Category Archives: Sri Lanka Cricket

June 4, 2014 · 2:00 pm

Some Home Truths for the English Cricket Team

George Dobell in ESPNcricinfo

It would be nice, too, if England simply stopped talking about the spirit of cricket. It is not relevant when their batsmen decline to walk. It is not relevant when their batsmen, in fighting for a draw, change their gloves and ask for drinks in order to use up time. It is not relevant when their bowlers sledge or try to persuade the umpire to change a ball that is not swinging. And it is not relevant when they lure coaches from opposition teams weeks before they face them in a series.

All such issues are seen – right or wrong – as part and parcel of the professional game. So to talk of spirit only when they lose leaves them looking weak, graceless and hypocritical. Only by confronting their failings and not grasping for excuses will they start to improve. Continue reading →

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Filed under English cricket, performance, politics and cricket, reconciliation through sport, sportsmanship, Sri Lanka Cricket, unusual people

June 4, 2014 · 6:01 am

Bradman supported Mankad’s action. Why, oh why, are the English whining!

Mahinda Wijesinghe

So, the England players and supporters, led by their captain, Alastair Cook, are bellyaching and whingeing about Senanayake running out Buttler at the non-striker’s end. Naturally, the crowd too joined in, and at the end of the game Cook appeared to say some nasty things to Matthews.

The bottom line is, who began this illegitimate incident that forced Senanayake’s hand? In other words, if Buttler did not provoke Senanayake by attempting to take a foul start there would not have been any incident. ICC playing regulation, amended in 2011, and applicable to this series states: “the bowler is permitted, before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing, to attempt to run out the non-striker.”

As teen-aged cricketers at school our (unpaid) coaches used to clearly advise us, that while being at the non-striker’s end, to watch the bowler’s arm and move only after the bowler has released the ball. Seems Cook and Buttler have not been advised on this matter despite reaching international levels. A very sad state of affairs when one considers the captain of the country that gave this game to the world is in the dark. Continue reading →

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Filed under Australian cricket, Bradman, cricket and life, cricketing rules, English cricket, fair play, Mahela Jayawardene, performance, politics and cricket, Sri Lanka Cricket

June 4, 2014 · 5:51 am

Shaminda Eranga’s unique feat … unplanned

Eranga — Pic by AFP

Who’s the only bowler to take a wicket in his first over in all three forms of international cricket? asked Dennis de Silva from Sri Lanka
The answer to this tricky one is the Sri Lankan fast bowler Shaminda Eranga, who started his international career by taking the wicket of Australia’s Brad Haddin with his second ball in one-day internationals, in Hambantota in August 2011. A month later Eranga struck with his first ball in a Test, also against Australia, having Shane Watson caught at point at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. And in August 2012, in Pallekele, Eranga bowled India’s Gautam Gambhir with his fourth ball in a T20 international.

Who is Don Henadeera? nd where does he live? See http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/749075.html for answer to second question … and a whole series of unique questions

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Filed under performance, Sri Lanka Cricket, unusual statistics

June 4, 2014 · 5:46 am

The BUTTLER did it !! Josh Buttler must cop it

See SKYSPORTS http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/9336793/buttler-has-himself-to-blame

Senanayake’s mankading of Buttler clarified and defended by British reporters

George Dobell: “Senanayake catches Buttler dozing” …. http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-sri-lanka-2014/content/story/750041.html[/

Umpire Gough gives Buttler out

There was little doubt what the Birmingham crowd thought to the run-out of Jos Buttler. Boos rang out around Edgbaston every time Sachithra Senanayake touched the ball following his decision to end Buttler’s innings. Already utilising an action that some in England – a conservative country in cricketing terms – believe to be dubious, Senanayake will now forever be cast in the role of villain after running out the home side’s golden boy in a rare instance of ‘Mankading’ in the international game.

Buttler, the non-striking batsman, had backed up too far. He was out of his crease. Senanayake, the bowler, had warned him in the previous over. He warned him, clearly and in sight of the umpires, that if Buttler continued to back up out of his crease, he would remove the bails and complete the run out. Continue reading →

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Filed under child of empire, confrontations on field, cricket and life, English cricket, fair play, foul tactics, International Cricket Council, Mahela Jayawardene, politics and cricket, sportsmanship, Sri Lanka Cricket

May 23, 2014 · 2:45 pm

Outstanding Men from beyond the shores who have assisted Sri Lankan Cricket

SOBERS -- pa photos Gary Sobers as youngster Sobers greets Sathasivam in Sri Lanka with gift Sobers in his prime –murdering bowlers Continue reading →

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Filed under sportsmanship, Sri Lanka Cricket, unusual people, welfare through sport

May 23, 2014 · 1:45 am

Sri Lanka’s First Test Encounter at Lords, 23-28 August 1984, on Video

Lords 1984 …………. Not many had TV at the time, so these clips are memorable !

http://www.islandcricket.lk/videos/sri-lanka/cricket/sl-cricketers-at-lords-in-1984-famous-bothammendis-battle-and-sidaths-century

Sidath Wettimuny scored 190 impeccable runs

Duleep Menids batting in the 1980s Continue reading →

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Filed under cricket tamashas, cricketing icons, david gower, Ian Botham, Lords cricket ground, Sri Lanka Cricket

May 22, 2014 · 2:14 pm

Essaying Cricket: Sri Lanka and Beyond

Michael Roberts

Articles on World Cricket, Sri Lankan Cricket politics, sledging and chucking
Comments on partisan TV coverage and cricket team reactions to bomb blasts
35 Articles by Guest Authors including Harsha Bhogle, Peter Roebuck, Mike Coward, Mike Marqusee & Sambit Bal and a range of Lankan authors, names familiar as well as surprising
A breathtaking collection of 157 photographs

Publisher: Vijitha Yapa Publications, Colombo, 2006

Web:www.vijithayapa.com

Softcover: ISBN 955-1266-25-0 AUD $65 / pd 25

Hardcover: ISBN 955-1266-26-9 AUD $90 / pd 35

Continue reading →

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Filed under Australian cricket, Bradman, confrontations on field, cricket and life, cricket governance, cricketing icons, foul tactics, Mahela Jayawardene, murali, performance, player selections, politics and cricket, reconciliation through sport, Sangakkara, shane warne, sportsmanship, Sri Lanka Cricket, technology and cricket, tower of strength

May 22, 2014 · 1:46 pm

‘Playing Cricket: What a privilege!’ — says one of the giants of Sri Lankan Cricket,Kumar Sangakkara

Donald McRae, in The Guardian, 17 May 2014, where the title is “Kumar Sangakkara: ‘It’s been an amazing privilege to play the game’.”

Kumar Sangakkara is freezing at the end of an abandoned day of county cricket in Sussex. Wearing a huge borrowed jumper from the visitors’ dressing room occupied by Durham, for whom he played two matches while preparing for Sri Lanka’s one-day and Test series against England, the great batsman still smiles through the rainy cold. The longer he talks, and the deeper he thinks, the more his eloquent intelligence and personal warmth crackles like a small fire of hope.

After an hour in his company it is hard to avoid a nagging contrast. England’s team is full of bright and engaging men but, lately, it has become absurdly difficult to talk to them. Access to England’s best cricketers has been so controlled that even a request, in the recent past, to interview a junior player has had to be tied to “a sponsorship opportunity”. Such encounters often feel like a carefully managed exercise to curb honesty and personality. Continue reading →

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