Tag: Lanka

PALLEKELE - Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed 144 before taking 4-4 to help Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 139 runs and reach the World Cup quarter-finals on Thursday. Together with fellow opener Upul Tharanga, who hit a career-best 133, Dilshan put on a new World Cup opening stand of 282 to guide Sri Lanka to an imposing 327-6 before a packed 30,000 crowd at Pallekele stadium. Zimbabwe made a fighting reply with Brendon Taylor (80) and Regis Chakabva (35) through a solid 116-run start before

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari proposed a currency swap arrangement between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a meeting on proposed currency swap arrangements with friendly countries here at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday, in order to reduce pressure on the foreign exchange reserves of both countries. The president urged swift finalisation of the currency swap agreement between Pakistan and China, saying that such arrangements should be concluded with Turkey and Sri Lanka to promote and

PALLEKELE - Sri Lanka are still to peak at the World Cup, vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene said on Wednesday, as the 1996 champions prepare to tackle Zimbabwe and book a quarter-final spot. Sri Lanka go into Thursday's game with five points from four games after wins over Kenya and Canada, a share of the points in a washed-out match against Australia and a narrow defeat at the hands of Pakistan.
Jayawardene believes that Sri Lanka's campaign has been energised by Lasith Malinga's

COLOMBO - Australia's World Cup Group A showdown with co-hosts Sri Lanka was called off on Saturday after incessant rain made any further play impossible.
Both teams will be awarded one point each. The match was intriguingly poised when the skies opened after huge black clouds had hovered overhead, Sri Lanka on 146 for three after 32.5 overs having won the toss. Captain Kumar Sangakkara (73 not out) and Thilan Samaraweera (34 not out) were still there in an unbroken fourth

MUMBAI - A battle for supremacy between bouncers and yorkers may eventually decide the outcome of Saturday's World Cup Group A showdown between Australia and Sri Lanka in Colombo. On spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka, it might sound surprising that pace will rule but going by current form and team composition, it may well turn out to be so in a re-run of the 2007 final won by Australia. The champions, chasing their fifth World Cup title overall, have not tried to mask their

LAHORE - Two years after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, the Pakistan Cricket Board is hoping for international cricket's return to the country, with the Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe showing interest in touring Pakistan.
"One thing is clear: if international cricket is to return to Pakistan later this year it will be an Asian or African cricket board that will have to support us," a board official said.
He said Pakistan was optimistic about the

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's cricket authorities on Tuesday denied allegations of match-fixing by two of their players in their World Cup defeat to Pakistan. Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera may have deliberately "changed the game" by getting out cheaply and said the outcome would have been different had the pair scored more runs.
The channel said a local businessman had placed an $18,000 bet on Sri Lanka losing the game. Sri Lanka, who are one of the favourites to win the

COLOMBO - Kenya face double trouble ahead of their all-important World Cup Group A match against Sri Lanka here on Tuesday, as they counter formidable opponents and differences between players and coach. Kenya have lost both their matches at the tournament, going down by 10 wickets against New Zealand, after being shot out for just 69, before slumping to a 205-run loss to Pakistan.
Adding to their problems, reports have emerged of internal divisions within the squad. Cricket

COLOMBO - If Sri Lanka are to have any chance of becoming the only Asian team to win two World Cups in the sub-continent, they need their two chief weapons, Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan, to find their form -- fast. The co-hosts were one of the pre-tournament favourites to win the showpiece but Saturday's 11-run defeat by Pakistan exposed some glaring weaknesses in their bowling armoury.
Muralitharan should have been trapping rival batsmen with his mystifying powers of

COLOMBO - Shahid Afridi came up with another superb bowling performance as Pakistan beat co-hosts Sri Lanka by 11 runs to win their Group A World Cup match on Saturday. The Pakistan captain followed his five wickets against Kenya in the previous game with a four-wicket haul (4-34) as Sri Lanka, chasing Pakistan's 277-7, replied with 266 for nine wickets.
Pakistan stalwarts Younus Khan (72) and Misbah-ul-Haq (83 not out) shared a century partnership to set co-hosts Sri Lanka a

COLOMBO - Shahid Afridi took four wickets and Misbah-ul-Haq notched a second successive half century as Pakistan upstaged Sri Lanka in a highly-charged World Cup Group A match by 11 runs on Saturday. Afridi, who became the 11th player to take 300 wickets in ODIs, finished with 4-34 to help Pakistan defend a 278-run target, as they restricted Sri Lanka to 266-9 in 50 overs for their second win in the tournament. Afridi, who recorded Pakistan's best bowling figures of 5-16 in all World

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka want to win the World Cup as a farewell trophy for legendary spinner and world record holder Muttiah Muralitharan who will retire from international cricket after the tournament.
The spinner, who holds the records for Test (800) and one-day wickets (521), is playing his fourth and final World Cup. He retired from Tests in July last year. "He is a special person, a legend," teammate Chamara Kapugedera said of the wily 38-year-old on Thursday.
"Everyone in

HAMBANTOTA - Pakistan's cricketing isolation could end in October if Sri Lanka, who were targeted in a deadly terror attack in Lahore two years ago, agree to tour the troubled country. Sri Lankan officials said Wednesday they were in talks with the International Cricket Council's Pakistan Task Team (PTT) to explore the possibilities. "We are still discussing the option with the ICC and with all the other board members," said Sri Lanka Cricket chairman Somachandra de Silva.
"There

COLOMBO - Sri Lankan batsman Chamara Silva is likely to miss his team's opening World Cup match, due to a death in his family, an official said Thursday. Silva left the team hotel in Colombo early Thursday, shortly after his elder sister Nelum Anusha Silva passed away, Sri Lanka media manager Brian Thomas said.
Team manager Anura Tennakoon's father, P.B. Tennakoon, also passed away early Thursday, Thomas said. The funeral takes place on Thursday. Tennakoon is currently in Dhaka

COLOMBO - Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera stroked impressive half centuries to propel Sri Lanka to a four-wicket victory over West Indies in a World Cup warm-up match on Tuesday. Dilshan belted 62 off 50 balls, including five fours and three sixes, while Samaraweera also punished the West Indian bowlers by flaying the ball to all corners of the ground as he notched up 55 off 56 balls.
Captain Sangakkara top scored with a more sedate 71 off 89 balls,

COLOMBO - Hosts Sri Lanka proved far too strong for minnows Netherlands, posting a crushing 156-run victory in a morale-boosting World Cup warm-up match on Saturday.
Sri Lanka, runners-up at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, scored 351-5 off their allotted 50 overs even without prolific run-getters Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who did not bat.
The Netherlands, who have not beaten an ICC full member country in their previous three World Cup appearances, were

COLOMBO - International aid for 1.2 million Sri Lankans affected by monsoon flooding has fallen far short of the immediate humanitarian needs, United Nations figures showed Wednesday. The UN said it received only $8.4 million as of Tuesday in response to an appeal for $51 million to meet urgent relief requirements in the island's north, centre and east.
Fresh flooding has submerged large areas of the country's rice-growing area, just as villages were trying to recover from