Many Sri Lankan cricket fans would know the road of Sri Lanka cricket has been a rocky one, the inclusion into cricket’s mainstream in 1982 and winning the world cup in 1996. Sri lankan cricket is rich and full of folklore of cricketers past and the unconventional nature of the cricketers today which is true in the case of Dilshan, Mendis, Murali, Malinga and Jayasuriya to name a few. The present day cricketers are exciting one only beckons the question; can we again win the most illustrious trophy in the sport? - The World Cup 2011.

The team is blessed with unique and colorful players, which I know might be pushing for it, but it reminds me of the West Indies of old. They play their own brand of cricket that is both enjoyable to watch and is many a neutral’s favorite.

Our Captain Kumar Sangakkara is a workman’s cricketer; he strives for the best, day in and day out, and has excelled in everything he has done both on and off the field. One of his first tours was down in South Africa and he seemed at ease with his technique, even though he didn’t score much on that tour. He focused on his game and has gone from strength to strength. As a captain he is very clever and doesn’t give it away on a platter but keeps on fighting until the last run is scored or the last wicket is taken. It reminds us of another captain of such similar qualities that won us the trophy in ‘96 - Arjuna Ranatunga.

Dilshan and Jayasuriya, the latter, one of the saviors of the world cup in ‘96 and the man of the series in that tournament, blazed attacks all around the ground. it’s a well known fact that in his hey day the Indian bowling attack used to get smashed to all corners of the field and I am sure that the current bowling coach V.Prasad would be the first to agree that his career was shortened by a Jayasuriya assault. Sometimes I really wonder what sort of advice he would be giving to the current batch of bowlers how to execute a plan which he himself found it really hard to do. Some people say that his day has long gone and it’s time for him to pack his bags and bring someone else in but what a swan song it would be for Jayasuriya to lift up the cup once again and a real honor to one of the game’s greats. His present partner, Dilshan has been a revelation with the bat, at the start I thought he was more a flash in the pan sort of cricketer and his knocks were based on flukes but as time went on I realized there is actually a method to his mayhem and he has opened up the imagination of every cricket fan and player with his recent innovative shots. A right hand, left hand combination opening the batting and accumulating runs Read more…

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Two matches into this Champions Trophy and we’ve left ourselves with a crucial must-win game today against New Zealand. The win against South Africa – one of the tournament favourites and arguably the best one-day outfit in the world this year – was a superb performance; the defeat against England on Friday night was very frustrating.

We were naturally very happy with how things panned out in the tournament opener. South Africa were tagged the favourites, but we took control very early with a fine start, first by Dilshan and Sanath to get the innings going and then by the brilliant partnership between Dilshan and Sanga, who complemented each other so well.

To be honest, I was surprised South Africa choose to bowl first. We were certainly keen on batting first despite the venue having a history for being a good place to chase. The pitch was dry, looked slow, and with an attack that includes Ajantha, Murali and Lasith chasing was likely to be hard if we posted a solid total. In the end, the conditions suited us perfectly.

There was some debate over when to take the Power Play but after such a good platform the focus was on protecting our early advantage. The danger of taking the batting Power Play early during the middle overs is that it triggers a mini-collapse. It can grab you a stronger hold on the game, but it’s a risk. In this case we were scoring freely anyway so there was no necessity using until late.

We bowled really well to put them under pressure and Ajantha was excellent. Aside from one or two IPL games, it was his first taste of South Africa conditions and he adapted well. I think someone like him enjoys it when the ball skids on. It makes it very difficult for batsmen who are not reading him and for South Africa, who were facing him for the first time, it was a major struggle.

After the win we had our customary team meeting straight after the game to quickly analyse our performance. We’d effectively implemented most of our plans and that was not much to note, except that we were still too loose in the field. We planned for extra fielding Read more…

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Sri Lanka have earned their Test ranking position but must end their Indian jinx to maintain it

If you were asked to stick pins on a map of the world to denote the most hallowed venues in cricket, it’s safe to say that Barnfields in Staffordshire probably wouldn’t get one. Moddershall, who play there, do have a claim to fame, though. It was from the relative anonymity of North Staffs & South Cheshire Premier Division cricket that Rangana Herath was summoned to Sri Lanka to play a Test series against Pakistan. The quintessential journeyman had been asked to replace the irreplaceable Muttiah Muralitharan, and he surprised everyone by doing just that, taking 15 wickets in three Tests.

The reward? To be left out for the opening game of the series against New Zealand, with the out-of-sorts Ajantha Mendis returning to the fray. The 31-year-old Herath is not your average crumbling cookie, though, and when given his chance at the SSC in Colombo, he took an eight-wicket haul, thwarting a rousing lower-order charge orchestrated by the magnificent Daniel Vettori.

Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series win has given them a little more breathing space in the ICC’s Test Championship table, and only two points now separate them from the No1-ranked South Africa. India trail them by a point, while Australia are a further three back, but all that could change this winter, with the top sides facing contrasting challenges.

Australia should prove too strong for Pakistan and West Indies, while South Africa have to confront an England side buoyed by Ashes success, before travelling to India to Read more…

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GOOD

Daniel Vettori: Batting and bowling, and becoming a genuine all-rounder with Kapil Dev’s 400/4000 mark next on the list. Clearly at home with the captaincy blazer given his return of 74 wickets and 1232 runs in 21 matches in charge, but he can’t keep doing it all himself. There must be temptation aplenty to send him north up the batting order ahead of McCullum and even Oram - but his comments in the aftermath of the 2-0 series loss make it pretty clear that will not be happening.

Rangana Herath: 82 overs, 20 maidens, 209 runs, 8 wickets. This portly left-armer was predicted to be a threat, yet the Sri Lankan selectors overlooked him for their XI in the first test. Small mercies.

Samaraweera: He might not be an opener but he is bloody good: 159, 20, 143 and 25.

Iain O’Brien’s testicular fortitude: He is an unfashionable cricketer but he has some ticker. His 75-ball, 69-run, 20-over vigil with the captain was a terrific effort that put several batsmen above him to varying degrees of shame - he was out in the middle for longer than McIntosh, Guptill, Taylor, McCullum and Patel.

The “penetration”: The bowling struggled to make inroads into the powerful Sri Lankan batting order - only O’Brien and Vettori took wickets in all four Lankan innings. The inability to dislodge can be demonstrated by the scores at which Sri Lanka lost their 4th wicket: 300, 205, 295 and 301.

Chris Martin’s willow-waving: 4 bats, 2 runs, 25 balls, and an average of infinity. Read more…

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If I could place my order for anything in the second test against Sri Lanka starting today, it would be preceded by an entree of 5-wicket bags, but the main course would have to be a smorgasbord of batting partnerships and high scores.

I’m not thoroughly obsessed with winning but if New Zealand can consistently score 450-plus that should stop us losing matches, even if the Ws do not begin to belch forth in the result column.

In the past 12 months of Test cricket, the record of Kiwi batting partnerships is dire. Only eight times have our pairings made it past 100 and then only one passed the 200-run threshold (Taylor & Ryder’s 271 in 60 overs vs India at Napier).

It is Big Ol’ Jesse Ryder who stands out as our player most likely to feature in a decent partnership - of the eight returning a century or more, he features in five of them: Taylor, Vettori, McIntosh, McCullum and Franklin are there twice, and Daniel Flynn put on 118 with Timmy Mac against the West Indies at the Fruit Bowl.

Another indictment on the top order is that the bulk of our best partnerships are clustered around the 4th, 5th and, disappointingly, the 7th wicket. None of the top six collaborations have been from “the top” of the batting order with our best opening partnership a paltry 55 (the two discards How and Redmond vs Bangladesh at Chittagong), for the 2nd wicket the Flynn-McIntosh effort above was the best, while the highest for the third wicket is an even more Read more…

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