Sri Lanka

The Asia Cup matches previously scheduled in Colombo may be relocated to Hambantota, as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) scrambles to reduce the risk of matches being impacted due to rain. Hambantota typically receives significantly less rainfall in September than Colombo and Pallekele, which is why there is a push to move the matches there.

Big picture Sri Lanka have played one game in the Asia Cup so far, and won it. But if things go awry against Afghanistan on Tuesday, they very well could be out of the tournament; such is the nature of it. But for that to happen, Afghanistan need to win – and win big. How

Chamari Athapaththu has proven herself to be “one of the best allrounders in the world”, according to Sri Lanka Women’s head coach, Malinda Warnapura, who hailed her “scintillating” strokeplay after sealing a famous victory over England at Chelmsford. Athapaththu’s 55 from 40 balls led a withering batting display from Sri Lanka’s top-order, as England’s sub-par

Heather Knight, England’s captain, admitted her young team had been handed some “humble pie” after a chastening eight-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in the second T20I at Chelmsford. However, she defended the decision to give a recall to the visibly out-of-sorts Issy Wong, whose troublingly erratic display put an extra dampener on what Knight admitted

Sri Lanka Cricket on Friday announced that it was suspending all board-run domestic tournaments in the country, a move understood to have stemmed from a dispute surrounding the restructuring of domestic tournaments in the country. “Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to immediately halt all board-conducted domestic tournaments,” SLC stated in a media release. “This includes

Never mind the persistent drizzle and autumnal chill, it was all about teenage kicks for England at the start of their T20I series with Sri Lanka in Hove. Alice Capsey, who turned 19 a few weeks ago, produced the star turn with her second international fifty, while Freya Kemp, 18, twinkled in her batting cameo

Najmul Hossain Shanto scored half of Bangladesh’s runs in their first Asia Cup match, against Sri Lanka. The good parts of the side’s below-par batting performance belonged mostly to Shanto. Extending his bright form from the last ten months, he got stuck in and tried to stitch two big partnerships in the middle overs only

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bowl vs England England handed a debut to 17-year-old Mahika Gaur after a delayed start to the opening T20I of the series against Sri Lanka, with the tourists choosing to bowl first in a shortened game after winning the toss. Heavy rain during the day lead to a delayed start

Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat against Sri Lanka, as Group B in the Asia Cup got underway in Pallekele, Kandy. Shakib Al Hasan said he wanted to get runs on the board on what looked a dry wicket, while Dasun Shanaka was happy to lose the toss and bat second with rain

Heather Knight says that England’s T20I series against Sri Lanka marks the start of the team’s new cycle, in the wake of a transformative Ashes campaign this summer, and that the aim of the coming weeks will be to create competition for places ahead of next year’s T20 Women’s World Cup in Bangladesh. Speaking on

Seamers Binura Fernando and Pramod Madushan have been named in Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup squad, replacing the more experienced quicks who are out with injuries. Legspin-bowling allrounder Dushan Hemantha has also made the squad, essentially as a like-for-like replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga. Kusal Perera is in the squad as well. It has been more than

Sri Lanka’s bowling stocks have been ravaged by injury, with Dilshan Madushanka now ruled out of the Asia Cup, and Lahiru Kumara also likely to be unavailable. This, after Dushmantha Chameera had earlier been ruled out of the tournament as well. Legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga is also recovering from a grade two strain in the thigh,

Sri Lanka will almost certainly be without Dushmantha Chameera for the entirety of the Asia Cup, and appear unlikely to have Wanindu Hasaranga in their XI for the group stage either. Meanwhile, Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando – who were likely to make the Asia Cup squad – have tested positive for Covid-19, and are

Less than 72 hours after they finish their three-match ODI series in Rajkot, India and Australia will begin their final round of dress rehearsals for the World Cup with warm-ups against England and Netherlands respectively on September 30. Pakistan, meanwhile, will warm-up against New Zealand on September 29, while South Africa take on Afghanistan. Bangladesh

Sri Lanka allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga has retired from Test cricket at age 26. He is understood to have made this decision in order to be more available for franchise cricket tournaments. Hasaranga has not been a regular member of Sri Lanka’s Test squad over the last two years, but has played four Tests. He had

Stumps Pakistan 178 for 2 (Shafique 87*, Masood 51, Babar 28*, Asitha 2-51) lead Sri Lanka 166 by 12 runs Only ten overs were possible on the second day of the second Test in Colombo before huge downpours rolled through the SSC and washed out the day’s play. In that time, Abdullah Shafique and Babar

In the days since their loss in Galle, Sri Lanka have been through an honest appraisal through their many flaws in the first Test. This is according to their coach Chris Silverwood, who highlighted fielding and bowling as particular areas for improvement. But they need to improve in “all three departments”, he said. After the

Sri Lanka batter Lahiru Thirimanne has announced his retirement from international cricket after a 13-year career. “As a player I have given my best, I have tried my best, I have respected the game and I have done my duty honestly and ethically to my motherland,” Thirimanne posted on Facebook. “It was a difficult decision

Pakistan will be aggressive as they attempt to knock off the 83 runs they need to get to go 1-0 up in the series. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, need three early wickets to give themselves a chance in the Galle Test. This was the latest from the two camps after play on day four. Although a

Lunch Pakistan 313 for 6 (Shakeel 119*, Agha 83, Noman 13*, Jayasuriya 3-110, Ramesh 2-93) lead Sri Lanka 312 (Dhananjaya 122, Mathews 64, Abrar 3-68, Afridi 3-86, Naseem 3-90) by one run Sri Lanka pulled back the scoring rate in the last hour of the morning session, but Pakistan remained in the ascendancy as Saud

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