Sri Lanka

SLC had beseeched the “top level” of Sri Lankan government to provide guarantees that there would be no further political interference in cricket administration in the country. Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe has not provided such a guarantee thus far, but his sacking of Ranasinghe could be an indication that he wishes the government as

Chamari Athapaththu, who has been in the middle of a sensational run of form, has been signed up by Northern Brave for the 2023-24 women’s Super Smash competition, with the team calling it “a huge coup”. Sri Lanka stalwart Athapaththu is playing in the WBBL for Sydney Thunder, and is currently the second-highest run-scorer in

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Shammi Silva made a “fervent appeal” to the ICC to “carve out an exception” that would allow Sri Lanka to continue playing international cricket despite SLC getting suspended, according to an SLC release. The ICC removed Sri Lanka as hosts of the Men’s Under-19 World Cup, which was set for

In a radical step to regulate the pace of play, the ICC has said it will experiment with having a stop clock between overs. A penalty of five runs will be imposed on the bowling side if they fail three times in an innings to start the new over within a minute. The move, which

Sri Lanka Cricket has initiated a defamation lawsuit against the country’s sports minister, as the row over the administration of cricket in the country deepens. SLC is currently suspended by the ICC, at the request of SLC’s own officials, in an attempt to impress on the Sri Lankan government that the ICC will not tolerate

Imagine the scene. You’re the captain. A captain who had been thrust into the role a couple of matches into a World Cup. And your team? They have just lost two games on the bounce. Actually, five of the last seven. The latest one was against India – a perfectly in-sync, cricketing destroyer of worlds.

As the Sri Lanka squad arrived home after a disappointing 2023 World Cup, consultant coach Mahela Jayawardene attributed much of the team’s struggles the types of tracks being produced for domestic cricket in Sri Lanka. These pitches, he said, neither allowed their batters to be in top hitting form heading into the World Cup on

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Shammi Silva has warned that the country could lose out on hosting the men’s Under-19 World Cup in January and February if the ICC’s suspension of SLC was not lifted. He also said the ICC wanted to suspend Sri Lanka back in July, but he prevented it. However, ESPNcricinfo understands

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been suspended by the ICC board with immediate effect because of extensive government interference in SLC administration. “The ICC Board met today and determined that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that

In almost certainly the most explosive press conferences of his career, Angelo Mathews called the actions of opposition captain Shakib Al Hasan and the Bangladesh team “obviously disgraceful”. He said he’d “never seen a team or player stoop so low” in his 15 years of playing international cricket. And he said that it was “unfortunate”

Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) administrative malaise took another turn on Tuesday as the country’s court of appeal issued a 14-day stay order preventing the government Gazette that appointed an “interim committee” from taking effect. The move had been spearheaded by the country’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe, but had been appealed against by SLC president Shammi

“One of our fielders came to me and said, ‘If you appeal now, he will be out, if you are serious’. Then I appealed and the umpire asked me whether I was serious and whether I was going to take it back or not. I said no if it is in the rule if it’s

According to Angelo Mathews, the on-field umpires who adjudged him timed out on Monday had admitted to Sri Lanka’s coaching staff that they erred in not checking how much time had elapsed between the previous dismissal, and Mathews’ helmet strap breaking. It appears that Mathews heard of this admission second-hand. “The umpires [Marais Erasmus and

Sri Lanka’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe has sought to sack the Sri Lanka Cricket board, replacing officials with a government-appointed “interim committee” headed by Arjuna Ranatunga. It is unclear as yet what the ICC’s response to this move is, given the ICC had taken a dim view of Sri Lanka’s last government-appointed committee in 2014.

Big Picture: Problems to address for both teams Well, this might not be quite the must-win scenario either of these sides would have been envisioned being involved in towards the tail-end of this tournament, but the ICC’s confirmation that the top seven finishers (and hosts Pakistan) will gain qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy has

Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Mohan de Silva resigned from his board position on Saturday. His resignation comes after both widespread criticism of the board following Sri Lanka’s crashing out of the Men’s ODI World Cup, as well as a release from the nation’s sports minister asking SLC’s executive committee to resign or face drastic action.

Sri Lanka Cricket has called for “an urgent and comprehensive explanation from the entire coaching staff and selectors” following the team’s 302-run defeat in their World Cup match against India in Mumbai. Sri Lanka lost five of their first seven games to South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, and have beaten only Netherlands and

Afghanistan 242 for 3 (Omarzai 73, Rahmat 62, Shahidi 58*) beat Sri Lanka 241 (Nissanka 46, Farooqi 4-34, Mujeeb 2-38) by seven wickets For the second game running Afghanistan showcased exemplary calm in the chase, whittling down a sub-par target of 242 with ice-cold composure. A trio of fifties from Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and

Sri Lanka mascot and superfan Percy Abeysekara, affectionately known as Uncle Percy, has died aged 87. Percy had been a fixture at Sri Lankan cricket matches for more than five decades, but gained global prominence during the 1996 World Cup, particularly when he was seen parading the Sri Lanka flag around the ground at Lahore,

Big picture – Teams look to capitalise on momentum While this World Cup has only belatedly started offering up some nail-biters, it’s been rather more generous in terms of unexpected results. As a result, despite the sides currently occupying the top-four spots in the points table being the likeliest to make it through to the

Lahiru Kumara has been ruled out of the World Cup after hurting his left thigh during training in Pune, where Sri Lanka play their next game of the tournament, against Afghanistan on Monday. He has been replaced in the Sri Lanka squad by Dushmantha Chameera, who becomes the third player to come in as an

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has unveiled Lanka T10, their first ten-over competition to be played from December 12-23. The tournament will be held in Colombo, with the player auction to be conducted on November 10. There are also plans to also host a women’s T10 league at the same time. While details about the women’s

Sri Lanka 160 for 2 (Nissanka 77*, Samarawickrama 65*) beat England 156 (Stokes 43, Kumara 3-35) by eight wickets England’s World Cup defence is not dead yet. And more’s the pity, to judge by this latest hollow-eyed display from Jos Buttler’s ex-worldbeaters. The humiliations are coming so thick and fast that they are losing their

The light at the end of the tunnel was a train. England have spent the last four weeks travelling around India talking about responding to setbacks and awaiting the statement performance that has never arrived. If their defeats to New Zealand, Afghanistan and South Africa were bad, this might have been the worst of the

Angelo Mathews had made peace with the circumstances that led to him not being a part of Sri Lanka’s initial World Cup squad, but wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet. It didn’t matter that he had played all of seven ODIs since the start of 2020 – including three earlier this year in

Pathirana is Sri Lanka’s second injury loss this World Cup after their captain Dasun Shanaka was ruled out due to a quadriceps tear, which he had also picked up during the match against Pakistan. Chamika Karunaratne had taken Shanaka’s place in Sri Lanka’s squad, with wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis standing in as captain. They are also

Sri Lanka 263 for 5 (Samarawickrama 91, Nissanka 54, Dutt 3-44) beat Netherlands 262 (Engelbrecht 70, van Beek 59, Madushanka 4-49, Rajitha 4-50) by five wickets An unbeaten 91 from Sadeera Samarawickrama shepherded home a tricky chase as Sri Lanka overcame a resilient Dutch outfit and finally got points on the board. The result means

Big picture: Netherlands are catching up When these two sides met a little over three months ago, the picture could not have been more dissimilar. Sri Lanka had just racked up a clean sweep of the World Cup Qualifier and dispatched the Dutch twice over the course of the tournament. While the first was an

Chameera, 31, would have been a first-choice pick in Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad but was not fit enough for selection by the deadline. He last played for Sri Lanka in June against Afghanistan and in the warm-ups of the World Cup qualifier. After that, he was initially out with a torn pectoral muscle, which

But an “independent inquiry committee” appointed by SLC has now recommended an “immediate lifting of [Gunathilaka’s] cricketing ban, allowing him to resume regular activities and return to national duty”. Gunathilaka, 32, has himself expressed a strong desire to return to training and cricket since being found not guilty in a Sydney court on September 23.