A Revealing Exchange …. http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/_/id/18645/sl-in-sa-2018-19 … HIGHLIGHTING
* Kusal Perera’s once in a lifetime innings
Andrew Fidel Fernando, in ESPNcricinfo, 4 February 2019, where the title is “No quick fixes, Sri Lankan cricket needs a bottom-up overhaul”
Sri Lanka have lost 16 of their last 18 international matches, so there are rumours floating around about replacing the coach again. Rumours that Sri Lanka Cricket has inquired about the availability of top coaches overseas. That the island’s sports ministry – essentially running cricket in the country at present – has consulted lawyers about the legal ramifications of firing or demoting Chandika Hathurusingha. Perhaps they will remove him from the national side and send him to the High Performance Centre. This is what they have just meted out to batting coach Thilan Samaraweera, who was replaced in the national set-up in December.
Andrew Fidel Fernando, at ESPNcricinfo, 24 January 2019
Having been three for 58 at the end of the first session, Sri Lanka nosedived in the second, losing five wickets for 64 runs, before eventually crashing to a sub-par 144 not out. In response, Marcus Harris put together a 40 not out, surviving for 25 overs, as Australia scored exactly half of Sri Lanka’s runs for the loss of two wickets, before stumps.
Jhye Richardson punches the air after picking up his first Test wicket Getty Images
The only man to cross fifty on day one was Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella, without whose 64 off 78 balls, the visitors’ predicament would have been even more pathetic. For Australia, Pat Cummins picked up 4 for 39, but debutant Jhye Richardson was arguably even more impressive, claiming 3 for 26 fom his 14 overs. Among Richardson’s wickets were those of Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis – two key batsmen in the Sri Lanka top order. The ball to dismiss Mendis was perhaps the best of the day, that delivery angled in to the right hander, before leaving him off the pitch, to beat his outside edge and then rattle off stump.
Thisara Perera hit thirteen sixers … indeed more SIXERs than Fours (13 is to 8 fours) in an amazing innings of 140 runs in 74 balls in a losing cause in the ODI match vs the Kiwis at Mount Maunganui today 5th January 2019 …. . Note this running commentary by the ESPN ‘reporters’
It’s been 160 runs since Sri Lanka lost their seventh wicket!
Andrew Fidel Fernando, in ESPNcricinfo, 18 December 2018, where the title runs thus: “Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews bat all day to give Sri Lanka hope”
Sri Lanka 282 and 259 for 3 (Mendis 116*, Mathews 117*) trail New Zealand 578 by 37 runs …… On day four in Wellington, facing a monumental first-innings deficit, and in what seemed like a hopeless match situation, Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews went to the trenches. They absorbed New Zealand’s many attacks. They delivered a few glancing blows of their own. They made a hundred apiece, and for only the 22nd time in the history of Test cricket, they batted out an entire day without losing a wicket.
Their partnership – 577 balls in – is worth 246. It is easily Sri Lanka’s best against New Zealand, and has allowed the visitors to go into the fifth day of an intriguing Test with a fighting chance of securing a draw. They are still 37 runs away from making New Zealand bat again, but will be buoyed no doubt by the weather forecast, which suggests rain will arrive around mid-day, if not before.
Andrew Fidel Fernando in ESPNcricinfo, 14 December 2018, where the title is Malinga to lead ODI and T20I squads in New Zealand”” ….. Highlighting emphais is from Editor, Cricketique
A change in selection committee has brought yet another change in the limited-overs leadership, with Lasith Malinga named captain of the ODI and T20 squads to New Zealand. Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been named vice-captain.
Malinga –Pic fr Getty
Dinesh Chandimal had most recently led Sri Lanka’s ODI team, against England, while Thisara Perera was the T20 captain in the same tour. But with Graeme Labrooy’s selection committee ousted, and Ashantha de Mel’s panel freshly installed, Malinga has been handed the captaincy, only three months after he made his return to the international level. Malinga had been dropped from Sri Lanka’s teams for over a year, due to form and fitness concerns. He had made his return to the top level during the Asia Cup in September, and has had some success with the ball since then. Continue reading
Andrew Fidel Fernando …. assembling Evaluations of Rangana Herath on his Retirement for ESPNcricinfo
Andrew Fidel FErnando, in ESPNCricinfo, 13 November 2018, where the title is ” Four batsmen who must step up in Sri Lanka’s hour of need”
If Sri Lanka have a half-decent Test record over the past 14 months – and they do, winning six and losing only three of their last 13 Tests – it is largely the work of their bowlers.
Take the matches in the UAE last year, for example. In the first Test, Sri Lanka collapsed in the second innings to leave Pakistan needing only 136 for victory, before Rangana Herath drew on his famed reserves of cricketing fortitude and body-slammed Pakistan for what felt like the millionth time in his career, taking six wickets as they crashed to 114 all out. In the next Test, the day-nighter in Dubai, Sri Lanka were all out for 96 in their second innings, before the bowlers held it together through a tough period in which they were forced to contend with a dew-moistened ball, then snuffed out the Pakistan chase when the match resumed the next afternoon.
Andew Fidel Fernando, in ESPNcricinfo.com,
England 285 (Curran 64, Buttler 63, Dilruwan 4-61) and 0 for 0 (Leach 0*, Burns 0*) trail Sri Lanka 336 (Silva 85, Karunaratne 63, de Silva 59) by 46 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A graceful Dhananjaya de Silva 59, and a watchful 63 from Dimuth Karunaratnegave the Sri Lanka innings some early substance, but both those turns were outshone by what was arguably the innings of the series so far – a resolute 85 from Roshen Silva that carried Sri Lanka 46 runs into the lead.
Almost as impressive as his score, and the 174 balls he batted, was the fact that he forged such fruitful partnerships with the tail, coaching them through the tough periods. The last three partnership in Sri Lanka’s innings were worth 125 – Roshen scoring 60 of those runs. Soon after Roshen had arrived, Sri Lanka had been six-down and still 120 runs behind. Given the extremely challenging nature of this surface, and the variety in England’s attack, it was a monumental recovery.
Andrew Fidel Fernando
Ben Foakes was largely in the team for his wicketkeeping. That, at least, was one of the arguments. But following a morning session in which England’s more highly rated batsmen tangled themselves up in aggressive strokes and left the side at 103 for 5, it was debutant Foakes whose steady hand raised them gradually out of the ditch they had been in at lunch.
Foakes used the crease, skipped out to meet the spinners, and he swept as well, but he did each of these in a much more measured fashion than the men who batted above him. Thanks to him, and the men who batted well in his company – Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid – England can even claim to have grasped a position of strength in this match. A score of 321 for 8 at stumps on day one is not shabby, in a Galle Test. Foakes himself was not out, 13 runs short of what would be a plucky century in his first Test innings.
Foakes
Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, English cricket, Sri Lanka Cricket
Big conference now. They need to stop that single.