner, ESPN Star Sports, the financial implications on the members and the development of the game would be significant." The ICC has also had to have a rethink on DRS, following a series of matches in which the effectiveness of Hotspot - the thermal imaging technology to detect edges off the bat - has come into question.

The upshot is that, rather than pressing ahead with a policy to try to make the mandatory use of DRS universal, the ICC is to leave it up to boards to decide between themselves before bi-lateral series the extent of technological aids made available to help the umpires.

The ICC statement said: "Following recent experiences and the resultant concern about the effectiveness of Hotspot, the ICC executive board decided to revert to its previous position to allow the participating nations to decide bi-laterally whether they wished to use the DRS.

"The ICC executive board, however, supported the use of technology and its continued development and were encouraged by certain members - who were willing to use and work towards improving the technology." Lorgat said: "Although the DRS improves correct umpire decisions by around five per cent and corrects any blatant errors, there are some who are not convinced by its reliability.

"We will continue to work with interested parties to improve the system while permitting the participating teams to decide whether they wish to use it or not."

"Although the DRS improves correct umpire decisions by around five percent and corrects any blatant errors, there are some who are not convinced by its reliability," ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

"This decision is a recognition that Hot Spot was not as reliable as we'd have liked it to be," Lorgat told reporters following a two-day executive board meeting in Dubai.

Last-ball six takes RCB into semis

2011-10-06T08:37:00.000+05:30

Royal Challengers Bangalore 215 for 8 (Dilshan 74, Kohli 70, Tait 5-32) beat South Australia Redbacks214 for 2 (Harris 108*, Ferguson 70) by two wickets

Arun Karthik produced the six most important runs of his 14-match Twenty20 career off the last ball of the CLT20 league phase to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore past South Australia Redbacks in a game that had everything except for a Super-Over finish. It featured an astonishing century from Daniel Harris - only the third in Champions League history. It had a five-for from Shaun Tait, in a game where 429 runs came off 40 overs. It also featured sublime stroke play from Virat Kohli, who played the best innings of his Twenty20 career. It had strong helping hands from Callum Ferguson and Tillakaratne Dilshan. But it all boiled down to the last ball, off which six were needed, and Karthik stepped up to smash Daniel Christian into the stands beyond midwicket. The crowd went up as one, the RCB dug-out exploded in joy, and even the usually laidback Gayle walked out shirtless with a broad smile.

In a game that unfolded like a Hitchcock whodunit, it was fitting that the winning blow came off the bat of someone who was playing only because AB de Villiers was injured. At the other end was S Aravind, the worst bowler of the day, who got close to redemption with a boundary off the third ball of that electric final over. Christian bowled a slower ball on the fourth, which Aravind slogged for two, making it seven needed off the last two. Aravind couldn't connect with the fifth, but the batsmen scrambled through for a bye. Six needed off one, and Christian delivered a slower ball as hittable as Chetan Sharma's infamous full toss to Javed Miandad in Sharjah. Karthik coolly stayed deep in his crease and heaved with all his might over midwicket to become a hero.

It was heartbreak for the Redbacks, who had somehow regrouped after a virtually unstoppable 100-run stand between Kohli and Dilshan off 8.5 overs. By the time Kohli fell, he had reduced the equation to 50 off the last five overs, but RCB's light-weight middle order gave the Redbacks a chance. Nathan Lyon piled on the pressure with a four-run 16th over, but Tait ceded the advantage with two sixes in the 17th, though he managed to dismiss Saurabh Tiwary. The next over from Aaron O'Brien also produced two sixes and wicket, making it 18 required off 12 balls. Tait then lasered Dilshan's stumps with a stunning yorker and got Daniel Vettori to miscue, before completing his five-for with Raju Bhatkal's wicket. That set up the last-over climax, Christian blinked after five balls, and Karthik held his nerve to complete a first win for an IPL side against an Australian team.

The performances from Tait and Karthik dominated the ending, but the contest got its substance from Harris and Kohli. Both produced innings that had no business featuring in an unabashed exhibition for Twenty20 batting. Harris' effort stood out for the shots he didn't play - he went 18 overs without trying to hit a six, and yet coasted to a century with time to spare. Kohli's was elevated by the shots he chose to play. Faced with an asking-rate nearing 11, and with Chris Gayle dismissed, Kohli unfurled a series of astonishingly correct strokes.

Equally telling were the chalk-and-cheese support acts from Ferguson and Dilshan. With the spinners pulling things back after Harris' Powerplay boundary blitz, Ferguson took his time settling in before opening up in style. Dilshan, on the other hand, ignited RCB's chase with a series of outrageous strokes, which included a couple of trademark scoops.

Gayle was more subdued at the start, but he gradually found his range to muscle three sixes, before Michael Klinger caught him in the deep even as he collided grievously with Tom Cooper. Kohli walked in like he belonged in the cauldron, and opened his account with a pulled six through wide long-on. The slowness of the pitch and the variations of the Redbacks attack could not stop him from hitting through the line, and repeatedly in front of the wicket. He charged out to O'Brien and launched him with the turn over long-off, before carving Richardson for the shot of the day - an inside-out six into the stands behind extra-cover. He then gave Harris a taste of his own medicine, taking him for two sixes and three fours in the 13th over to put RCB on course for a heist.

The script was completely different in the first half of the match as, for the second night on the trot, an IPL side took a hiding from an Australian batsman. Aravind's pathetic lengths made this considerably easy - he finished with figures of 4-0-69-0, the second worst in T20 history - but that could not take any credit away from Harris.

The floodgates opened in the second over, when Aravind sent down a series of slow freebies angled into the hitting zone. Harris gratefully opened up his stance and carved boundaries straight, square and fine through the off side to set the Redbacks on their way. Kohli missed a run-out in the next over, and Harris celebrated by smashing seven of his next eight balls for fours. Vettori daringly persisted with Aravind for the fourth over, only to see him repeat his predictable lengths from either side of the stumps. Harris indulged himself to move to 43 off 19 balls by the fourth over, and Vettori was left playing catch-up for the remaining 16.

With the spinners coming on, Harris settled into cruise-mode, while Ferguson assuredly got his eye in. Just when the momentum seemed to be flagging a touch Aravind returned, and the Redbacks resumed their run-glut. Having taken two fours and a six off Aravind's 16th over, Ferguson thumped Nannes emphatically for a six off the first ball off the 17th. He holed out in the 18th over, prompting Harris to finally attempt a big hit. He pounded Bhatkal over midwicket for his first six, before dumping Nannes behind square-leg to bring up the century. Incredibly, Aravind got the 20th over, and Christian duly bludgeoned five more fours to take the Redbacks to 214.

Twenty overs later, Christian and Aravind had their roles reversed. And how.

විස්සයි 20 ලෝක කුසලාන ක්‍රිකට් තරගාවලිය 2012 අත්දැකීම් බහුල ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තරගාවලිය සාර්ථකව පවත්වාවි - අයි. සී. සී. ප්‍රධාන විධායක

2011-09-23T08:19:00.002+05:30

ලෝක කුසලාන තරගාවලියේ තරග රැසක් සාර්ථකව සංවිධානය කළ ශි‍්‍ර ලංකාව විස්සයි20 ලෝක කුසලාන ක්‍රිකට් තරගාවලියද සාර්ථකව පවත්වනු ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කරන බව අයි. සී. සී. ප්‍රධාන විධායක හරූන් ලොගර්ට් මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ඒ මහතා එසේ පැවසුවේ ලබන වසරේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත ඕවර විස්සයි20 ලෝක කුසලාන ක්‍රිකට් තරගාවලියේ නිල ලාංඡනය නිරාවරණය කිරීම සහ තරග කාලසටහන එළිදැක්වීම පෙරේදා කොළඹ ඉන්ටකොන්ටිනල් හෝටලයේදී පැවැති අවස්ථාවේදීය.

එමෙන්ම මෙවර තරගාවලියේදී කාන්තා හා පිරිමි පිළිමළුන් පිටු දැකීමේ තරග වටය එකම දිනවල එකම පිටියක පැවැත්වීම විශේෂත්වයක් බවද ඒ මහතා පැවැසීය.

තරගාවලියේ නිලලාංඡනය නිරාවරණය කිරීම හා කාලසටහන එළිදැක්වීම ඉතා විචිත්‍රවත් අන්දමින් සිදු කෙරුණු අතර එය උත්සවයට පැමිණ සිටි අමුත්තන් අමන්දානන්දයට පත්කළ සිදුවීමක් විය.

මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් අතුරු පාලක කමිටු සභාපති උපාලි ධර්මදාස මහතා පැවැසුවේ 2012 වසරේදී ඕවර විස්සයි20 ලෝක කුසලාන ක්‍රිකට් තරගාවලිය පැවැත්වීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තෝරා ගැනීම පිළිබඳ සතුටට පත්වන බවය. එමෙන්ම එම තරගාවලිය අභිමානවත් ලෙස නිමකිරීමට අවශ්‍ය සියළු කටයුතු යොදන බවත් සභාපති වරයා පැවසීය.

සත්කාරකත්වය දරන ශ්‍රී ලංකාව මුහුණදෙන ප්‍රථම තරගය සිම්බාබ්වේ සමඟ 2012 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 18 වැනි දින පැවැත්වේ. දිවා/රාත්‍රී මේ තරගය හම්බන්තොට මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේ පැවැත්වේ.

මේ තරගාවලියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව හා සිම්බාබ්වේ අයත්ව සිටින්නේ ‘සී’ කාණ්ඩයටය.

දකුණු අපි‍්‍රකාව එම කොටසේ අනෙක් කණ්ඩායම වෙයි. තරගාවලියේ මූලික වටයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිලේ අනෙක් තරගය දකුණු අපි‍්‍රකාව සමඟ පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතව ඇත්තේ 2012 සැප්තැම්බර් 22 වැනි දිනය.

එම තරගය පැවැත්වෙන්නේ ද හම්බන්තොටය. ‘සී’ කොටසේ අනෙක් මූලික තරගය වන දකුණු අපි‍්‍රකාව හා සිම්බාබ්වේ අතර ගැටුම 2012 සැප්තැම්බර් 20 වැනි දින හම්බන්තොට මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේ ම පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ‘සුපිරි අට’ වටයට පිවිසුනහොත් ඔවුන් පල්ලෙකැලේ ක්‍රීඩාංගණය වෙත යනු ඇත. අනතුරුව පිළිමළුන් පිටුදැකීමේ තරග වටයට සුදුසුකම් ලැබුවහොත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිල කොළඹ ආර්. පේ‍්‍රමදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගණයට පිවිසෙනු ඇත.

පසුගිය වසරේ ලෝක කුසලාන විස්සයි20 තරගාවලියේ සූරයන් වූ එංගලන්තය ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රථම තරගය මේ තරගාවලියට සුදුසුකම් ලබන කණ්ඩායමක් සමඟ 2012 සැප්තැම්බර් 21 වැනි දින ආර්. පේ‍්‍රමදාස පිටියේදී ක්‍රීඩා කරනු ඇත. ඉන් දින දෙකකට පසුව එංගලන්තය 2007 ලෝක සූර ඉන්දියාව සමඟ එම ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේදී ම තරග වදිනු ඇත.

2009 විස්සයි20 ලෝක කුසලාන තරගාවලියේ සූරයන් වූ පාකිස්තානය ඔවුන්ගේ මූලික තරග නවසීලන්තය හා බංග්ලාදේශය සමඟ පිළිවෙළින් සැප්තැම්බර් 23 හා 25 දිනවල පල්ලෙකැලේදී ක්‍රීඩා කරනු ඇත.

පිළිමළුන් පිටු දැකීමේ තරගාවලියට පෙර පැවැත්වෙන තරගවලදී සියල්ල සාමාන්‍ය ලෙස සිදුවුවහොත්, ඉන්දියාව සහ පාකිස්තානය සුපිරි කණ්ඩායම් 8 අතරට තේරී, සැප්තැම්බර් 30 වැනි ඉරිදා කොළඹ දී තරග වදිනු ඇත.කාන්තා තරගාවලිය ඇරඹෙන්නේ ගාල්ලෙනි. එහි ආරම්භක තරගය ලෙසින් සත්කාරක ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, තරගාවලියේ සුදුසුකම් ලද කණ්ඩායමක් සමඟ සැප්තැම්බර් 26 වෙනිදා තරග වදිනු ඇත. එදිනම පසුගිය වසරේ අවසන් තරගයේදී පරාජිතයන් වූ නවසීලන්ත කාන්තා පිල, බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් කාන්තා පිල සමඟ තරග වැදීමට නියමිතය.

ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු කාන්තා පිල ඔවුන්ගේ තරග ආරම්භ කරනුයේ, සැප්තැම්බර් 27 වෙනිදා ඉන්දියාව සමඟ ගැටීමෙනි.

එදිනම 2009 ජයග්‍රාහිකාවන් වූ එංගලන්ත පිල සුදුසුකම් ලද අනෙක් පිල සමඟ තරග වදිමින් සිය ගමන ආරම්භ කිරීමට නියමිතය.

පිරිමි තරග 27 ක් සහ කාන්තා තරග 15 ක් වශයෙන් වූ තරග 42 ක් දින 20 ක් ඇතුළතදී, ක්‍රීඩාංගණ 4 කදී පැවැත්වෙනු ඇත.

කොළඹ ආර්. පේ‍්‍රමදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගණය, පල්ලෙකැලේ, හම්බන්තොට සහ ගාල්ලේ පිහිටි ක්‍රීඩාංගණ එයට අයත් වෙයි.

මින් ඔක්තෝබර් 7 වෙනි ඉරිදාට නියමිත අවසාන මහා තරගය කොළඹ ආර්. පේ‍්‍රමදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේදී පැවැත්වෙනු ඇත.

තරගාවලිය සඳහා සහභාගි වන පිරිමි කණ්ඩායම් ‘ඒ’, ‘බී’, ‘සී’ සහ ‘ඩී’ කාණ්ඩ යටතේ තරග වදිති.

‘ඒ’ කාණ්ඩය – එංගලන්තය, ඉන්දියාව හා සුදුසුකම් ලබාගන්නා 2 කණ්ඩායම.

‘බී’ කාණ්ඩය – ඔස්ටේ‍්‍රලියාව, බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් දූපත් හා සුදුසුකම් ලබාගන්නා 1 කණ්ඩායම.

‘සී’ කාණ්ඩය - ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, දකුණු අපි‍්‍රකාව, සිම්බාබ්වේ.

‘ඩී’ කාණ්ඩය – පාකිස්තානය, නවසීලන්තය, බංග්ලාදේශය

කාන්තා කණ්ඩායම් ‘ඒ’ හා ‘බී’ කාණ්ඩ යටතේ තරග වදිති.

‘ඒ’ කාණ්ඩය – ඔස්ටේ‍්‍රලියාව, ඉන්දියාව, එංගලන්තය හා සුදුසුකම් ලබන 1 කණ්ඩායම.

‘බී’ කාණ්ඩය – නවසීලන්තය, බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් දූපත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, සුදුසුකම් ලබන 2 කණ්ඩායම

T20 World Cup 2012 Fixtures

2011-09-23T08:13:00.001+05:30

T20 World Cup 2012

T20 World Cup 2012 will begin on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 in Sri Lanka as per cricket schedule announced. ICC World Twenty20 2012 is an international tournament to be organized by Sri Lanka. T20 World Cup 2012 will consist of 27 Twenty20 matches to be hosted by Sri Lanka in Sep-Oct 2012. The T20 World Cup 2012 tournament is a part of Future Tour Programs prepared by International Cricket Council (ICC). Sri Lanka will host this tournament, beginning on September 18, 2012. In T20 World Cup 2012 bilateral series, first T20 match would be between Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe on Sep 18, 2012 at 19:30 local time to be played at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota.

Twenty20 Cricket has never failed to enthrall and captivate the minds of cricketing viewers and spectators round the globe. Since its early days, T20 Cricket came under constant criticism. But with the unprecedented success of the inaugural edition of the International Twenty20 World Cup, all questions over the longevity of the shortest format of Cricket was put to rest once and for all. To globalize T20 Cricket throughout the globe, the International Cricket Council decided to host T20 World Cups every 2 years. The year 2012 will see the next edition of the World T20, to be played in the Asian country of Sri Lanka.

The Twenty20 World Cup 2012 is the 4th edition of the T20 World Cup. This international T20 cricketing event will be hosted by the island country of Sri Lanka. In fact, this is the first time that this grand tournament will be hosted by an Asian country. Although the official dates have not been announced by the ICC, the championship will start from early September 2012 and continue up to the last week of the same month. Just like all other cricket tournaments and series, the ICC World T20 Championship is a part of the innovative Future Tour Programs (FTP).

The ICC will release the official cricket fixture of the World T20 to the public and the media very soon, as assured by the officials at ICC. This year, the number of qualifying teams has been raised from 12 to 16. This implies, the minnows and the associate countries stand a chance to compete against the big teams and gain experience. For that, a qualifying round will be held in the first quarter of 2012. The first game of the ICC T20 World Championship 2012 will be underway from Monday, September 12, 2012.

The matches will be held in Galle, Kandy and Colombo. The finals, though, will be held at the legendary R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It is one of the magnificent cricketing venues of the modern age. In the distant past, it has been witness to great cricketing spectacles, including quarter finals and semi finals of Cricket World Cup 2011 and 1996. Also, it would be interesting to see whether an Asian country will host the cup, or will it be a new name to lift up the coveted T20 World Championship crown. It’s just a matter of time, before the winner is exposed to the cricketing fraternity.

Groups
Group A – England, India, Qualifier 2
Group B – Australia, West Indies, Qualifier 1
Group C – Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Group D – Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh

Super Eight (S8) Groups
Group 1 – A1, B2, C1, D2
Group 2 – A2, B1, C2, D1

Download T20 World Cup 2012 Fixtures in PDF Format.

Date	Local	GMT	Match Details	Venue
Sep 18, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group C : Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, 1st T20	Hambantota
Sep 19, 2012	15:30	10:00	Group B : Australia vs TBC, 2nd T20	Colombo
Sep 19, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group A : India vs TBC, 3rd T20	Colombo
Sep 20, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group C : South Africa vs Zimbabwe, 4th T20	Hambantota
Sep 21, 2012	15:30	10:00	Group D : New Zealand vs Bangladesh, 5th T20	Kandy
Sep 21, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group A : England vs TBC, 6th T20	Colombo
Sep 22, 2012	15:30	10:00	Group C : Sri Lanka vs South Africa, 7th T20	Hambantota
Sep 22, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group B : Australia vs West Indies, 8th T20	Colombo
Sep 23, 2012	15:30	10:00	Group D : New Zealand vs Pakistan, 9th T20	Kandy
Sep 23, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group A : England vs India, 10th T20	Colombo
Sep 24, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group B : West Indies vs TBC, 11th T20	Colombo
Sep 25, 2012	19:30	14:00	Group D : Bangladesh vs Pakistan, 12th T20	Kandy
Sep 27, 2012	15:30	10:00	Super Eights, Group 1 : TBC vs TBC, 13th T20	Kandy
Sep 27, 2012	19:30	14:00	Super Eights, Group 1 : TBC vs TBC, 14th T20	Kandy
Sep 28, 2012	15:30	10:00	Super Eights, Group 2 : TBC vs TBC, 15th T20	Colombo
Sep 28, 2012	19:30	14:00	Super Eights, Group 2 : TBC vs TBC, 16th T20	Colombo
Sep 29, 2012	15:30	10:00	Super Eights, Group 1 : TBC vs TBC, 17th T20	Kandy
Sep 29, 2012	19:30	14:00	Super Eights, Group 1 : TBC vs TBC, 18th T20	Kandy
Sep 30, 2012	15:30	10:00	Super Eights, Group 2 : TBC vs TBC, 19th T20	Colombo
Sep 30, 2012	19:30	14:00	Super Eights, Group 2 : TBC vs TBC, 20th T20	Colombo
Oct 1, 2012	15:30	10:00	Super Eights, Group 1 : TBC vs TBC, 21st T20	Kandy
Oct 1, 2012	19:30	14:00	Super Eights, Group 1 : TBC vs TBC, 22nd T20	Kandy
Oct 2, 2012	15:30	10:00	Super Eights, Group 2 : TBC vs TBC, 23rd T20	Colombo
Oct 2, 2012	19:30	14:00	Super Eights, Group 2 : TBC vs TBC, 24th T20	Colombo
Oct 4, 2012	19:00	13:30	TBC vs TBC, 1st Semi Final T20	Colombo
Oct 5, 2012	19:00	13:30	TBC vs TBC, 2nd Semi Final T20	Colombo
Oct 7, 2012	19:00	13:30	TBC vs TBC, Final T20	Colombo

පළපුරුදු පන්දු යවන්නන් සිටියානම් තරගය දිනන්න තිබුණා - ඩිල්ෂාන්

2011-09-21T08:05:00.002+05:30

ශතකයක් රැස්කළ නායක මයිකල් ක්ලාක් ඊයේ උදේවරුවේ වේලාසනින් දවාගැනීමට තිබූ අවස්ථාව මගහැරීයාමෙන් ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානුවන් දෙවැනි ඉනිමට විශාල ලකුණු ප්‍රමාණයක් රැස්කළ බවත්, එමගින් තරගයේ ජය අත්කර ගැනීමේ බලාපොරොත්තු අතහැර දැමීමට සිදුවූ බවත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් නායක තිලකරත්න ඩිල්ෂාන් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. ජය පරාජයෙන් තොරව ඊයේ නිමාවට පත්වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා - ඔස්ට්‍රේලියා අවසන් ටෙස්ට් තරගයෙන් පසුව පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිලේ නායකයා එසේ සඳහන් කළේය.

“දිනයේ ඉතිරි ඕවර 17ක් සහ අතිරේක ඕවර ප්‍රමාණයත් එක්ක ඔක්කොම ඕවර තිස් ගණනක්. ඒ ඕවර ප්‍රමාණය ඇතුළත ලකුණු 300 කට වඩා තිබුණු ඉලක්කයක් හඹා යාම කිසිසේත්ම කරන්න බැහැ” ඔහු පැවැසීය. ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු දෙවැනි ඉනිම ඉක්මනින් අවසන් කිරීමට තරම් අත්දැකීම් බහුල පන්දු යවන්නන් නොමැතිවීම ද තරගයේ ජයග්‍රහණය ගිලිහීයාමට බලපෑ කරුණක් වූ බව ඩිල්ෂාන් සඳහන් කළේය.

“මුරලි - වාස් වැනි පරිණත පන්දු යවන්නන්ගෙන් පස්සේ අපිට පළපුරුදු පන්දු යවන්නෝ හිටියේ නැහැ. දැන් ඉන්න පන්දු යවන්නන් හැමෝම තරග ස්වල්ප ප්‍රමාණයකට පමණක් ක්‍රීඩා කළ අයයි. ඔවුන්ට තව තරග ලබාදී අත්දැකීම් වැඩි කරන්න ඕනෑ. ඊට පස්සේ තමයි අපිට ටෙස්ට් තරගයක් දිනන්න පුලුවන් වෙන්නේ. ඒ වනතුරු ඉවසන්න වෙනවා” ඔහු පැවැසීය. “දඟපන්දු යවන්නකු ලෙස රංගන හේරත් ඊයේ ඉතා හොඳින් පන්දු යැව්වා. අනාගතයේදී ඔහු අපට හොඳ තරග දිනාදෙන පන්දු යවන්නෙකු වේවි” ඩිල්ෂාන් පැවැසීය.

Clarke shines as Aussies win Sri Lanka series

2011-09-21T07:55:00.002+05:30

Australian team with the Warne-Muralitharan trophy

Australia clinched the Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 on Tuesday after resurgent skipper Michael Clarke led from the front to snatch a draw for the tourists in the third and final game.

It was Clarke's first Test tour as captain, the series win coming after the 125-run victory in the opening encounter in Galle. The second Test in Pallekele ended in a rain-affected draw.

Clarke burst into form with a fluent century and Michael Hussey narrowly missed a third consecutive hundred as Australia piled up 488 in their second innings before they were all out shortly before close with a lead of 331 runs.

Sri Lanka were 7-0 from two overs in their second knock when the match was called off at the Sinhalese Sports Club in the capital Colombo.

Clarke hit 112 and Hussey made 93 in a remarkable batting revival after Australia had conceded a first innings lead of 157 runs in good batting conditions. The victory saw Australia and Sri Lanka exchange positions in the official Test rankings, with Clarke's men moving to fourth place and Sri Lanka dropping to fifth.

Clarke, who went 23 innings without a Test century since making 168 against New Zealand in March last year, hammered 14 boundaries and three sixes in his robust knock. He was dismissed after he lost concentration following a verbal on-field skirmish with Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and holed out in the deep to become left-arm spinner Rangana Herath's fifth victim.

Herath finished with remarkable figures of 7-157 on an unhelpful pitch, his last wicket giving him 100 Test scalps in 29 matches. Hussey continued his amazing run in the series, scoring 463 runs in five innings at an average of 92.60, but missed out on a century in each innings.

The left-hander moved to 93 with two fours off Tillakaratne Dilshan, but fell in the same over as he swept high to a diving Chanaka Welegedara at deep square-leg. The West Australian had scored 95 and 15 in the first Test, 142 in the second and 118 in the first innings here.

Clarke and Hussey put on 176 for the fifth wicket after Sri Lanka had struck an important blow in the day's sixth over. Australia added just 11 runs to their overnight score of 209-3 when century-maker Phil Hughes top-edged a sweep off Herath to Lahiru Thirimanne at square-leg. The left-hander made 126, his third Test century.

Herath, who claimed the first five wickets in the innings, shared the second new ball, which was taken in the 87th over with the total 268-4. Clarke responded to the gamble by driving the spinner through the covers and lofting the next ball for six to bring up his half-century.

And he reached his 15th Test century by pulling Herath to mid-on for his 14th boundary, soon after he had smashed the bowler for his third six.

Mathews becomes tenth Sri Lankan to score hundred against Australia

2011-09-20T08:53:00.002+05:30

hey may have lost their aura, but still, a Test hundred against Australia remains the best personal milestone for a Test cricketer. Sri Lanka vice-captain Angelo Mathews became the tenth Sri Lanka to score a century against them yesterday as he helped Sri Lanka to reach 473 runs in their first innings in the third Test against the tourists.

"It was great getting to it after a couple of missed opportunities. This was a very patient knock, close to 270 balls because even though the wicket was flat and hard the Australians didn’t give it easily. We had to be patient and wait for the loose balls," Mathews, playing only his 16th Test told journalists.

He had been out twice in the 90s before and when Sri Lanka’s ninth wicket fell he was still five runs short of his maiden Test hundred. He had been dismissed for 95 in the second innings in Galle while in Bombay two years ago he was run out on 99 batting with last man Muttiah Muralitharan. "You can always say batting in the nineties you get a bit nervous because I haven’t got a hundred yet. I was a bit nervous on this occasion as well."

"We certainly had a plan. We wanted to get 100 runs today and get the lead up to about 200 runs which we couldn’t and fell short by about 40 runs."

Despite the sentiments of a young player scoring his maiden Test hundred against a disciplined bowling unit, there was some criticism on his approach to put personal milestones ahead of team’s interest. But the number six batsman was confident Sri Lanka could record a win. "The team always comes first and we need to win this Test to level the series. We always look at opportunities where the team ends up winning. We are in a very strong position today because they are three wickets down and the wicket has started to spin."

"Australia were not giving away any easy runs. They bowled to a plan and if we had to push then we had to go for big shots and we cannot afford to lose wickets. We have to be patient. We still have 90 overs to bowl on the last day and we are still on track."

Mathews has played this series only as a specialist batsman as left quadriceps and knee injuries haven’t allowed him to bowl. "I will be flying to Australia after this series to get a few injections and soon after that I will start bowling. I think I will be fit to bowl from the next series onwards."

I hope to take over from Sangakkara - Chandimal

2011-09-19T08:55:00.001+05:30

He was talked up as one of Sri Lanka's future stars even before his debut. He made two centuries in his first six ODIs, including one at Lord's. Life could not have got better for Dinesh Chandimal at 21. It didn't, and came crashing down suddenly. He was dropped after only three indifferent outings in the home ODI series against Australia and is now looking at the Champions League Twenty20 qualifier as a potential launching pad for a national comeback.

"This tournament is definitely very important for me," Chandimal said in Hyderabad. "It could help me make the Sri Lankan side more regularly."

His shy smile didn't disappear, but there was hurt in his eyes when the word 'dropped' was mentioned. Twenty-one is not an age when a cricketer becomes adept at diplomacy or eloquence, but Chandimal was. "That's the selectors' call," he said. "I can only focus on my game and can't do much otherwise."

It wasn't the low scores but the manner of his dismissals against Australia that was worrying. On all three occasions, he chased and edged deliveries outside the off stump. What went wrong? "You see, my normal position is No. 3 but I came in at No. 5 [twice] against Australia. But I know that I have the potential. I am ready to play for my country at any position whenever I am selected."

Chandimal has been a wicketkeeper from the beginning, but his batting is so highly rated that he has played a majority of the games in his short international career as a specialist batsman. It is as a keeper, though, that he wants to leave a mark. "I have kept wicket all through my career, right from school level through age-group cricket. I like playing as a keeper-batsman. Keeping is good for my batting as well, as I get to observe from up close how the pitch is behaving.

"I hope to take over from Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] one day. At the moment, Prasanna Jayawardene is doing very well in Tests, but I would like to keep wicket in Tests as well in the future."

Despite having a first-class average of 58.52, Chandimal's eagerness to keep wicket could mean that he will have to wait for that Test call-up till a vacancy arises behind the stumps. Lahiru Thirimanne, another promising batsman - one who does not keep wicket - was blooded ahead of Chandimal during the Tests against England. Chandimal is prepared to wait. "I expected to be picked for the Australia Tests, but I have a lot of years ahead of me and my time will come."

New look Sri Lanka Under-19 ready for test

2011-09-19T08:51:00.000+05:30

Sri Lanka will test their new look Under-19 team dominated by outstation cricketers ahead of next years Youth World Cup when they meet Australia, West Indies and hosts India in a quadrangular tournament in Visakhapatnam in Indian.

Sri Lanka Under-19 led by former Maris Stella College cricketer Angelo Jayasinghe will meet their counterparts from September 27 to October 07.

This will be the first tour abroad for a majority of cricketers and for a few a new beginning after their last engagement with the Sri Lanka Under-19 ended on a bad note. There were discipline issues against a couple of cricketers when they played against England Under-19 here early this year.

The selectors have placed their hopes on rooky paceman Dilshan Danushka of Maliyadeva College who was sent to India to attend the MRF fast bowling academy headed by Dennis Lilllee. Danushka joins experienced speedster de Mel who also attended the clinic.

The team selected for the tour includes several cricketers who have not played Schools Cricket in Division I category but according to team officials they have done enough in the Under-23 Inter Club tournaments and have fared well during practice matches to win places. Pullina Taranga of Devananda College, Ambalangoda, Tharindu Kaushal of Devapathiraja College, Ratgama and Lahiru Madushanka of St. Thomas’ College, Matale are the notable inclusions from lower division schools.

From Colombo based schools Royal paceman Gaurav Deva is the latest inclusion while St. Peter’s College opening batsman Shehan Fernando has won his due place after being sidelined for several series before.

Lasith Abeyratne and Duleeka Tissakuttige who had exposure against England Under-19 this year are bringing experience to the batting line up with skipper Angelo Jayasinghe, while Saranga Rajaguru and Amila Aponso brings experience to the spin department.

Sri Lanka Under-19 is scheduled to leave for India on September 24.

Pix By Sujatha Jayaratne

Matches played by Sri Lanka Under-19

Opponent Venue Date

West Indies ACA-VDCA Stadium Sep-27

India ACA- VDCA Stadium Sep-29

Australia ACA-VDCA Stadium Oct-01

West IndiesPTD Jubilee Stadium Oct 03

India PTD Jubilee Stadium Oct 05

Australia PTD Jubilee Stadium Oct 07

Two-Test series unsatisfactory - Sangakkara

2011-09-16T07:52:00.000+05:30

On the eve of his 100th Test, Kumar Sangakkara has called on the ICC to do away with two-Test series, describing such scheduling as "unsatisfying". The third Test against Australia at Colombo will offer Sangakkara and his team the chance to pull back a 1-0 deficit, but they have not always been so fortunate.

As a stylish batsman, successful captain and articulate statesman for Sri Lankan cricket, Sangakkara said he had taken part in too many series where the narrative felt unduly clipped due to the lack of a third Test.

One of his imponderables is the 2007 series in Australia, where the under-prepared visitors lost in Brisbane but then, through Sangakkara's own majestic 192 in the second Test, pushed the hosts far further. The prospect of a third match might have made a significant change to the script.

"It is unsatisfactory to play so many two-Test series," Sangakkara told ESPNcricinfo. "As a country, to be measured up as a Test country, you need to keep playing three to five Test match series as much as you can.

"I don't think five Test series are attractive anymore to TV networks, but I think Test series should be a minimum of three matches. I hope the ICC can stipulate that, I don't know if they can."

Among forthcoming series, Australia's visit to South Africa has been cut to two Tests to accommodate the Twenty20 Champions League, a move that has already been heavily criticised for marginalising Test cricket.

"Test cricket is still, to my mind, the most important form of the game out there," Sangakkara said. "There's nothing like it, there's nothing that comes close to it. This is the only arena where you can really make your mark as a cricketer. If you are successful at Test cricket, that is all that matters I think."

Sri Lanka's success since Sangakkara's debut in 2000 has been charted largely under overseas coaches, including Tom Moody and Trevor Bayliss. However Sangakkara is fervent in his desire for a home-grown mentor to take the role full-time, and cited the former opening batsman Chandika Hathurusingha as an ideal candidate.

"I think we have a great opportunity to have a completely Sri Lankan coaching unit. That will be amazing if we can do it," Sangakkara said. "And we've had candidates the calibre of Chandika Hathurusingha, who is now the assistant coach for New South Wales. He has been a great loss to us.

"He made an amazing contribution to our cricket, and he is an extremely capable coach. Rumesh Ratnayake has also been exemplary, unfortunately he has come at a time when we've had quite a bad series, but these two people have shown we have the quality in Sri Lanka to have a completely local coaching unit which we can be proud of, and second to none in the world.

"At the same time if the administration and the captain also think a foreign coach is the way to go, that is also no problem, because there are many excellent coaches around the world … There is Graham Ford, Geoff Marsh and a lot of other coaches in the running for this job, they're fantastic people, they've got great records and have proven themselves all over the world.

"Any one of them would be a great addition to our cricket, but on a personal level, and it's not a sentimental thing, I think we have the quality in Sri Lanka as well, unfortunately not in Sri Lanka now. One of them is outside coaching NSW, but we have the Sri Lankans capable of also being national coaches and doing a great job."

Sri Lanka v Australia, 3rd Test, Colombo Injured Harris ruled out of Test

2011-09-16T07:46:00.000+05:30

Peter Siddle will take the place of an injured Ryan Harris in Australia's team for the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Usman Khawaja has been left out to make way for the return of Ricky Ponting, who missed the Pallekele Test for the birth of his child.

Harris was ruled out due to a minor hamstring strain, meaning a recall for Siddle ahead of his less-experienced fellow Victoria fast bowler James Pattinson. "I guess we're going to be safe, rather than sorry," Michael Clarke, the Australian captain, said of Harris.

"He's [Harris] played an unbelievable part throughout this series, [he is] the leading wicket-taker and someone who we think is really important to our success in the Test format. I certainly don't think it's worth the risk of playing him here; if that minor strain becomes a big tear he could be out for a lot longer. I think he's too important to us to risk him at this stage."

Siddle struggled for rhythm and the right length in the warm-up game in Colombo that preceded the first Test, but has been working hard in the nets and the gym to build his strength and stamina since. He will have a critical role to play, for Harris has been the leading bowler in the series so far, claiming 11 wickets at the cost of just 14.54 runs each and consistently troubling the Sri Lanka top order. Siddle has the ability to move the ball, and took a hat-trick against England at the Gabba last year by bowling a full length.

Khawaja, meanwhile, makes way for Ponting, but his spot at No. 6 will go to Shaun Marsh, who made a stirring 141 on his Test debut in Pallekele when deputising at No. 3. In the three Tests he has played so far, Khawaja has a top score of 37, but has looked the part each time he has batted. Nevertheless, Marsh's resolve in exploiting his first opportunity to the fullest meant the selectors on tour could not leave him out for Colombo.

"It's brilliant to have Ricky back, he's been an amazing player for such a long time. He's always going to walk back into the team," Clarke said. "Hard for Uzzie because, without going and making a big score individually, he's shown he can bat anywhere in the order.

"The way he's played spin at the start of his innings has been really positive so he's shown the selectors going forward that he can play anywhere in the top six. It's obviously a tough selection but we thought with Shaun making 140 on debut it was really hard to leave him out.

"I think he [Khawaja] might have felt there was a chance he was going to miss out. Tim and myself spoke to everyone last night. The key with this stuff, not only for the guys who are missing out but just as importantly for the guys who are playing, [is that] it's important to let everybody know as soon as you find out. As soon as the selectors know you should make it known what the team is.

"Uzzie was, obviously like anybody, disappointed. He wants to play every game he can for Australia but he was fantastic. He understood our reasons. The one thing Uzzie made very clear was that he wants us to go and win this Test series 2-0. A big part of why we've had success is guys are putting the team in front of themselves and Uzzie's another example of that. The one thing that came out of his mouth was 'let's just go and win this third Test, go home 2-0 winners', which is brilliant."

Khawaja is the first player to be dropped under the new selection structure, recommended by the Argus review, that had Clarke sitting officially on the selection panel, and playing a key role as the man to relay this news to the players. His predecessor Ricky Ponting spent his entire captaincy pushing for such a structure, and Clarke said even though it was not a palatable part of the job, he and other players always felt more comfortable receiving the bad news from the captain.

"It's certainly not something you look forward to, but what it does do is it allows the player to understand the captain's feelings, on how he [the player] has performed throughout the tour," Clarke said. "As hard as it is to go and front a player and let him know he's not selected in the Test match, I can give him the honest feedback.

"It's 100% what I feel and that's something I've tried to do throughout the whole tour since taking over as a selector: make sure I'm 100% honest with the guys who have been selected but also the guys who are missing out. The 'no bullshit' policy is very important to me. I want guys to know the truth and unfortunately for Uzzie, a big part of the reason is Shaun got 140 on debut. It's really hard to leave him out."

I was a below average cricketer at school - Sanga Road to 100 Test Matches

2011-09-16T07:35:00.001+05:30

It’s been an outstanding week for star batsman Kumar Sangakkara. At Pallekele, he played his part to help Sri Lanka save the second Test and then he was named as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year and won the ICC Peoples’ Player of the Year Award as well ahead of Indian captain M. S. Dhoni. On Friday, he will become the fifth Sri Lankan to play 100 Test Matches.

The former Sri Lankan captain, looking back at the past decade where he rose from a mediocre wicketkeeper batsman to the rank of world’s best batsman ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting, has some interesting points to make.

Then for two years while leading the country passionately, he sledged South Africans and Australians mercilessly giving them a taste of their own medicine. His press conferences were the most sought after for the sheer brilliance of the use of the English language by him. This year the MCC invited him to deliver the annual Lord Cowdrey Spirit of Cricket Lecture and the speech brought him a standing ovation.

The mood at Lord’s that day was summed up by Master-of-Ceremonies Mark Nicholas, who at the end of the speech said; "You are a hard act to follow, Sir. Many congratulations. We are all struck by the immense pride you have in your land and of your people and we are humbled by the brilliance of your language and your use of it. We are struck by your messages. Archbishop Desmond Tutu received a standing ovation (here) and you have matched it."

Here Kumar Sangakkara talks through the early days, the highs and lows, the purple patch in his batting that lasted for two years between 2007 and 2008, what it means to win the ICC Peoples’ Player Award, the influences of Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva on his career, Sri Lanka’s struggles in the current series and a host of other issues.

Here are the excerpts.

Question: What does it mean for you to win the ICC Peoples’ Player Award?

Sangakkara: I think it’s very special since the fans have voted for it. I am very grateful for their support right throughout the career and voting me for this award, by both Sri Lankans at home and abroad and all the other fans all over the world.

Question: What do you look forward to do in your 100th Test Match?

Sangakkara: Hopefully do well and help the side win the Test Match and square the series 1-1.

Question: What do you think has contributed to Sri Lanka’s failures during the ongoing series?

Sangakkara: It’s the big first innings score that has been lacking. We used to get that big first innings score at home usually. Very rarely did we miss out. This series it has been just one of those rare occasions. Unfortunately the Aussies have made us pay every time we have fallen short. We have to make over 350 or 400 to dominate a Test Match. That’s where we’ve got to consolidate.

Question: The same side did quite well against England a few months back. What did the team do right in England and lacks here?

Sangakkara: English bowlers were very difficult on those wickets and almost on every Test Match we had a centurion. Unfortunately, here with the wickets being slightly slower, the Aussies have planned out their bowling very well and their field setting areas where they are going to limit our batsmen. All what they have done is to set straight fields and bowl straight and wait for the ball to reverse or nip off here and there and just dry us up until we make a mistake. They have done really well and we have to counter that.

Question: School cricket gives people a fair idea as to which cricketer will excel at international level. In your case, would you agree that you were average at school level?

Sangakkara: Probably less than average compared to the other brilliant school cricketers around that time like Mahela, Thilan, Avishka or Upeka Fernando. Cricketers like that were coming through the rank. School cricket is certainly cradle of Sri Lankan cricket, but I think that’s for a period of time and from thereon the players need to graduate to the club level and fine tune their ability to the ‘A’ team and national level. I was actually as you said an ordinary, run-of-the-mill cricketer when I was playing school cricket.

Question: What did you do differently to others to get to where you are now?

Sangakkara: I have always believed in hard work, doing as much as I can. It has been a lot of hard work since I played under-19 level at NCC and ‘A’ team. Even after I got into the national side, it was hard work to stay ahead of the game. Your first year in international cricket is probably the easiest and then it gets harder and harder as bowlers get used to what you do and try and outsmart you. In my case, there has been no substitute for hard work.

Question: Do you work with anyone on your batting?

Sangakkara: My father has coached me since I was 13. Mr. Sunil Fernando and Mr. Bertie Wijesinghe, who oversaw my cricket since I was 13 until I was 19 and Mr. Bernard Perera. All these people have kept a close eye on how I have developed as a batsman. Even now I go to Mr. Sunil Fernando whenever I need to talk on my batting. Every time I am in Kandy or he is here, we try to meet up for a chat to see how better I can improve.

Question: At which point did you take up the sport seriously?

Sangakkara: Probably when I was 17 or 18 and when I stopped playing other sports. The two years I spent in Colombo playing for NCC and trying to get to the ‘A’ team. It was lot of fun playing for NCC with all the great cricketers at the club and one option was to become good enough to get into the ‘A’ side.

Question: Your first ever Test series for Sri Lanka against South Africa was Arjuna Ranatunga’s last as well. What was it like to share the same dressing room with him?

Sangakkara: Everyone has grown up watching Arjuna and the way he led the team especially since the 1996 World Cup. I enjoyed my time with him in the dressing room. I was very fortunate to have him as a senior in my first outing in Test cricket. It was always nice to talk cricket with him because his knowledge was so vast. So were guys like Aravinda, Marvan, Sanath, Vaasy and Murali. It was a great privilege to have all of them around.

Question: There was a period between 2006 and 2007, where, of your eight hundreds, three were double hundreds and four were scores of over 150! Would you agree that that was your peak that brought you the official recognition as the best batsman in the world ahead of Ricky Ponting?

Sangakkara: Up to now probably. Batsmen as they mature, as they find a bit more about themselves, they tend to have those purple patches. It’s about trying to score as consistently as possible. I have been lucky to score a hundred in every series I played since 2008 up to now.

Question: Of your knocks in Test cricket, the double hundred in Lahore helped Sri Lanka win the Asian Test Championship. The 156 at Wellington also came in a winning cause. Then there was the 192 at Hobart (where Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist appealed successfully for caught behind after the ball had hit his shoulder) and more recently the 119 at Southampton which enabled Sri Lanka to save the Test. Which one would you consider as your best?

Sangakkara: Southampton was very tough because it was to save a Test Match. The Hobart hundred too was when we were trying to save the Test Match but we ended up with a glimpse of victory at one point. All hundreds are special to me, but scoring a hundred against Australia was something I always wanted to do. In Australia, to go there, score a hundred and if possible beat them has always been a dream. We couldn’t win a Test, but at least to score a hundred against them was one of the most satisfying things I have done.

Question: Friday would be your 100th Test Match. How far do you think you will go?

Sangakkara: I would like to play as long as I can. I don’t know how far that is. It depends on how well I am doing. It’s always nice to keep scoring 100s and keep getting runs. Hopefully I would be able to score 10,000 runs in each format and hopefully in Test cricket I will get 35 hundreds. These are quite realistic (milestones) now and just keep contributing to the team. Test cricket is the real testing ground where you make the mark and make a name.

Question: You became the first Sri Lankan to lead the team to a series win in Australia. Talk us through that tour?

Sangakkara: It was actually a tour that when we started on it, it was strange. The dressing room feeling even at practices was that we were going to win this. I don’t think there was any doubt in the minds of any of the players that we were going to lose that series. We won everything, even practice matches except for that final ODI in Brisbane. That’s been a very rare experience for me in Australia where we had ups and downs. There were peaks where we scored 340 and I remember once against the Australian ‘A’ team where we were all out for 67 and played the second innings as well before the lights came on. We have had those tough moments and we have had great individual performances in Australia. Sanath in Sydney has always been great. Once he got out of the plane and the next day scored a hundred. We have had those moments, but never been able to win a series. To take a team, play a six - five combination with a batsman short and to do that was very satisfying.

by Rex Clementine

Champions League T20 2011 schedule

2011-09-16T07:32:00.000+05:30

A record 13 teams will be vying for top honours in the Champions League Twenty20 which will be held across three cities Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore from September 23 to October 9.

Bangalore will host the inaugural match of the third edition on September 23; it will also host a semi-final. Chennai will host a semi-final and the final slated on October 9.

Apart from seven top T20 teams who have automatically qualified for the main round, there are six other teams who will be engaged in a qualifier from which the top three will qualify.

The seven teams that have automatically qualified are IPL champions plus defending CL T20 champions Chennai Super Kings, IPL runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore, third placed Mumbai Indians. The other four teams are South Australian Redbacks and New South Wales Blues from Australia, Warriors and Cape Cobras from South Africa.

The six-team qualifier that will be held in Hyderabad from September 19-21 features Kolkata Knight Riders who have been invited to play by virtue of finishing fourth in the IPL.

Apart from KKR, there will be New Zealand T20 champions Auckland Aces, West Indies T20 champions Trinidad and Tobago, along with two County teams from England and a team from Sri Lanka.

Indian Premier League lV runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore will clash with Warriors of South Africa in the first match on September 23.

The teams are divided in to two groups. Group A consists of Chennai Super Kings, Cape Cobras, NSW Blues and Mumbai Indians, while Group B has Royal Challengers Bangalore and Warriors of South Africa, Big Bash winners South Australian Redbacks.

Group A will see Chennai with Cape Cobras facing New South Wales Blues in the first match, followed by the match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.

The fifth team will be selected via qualifiers. In Group A, the teams that finish on top of Pool B in qualifiers, while the top two teams from Pool A qualifiers will make in to Group B.

Qualification Round schedule

Date	Match	IST	Venue
Sep 19 (Mon)	Trinidad and Tobago vs Ruhuna	16:00	Hyderabad
Sep 19 (Mon)	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Auckland	20:00	Hyderabad
Sep 20 (Tue)	Trinidad and Tobago vs Leicestershire	16:00	Hyderabad
Sep 20 (Tue)	Somerset vs Auckland	20:00	Hyderabad
Sep 21 (Wed)	Leicestershire vs Ruhuna	16:00	Hyderabad
Sep 21 (Wed)	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Somerset	20:00	Hyderabad

Champions League matches schedule

Date	Match	Time	Venue

Sep 23 (Fri)	Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Warriors	20:00	Bengaluru
Sep 24 (Sat)	Cape Cobras vs New South Wales	16:00	Chennai
Sep 24 (Sat)	Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians	20:00	Chennai
Sep 25 (Sun)	Warriors vs South Australia	16:00	Kolkata
Sep 25 (Sun)	TBC vs TBC	20:00	Kolkata
Sep 26 (Mon)	Mumbai Indians vs TBC	20:00	Bengaluru
Sep 27 (Tue)	TBC vs South Australia	20:00	Kolkata
Sep 28 (Wed)	New South Wales vs TBC	16:00	Chennai
Sep 28 (Wed)	Chennai Super Kings vs Cape Cobras	20:00	Chennai
Sep 29 (Thu)	TBC vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	20:00	Kolkata
Sep 30 (Fri)	Mumbai Indians vs Cape Cobras	20:00	Bengaluru
Oct 01 (Sat)	South Australia vs TBC	16:00	Kolkata
Oct 01 (Sat)	TBC vs Warriors	20:00	Kolkata

Oct 02 (Sun)	Mumbai Indians vs New South Wales	16:00	Chennai
Oct 02 (Sun)	Chennai Super Kings vs TBC	20:00	Chennai
Oct 03 (Mon)	Royal Challengers Bangalore vs TBC	20:00	Chennai
Oct 04 (Tue)	Cape Cobras vs TBC	16:00	Chennai
Oct 04 (Tue)	Chennai Super Kings vs New South Wales	20:00	Chennai
Oct 05 (Wed)	Warriors vs TBC	16:00	Chennai
Oct 05 (Wed)	Royal Challengers Bangalore vs South Australia	20:00	Chennai
Oct 07 (Fri)	^1st Semi Final	20:00	Chennai
Oct 08 (Sat)	2nd Semi Final	20:00	Chennai
Oct 09 (Sun)	Final	20:00	Chennai

තුන්වැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගය ජය ගැනීම අපේ අරමුණයි - තිලකරත්න ඩිල්ෂාන්

2011-09-13T08:41:00.001+05:30

පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ දී මෙන්ම, දෙවැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ දීත් පළමු ඉනිමේ සිදුවූ පිති හරඹ දුර්වලතා මග හරවා එස්. එස්. සී. පිටියේ පැවැත්වෙන තුන්වැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ පළමු ඉනිමේ දී ලකුණු 350 ට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් ලබාගෙන තරගය ජය ගනිමින් ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලිය සමව නිමාවට පත්කර ගැනීම තම අරමුණ බැව් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිලේ නායක තිලකරත්න ඩිල්ෂාන් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

පල්ලෙකැලේ ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේ දී ඊයේ ජය පරාජයෙන් තොරව නිමාවූ දෙවැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගයෙන් පසුව පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ දී ඩිල්ෂාන් මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය. “පිතිකරුවන් 7 දෙනකු හා පන්දු යවන්නන් 4 දෙනකු සමඟ ඊළඟ තරගයට මුහුණදීමට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. තුන්වැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගය ජය ගැනීමට හැකිවුවහොත් තරගාවලිය ජය පරාජයෙන් තොරව නිමා කර ගනිමින් 2013 ලෝක ටෙස්ට් සූරතාවලියට සුදුසුකම් ලබා ගැනීමේ අවස්ථාව අපිට තවම තිබෙනවා” ඩිල්ෂාන් වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසීය.

“දෙවැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ දෙවැනි ඉනිමේ දී විශාල ලකුණු සංඛ්‍යාවකට යාමට අපිට පුලුවන් වීම ගැන සතුටට පත්වෙනවා” ඔහු පැවැසීය.

Lance Corporal Prasanna promoted as Sergeant

2011-09-12T08:31:00.001+05:30

SL Army’s one of the newest hopefuls in cricket, Serg. Seekkuge Prasanna is now in his debut Test, in the ongoing series against Australia at Pallekele. He became the second Army player to play Test cricket following 2nd Lt. Ajantha Mendis. Lance Corporal Prasanna was promoted to the rank of Sergeant a few days ago by Commander of the Army, Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya in recognition of his cricketing talents.

Prasanna worked his way up through the ranks by bowling leg-breaks and broke into the Army team in 2006 as a 21-year-old. He made an immediate impact taking three for 23 in 10 overs on his domestic one-day debut against Lankan CC. He built an outstanding List ‘A’ record over the next five years, picking up 73 wickets at 18.38 in 45 matches

Sangakkara calls for extended runs for players

2011-09-12T08:27:00.000+05:30

Kumar Sangakkara battled for his half-century

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka batsman, has called for stability in the team after they gave themselves a chance of staving off a Test match and series defeat by Australia in Pallekele. While he acknowledged the team's poor performances with the bat so far in the series, he said the batsmen needed to be given extended runs without the constant fear of being dropped. Only that, he said, could bring positive results - Sri Lanka have not won a Test match since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan..

"The first thing is the guys have to be pretty solid in their minds about what their roles are," Sangakkara said. "They've also got to be comfortable in the fact they're here because they're good enough and also that they're going to be given a nice, long-lasting run to prove what they can do. No-one comes here easily, everyone's done the hard work in the A side or in first-class cricket to get to this level and earn a Test cap for Sri Lanka.

"But it's hard for batsmen to play looking over their shoulders; they need to be told 'we trust you enough to go out and do the job for the country' and these guys will respond to that. I think [Tillakaratne] Dilshan's done that pretty well. You're seeing slow results, but at all times the senior guys have to keep putting their hands up and performing; that's what's going to allow the newcomers to perform even better."

Sri Lanka started the fourth day in Pallekele 237 runs behind after a first-innings surrender for 174. By the close they were 223 for 2, just 14 behind, with Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in occupation on the cusp of the second new ball.

"It was important we showed some character in this innings," Sangakkara said, "especially since the last three innings we've had opportunities to try to win Test matches but we haven't done that with our batting. Today was another opportunity for the guys to go out there and graft the runs and if we get a good start again tomorrow morning we can put some pressure back on the Australians."

Under a new captain in Michael Clarke, Australia brought an inexperienced bowling attack to Sri Lanka, but Sangakkara expressed genuine respect for the way the visitors have gone about their work, forcing the hosts to accept that hard graft was the only path to runs.

"It's pretty disappointing but we can't point the finger at anyone else but ourselves [about the batting so far]. Test matches are usually won or lost on first-innings totals; very rarely do you see huge comebacks in the third and fourth innings. As a batting side we're going up against an Australian attack that's come out here and showed us how disciplined and well planned they are in their bowling. We've got to be up for the fight.

"It is not just a case of batting a session or batting two sessions, it is about batting five, six, seven sessions against these guys to build up good totals. It's hard to allow bowlers to dominate the course of things throughout, but they've done a really good job of bowling straight, bowling great areas and bowling to their fields. This is not a side against whom you can score a hundred in a session or two, it is a case of pushing the Australia bowlers into their third or fourth spells, tiring them out and then grafting your runs."

The DRS caused some more headaches for both sides on the fourth day, as Tharanga Paranavitana was first the beneficiary then the victim of its vagaries. In both instances replays suggested there might have been a deflection to the keeper but there did not appear to be conclusive evidence of an edge; however, while Paranavitana survived the first review, the second not-out decision was overturned. Sangakkara said technology was not yet 100% accurate, and therefore a state of compromise had to be reached between those providing technology and those compelled to use it.

"We've all seen technology; we've seen the good and the bad of it. We've seen Hawk-Eye not picking up the turn of the ball, depending on the distance between where the ball pitches and where it hits the pad; you've seen Hotspot sometimes fail in the India-England series, so the debate will go on.

"Today we saw Paranavitana given not-out on the field and the decision overturned by the third umpire, so that'll probably be another point of debate. I think everybody's got to come to a middle ground, where you've got to accept that it's not 100% if you're using it and be comfortable with that, or go back and say we'll wait until technology is 100%."

ICC admits tp DRS glitches

2011-09-06T08:58:00.000+05:30

The International Cricket Council has admitted to errors in the Decision Review System and is also looking at improving the system's effectiveness.

The review system has come under a lot of debate recently with decisions during the Sri Lanka-Australia and England India series.

Rahul Dravid was given out caught behind during the first ODI although the hot spot did not show and edge, making it the second instance during the series when the third umpire ruled the batsman out without any concrete evidence.

Dravid's incident came just a few days after Australian opener Phil Hughes was given out on controversial fashion with the ball tracker's accuracy being questioned this time.

Hughes was given out leg before after the tracker showed ball would gone straight on to hit the stumps after pitching but it was clear that the ball would have turned sharply and miss the stumps.

Umpire Simon Taufel, who was in Sri Lanka during the incident called it a "serious question mark against the accuracy of Hawk-Eye." Taufel and the officiating umpires also sent the footage to the ICC.

Dave Richardson, ICC General Manager of cricket, said all decisions made in Test and ODI cricket is monitored at the Dubai headquarters and admitted that "such monitoring revealed a minute number of errors in technology and that technology is not always conclusive".

Although Richardson did not confirm it, there is speculation that a meeting over the DRS errors is likely to take place during the ICC awards on September 12.

පන්දුවට පහර දෙන ආකාරය මත අපේ සාර්ථකත්වය රැෙඳනවා - තිලකරත්න ඩිල්ෂාන්

2011-08-30T09:41:00.001+05:30

ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවට එරෙහිව හෙට ඇරැඹෙන ත්‍රිත්ව ටෙස්ට් තරගමාලාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාර්ථකත්වය තම පිතිකරුවන් පන්දුවට පහර දෙන ආකාරය මත රැඳී පවතිනු ඇතැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් නායක තිලකරත්න ඩිල්ෂාන් පවසයි.

“අපේ පන්දු යැවීමේ විවිධත්වය වැඩියෙන් තියෙනවා. නමුත් ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානුවන් පීඩනයකට යටත් කිරීමට නම් හොඳ ලකුණු ප්‍රමාණයක් ලකුණු පුවරුවට දැමිය යුතුයි” ඩිල්ෂාන් කියයි. “සාර්ථකත්වය ලැබිය හැක්කේ එසේ කළොත් පමණයි.”

පිතිකරුවන් හා දඟ පන්දු යවන්නන් සම්ප්‍රදායිකව ඔවුන්ගේ අණසක පතුරුවා ඇති මවුරටේ තණතීරුවල, පළපුරුද්දෙන් අඩු තම පන්දු යවන්නන්ගේ ප්‍රහාරය සාර්ථක ප්‍රතිඵල ගෙන දෙනු ඇතැයි ඩිල්ෂාන් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙයි.

මේ අතර, පූර්ණ කාලීන ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු ටෙස්ට් නායකයා ලෙසින් හෙට සිට වැඩ අරඹන මයිකල් ක්ලාක්, යළිත් ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රිකට් ලකුණු ලබා ගැනීමට තමා ඉතාමත් උනන්දුවෙන් සිටින බව කියා සිටී.

“මගේ පිතිකරණය ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ මා කැමති තරමට ඇවිල්ලා නැහැ. මට නම් ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ උච්චතම ස්ථානය ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රීඩාවයි. එහිදී උපරිමයෙන් ක්‍රීඩා කිරීමට මට අවශ්‍යයි” ක්ලාක් කියයි. “ඒ සඳහා මට ලැබී තියෙන මේ සූදානමට වැඩි යමක් මට ඉල්ලන්න බැහැ.

දැන් අවස්ථාව පැමිණිලා තියෙන මොහොතේ මා මගේ කාර්යය ඉටුකළ යුතුයි. මම ‘බැට්’ කරන හැම අවස්ථාවකම ලකුණු ලබා ගැනීම වැදගත් තමයි. නමුත් පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගයේදී ශතකයක් ලබා ගන්න මම කැමතියි” ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු නායකයා ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.

කණ්ඩායමේ පෙරමුණේ ම සිටින පිතිකරුවකු ලෙසින් සාර්ථක කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කිරීමට තමා බලාපොරොත්තු වන බව ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු සුපිරි පිතිකරු රිකී පොන්ටිං පවසයි. තමා නායකයාව සිටියදී ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවට අත්වූ ‘අළු බඳුන’ පරාජය තමාගේ පිතිකරණයට අහිතකර ලෙස බලපෑ බවට ඔහු පිළිගනී.

“අළු බඳුන ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලියේ කණ්ඩායමේ ක්‍රීඩා විලාශය මගේ සිතට කාවැදීමට පටන් ගත්තා. එය මගේ පිතිකරණය ටිකක් පල්ලෙහාට ඇදගෙන ගියා.”

“ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමට ප්‍රමාණවත් ලකුණු මා විසින් ලබා ගත යුතුව තිබෙනවා. ළඟම අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් මගේ ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ එයයි” පොන්ටි වැඩිදුරටත් පවසයි.

මැද පෙළ පණ නැති ක්‍රිකට්‌ කණ්‌ඩායමේ අනාගතය අඳුරුය!

2011-08-26T14:01:00.000+05:30

රැ වැටුන වළේ දවල් වැටීම යන උපමාව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන්ට මේ දිනවල කදිමට ගැලපෙයි. මග පෙන්වන්නෙක්‌ සිටියදීත් ඔවුහු වළක වැටුණා මෙනි. ''මට පුලුවන් කියා දෙන්න විතරයි. මගේ උපරිමය මම ඔවුන්ට දුන්නා. නමුත් පිට්‌ටනියට ගිහිල්ල බැට්‌ කරන්න මට බැහැ. අපේ පිතිකරුවන් පන්දුවට පහර දුන් අයුරු කිසිසේත් සෑහීමකට පත්වෙන්න බැහැ.'' යනුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන්ගේ මග පෙන්වන්නා හෙවත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරු පුහුණුකරු මාවන් අතපත්තු එසේ පවසා සිටියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන්ගේ දැඩි දුර්වල පිතිහරඹය හමුවේ ඔස්‌ටේ්‍ර්‍රලියාව සමග පැවැති එක්‌දින තරගාවලිය 3-2 ක්‌ ලෙස පරාජය වීමෙන් පසුවය. ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවෝ සමස්‌තයක්‌ ලෙස දැක්‌වූ දුර්වල පිතිහරඹයේ තරම හොඳින්ම දන්නා පුද්ගලයා ද ඔහුමය.

ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානුවන් පහසුවෙන් පරාජය කරමින් එක්‌දින තරගාවලි ජයග්‍රහණය සහ අන්තර්ජාතික එක්‌දින ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම්වල පළමු ස්‌ථානය දිනා ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට තිබූ අවස්‌ථාව මග හැරී ගියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන්ගේ දුර්වල පිතිහරඹය බව ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු පරාජය හමුවේ පැහැදිලිව පෙනෙන කරුණකි. එබැවින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නායක ඩිල්ෂාන් සහ මාවන් එක හෙළා ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ, ''අවු( 19 න් පහළ කණ්‌ඩායමේ ක්‍රීඩකයන් කිහිප දෙනකු හෝ කණ්‌ඩායමට ගෙනල්ල ඉදිරිය වෙනුවෙන් ලක ලැහැස්‌ති වීමට දැන් කාලය ඇවිල්ල තියෙනවා. අපේ මැද පෙළ දිගින් දිගටම දුර්වලයි. මෙවැනි මැද පෙළක්‌ සමග තරග දිනන්න අමාරුයි.'' යනුවෙනි.

දෙරට අතර පැවැති සමස්‌ත එක්‌දින තරගවලියේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන් 45 දෙනෙක්‌ දැවී රැස්‌ කර ඇත්තේ ලකුණු 1030 ක්‌ වන අතර ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියාව පිතිකරුවන් 30 ක්‌ දැවී රැස්‌ කර ඇත්තේ ලකුණු 955 කි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට හුරු පුරුදු තණතීරුවල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කඩුල්ලක්‌ දැවීයාමේ ප්‍රතිශතතය ලකුණු 22.88 ක්‌ වැනි පහළ අගයක්‌ ගනිද්දී ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානුවන්ගේ කඩුල්ලක්‌ දැවී යාමේ සම්භාවිතාව ලකුණු 31.83 ක්‌ වැනි අගයක්‌ පැවතීමෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන්ගේ දුර්වලත්වය මැනවින් පිළිඹිඹු වේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අදාළ පරාජය පිතිකරුවෝ උගසට තැබූ පරාජයක්‌ ලෙසද හැදින්විය හැකිය. සමස්‌ත තරගාවලියේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන් බහුතරයක්‌ අවශ්‍යම මොහොතේදී දැවී ගියේ බාලාංශ පිතිහරඹවල නිරත වීමට ගොසිනි. තරගාවලියේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අවශ්‍යම වූ සිව්වැනි තරගයේදීS සංගක්‌කාර, මැතිව්ස්‌, චාමර සිල්වා දැවී ගියා නොව කඩුලු පූජා කළා වැනිය. සමස්‌ත තරගාවලියේදී සියලුම පිතිකරුවන් දිගින් දිගටම ඔස්‌ටේ්‍ර්‍රලියාවට කඩුලු විසි කළහ.

එහෙත් ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානුවන් ඉතාමත් සැලසුම්කාරීව තරගාවලිය ආරම්භයේ සිටම ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් පිතිකරණයේ යෙදිණි. ඔවුන් පුහුණු වීම්වලදි හෝ අනවශ්‍ය පහරවල් කරා නොගොස්‌ තරගයක ආකාරයෙන් පුහුණු සැසිවල යෙදිණි. කිසිදු විටක ඔවුහු කඩුලු විසි නොකළහ. ඔස්‌ටේ්‍ර්‍රලියානු පිතිකරුවෝ ශ්‍රී ලංකා දඟ පන්දු යෑවීම හමුවේ පන්දුවට පහරදීම අභියෝගයක්‌ ලෙස සලකමින් ක්‍රීඩා කළද ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවෝ ලොව එක්‌දින අංක එකේ කණ්‌ඩාමට එරෙහිව ක්‍රීඩා කළ ආකාරය බාලාංශ මට්‌ටමේ විය. එබැවින් ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු නායක මයිකල් ක්‌ලාක්‌ තම ජයග්‍රහණය පිළිබඳව පවසා සිටියේ, "ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තමන්ගේ මවු බිමේදී හොඳින් ක්‍රීඩා කරනවා. ඔවුන්ගේ දඟ පන්දු යෑවීම කවදත් අපිට අභියෝගයක්‌. ඒ පිළිබඳව අපේ සියලු දෙනා වැඩි අවධානයක්‌ යොමු කරමින් තමයි ක්‍රීඩා කළේ." යනුවෙනි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පන්දු යවන්නෝ තරගාවලිය පුරාවටම සිය යුතුකම් මැනවින් ඉටු කිරීමට සමත් වූහ. එහෙත් ඔවුන්ගේ සුපිරි හැකියාවෙන් තරග දිනවීමට තරම් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවෝ ලකුණු ලබා නොදුන්හ. ලසිත් මාලිංග, අජන්ත මෙන්ඩිස්‌, නුවන් කුලසේකර සිය දක්‍ෂතා තවදුරටත් මුවහත් කරද්දී ආධුනිකයන් වූ ෂමින්ද එරංග සහ සීකුගේ ප්‍රසන්න ඉතාමත් හොඳින් තම ආරම්භක තරග කිහිපයේදී ක්‍රීඩා කළහ. ශ්‍රී ලංකා 'ඒ' කණ්‌ඩායම වෙනුවෙන් දක්‍ෂතා දක්‌වමින් සිටි ෂමින්ද එරංග සහ සීකුගේ ප්‍රසන්නට අවස්‌ථාව ලබාදීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ තේරීම් කමිටුව කටයුතු කිරීම වැදගත් තීරණයක්‌ ලෙස හැදින්විය හැකිය. අවසන් පන්දුව තෙක්‌ සටන් කරන ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ බිහි කිරීමට සුදුසු නවකයන් සොයා ගැනීමද තේරීම් කමිටුව ඉදිරියේ ඇති තවත් වගකීමකි.

තරගයක්‌ ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීම සඳහා පිතිකරුවන් දෙතුන් දෙනකු ලකුණු අතරට පැමිණීම අනිවාර්ය වේ. එහෙත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මුල් පෙළ පිතිකරුවන් සිව්දෙනා අසාර්ථක වුවහොත් මැද පෙළද අසාර්ථකය. මුල් පෙළ සාර්ථක වන විටත් මැද පෙළ අසාර්ථකය. නියගයට වැහි පොදක්‌ මෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මැද පෙළ පිතිකරුවෝ විටෙක ලකුණු රැස්‌ කරති. එය ඔවුන්ගේ පැවැත්ම උදෙසා ප්‍රයෝජනවත් වුවද ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්‌ඩායමේ ජයග්‍රහණයට ප්‍රමාණවත් වන්නේ කලාතුරකිනි. එබැවින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ තේරීම් කමිටුව සහ පුහුණුකරුවන්ද ඒ පිළිබඳව අවධානයෙන් ඉදිරියට කටයුතු කිරීම අනිවාර්ය සාධකයක්‌ වී තිබේ.

තම කණ්‌ඩායමට ආදර්ශයක්‌ බඳු පිතිහරඹයක නිරත වූ ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු නායක මයිකල් ක්‌ලාක්‌ සමත් තරගාවලියේදී ලකුණු 242 ක්‌ ලබා තරගාවලියේ වීරයා සම්මානයෙන් පිදුම් ලැබූ අතර හිටපු නායක රිකී පොන්ටින් තම උපරිමය කණ්‌ඩායමට ලබා දෙමින් අර්ධ ශතක දෙකක්‌ සමග ලකුණු 196 ක්‌ ලබා ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු ජයග්‍රහණයට දායක විය. සිය මවුබිමේ තරග කළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පිතිකරුවකුට සමස්‌ත තරගාවලියේදී ලකුණු 200 සීමාව ඉක්‌මවා යැමට අපොහොසත් වීම විශේෂත්වයකි. එහිදී වැඩීම ලකුණු ලාභියා වු මහේල ජයවර්ධන අර්ධ ශතක දෙකක්‌ සමග ලකුණු 180 ක්‌ද උපුල් තරංග එක්‌ ශතකයක්‌ සමග ලකුණු 166 ක්‌ ලබා ගැනීමට සමත් විය.

පිතිකරුවන්ට, පන්දු රකින්නන්ට සහ පන්දු යවන්නන්ට වෙන වෙනම පුහුණුකරුවන් සිටිති. ඊට අමතරව ප්‍රධාන පුහුණුකරුවකුද සිටිති. එසේ සිටියදී පිතිකරුවන් දිගින් දිගටම වැරදි කරමින් තරගයක සටන්කාමී පිතිහරඹයක නියෑලිමට අපොහොසත් වේනම් පුහුණුකරුවා කුමටද? පුහුණුකරුවාගේ උපදේශය දිගින් දිගටම තේරුම් නොගන්නා පිතිකරුවා කණ්‌ඩායමකට කුමකටද යන ප්‍රශ්නයත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ඉදිරියේ ඇත. එය ලිපිය ආරම්භයේදීම මාවන් අතපත්තු සඳහන් කර ඇති වැකියෙන් තවත් පැහැදිලි වනු ඇත.

Copeland five-for restricts SL Board XI to 258

2011-08-26T13:55:00.000+05:30

At a time when the pay structure of Australia's cricketers has been questioned, Trent Copeland represents tremendous value for money. He nabbed 5 for 47 against Sri Lanka Board XI to make a compelling case for selection in the first Test in Galle next week.

Possessing neither a Cricket Australia contract nor a Twenty20 Big Bash League deal, Copeland thus subsists on a state contract with New South Wales. The Argus review's recommendations about the need to use performance as the primary reason for selecting and paying players would appear to have been written with cricketers like Copeland in mind.

Having forced the hand of the national selectors' via the old fashioned path of taking wickets in vast quantities, the 25-year-old Copeland also serves as a reminder that a good deal of talent remains in the Sheffield Shield, despite its apparent decline over the past handful of summers.

Following Copeland's incisions, the spin bowlers Michael Beer and Nathan Lyon assisted in restricting Board XI to 258 at Colombo's P Sara Oval, as captain Michael Clarke assessed his options in the field after losing the toss. Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja then took the Australians to 26 for no loss at the close.

Harris, with 2 for 39, rivalled Copeland as the sharpest member of the Australian bowling quintet, Copeland showing stamina, subtle movement and immaculate line while Harris was swift and moved the ball with bounce. Their success, and the minimal threat posed by Peter Siddle (0 for 55 in 11 overs), brought Australia's likely Test pace attack into sharper focus. Harris and Mitchell Johnson appear likely to provide the speed and Copeland the reliability.

Of the Board XI's batsmen, Tharanga Paranavitana survived more than he thrived in reaching 49, and Dinesh Chandimal's 59 arrived too late to prevent his omission from the Sri Lanka Test squad after a poor run with the bat in the ODI series. The captain, Angelo Mathews, played haltingly before he was bowled by the unerring Copeland.

Fielding first on a pitch friendly to batsmen, the Australians had given a first outing to the five bowlers - Harris, Siddle, Copeland, Lyon and Beer - called up exclusively for Test match duty.

A handful of spectators were treated to the rare sight of Ricky Ponting running drinks as he was spelled from tour duty alongside Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson and James Pattinson. There were a few bowlers in need of them as the humidity drew plenty of sweat, but neither Harris nor Copeland were able to draw edges in their opening bursts despite beating the bat consistently.

More runs had accrued from the edges of the bat than the middle by the time Lyon was introduced for his first bowl in front of Clarke, who would have been entitled to ask 'and what is it that you do?' before handing him the ball. Lyon gained some turn from the start and demonstrated the enticing loop that had so encouraged the national selectors, but he also dropped short, either side of a brief rain delay, as Paranavitana and Lahiru Thirimanne neared lunch.

Their stand was broken by what became the final ball of the morning session when Thirimanne edged a Copeland delivery angled across him to be caught behind for 32. Copeland is the most dependable of practitioners, hitting the same awkward line and length ball upon ball with a little movement either way. His pace is strictly medium, but swift enough to prevent most batsmen from surviving if they miscalculate. With a method minted for long-form cricket, he looks like a Test bowler.

Soon after the resumption Paranavitana played back to Copeland when he might have been forward to a ball that straightened, and was given lbw. A partnership followed between Chandimal and Bhanuka Rajapaksa in which the former played the aggressor, dancing down to loft Lyon over mid-on.

Unsurprisingly it was the probing Copeland who broke the stand, coaxing an edge from Rajapaksa that was again held by Brad Haddin, this time diving superbly low to his left. This created an opportunity for Harris to exploit, which he did in the following over when Chandimal sliced a loose back foot push at a ball delivered from around the wicket to gully.

From 171 for 4 at tea, Mathews was soon beaten on the back foot by a Copeland delivery that arrowed into him and may have kept a fraction low, before Thilan Samaraweera lashed out wildly at a rare wider offering from the same bowler and was caught behind. It was Copeland's fifth haul of five wickets in 18 first-class matches.

Silva squeezed Beer to silly point where Khawaja held a neat catch, and Lyon claimed a victim when Kosala Kulasekara swung to deep midwicket. Dilruwan Perera's inside edge onto pad was snapped up by Haddin, and Harris deservedly collected Thisara Perera after a nuisance partnership of 49 for the final wicket.

Neither Lyon (1 for 71) nor Beer (2 for 39) were particularly mesmeric, though the offspinner turned the ball past the bat more than once and drew the local batsmen down the pitch more readily than his left-arm orthodox counterpart. Nevertheless, Beer bowled tidily after tea and chimed in with a pair of wickets to finish the day with more attractive figures. Haddin held five catches, one of them brilliant.

ODI rankings: Malinga surge

2011-08-25T13:47:00.001+05:30

Fast bowlers reign supreme in the latest Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings which were released on Tuesday after the conclusion of Sri Lanka and Australia , and Zimbabwe and Bangladesh series.

Australia's fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson , Doug Bollinger and Brett Lee , as well as Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka, are the biggest movers in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers after stellar performances in the series which Australia won by 3-2 while Bangladesh's fast bowler Rubel Hossain has a achieved personal best in the series which his side lost 3-2 to Zimbabwe.

Johnson, who along with Malinga was the leading wicket-taker in the series with 11, has jumped four places to claim third position while Malinga, who recorded the third hat-trick of his career in Monday's ODI, has jumped 19 places to claim 11thposition.

Bollinger's nine wickets in the series has helped him return to the top 10 in seventh position after vaulting 15 places while Lee has been rewarded with a jump of four places after his eight wickets in four matches which has put him just behind Malinga in 14 th position.

In Zimbabwe, Rubel and the home side's debutant Brian Vitori finished as the leading wicket-takers in the series with 11 each. While Rubel earned a jump of 71 places which put him in 54th spot, Vitori entered into the rankings table in 126th position.

Amongst the spinners, Bangladesh's pair of Shafiul Islam and Mahmudullah, and Australia's Xavier Doherty have achieved career-best rankings to date.

Shafiul, who took five wickets in Zimbabwe, has moved up 28 places to 73rd position, Mahmudullah has climbed 28 places to 84th spot after bagging six wickets while Doherty's eight wickets against Sri Lanka has helped him rise 61 places to 87th position.

The majority of the bowlers sliding in the latest rankings are spinners and include Zimbabwe's Ray Price in eighth position (down by five places), Sri Lanka's duo of Abdur Razzak in 14th (down by four places) and Shakib Al Hasan in 17th (down by four places) and Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis in 19th (down by seven places).

The only fast bowler failing to maintain his position is former number-one ranked Nuwan Kulasekara who has slipped to 30thposition (down by 10 places) after managing just two wickets.

Graeme Swann of England is on top of the bowling chart but leads New Zealand's Daniel Vettori by just six points. The two spinners are the only bowlers beyond the 700-point mark which, in rating terms, is the benchmark for any bowler.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena has returned to the top 20 in 17th position after rising five places following his series contribution of 180 runs which made him the fourth most successful batsman in the series behind Michael Clarke (242), Ricky Ponting (196) and Shane Watson (185).

While Watson and Ponting have retained their third and 15th positions, respectively, Clarke has moved up two places to seventh position.

Also moving in the right direction are Shakib Al Hasan in 24th position (up by three places), Upul Tharanga in 40th (up by three places), Mushfiqur Rahim in 60th (up by six places), Hamilton Masakadza in 65th (up by eight places), Mahmudullah in 72nd (up by four places), David Hussey in 78th (up by five places) and Vusimuzi Sibanda in 97th (up by 53 places).

Batsmen dropping in the latest rankings include Michael Hussey in eighth (down by three places), Tillakaratne Dilshan in 11th(down by two places), Imrul Kayes in 52nd (down by 11 places), Junaid Siddique in 80th (down by nine places) and Shahriar Nafees in 95th (down by six places).

The batting table is headed by South Africa's Hashim Amla while his captain, AB de Villiers , is in second position.

There is no change in the top three of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for all-rounders which are still led by Australia's Shane Watson.

Meanwhile, top-ranked Australia enjoys a comfortable 11-ratings-point lead over second-placed Sri Lanka. Australia's 3-2 series win has restricted Sri Lanka to earn only one ratings point which, in turn, has given India a chance to reclaim second position.

However, to achieve the number-two position, India will have to beat England by 4-1 or better in the five-match series which starts at Chester-le-Street on 3 September.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has dropped from 70 to 63 ratings points and Zimbabwe has jumped from 38 for 46 ratings points after the end of their series. However, both the sides have retained their pre-series positions with Bangladesh in ninth and Zimbabwe in 10th.

Zimbabwe's next ODI series is against Pakistan which starts in Bulawayo on 8 September and there will be a few more points up for grabs for the home side.

If Zimbabwe wins all the three ODIs, it will earn 10 ratings points while a 2-1 series win will give it six ratings points. Zimbabwe will earn two ratings points even if it loses the series 2-1.

In contrast, Pakistan will get just one ratings point if it wins all the three ODIs while Zimbabwe will be docked two ratings points.

This is because Pakistan will enter the series leading Zimbabwe by 54 ratings points and as the rankings system is weighted to reflect this difference, Pakistan's failure to win the series comfortably will mean it will drop points.

Reliance ICC ODI Championship (as of 23 August, after Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia series)

1. Australia-130

2. Sri Lanka-119

3. India-117

4. South Africa-116

5. England-106

6. Pakistan-100

7. New Zealand-90

8.West Indies-78

9.Bangladesh-63

10. Zimbabwe-46

11. Ireland-42

12. The Netherlands-5

India should stop degrading Test cricket – Arjuna

2011-08-25T13:45:00.000+05:30

Following India’s embarrassing 4-0 rout at the hands of England on Monday at The Oval, former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India to stop degrading Test cricket.

After winning their first World Cup this year since 1983, all of India’s leading cricketers went straight to play the IPL tournament and then several of their leading cricketers opted to miss the West Indies tour that followed soon after. Some Indian cricketers even delayed surgery after the World Cup, not wanting to miss the cash rich IPL and after arriving in England half fit, broke down halfway through the tour.

Fast bowler Zaheer Khan had to limp off from the first Test at Lord’s while other players such as Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen Kumar were hit by injuries.

So pathetic was India’s performances that they lost the third and fourth Tests by an innings and 242 runs and by an innings and eight runs respectively. Not that they were any better in the first two Tests having lost them by 196 and 319 runs respectively.

"It’s hard to believe that such a talented side failed to compete, isn’t it," Ranatunga queried. "It all comes down to preparation. When you are world’s number one, you should have pride to protect that number one tag and you should do all within your reach to sustain that. India’s preparation ahead of the tour suggested that they weren’t interested anymore. They seem to have got carried away with their IPL. It seems like they don’t need outside influences to harm Indian cricket; the BCCI is doing it expertly," Ranatunga told The Island.

If several Indian players missing the Test series in West Indies wasn’t bad enough, India were still happy to go into the Test series, where the number rank was at stake, with just one warm-up game in England.

"Rahul Dravid was outstanding during the Test series and the reason was that he was well prepared. The same thing happened when Sri Lanka toured England. Prasanna Jayawardene didn’t play the IPL, he prepared for the Test series, played both warm-up games in England and was the Man of the Series. The same goes with guys like Tharanga Paranavithana, who I thought did fairly well in England opening the batting.

"For a batsman of the quality of Kumar Sangakkara, it took nearly a month to adjust to conditions before he scored a hundred on that tour. A player like Mahela Jayawardene with such quality couldn’t score a hundred in the Tests. To succeed in England, preparation is extremely vital and to my surprise India ignored it," Ranatunga added.

"India is extremely vital to sustain Test cricket. It is fine for players to earn money through the IPL, but players should know their priorities. It is when you lose your priorities that wheels start coming off. The Sri Lankan team going to England in four different batches for a Test series was simply disgusting and it is one of the most disgraceful things I have seen in the history of our cricket. All this, thanks to the IPL!," Ranatunga added.

When Ranatunga was head of Sri Lanka Cricket in 2008, a request by England to fill in the void created by Zimbabwe to play a two-match Test series was turned down by the players as it was clashing with the IPL. Sadly, it was the very players Ranatunga had nurtured as Sri Lanka’s captain who teamed up with a player agent and a minister to carry out an ugly revolt against him.

It is even suggested that Ranatunga’s term as the head of the Cricket Interim Committee was put to an end on a request by some officials of the BCCI as he was constantly crossing the path of IPL.