Sri Lanka

Big picture: Sri Lanka start as favourites On July 16, Sri Lanka played Pakistan in Galle in the first of two Test matches, with the second Test starting on the 24th, also in Galle. That statement is true for both 2022 and 2023. It’s not clear why this series has been set up to perfectly

Dilshan Madushanka, the promising left-arm quick from Sri Lanka, will be eyeing a Test debut soon after being picked in a 16-member squad to play the first of two matches against Pakistan starting July 16. The 22-year-old has already caused a stir in the white-ball circuit – he was the biggest buy at the Lanka

Sri Lanka 233 (Arachchige 57, Mendis 43, Asalanka 36, Vikramjit 2-12) beat Netherlands 105 (O’Dowd 33, Theekshana 4-31, Madushanka 3-18, Hasaranga 2-35) by 128 runs It was a match that didn’t matter, and yet Sri Lanka drove their point home anyway. Stung, perhaps, by needing to qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup, they kept

Sri Lanka 244 for 2 (Nissanka 104, Karunaratne 83) beat West Indies 243 all out (Carty 87, Theekshana 4-34) by eight wickets A second straight ton by Pathum Nissanka and yet another four-for from Maheesh Theekshana headlined a dominant eight-wicket win over West Indies, as Sri Lanka completed a comfortable warm-up for Sunday’s final against

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu shot up to the top of the women’s ODI rankings for batters after her two unbeaten centuries in the series against New Zealand. She has thus become the first woman from Sri Lanka to top the ODI rankings. Athapaththu climbed six places to displace Australia’s Beth Mooney as the top-ranked

Chasing a revised target of 196 in 29 overs, Sri Lanka seemed to be in a spot of bother at 6 for 2, with both Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama falling early. However, Athapaththu, who had scored a century at the same venue against the same opponents last week, launched a counterattack, racing to the

Sri Lanka’s batting may be shaky, their reviewing dodgy and the standard of their fielding changes from game to game. But in this tournament, there can be little question. Their bowling is the best on show. After five matches, no team has yet made 200 against them in the World Cup Qualifier. Maheesth Theekshana, Sri

Sri Lanka 169 for 1 (Nissanka 101*, Karunaratne 30) beat Zimbabwe 165 (Williams 56, Raza 31, Theekshana 4-25, Madushanka 3-15) by nine wickets A clinical bowling performance backed by an unbeaten 101 from Pathum Nissanka helped Sri Lanka register a nine-wicket win in the Super Six clash against Zimbabwe and also confirmed their spot at

Yes, okay, Sri Lanka’s batting is pretty poor by big-boy-ODI standards. We have heard the arguments. The dot-ball percentages aren’t great. The top order gets out too early too often. And 300-plus scores just aren’t their thing against good bowling. Together, they’ve refused to allow an opposition to score 200. On Friday, it’s like DJ

Sri Lanka 213 (de Silva 93, van Beek 3-26, de Leede 3-42) beat Netherlands 192 (Edwards 67, Barresi 52, Theekshana 3-31) by 21 runs Sri Lanka survived an almighty scare as they scraped past Netherlands by 21 runs to kickstart their Super Six campaign on a nervy but winning note. It was a victory built

Kerr and Devine added 229 for the third wicket, the third-most for New Zealand for any wicket and the best in a women’s ODI in Sri Lanka. While Kerr scored 108, Devine finished with 137 off just 121 balls, hitting 17 fours – the joint-most by a batter in an ODI innings in Sri Lanka

Madushanka comes on the back of his impressive form, picking up nine wickets with his left-arm pace against a visiting South Africa A side across three 50-over games and then another four in a four-day encounter, this month. Two weeks ago, he became the Lanka Premier League’s most expensive signing, when he was bought by

Sri Lanka 245 all out (Nissanka, Asalanka 63, Greaves 4-32) beat Scotland 163 all out (Greaves 56*, Theekshana 3-41, Hasaranga 2-42) by 82 runs Sri Lanka may have had some cause to worry when they were bowled out for 245 in the 50th over. But as good as their batting has been in this tournament

Ireland won the toss, made a double-strike in the ninth over of Sri Lanka’s innings, and took 6 for 44 in their last six overs. But so comprehensively did Sri Lanka win the other portions of this match, that they trounced Ireland by 133 runs, bowling them out for 192 after they had made 325.

Sri Lanka 100 for 0 (Karunaratne 61*) beat Oman 98 (Ayaan 41, Hasaranga 5-13, Kumara 3-22) by ten wickets The win set up by Hasaranga with figures of 5 for 13 was finished off by the Sri Lankan openers, who completed the chase in 15 overs. Dimuth Karunaratne notched his 10th ODI fifty in the

The inclusion of Madushanka, a left-armer able to swing the ball at pace, follows impressive recent outings against South Africa A, where he picked up nine wickets across three 50-over games and then another four in a four-day encounter, and comes on the back of him becoming the most expensive signing at $92,000 at the

Sri Lanka 355 for 6 (Mendis 78, Samarawickrama 73, Naseer 2-44) beat UAE180 (Waseem 39, Aravind 39, Hasaranga 6-24) Sadeera Samarawickrama and Kusal Mendis led a quartet of half-centuries from Sri Lanka as they dominated UAE and enjoyed a winning start to their World Cup Qualifier campaign in Zimbabwe. Openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka

The Lanka Premier League held its inaugural auction on Wednesday evening, with Dilshan Madushanka coming away as the tournament’s most expensive signing, when he was bought by Jaffna Kings for US$ 92,000. While the 22-year-old might not have been the pre-auction pick to land such a lucrative contract, it made sense in the end owing

The PCB’s proposed hybrid model for the Asia Cup is likely to be approved by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), with Sri Lanka as the neutral venue where India can play their games. The model sees four – and possibly five – of the tournament’s 13 games being played in Pakistan. All the India-Pakistan games

Sri Lanka’s dalliance with Angelo Mathews in ODIs appears to have been short-lived after the veteran was left out from the 15-man squad set to fly out to Zimbabwe for the World Cup Qualifier later this month. Mathews had been recalled to the ODI side ahead of Sri Lanka’s tour of New Zealand earlier this

Sri Lanka 120 for 1 (Karunaratne 56*, Nissanka 51, Naib 1-19) beat Afghanistan 116 (Nabi 23, Chameera 4-63, Hasaranga 3-7) Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara blasted out Afghanistan’s top order, the spinners took care of the lower order, and then Sri Lanka’s top three raced to the target of 117 in 16 overs. It wasn’t

The hosts then dismissed Afghanistan for 191, rounding off a clinical performance. Sri Lanka had lost the first match comfortably, on Friday, raising concerns that they might struggle in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe. “I’m very pleased with how we have bounced back,” Silverwood said. “If you could bottle that performance and take

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat vs Afghanistan Sri Lanka made four changes as they won the toss and elected to bat first in a must-win second ODI against Afghanistan. Trailing 1-0 in the three-match series, the hosts brought in Sadeera Samarawickrama, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera. Making way were Angelo Mathews, Dushan

Toss Afghanistan chose to bowl vs Sri Lanka Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bowl first, citing the freshness of the surface at Hambantota. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi expected there to be some early movement. Dasun Shanaka said he would have bowled first too, but expected there to be runs in the surface. Sri Lanka

The Afghanistan men’s side are going to the big show, but Sri Lanka are yet to qualify. There is nuance to this. In the ODI World Cup Super League, Afghanistan’s oppositions were Ireland, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. But then, they barely played ODIs, despite having won 11 out of those 15 games. Sri

Opening batter Dimuth Karunaratne has been recalled to Sri Lanka’s ODI squad, more than two years after he last played a 50-over game in international cricket. Also returning is fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera, who had missed the New Zealand tour in March 2023 after undergoing ankle surgery. Legspinning allrounder Dushan Hemantha is the only uncapped

Babar Azam, David Miller, Shakib Al Hasan and Wanindu Hasaranga are among the big stars already signed up for the fourth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which will have a player auction this year, making it the third men’s franchise league and fourth overall – after the IPL, SA20 and WPL – to

Shammi Silva has been re-elected as Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC’s) president for a third consecutive term, alongside nearly all members of the previous executive committee. All members were voted in uncontested. The only change has been to the post of treasurer, with previous treasurer Lasantha Wickramasinghe withdrawing from contention citing other commitments. Sujeeva Godaliyadda, previously

Trigger warning for sexual assault and rape. Sri Lanka cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has had three of his four sexual-assault charges dropped by the public prosecutor in his ongoing case in Australia. Gunathilaka, 32, was arrested in Sydney in early November last year, while he was with the Sri Lanka squad for the T20 World Cup.

Sri Lanka 704 for 3 dec beat Ireland 202 (Tector 85, Balbirnie 46, Mendis 5-64, Fernando 3-30) and 492 by an innings and 10 runs Only Harry Tector had mounted any serious resistance, batting out 189 balls for his 85, though Andy Balbirnie did also contribute a 46, despite having had to go off the