Category Archives: player selections

February 19, 2020 · 3:28 pm

FOG stands as One Pillar in SL Womens’ Cricket

Three players from the FOUNDATION of GOODNESS at Seenigama in Hikkaduwa are in the Squad representing the island nation at the Womens’ T20 World Cup in Australia

“Three outstanding ladies from our Foundation of Goodness Seenigama Ladies Cricket Squad have been selected to represent the Sri Lanka National Team for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup which commences on the 15th of Feb, 2020! Congratulations to Kaveesha Dilhari, Umasha Thimeshani (Seenigama Ladies Captain 2019) and Satya Sanjeewani! ” …. says Kushil Gunasekera

**** ****

Sathya Sandeepani

Age: 20 years 153 days Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm medium-fast

Umesha Thimashini

Age: 18 years 278 daysBatting: Right-hand batBowling: Right-arm offbreak

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Filed under performance, player selections, womens' cricket

February 5, 2020 · 3:12 am

The Kusal Perera Saga: Ashantha’s Comprehensive Dissection

Sa’adi Thawfeeq in Daily News 5 February 2020, with this title “The Kusal Perera saga”

Many opinions has been expressed and many words written on the exclusion of Kusal Perera from the Test squad to Zimbabwe. Perera as you may remember played one of the greatest match-winning innings in Test cricket against South Africa guiding his team to an epic one-wicket win at Durban hitting an unbeaten 153 as Sri Lanka chased down 304.

But since then Perera’s scores in Test cricket have been 20, 1, 23, 0 and 0. However the selectors persisted with him and took him to Pakistan but with the return of Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal both of whom missed the South African series, he lost his place in the Test team and was pushed to the rank of reserves.

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Filed under Angelo Mathews, cricket and life, cricket governance, memorable moments, performance, player selections, politics and cricket, Sa'adi Thawfeeq, Sri Lanka Cricket

February 3, 2020 · 3:28 pm

Kusal Mendis: Near a Milestone despite Recent Pitfalls

Rex Clementine, in Sunday Island, 2 February 2020, where the title is “Mendis on the verge of crucial milestone”

Young Kusal Mendis, who turned 25 today (Sunday) is on the brink of a crucial milestone. He is just five runs short to complete 3000 Test runs, a feat achieved by only 13 other Sri Lankans. He will also become the second youngest Sri Lankan to reach the milestone when England visit the island later next month. Mahela Jayawardene, who achieved the landmark at the age of 24 is the youngest and quickest Sri Lankan to get there (65 innings). If Kusal keeps his appetite for big runs like Mahela, there is little doubt that he would join the 10,000 club of which Mahela and Kumar Sangakkara are members.

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Filed under Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, player selections, politics and cricket, Rex Clementine, Sangakkara, unusual people

January 30, 2020 · 9:30 pm

Testing Times for Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe

Madushka Balasuriya for ESPNcricinfo, January 2020

Zimbabwe 406 and 241 for 7 (Taylor 67, Wiliams 47*, Fernando 2-43) lead Sri Lanka 293 (Mathews 64, Raza 7-113) by 354 runs

A tenth Test fifty from Brendan Taylor, and handy contributions from Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, had ballooned Zimbabwe’s lead to 354 at stumps on a rain-interrupted fourth day in Harare. But despite the hosts dominating the day’s proceedings, Sri Lanka will fancy their chances to save the Tests after bad light, followed by rain, brought forced an early close.

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Filed under performance, player selections, Sri Lanka Cricket

January 25, 2020 · 2:13 am

That Triumph in Zimbabwe: Mickey Arthur pleased

Bipin Dani, at https://www.bdcrictime.com/sl-coach-mickey-arthur-happy-with-team-performance/

According to the highly placed sources in Zimbabwe, the team management is considering to persist with the same eleven for the second Test commencing at the same venue on Monday.
“Though the second Test is to be played on a different wicket, we are “most likely” to retain the same eleven”, a member of the support staff said.

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Filed under Angelo Mathews, memorable moments, performance, player selections, Sri Lanka Cricket

January 17, 2020 · 4:32 am

Sri Lankan Test Squad for Zimbabwe Tour

Andrew Fidel Fernando in ESPNcricinfo, https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/28481452/lakmal-returns-kusal-perera-dropped-sri-lanka-test-squad

Suranga Lakmal returned to Sri Lanka’s Test squad after missing the tour of Pakistan due to dengue fever, while Kusal Perera has been dropped.

Suranga Lakmal of Sri Lanka celebrates after taking the wicket of Travis Head of Australia during day two of the First Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka at The Gabba on January 25, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

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Filed under cricket and life, performance, player selections, Sri Lanka Cricket

January 6, 2020 · 1:14 pm

Angelo Mathews talks to Rex about the Immediate Tasks in 2020

Rex Clementine in Island, 4 January 2020, where the title is “Mathews Ready for Reversed Role”

When Angelo Mathews limped off the field in Indore with a hamstring injury during Sri Lanka’s tour of India in 2017, the recovery took months. At that point, the selectors made a call that in a bid to prolong his career, Mathews will only play as a batsman. But 18 months later, the decision has been reversed. Mathews was dropped from the T-20 squad in August 2018 and was told to get back to bowling in order to regain his place. Having fulfilled the requirement, the 32-year-old is back in India, the country where he won the admiration of adoring fans a decade ago.

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Filed under Angelo Mathews, performance, player selections, politics and cricket, Rex Clementine, Sri Lanka Cricket, T20 Cricket, unusual people

December 25, 2019 · 10:42 pm

Chandimal the Enigma in Topsy-Turvy Year

Andrew Fidel Fernando, in ESPNcricinfo, 20 December 2019, where the title runs thus: “Dinesh Chandimal condenses rollercoaster career into one innings”

Dinesh Chandimal plays a shot during the second day of the second Test cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka –Photo by Asif HASSAN /AFP via Getty Images)

There is almost a novel here. A talented wicketkeeper from the southwest gets spotted by a big Colombo school in his teens. Goes on to lead that school to their best season ever. He quickly gets picked up by the national squad, and at first glimpse of this guy, the public is enchanted. He’s organised, but there’s also that manic fun of a schoolboy. He swings so hard at the ball his limbs could go flying off. By 23, he is Sri Lanka’s T20I captain – their youngest ever.

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Filed under Andrew Fidel Fernando, cricket and life, cricket governance, cricketing icons, memorable moments, performance, player selections, politics and cricket, Sri Lanka Cricket, taking the mickey, unusual people

December 8, 2019 · 2:38 pm

Sri Lanka enters the Pakistani Cricketing Den

ONE = Shenai Anushka, in Sunday Times, 8 December 2019, where the title reads thus – “Sri Lanka’s gruelling test in ‘unknown’ Pakistan’

Sri Lanka’s full-strength Test team will embark on a significant tour of Pakistan today to play two matches as part of the ICC World Test Championship. Pakistan has not hosted Test cricket since the 2009 Lahore attack on the Sri Lanka team that wounded several players, staff members and killed a few security officers. The series was initially scheduled to be played in October with the most likely venue to be the UAE. However after successfully hosting the second-string Sri Lanka team in the limited-overs leg in August and September, they forced Sri Lanka Cricket to play the Test series in Pakistan.