Lanka need ‘Out of the Box’ tactics to beat India

Sri Lanka will go in to the third Test against India starting tomorrow Saturday at Pallekelle having drafted into the 15-member squad fast bowlers Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Gamage following the injury sidelining of Nuwan Pradeep. Chameera comes in for Pradeep, and Gamage for spin veteran Rangana Herath who is sidelined by a stiff back. Batsman Dhanushka Gunathilaka, who debuted at Galle for the indisposed captain Dinesh Chandimal. Reflectively, Sri Lanka, who will play for a consolation win, will need to have an out of the box strategy to get the better of the high riding Indians. Skipper Dinesh Chandimal has aired that ‘beating the No.1 Test team would be a big boost to Sri Lanka lifting itself from a… Read More →

Sri Lanka announces squad for third Test against India

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Colombo, 10th August 2017 Sri Lanka Cricket today (10) announced the following Squad for the third Test against India due to be played from the 12th – 16th August at the Pallakelle International Cricket Stadium, Kandy. The squad which was ratified by the Minister of Sport, Hon. Dayasiri Jayaskera MP, is as follows: Dinesh Chandimal – Captain ,Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Gamage, Dilruwan Perera, Malinda Pushpakumara, Lakshan Sandakan.

Thailand National Women tour Sri Lanka

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Colombo 9 th August 2017, The Thailand National Women’s team are currently in Sri Lanka for a planned two T20 series against the Sri Lanka Women’s Development squad. The games will be worked off at the Navy Grounds in Welisera and are to be played on the 9th and 11th of August respectively. The Sri Lanka Development Squad selected to play this tournament are as follows: Yasoda Mendis- Captain, Imalka Mendis, Hansima Karunaratne, Achini Kulasuriya, Sugandika Kumari, Madushika Mettananda, Nilakshi Silva, Rebecca Vandot, Lasanthi Madushani, Mihiri Madushani, Sathya Sandeepani, Hashani Wijeratne, Iresha Shamali, Ruby Rejintha, Sandani Tiwanka, K Pooja Rashmi, Kavishka Dilhani, Pumi Wathsala, Kavindi Parami, Umesha Timeshani. They will be coached by Rohitha Perera. In a landmark move that… Read More →

Rumesh appointed Head of Fast Bowling

Colombo 8th August 2017; Sri Lanka Cricket is pleased to announce the appointment of Rumesh Ratnayake as the Head of Fast Bowling for SLC. The 53 year old pacie is known for his 9 wicket haul against India in 1985/86 which resulted in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test series victory against India – a series in which Ratnayake’s match bag was 20 wickets. Ratnayake whose career was cut short by injury has a innings best bowling figure of 6/66. Ratnayake will head the National Fast Bowling programme, spearheading its talent identification, skills development and training processes in cohesion with the National High Performance plan. Sri Lanka Cricket have invested heavily over the past year in infrastructure and specialist resources for the… Read More →

Herath to sit out 3rd Test

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Colombo, 8th August 2017 Sri Lanka Cricket today (8) confirmed that veteran Spinner Rangana Herath will sit out the 3rd Test against India at Pallakelle. The decision comes as a result of SLC’s Sports Medicine Unit declaring Herath ‘unavailable for selection’ due to an increased risk of injury calculated from his workload leading up to the 3rd Test. A heavy investment in Sports medicine & Player Management over the past 6 months with the recruitment of specialized Trainers and Physios as well as implementation of state-of-the-art assessment and monitoring systems has begun to pay dividends in injury management of the National Performance Squad. Key players such as Suranga Lakmal (Fatigue) who sat out the 2nd Test against India and Rangana… Read More →

Sports Medicine & Player Management – a key role in Injury prevention

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Colombo, 8th August 2017 A heavy investment in Sports medicine & Player Management over the past 6 months with the recruitment of specialized Trainers and Physios as well as implementation of state-of-the-art assessment and monitoring systems has begun to pay dividends in injury management of the National Performance Squad. Key players such as Suranga Lakmal (Fatigue) who sat out the 2nd Test against India and Rangana Herath (Back Stiffness) who will sit out the 3rd Test are being coined ‘unavailable for selection’ by the Sports Medicine Team (SMT) based on their chronic workloads leading up to the games and the scientific data that show an increased risk of injury accordingly. At a discussion held with NPS players, National Selectors and… Read More →

Recoup & Regroup – Strategy & Science will see results

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Colombo, 7th August 2017 The Sri Lanka National team, it’s High Performance & Specialist resource team, the National Selectors and Officials of SLC spent a productive afternoon in Colombo today (7) at a Strategic session aimed at recouping and regrouping ahead of the 3rd Test in Pallakelle on the 12th August. Players, resource staff and officials alike shared in open discourse with respect to technical, strategic, medical, psychological and personal data and requirements of individual players, as well as the team. Speaking during the ‘Brain Storming’ President SLC was commending of the players in their fight back against India in the second innings of the SSC Test, and advised them to believe in themselves as a talented and capable team… Read More →

Gura clarifies

Asanka Gurusinha

Colombo, 6th August 2017 Sri Lanka’s Cricket Manager cum National selector Asanka Gurusinha has issued the following statement in response to the barrage of rumours circulating on social media streams claiming he has resigned; “I have received numerous calls throughout the day with regard to my purported resignation. I wish to clarify that I have not tendered any resignation, nor had any discussion with anyone with regard to resigning either as the Cricket Manager, nor as a Selector. The rumours are unfounded and serve only to negatively impact the morale of our National team by causing confusion and uncertainties and I request all our journalistic friends to not only refrain from publishing such conjecture, but to denounce such crass attempts… Read More →

Sri Lanka lose despite Karunaratne’s magnificent 141

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Sri Lanka failed to live up to the acid test of foiling India despite a magnificent 141 by opener Dimuth Karunaratne with all over before tea by 2.35 p.m. at the SSC on the penultimate day of the second test match on Saturday. The innings and 53-run triumph gave India the series with the third and final Test match to be played next week at Pallekelle. Karunaratne’s sixth Test ton off 307 balls and in 366 minutes containing 16 boundaries was a characteristically endurance personification that sets apart specialist opening batsmen. An effort that won praise from Sri Lankan skipper, Dinesh Chandimal who said in the post-match press briefing that it was one of the best innings he had seen… Read More →

මෙන්ඩිස් හා කරුණාරත්නගෙන් 191ක සබඳතාවයක්

Kusal Mendis

ශ්‍රී ලංකා – ඉන්දියා දෙවන ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ දෙවන ඉනිමට පන්දුවට පහරදෙන ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමේ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් ලකුණු 110ක් ද ආරම්භක පිතිකරු දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න නොදැවී ලකුණු 92ක්ද ලබාගැනීම මත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට තෙවන දින තරගය නතර කරන විට දෙවන ඉනිම සඳහා කඩුලු දෙකකට ලකුණු 209ක් ලබා සිටීමට අවස්ථාව උදාවිණි. කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් හා දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න ලංකා දෙවන කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 191ක් ලබා අනර්ඝ සබඳතාවයක් තබාගන්නා විට මෙවර ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලියේ ප්‍රථම වරට ඉන්දීය පිලට අභියෝගයක් ලබාදීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අවස්ථාව ලැබිණි. මෙන්ඩිස් ලැබූ ශතකය මෙවර ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රථම ශතකය වන අතර මේ සබඳතාවය තරගාවලියේ මෙතෙක් ලංකා පිලේ හොඳම සබඳතාවයයි. ලකුණු 191ක මේ සබඳතාවය මිනිත්තු 212කදී (පන්දු 313කදී) රැස්කැරිණි. මෙන්ඩිස් දැවී ගියේ තරගය නිමවීමට මිනිත්තු දහයක් තිබියදීය. කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස්ගේ මේ ශතකය ඔහු ලැබූ තෙවන ශතකය… Read More →