Thanks to some fine bowling from Xavier Doherty and Brett Lee, a calm innings from Shaun Marsh, and a couple of brain explosions from Sri Lanka’s batsmen, Australia secured 5-match series with a match in hand, courtesy a five-wicket win in the fourth ODI.
Sri Lanka’s 132 was never likely to be enough to keep the series alive, and so it proved, although there was one significant highlight late in the game, an unexpected triple-wicket maiden from their debutant spinner, Seekkuge Prasanna. In fact, the five wickets Sri Lanka collected came in two overs, after an earlier double-wicket maiden from Lasith Malinga.
Prasanna had Marsh caught behind cutting for 70, and followed next ball with Michael Hussey, who edged behind for a golden duck. The hat-trick ball was negotiated by David Hussey, but he fell off the very next delivery when he played back to a ball that was much too full, and was bowled, to leave Prasanna with 3 for 32.
But by then, Australia were ten runs from victory, and Michael Clarke (38 not out) and Brad Haddin guided them home in the 28th over.
Australia 133 for 5 (Marsh 70, Prasanna 3-32) beat Sri Lanka 132 (Jayawardene 53, Lee 4-15, Doherty 4-28) by five wickets
August 20, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Sri Lanka has won the toss and has decided to bat first in the 4th One Day International against Australia played at R.Premadasa stadium in Colombo. Sri Lanka has brought in Sekkugde Prasanna who will be making his debut. Australia has also brought in Shaun Marsh dropping Steve Smith and will open the batting with Shane Watson. Brad Haddin will bat down the order.
(JNW)
August 20, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Sri Lanka will look to repeat the performance they displayed at Hambanthota on Tuesday, when they take on Australia at the R.Premadasa grounds in Colombo today(20). With an impressive win under their belt, the Lankans will be keen to level the 5-match series as Australia leads the series by 2-1.
Sri Lanka have dropped Dinesh Chandimal, Rangana Herath and Thissara Perera and has brought in Sekkuge Prasanna who is likely to make his debut today(20). The main reason for it will be the slow track at Premadasa grounds as stated by skipper T.M.Dilshan at the pre-match press conference.
On the contrary Australia will have to keep their focus on the game with lot of changes happening around them. Andrew Hilditch and Greg Chappell have been removed from the selection panel, but Chappell will remain in Sri Lanka with the side, and will pick the team for today’s match. Out of form Brad Haddin will also be a concern for Australia, but one wicket keeper in the side he will be retained in the team.
The match is scheduled to start at 2.30 p.m. Sri Lankan time.
(JNW)
August 20, 2011 at 9:12 am
Andrew Hilditch‘s tenure as Australia’s chairman of selectors is over after the Cricket Australia board decided to appoint a full-time national selector. On a day of major upheaval for Australian cricket, the CA board has also removed Greg Chappell from the selection panel, while the coach Tim Nielsen is in danger of losing his job.
The CA board has ratified several key recommendations from the Argus review into Australia’s team performance following their Ashes debacle last summer. A five-man selection panel will be created with a full-time chairman and two independent selectors, while the captain and coach have also been given increased responsibility and will become selectors.
The national talent manager, Chappell, won’t be part of the group. Jack Clarke, the CA chairman, said the newly-created position of national selector would be a full-time role and had therefore ruled out Hilditch, who also works as a solicitor in Adelaide, although Clarke was unsure whether Hilditch would apply to stay on the panel as one of the two part-time selectors.
(ESPN)
August 19, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Sri Lanka have dropped promising batsman Dinesh Chandimal, allrounder Thisara Perera and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath from the squad for the final two one-dayers against Australia, who lead the series 2-1. Seekkuge Prasanna, the 26-year-old legspinner, has been called up and has to fly back from England, where he was representing Sri Lanka A.
The other major news was that vice-captain Angelo Mathews, who missed the third ODI due to an injury is fit for the remaining matches. “He should be alright for the rest of the series,” Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan said. “He could have even played on Tuesday, but we didn’t want to take a risk. If something had happened he would have been ruled out for two months. He has got three more days to recover from the injury. Angelo is a key member of our side and when he goes out it’s a big loss.”
Chandimal, 21, had made an unbeaten century at Lord’s and 54 in the deciding game of the ODI series against England last month, but suffered a string of failures since, managing only 41 in four innings.
Perera played only one ODI since his hard-hitting cameo in the World Cup final, with the role of the third fast bowler to be filled by either Mathews, Suranga Lakmal or Shaminda Eranga, who made an impact on debut in the third ODI on Tuesday. Herath has also had only one ODI since the World Cup, with the emergence of legspinning allrounder Jeevan Mendis and the spin pair of Ajantha Mendis and Suraj Randiv limiting his opportunities.
Squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Chamara Silva, Nuwan Kulasekera, Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Suranga Lakmal, Suraj Randiv
(ESPN)
August 18, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Tillakaratne Dilshan has been named as Sri Lanka captain in all formats until the end of the year. This means he will stay in charge for the three-Test home series against Australia and at least the first two Tests of the South Africa tour that kicks off in December. The appointment was ratified by the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
Dilshan took over the reins from Kumar Sangakkara following Sri Lanka’s runners-up showing at the World Cup, but the team’s fortunes have dwindled since – they lost the Test and ODI series in England, and currently trail 1-2 with two matches to play in the home one-dayers against Australia. They have had more success in the Twenty20 format, with victories in the one-off against England and the two-match series against Australia.
(ESPN)
August 18, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Roy Dias, the former Sri Lanka batsman, has confirmed he will take over as Oman’s coach. Dias, who played 20 Tests and 58 ODIs in the eighties, has plenty of experience supervising upcoming nations, having spent the past decade in charge of the Nepal team.
“I am eagerly waiting to take charge of the Oman national team. The exact terms [of the agreement with Oman Cricket] are being worked out. But as of now, my immediate assignment is to get the team ready for the ACC Twenty20 Cup, which will be played in Nepal in December,” Dias told Muscat Daily. “Once I take charge, I would like to get the boys to undergo a proper camp in Nepal in the build-up to the ACC tournament.”
Oman won the ACC Twenty20 Cup in 2007, and progressed enough to make it to the qualifying tournament for the 2011 World Cup. However, they fared poorly in that event, finishing 11th to be relegated to the third division of the ICC’s World Cricket League.
Dias, 58, said he was familiar with Oman cricket since he had watched the team in various competitions during his time as Nepal coach. “Coaching in Nepal is quite different from coaching in Oman, I am well aware of it. But I will focus on the system that I work in – training the national team while working on building a solid supply line.
“I focus a lot on junior cricket, that’s where you get good cricketers from, who you can groom. I tried this method in Nepal. I focused on age-group cricket, and over the years the country began shining in tournaments.”
Oman Cricket is expected to formally announce Dias’ appointment next month.
(ESPN)
August 17, 2011 at 10:52 am
Upul Tharanga‘s fourth one-day international century this year and a five-wicket haul from Lasith Malinga kept the series alive as Sri Lanka compiled a comfortable 78-run victory in Hambantota. After two substandard batting performances in the opening matches, Sri Lanka finally found their rhythm and their 286 was too tall a target for Australia, who lead 2-1 as the teams head to Colombo for the final two games in the series.
It was a solid all-round performance from Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara contributed useful runs and the work of the batsmen was well backed up by the outstanding Malinga and his bowling colleagues. Especially impressive was the debutant seamer Shaminda Eranga, who struck in his first over and deceived Ricky Ponting to keep Australia on the back foot early in their chase.
Eranga, 25, needed only three balls to make his mark on international cricket, with a delivery that nipped through the ever-widening gate left by an out-of-form Brad Haddin, who made 5. But the moment that Eranga will be most proud of came when his slower ball was not read by Ponting, who pushed back a return catch on 22.
Sri Lanka 286 for 9 (Tharanga 111, Dilshan 55, Bollinger 4-42) beat Australia 208 (M Hussey 63, Malinga 5-28) by 78 runs
(ESPN)
August 16, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Ricky Ponting has said he is enjoying his new batsman-only role after giving up the captaincy following Australia’s disappointing World Cup earlier this year. Ponting handed the leadership to Michael Clarke but decided against retiring, and it’s a move that has allowed him to concentrate solely on his run-scoring.
In the last year of his captaincy, Ponting struggled to have an impact with the bat, and averaged 30.23 in one-day internationals and 29 in Test cricket. But half-centuries in his two innings in Sri Lanka over the past week have been encouraging, especially an unbeaten 90 that helped Australia to an eight-wicket win in Hambantota on Sunday, where Ponting earned his first ODI Man-of-the-Match award in 18 months.
Australia have hardly been challenged in the opening two ODIs and they could wrap the series up with victory in the third match in Hambantota on Tuesday. So far their batsmen haven’t had too much trouble against the Sri Lankan attack, so much so that the No. 6, David Hussey, has not yet been required to bat.
(ESPN)
August 16, 2011 at 10:26 am
Andy Flower says that England will seek to defend their new status as the world’s No. 1 Test side by attacking a series of short-term goals, starting with the winter tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as they set about reassessing their priorities in the wake of a crushing innings-and-242-run triumph against India at Edgbaston on Saturday.
That performance, which was built on the back of Alastair Cook’s career-best 294, took England to an unassailable 3-0 series lead with just the Oval Test to come later this week, and ensured that, in little more than two years since the squad was torn apart by the falling-out between the then-captain and coach, Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores, England have surged to the top of the world Test rankings.
Flower, however, is already looking to the future as he plots a means to turn England’s spell at the top into something longer lasting. Writing in his Daily Telegraph column, Shane Warne conceded that the current England team has the look and feel of long-term champions, with big-match temperaments in every position from 1 to 11.
(ESPN)
August 15, 2011 at 8:57 am
Perhaps Tillakaratne Dilshan should send Australia in next time. He needs to do something to shake his team out of its slumber after another professional performance from Australia, this time led by Doug Bollinger with the ball and Ricky Ponting with the bat, set up a comfortable eight-wicket win and a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
In Pallekele last Wednesday, Dilshan won the toss and chose to bat, and his men were bowled out for a sub-par total that the attack couldn’t defend. The venue has changed but the result was exactly the same this time around, as he again chose to bat and the Sri Lankan top order again failed to build a target that would worry Michael Clarke’s side. Australia were set 209 for victory, and they got there with 11.4 overs remaining.
The scorecard will show that Ponting finished unbeaten on 90, and it’s true that it was a fine innings: he was calm, the bowlers’ variations rarely troubled him, and he waited for the bad balls to put away. But he was rarely pressured by a lacklustre Sri Lanka. The fluttering of their shirts in oppressively windy conditions was about as animated as Sri Lanka’s players got.
Australia
211 for 2 (Ponting 90*, Clarke 58*) beat Sri Lanka 208 (Sangakkara 52, Bollinger 3-35) by 8 wickets
August 14, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Sharjah will host its first Test in nine years this November, after Pakistan and Sri Lanka reached an agreement to play the last of their three Tests in the UAE at the venue. The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium has hosted more ODIs than any other ground but has not had any international cricket between top teams since 2003.
With international stadiums being built in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, it had looked unlikely that Sharjah would make a return as a venue for big matches. However, the Emirates Cricket Board has now said there will be a Test there starting November 3.
(ESPN)
August 14, 2011 at 11:09 am
England demolished India at a delirious Edgbaston to usurp the tourists at the top of the world Test rankings. James Anderson set England on the victory trail by removing Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman inside the first hour in a brilliant spell of swing bowling.
Captain MS Dhoni and Praveen Kumar delayed the inevitable with an entertaining partnership of 75 but Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan mopped up the tail as India were bundled out for 244.
England’s victory by an innings and 242 runs gives them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and provides emphatic confirmation of their new status as the best team in the world.
India began the day in a hopeless position, still 486 runs adrift of making England bat again after the home side had racked up 710-7 in reply the tourists’ 224.
(BBC)
August 13, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Alastair Cook fell six runs short of a triple century at Edgbaston as England racked up the third highest Test total in their history to pile further misery on India. After batting for almost 13 hours without offering a single chance, Cook holed out for 294 to prompt Andrew Strauss to call time with England on a mammoth 710-7.
India promptly lost Virender Sehwag for a golden duck for the second time in the match to send the 25,000 crowd into raptures.
Although Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid prevented any further damage before the close, India remain 451 runs behind England and will have to bat for the best part of two days on a turning wicket to prevent the hosts securing the win that would put them top of the world Test rankings.
Cook’s monumental effort was the sixth highest score by an Englishman, and the best since Graham Gooch’s 333 against the same opposition in 1990.
He shared in a stand of 222 with Eoin Morgan, with the Dubliner reaching three figures for the second time in Tests.
(BBC)
August 13, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Mitchell Johnson produced the fourth-best figures in Australia’s one-day history to set his team on the path to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Pallekele. After losing the Twenty20s, Australia found a new spark with the arrival of the 50-over captain Michael Clarke, who attacked in the field and then helped steer the side home with Ricky Ponting after Shane Watson set up the chase.
The first ten overs of the match seemed like an extension of the T20s, as Sri Lanka’s openers gave their side a strong start with a 54-run stand but after the first wicket fell, the rest of the day belonged to Australia. Most surprisingly, given all the talk in the build-up to the game, it was aggressive pace bowling that set the tone for the match.
Australia 192 for 3 (Watson 69, Clarke 53*, Ponting 53) beat Sri Lanka 191 (Randiv 41, Johnson 6-31) by 7 wickets
August 10, 2011 at 9:00 pm
The one day series between Australia and Sri Lanka will kick off at Pallekele this afternoon. Australian have been strengthened with the come back of experienced trio Ricky Ponting, Michael Clark and Michael Hussey. They will up against some serious spin attack from Sri Lanka as clearly seen in the Twenty20 matches. However, the Aussies will be looking to counter attack with their seam department with the return of Doug Bollinger, who is pretty much used to the conditions as he has played so many matches for the IPL.
On the contrary left-handed operner Upul Tharanga will be making a comeback for the Sri Lankan side after serving a three month ban. He will be keen to pick up from where he left. Although Lasith Malinga has been included to the ODI squad he will not be featured in this match as he has been advised to rest. However, it would not be a too much of a worry for Sri Lanka since the superb bowling skills shown on Monday, they will be keen to have Ajantha Mendis included in the final 11.
The match starts at 2.30 p.m. Sri Lankan time.
(JNW)
August 10, 2011 at 11:28 am
Ajantha Mendis turned tricks beyond the grasp of six Australian batsmen as Sri Lanka completed an eight-run victory for a 2-0 sweep of the Twenty20 series at Pallekele.
Playing his first, but surely not last, match against the Australians on this tour, Mendis plucked 6 for 16, the best figures in T20 history, including three of the four wickets to fall for four runs in a frenzied 16-ball phase in the middle overs. All this after Shane Watson’s belligerent 57 from 24 balls seemed to have set the visitors up for a series-levelling victory.
The pivotal moment of the evening came thanks to Angelo Mathews’ remarkable feat of athleticism, when he collected a David Warner heave on the edge of the midwicket boundary, and then threw the ball back into play for Mahela Jayawardene to complete the catch.
Watson was close to lbw in the first over of the chase, the umpire ruling that Nuwan Kulasekara’s extravagant inswing would have taken the ball past leg stump. After three overs of pace, Australia were rolling nicely at 30-0, but their momentum would increase violently against the spinners.
Earlier, Sri Lanka were also unable to conjure the partnerships they managed in game one, but Jayawardene’s 86 provided a centrepiece to stand with Tillakaratne Dilshan’s effort on Saturday. Hampering the hosts’ batting was an outstanding spell by John Hastings, who returned 3 for 14 from his four overs. Brett Lee also nabbed a trio of victims.
Sri Lanka 157 for 9 (Jayawardene 86, Hastings 3-14, Lee 3-39) beat Australia 149 for 9 (Watson 57, Mendis 6-16) by eight runs
(ESPN)
August 8, 2011 at 10:47 pm
