Dilshan dropped for Australian Tour

Sri Lanka’s national selectors have decided to drop middle-order batsman and excellent fielder, Tillekeratne Dilshan from the squad touring Australia, next month for a two match Test Series, while ‘A’ team captain, Thilan Samaraweera has earned a recall to the side. Samaraweera, who has virtually struggled in away conditions, played the last of his 39 Tests against England in 2006. He has five centuries to his credit, all of which were scored at home. Dilshan in the mean time will captain the ‘A’ team in their Zimbabwe tour.

Former Captain, Marvan Atapattu, who did not show up for the meeting with SLC officials few days ago, have been excluded from the squad and will be replaced by veteran Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya was not to tour Australia this time, if the experienced Atapattu had accepted to play.

In addition, uncapped left-arm seamer, Chanaka Welagedara, who had a fantastic time with the ball in the Gopalan Trophy last week, have finally been included in the Test Squad. Jehan Mubarak, who is going well in the One-day format these days has also been named.

Ace Spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, who is set to take over Shane Warne’s record in one of the two tests, is still recovering from a biceps injury which prevented him from playing in the World Twenty20 as well as the first three matches of England series.

Leg spinning all-rounder Malinga Bandara has been picked ahead of another spinning allrounder Kaushal Lokuarachchi.

The first Test will be played in Brisbane from November 8-12 and the second Test in Hobart from November 16-20.

Sri Lanka Test squad :
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Chamara Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Chanaka Welagedera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara.

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England break 25-year jinx in Sri Lanka

Batting under lights, Sri Lanka failed to reach a modest target of 235 as England snatched a 65-run victory in the 2nd ODI at Dambulla.

After England, won the toss and elected to bat first, Sri Lanka’s pace trio Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof provided the early inroads by reducing the English side to 61/4. Then, it was left to Captain Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah to build up a partnership. This was done quite perfectly, with Shah leading the recovery with a brilliant 82 off only 92 balls. The two shared a valuable fifth wicket partnership of 78 runs. England’s cause was further boosted by Graeme Swann’s brisk 34 in a another important 7o run partnership. Although, the Sri Lankan bowlers tried their best to minimize the runs, particularly paceman, Lasith Malinga was attacked, as he went wicketless in his 10 overs. Maharoof was once again, the pick of the bowlers, with 3-30.

In reply, the Sri Lankan openers fell in quick succession after struggling against the seamers, Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad. Kumar Sangakkara, who is not quite settled in to an ODI rhythm these days, spent 37 balls before being out for 9. Captain, Mahela Jayawardena and Tillekeratne Dilshan gave the Sri Lankans some hope with a 52-run fifth wicket partnership, after Chamara Silva was caught by Broad, off Collingwood for a duck. Swann removed the well settled Dilshan for a 29. Thereafter, the batsmen collapsed one by one, exposing the failure of the middle order. England’s victory was in fact delayed, by a fighting partnership for the last wicket by Jehan Mubarak and Dilhara Fernando. Mubarak, who is indeed a bright prospect for the Sri Lankan team top scored for Sri Lanka with a 44 and Fernando assisted him well with a 20, before being run out, to seal England’s victory. The victory for the English side broke a 25 year jinx of not winning an ODI on Sri Lankan soil since the days of Ian Botham and David Gower in 1982.

Now, the series is wide open and both teams will look to take a lead, in their next match at the same stadium on Sunday.

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Atapattu lets down selectors to reject Australian Tour

Former captain Marvan Atapattu will be left out from the Sri Lanka squad to tour Australia in November following his unprofessional approach towards the national selectors and Sri Lanka Cricket.The 36 year old elegant right hander was set to meet Cricket Board officials and the national selectors at a special meeting at the SLC headquarters yesterday to decide his future career.

But chairman national selectors Ashantha de Mel said that Atapattu had badly let them down by informing the SLC that he is unable to turn up for the meeting at the eleventh hour.

De Mel said that they wanted to discuss matters regarding Atapattu’s availability for the tour down under as earlier he refused to play after being selected for the home Test series against Bangladesh.

Atapattu has scored 16 Test hundreds but has not featured in international level since February. Asantha de Mel said that Atapattu’s presence would have been important in the team especially with his technique and temperament to stay in.

But De Mel said that this time Atapattu has acted in an unkindly manner and his committee did not have any hesitation in replacing him with Sanath Jayasuriya in the Test squad to tour Australia.

He was sidelined by a back injury in 2006 leading to the appointment of Mahela Jayawardene as captain. Jayawardene quickly secured the position permanently by leading his team to a 5-0 one-day series triumph in England.

Atapattu made the last of his Test centuries against New Zealand in April 2005 and he last reached three figures in one-day internationals way back in October 2004.

Courtesy : Daily News

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Eight Sri Lanka stars join Twenty20 League in India

Ace Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and skipper Mahela Jayawardene have signed up for the new Twenty20 league in India next year, the cricket board said Monday.
The two stalwarts head a list of eight Sri Lankan players who have penned deals with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), vice-president Lalit Modi said in a statement.

Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Fernando complete the elite list.

The IPL, a Twenty20 competition to be held in India in April next year, offers three million dollars in prize money and will have eight teams to be bought by franchisees.

The top two sides would make it to an international Champions Twenty20 League to be played at an as yet undecided venue in October next year.

The IPL enjoys the backing of the International Cricket Council as against the rival Indian Cricket League, bankrolled by media baron Subhash Chandra.

Courtesy : Daily Mirror

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Maharoof shines in Sri Lankan victory

All rounder Farveez Maharoof snapped up four key wickets during a hostile spell of bowling as Sri Lanka drew first blood defeating England by 119 runs in the first day night one day international worked off at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday.
The right arm fast bowler sent down his ten overs on the trot and had success in his first, third, fourth and tenth overs as he finished with outstanding figures of four wickets for 31 runs as England were bowled out for 150 from 34.5 overs while chasing Sri Lanka’s challenging total of 269 for 7.

Maharoof who came into the attack as the fourth change bowler responded magnificently by removing the top three England batsmen for the addition of just 30 runs and within a space of five overs.

Maharoof had a tough task as the England openers Alistair Cook and Phil Mustard had got off to a flying start and were maintaining the required run rate. The pair were just beginning to open out with Mustard hoisting a six and stroking a four from consecutive deliveries off paceman Chaminda Vaas.

However the conditions certainly suited the more friendly pace of Maharoof who moved the ball to a great extent helped by the strong winds blowing across the Dambulla Stadium. In just under three overs he completely changed the complexion of the game by removing Mustard, Bell and the prize scalp of Kevin Pieterson.

In fact wicket keeper batsman Mustard making his one day international debut for England was really threatening to take control of the situation having raced to 27 from only 17 deliveries with the help of one six and three boundaries.

This was followed by two splendid deliveries that really surprised Ian Bell and Kevin Pieterson as England slumped to 60 for 3 by the 14th over.

Maharoof kept on attacking the off stump at regular basis and was rewarded for some accurate bowling. He then finished off in style by ending the stubborn resistance of opener Alistair Cook in his tenth and last over. Cook held on determinedly until the 25th over before he lost his concentration and offered wicket keeper Sangakkara his third victim.

Before that skipper Paul Collingwod made his exit in a disappointing manner and when Owais Shah was deceived by a slow delivery from Lasith Malinga, England had lost half of their side for 91 runs.

They never recovered from thereonwards as the Lankans added the finishing touches in style to go one up in the five match series.

Earlier Skipper Mahela Jayawardena hit a solid half century to guide Sri Lanka to a formidable 269 for 7 from their 50 overs. The elegant right hander completed his 42nd one day international fifty after the openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga had provided with a solid start.

But it was skipper Jayawardena who actually consolidated the innings with some intelligent bating on a slow wicket after he had won the toss and elected to bat first.

Jayawardena was prepared to wait for the loose deliveries and stroked just three boundaries during his top score of 66 from 73 deliveries.

But he also decided to work the ball into the gaps and took the singles during a fourth wicket stand of 59 runs from 60 balls with Chamara Silva. This was after Jayasuriya and Tharanga set the pace with a opening stand of 71 runs from 12 overs.

Jayasuriya was shaping up well for a big score having raced to 41 from 35 deliveries with the help of one six and five boundaries.

However Ryan Sidebottom celebrated his return to the England side by claiming an important breakthrough to end a productive opening stand between Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga.

Sri Lanka’s performance was even more significant considering the fact that this was one of the highest scores recorded at this venue. Sri Lanka of course made a slow start to the match and were quite happy to study the conditions during the early stages of the innings.

Tharanga and Jayasuriya crawled to 11 without loss in the first four overs of the day as England’s seamers struggled with the strong winds at the Dambulla Stadium. In fact it took Sri Lanka five overs before they registered their first boundary with Tharanga forcing Anderson off the back foot behind point for four.

That was the signal for the pair to open out with Jayasuriya claiming two boundaries in Sidebottom’s next over and then launched Anderson over long on for the first six of the innings.

Just as Jayasuriya seemed set for another explosive innings Sidebottom struck to end his innings – just two balls after England had given him a reprieve.

England claimed their second victim five overs later as Sri Lanka’s scoring rate slowed down when Tharanga was surprised by a slower bouncer from Stuart Broad and chipped lamely to captain Paul Collingwood at backward point for 40.

Sri Lanka had earlier left out leg-spinner Kausal Lokuarachchi in favour of an extra batsman in Jehan Mubarak, while England delivered a shock of their own by preferring Graeme Swann’s off-spin to left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

Courtesy : Daily News

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