Srilankan cricket

Kumara Sangakkara

2011-09-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (born 27 October 1977 at Matale) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper. He educated at Trinity College, Kandy. Sangakkara began his career as a batsman but subsequently became a wicket-keeper. His batting has developed to such an extent that he once topped the LG ICC Test batting rankings. however in 2006 he gave the gloves to Prasanna Jayawardene in Tests and has since played as a specialist batsman. He remains Sri Lanka's wicket-keeper in One-Day International cricket. As on January 2009, he was ranked 3rd on the Test batting rankings. He peaked at 6th on the

ICC all-time Test batting rankings. Sangakkara likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side and once making a century, consistently continues on past 150. On the 6 December 2007 he was named as the new Number 1 batsman in the LG ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognized worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One Day team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games considerably, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He plays his domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka and played English county cricket with Warwickshire during 2007. He is billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka. On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. Sangakkara
has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly.

Kumara Sangakkara Cricket

Upul Tharanga

2011-09-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Upul Tharanga has been banned from cricket activities until 9th August 2011 after falling foul of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Anti-Doping Code.

Tharanga test positive for a banned substance following his side's ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand on 29th March 2011.

His urine sample was found to contain traces of two glutocortisteroids - Prednisone and Prednisolone - which are on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list.

An independent anti-doping tribunal comprising chairman Tim Kerr QC, Dr. Anik Sax and Prof. Peter Sever heard the case while Tharanga pleaded guilty, having ingested the substances with a herbal remedy he had taken to ease a long-standing shoulder injury.

The tribunal found that at no time was Tharanga trying to improve his performance or mask the use of a performance-enhancing product, but he had failed to to satisfy high standards of personal responsibility expected of an international cricketer under ICC anti-doping rules.

The three-month suspension was backdated to begin on 9th May 2011 and will expire on 8th August 2011.

"I apologise to the fans and followers of Sri Lanka cricket for inadvertently committing an offence," Tharanga said.

"I hope my fellow sportsmen will learn from my experience and be more vigilant when taking medical treatment, so that their careers do not suffer in the way that mine has."

Haroon Lorgat, ICC Chief Executive, added: "We recognise that Upul has not been found guilty of deliberately cheating, but the ICC maintains its zero-tolerance approach towards doping for the benefit of all its stakeholders.

"Cases like this serve as a reminder to all players that they must take great care and personal responsibility at all times for the substances that they consume.

"I am satisfied with the tribunal’s decision and pleased at the way the ICC has handled this case with both sensitivity and efficiency."

Both Tharanga and the ICC are entitled to appeal the decision provided they do so within 21 days of their receipt of the written decision.

Upul Tharanga Cricket

Lasith Malinga

2011-09-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Colombo: Lasith Malinga grabbed a record third hat-trick as Sri Lanka restricted Australia to 211 in the fifth and final one-day international on Monday.

he paceman dismissed Mitchell Johnson, John Hastings and Xavier Doherty in his eighth over to become the first bowler to take three hat-tricks in one-dayers and keep alive his team's hopes of posting a consolation win.

Australia, who have an unbeatable 3-1 lead, were comfortably placed at 210-5 before losing their last five wickets for just one run, with Malinga doing the maximum damage to finish with 3-35 off eight overs.

Malinga was superbly supported by unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis (3-49) and seamer Shaminda Eranga (2-45).

Opener Shane Watson top-scored for Australia with an 84-ball 56, which contained one six and six fours. Skipper Michael Clarke (47), David Hussey (46) and Ricky Ponting (31) were the other main scorers.

Australia lost opener Shaun Marsh in the second over after being put in to bat in the day-night match, but Watson steadied the innings with two useful stands.

Watson added 67 for the second wicket with Ponting and 56 for the next with Clarke before falling in the 28th over, caught at deep mid-wicket off Mendis.

Clarke looked set to complete his third half-century of the series before being caught behind off Eranga.

Australia made two changes from the side that won the previous match by five wickets on Saturday, bringing in pacemen Hastings and James Pattinson in place of Brett Lee and Doug Bollinger who were rested.

Sri Lanka replaced seamer Nuwan Kulasekara with Jeevan Mendis.

Malinga cticket carrer

T.M Dilshan (Captain of Srilanka )

2011-09-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

After the loss at Galle this week and after failing with the bat in both innings, Tillakaratne Dilshan was asked if he would change his game.

"I'm not going to change my batting, I've batted the last three or four years aggressive and I want to play my own shots," was the Sri Lankan captain's response.

"Although I am the captain, I don't want to change the way I bat.

"This is the way that has brought me a lot of success. I play that well usually but that day the ball went to Ponting. Had I got some quick runs that day, there could have been a difference."

It's no secret that Dilshan has been an aggressive batsman throughout his career. But has he forgotten what created the opportunity for him to open batting for Sri Lanka, when he was a middle order batsman struggling to hold his place in the team?

Dilshan's fortunes changed when his approach to batting changed - consistency and a responsible approach to his batting is what brought him success.

In 2009, when he was first promoted to open batting in Test cricket, he was still aggressive but was still looking for singles and twos early in his innings. Of late, the Sri Lankan captain appears to have forgotten the basics. Whilst there is no need for him to change his attacking nature, common sense must prevail.

The Australians, including their media, appear to be thrilled by Dilshan's stance and that he sees nothing wrong with his approach in the last match.

Dilshan cricet carrer

Master baster Sanath jayasuriya

2011-09-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Sanath Jayasuriya, a professional Sri Lankan cricketer, was born on June 30, 1969 in Matara. He is an all-rounder, who is a left-handed opening batsman and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. Sanath Jayasuriya captained the Sri Lankan team for a span of four years from 1999 to 2003. He was educated at the Servatius College in Matara, where his talents were spotted and nourished by the principal, G.L. Galappathy, and coach, Lionel Wagasinghe. Sanath Jayasuriya is married to Sandra and has three children.

Sanath Jayasuriya made his Test debut for the Sri Lankan national team in February 1991 against New Zealand in Hamilton and has scored 6,973 runs in 110 matches, at an average of 40.07 in his Test career. His highest Test score of 340 came against India, and he has been the recipient of the Man of the Match award four times. On his last innings before bidding farewell to Test cricket, Sanath Jayasuriya smashed six 4s in an over against England, becoming the third batsman to achieve this feat in Test cricket.

Sanath Jayasuriya was selected to be a part of the Mumbai Indians team for the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. He was signed for US$ 975,000 by the team owned by Reliance Industries Limited. On April 29, 2008, in the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sanath Jayasuriya scalped three wickets giving away just 14 runs, for which he won the Man of the Match award. On May 14, 2008 he smashed the fourth fastest fifty of the 2008 IPL and went on to make a century in the match against Chennai Super Kings.

Sanath jayasuriyas cricket Career