Category: Sports

DUBLIN, May 6, 2014 (AFP) – Ajantha Mendis starred with both bat and ball as Sri Lanka enjoyed a comfortable start to their tour of the British Isles with a 79-run win over Ireland in the first one-day international in Dublin on Tuesday.The Sri Lankans have arrived in Dublin without five of their star players […]

DURHAM, May 1, 2014 (AFP) – Kumar Sangakkara insists Sri Lanka’s loss will be England’s gain after the controversial defection by Paul Farbrace.The 46-year-old former Kent and Middlesex wicket-keeper shocked Sri Lankan cricket, quitting as the country’s head coach in April after just three-and-a-half months to link-up with Peter Moores’ new-look England set-up. Marvan Atapattu […]

LONDON, April 28, 2014 (AFP) – Kumar Sangakkara will warm-up for Sri Lanka’s forthcoming tour of England by appearing in the next two rounds of County Championship matches for title-holders Durham. One of the outstanding batsmen of his generation and ninth on the list of all-time leading Test run-scorers with 11,151 at an average of […]

COLOMBO, April 23, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s cricket selectors on Wednesday sacked Dinesh Chandimal as Twenty20 captain and replaced him with Lasith Malinga, while Angelo Mathews was retained as the Test and one-day skipper.Chandimal, 24, opted out of the last three matches, including the semi-final and final, of the recent World Twenty20 in Bangladesh […]

LAHORE, April 12, 2014 (AFP) – Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal’s stint with English county Worcestershire may be set for a shorter duration to compensate for his country’s hastily-arranged Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka. “We are still discussing how much time he (Ajmal) can be away as we now have a scheduled series in […]

COLOMBO, April 9, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s cricket board and two senior players were locked in a war of words Wednesday, a day after the World Cup-winning Twenty20 team returned home as national heroes.“SLC regrets such unsubstantiated accusations levelled against the secretary and CEO by a senior member of the national team without verifying […]

COLOMBO, April 8, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s team flew home in triumph Tuesday to a huge street party after winning the world Twenty20 tournament, but celebrations were marred by controversy over the retirements of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.Tens of thousands of fans lined the street from the main international airport to downtown Colombo, […]

DHAKA, April 6, 2014 (AFP) – Kumar Sangakkara hit a memorable half-century to help Sri Lanka to a six-wicket victory over India in the World Twenty20 final in Dhaka on Sunday. The veteran left-hander knocked a 35-ball 52 not out in his last Twenty20 match to guide the Sri Lankan chase of a modest 131-run […]

COLOMBO, April 7, 2014 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan fruit seller suffered a massive heart attack and died after he lost a $300 bet that India would win the cricket World T20 tournament, police said Monday. S. P. Kumara placed the 40,000-rupee bet on the eve of Sunday’s final, wrongly predicting that Sri Lanka would […]

DHAKA, April 7, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s stunning victory over India in the World Twenty20 final underlines how success in hit-and-run cricket depends not on form, but on how a team performs over those three hours in the field. Singh’s inconsistent form, which has already seen the cancer survivor axed from the Test and […]

COLOMBO, April 7, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka was preparing to throw its biggest party since the end of the country’s ethnic war Monday after beating India in the final of cricket’s World T20 tournament. Government officials said that arrangements were being made to fly the team home early from Bangladesh to attend a ticker-tape […]

COLOMBO, April 6, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka fans at home burst firecrackers and danced on the streets as the national team won the World Twenty20 title beating India by six wickets in Dhaka on Sunday. Instant celebrations broke out at cricket grounds and public parks in the capital Colombo as well as in suburban […]