Tag: Sri

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

HAMBANTOTA - Mahela Jayawardene smashed an 81-ball century, the fastest by a Sri Lankan in the World Cup to set up a 210-run victory over Canada on Sunday in Group A. Jayawardene blasted a six and nine fours in his 100 to set up a hefty 332-7 after Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first.
He was joined for a 179-run third-wicket partnership by Kumar Sangakkara who was out eight runs short of his century. In response, Canada lost wickets steadily although some lusty hitting by

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

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's latest monsoon rains have claimed at least 17 lives and left around 1.2 million people flooded out of their homes, officials said on Monday. The Disaster Management Centre in Colombo said 311,000 people had sought refuge in state-run relief shelters by Monday morning, while approximately 900,000 were living with friends and relatives.
Monsoon rains only last month in the same areas of the north, east and centre of Sri Lanka killed at least 43 people and

COLOMBO - Ajantha Mendis and Thisara Perera shared seven wickets as Sri Lanka posted a 26-run win over the West Indies in the third one-day international on Sunday to clinch the series 2-0.
Sri Lanka showed the depth of their bowling line-up by defending their total of 277-9 and restricting the tourists to 251 despite resting attack spearheads Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan and Nuwan Kulasekara for the match. Unorthodox spinner Mendis finished with 4-46 and seamer Perera

COLOMBO - Heavy rain triggered flooding in Sri Lanka that killed at least 11 people and is threatening up to 90 percent of the staple rice crop, heightening concern about supply shocks and inflation, officials said on Sunday. Heavy monsoon rain caused flooding across the Eastern, Northern and North Central provinces for the second time in less than a month. More than 250,000 people have been forced into temporary shelters by this latest inundation.
"A large amount is destroyed.