Category Archives: Andrew Fidel Fernando

February 10, 2018 · 12:28 pm

Bangladesh strangled in Three Days

Andrew Fidel Fernando, in ESPNcricinfo, 10 February 2018, where the title is “Dananjaya takes five as Sri Lanka clinch series”

Bangladesh plunged, Sri Lanka’s spinners soared and the Mirpur Test tore to its conclusion midway through day three, the visitors triumphing by 215 runs. Debutant Akila Dananjaya was prime destroyer. He scythed rapidly through the Bangladesh lower-middle order, taking 5 for 24 to make it eight wickets on debut – the best performance by a Sri Lankan on debut. The charge to victory was also sweet for Rangana Herath, who claimed 4 for 49 and in doing so, became the most successful left-arm bowler in Test history.

Sri Lanka’s cricketer Roshen Silva plays a shot during the first day of the second cricket Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla national cricket stadium in Dhaka on February 8, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / –

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, Bangladesh cricket, cricketing icons, Hathurusingha, performance, player selections, Sri Lanka Cricket

February 9, 2018 · 1:36 pm

Several Hands place Sri Lanka in the Box seat at Dhaka

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, 9 February 2018, where the title is “Roshen Silva’s fifty puts SL in firm control” ….. with highlighting emphasis being the Work of The editor, cricketique

Debutant Akila Dananjaya ransacked Bangladesh’s lower middle order in the morning, and Roshen Silva compiled a second high-quality fifty in the match, as Sri Lanka claimed a 312-run lead and took iron-grip of the Test. That the surface is a spinners’ paradise is plain, but Bangladesh’s meekness in the first innings has put them on the brink of a series loss. In the most dramatic period of play on day two, the hosts lost their last five wickets for five runs. Not even an inspired Mustafizur Rahman spell late in the day could undo the damage sustained before lunch.

Dimuth Karunaratne steers one through the off side Associated Press Continue reading →

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, Bangladesh cricket, performance, Sri Lanka Cricket

January 21, 2018 · 2:52 pm

Thisara Perera leads Lanka to a Solid Win

Andrew Fidel Fernando courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, 21 January 2018…. where the title reads “Thisara Perera’s all-round brilliance keeps Sri Lanka alive”

Thisara Perera blasted out Zimbabwe’s top order, Nuwan Pradeep cleaned up the tail, and Dinesh Chandimal shepherded home a stilted chase, with five wickets and 31 balls to spare. This first victory of 2018 was that very rare Sri Lanka phenomenon – an occasion in which the team’s supposed senior players played in a manner befitting their station. Their efforts mean all three sides stay alive in the tournament, with two matches to play before the final.

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, cricketing icons, performance, player selections, Sri Lanka Cricket

January 3, 2018 · 2:53 am

An Appraisal of Sri Lanka’s 2018 Performance

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, 3 Jan 2018

To begin with, some numbers: of the 13 Tests Sri Lanka played this year, they lost seven to the four they won. In ODIs 23 defeats (yes, 23) to five wins. In T20Is, ten losses, five victories.

Sri Lanka’s series win in the UAE was memorable, but it didn’t translate to an improved performance over the rest of the year © AFP

Are you depressed yet?

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, Angelo Mathews, cricket and life, cricket governance, Hathurusingha, performance, player selections, politics and cricket, Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka Cricket

October 11, 2017 · 2:43 am

Several Hands fashion Sri Lanka’s Defeat of Pakistan in 2nd Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, 3 October 2017, where the title runs “Dilruwan’s five-for seals memorable series sweep

Dilruwan celebrates a wicket

Sri Lanka 482 (Karunaratne 196, Yasir 6-184) and 96 (Wahab 4-41, Haris 3-1) beat Pakistan 262 (Azhar 59, Haris 56, Dilruwan 3-72, Herath 3-84) and 248 (Shafiq 112, Dilruwan 5-98) by 68 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Like waves breaking upon a cliff, Sri Lanka’s bowlers kept coming at Pakistan, until eventually, the hosts fractured and tumbled into the sea. So tantalisingly had the match been poised overnight, perhaps the ending was even a little anticlimactic. Sri Lanka’s margin of victory was 68 runs – a comfortable win by most standards. Though Sarfraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq had begun confidently, the visitors needed only 5.5 overs to break that partnership, and about 90 minutes in all to wipe out the lower half of the Pakistan innings. The series had been swept, completely unexpectedly, 2-0. Continue reading →

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, cricket and life, cricketing icons, performance, player selections, Rangana Herath, Rex Clementine, Sri Lanka Cricket

October 2, 2017 · 2:20 pm

Spin ‘n Spin: Dramatic Fifth Day Victory for Sri Lanka

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, 3 October 2017, where the title runs “Herath’s 400th wicket seals dramatic victory for Sri Lanka”

How did we get here? How did we hurtle, from the dullest 11 sessions of Test cricket possible, to this stirring, heart-palpitating, dramedy of a conclusion? Sri Lanka, out of the match surely when they set out to defend 136 after lunch, yet victors by 21 runs, Rangana Herath breaking records, scuttling Pakistan again – 6 for 43 to his name. The pitch began to sing for him, the batsmen played him with fatal hesitation, Dilruwan Perera was even denied the winning wicket by a no-ball, just so Herath could complete 400 Test wickets – the first left-arm spinner to the milestone.

Sri Lanka go wild after Rangana Herath gets rid of Asad Shafiq Francois Nel/Getty Images Continue reading →

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, bowling average, close finsihes, cricketing icons, performance, Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka Cricket

September 11, 2017 · 2:21 pm

Turbulence in the Boardroom of Sri Lanka Cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, September 2017 where the title is “SLC looks to get de Silva, Jayawardene on board”

Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Brendon Kuruppu, Graeme Labrooy, perhaps even Mahela Jayawardene – these are the names Sri Lanka Cricket is attempting to align itself with as the board looks to arrest the decline of the national team. Even more crucially for SLC, getting former players with good reputations on board may also help turn around its ailing public reputation. The board is now not only widely believed to be detrimental to the development of cricket, it is also seen as one of the most toxic governing bodies in the country.

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, cricket and life, cricket governance, cricketer politicians, Mahela Jayawardene, player selections, politics and cricket, Sangakkara, Sri Lanka Cricket

September 2, 2017 · 2:59 am

Generational Mix is Sri Lanka’s Present Problem in Malinga’s View

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, August 2017, where the title “Malinga laments ‘lost generation’ after another SL loss to India”

Sri Lanka have “lost a generation” of cricketers from the national fold, and cannot afford to do so again. Fresh from having presided over Sri Lanka’s largest ever runs defeat in ODIs, stand-in captain Lasith Malinga delivered the aforementioned grim diagnosis. Malinga’s argument is this: where for most of his career he has played in teams comprising mostly of experienced players, he now finds himself in a side where very few have more than 50 ODIs on their record. Eight of Thursday’s XI, for example, have played 37 ODIs or fewer. Of those, a stunning five have played fewer than 10 ODIs.

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, cricketing icons, Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, performance, player selections, Rangana Herath, Sangakkara, Sri Lanka Cricket, unusual people

August 19, 2017 · 4:42 pm

Sri Lanka’s Prospects at Dambulla in First ODI

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, August 19 2017 where the title reads Can ailing Sri Lanka spring a surprise?”

India were monumentally dominant in the Tests, while Sri Lanka are in turmoil and have a new full-time limited-overs captain, but if there is still a wisp of hope that the ODIs will be competitive, it is based on the outcome of the Champions Trophy match between these sides. Remember that? It seems so long ago now, and so difficult to imagine. But it’s true. Sri Lanka did defeat India on June 8, after orchestrating a record tournament chase. The way, unsurprisingly, was led by Kusal Mendis. Chasing, and a big score for Mendis, again represent Sri Lanka’s best chance of an upset in Dambulla. While they lost a home series 3-2 against Zimbabwe in July, they will at least take a little encouragement from the fact that none of those losses came when they were batting second.

Wanidu Hasaranga takes part in a fielding drill AFP Continue reading →

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Indian cricket, performance, player selections, Sri Lanka Cricket

July 25, 2017 · 4:04 am

Angelo Mathews: Highs and Lows … but still Potent

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, where the title reads “Can Mathews arrest batting slump?”

Angelo Mathews, 30 years old, former captain, once the owner of a fearsome average, now merely a very good one, potentially a great batsman still, but man, the last 18 months have not been kind. For a player of such indisputable quality, it has been a strange decline.Remember how he had been in 2014 – that last great year of Sri Lankan cricket – when out of nowhere, he hit a harvest so golden, so irrepressible, that he bludgeoned attacks into pulp, nurdled without relent, left no advertising board unstung by his boundary hits, and even when off the field, probably coughed up, sneezed and exhaled runs.