Sri Lanka Cricket defends Dambulla lights

[mastana]

Floodlights a handicap for chasing side - Malinga

The Asia Cup got off to just the sort of cracking start the organisers would have wanted - a tight, topsy-turvy match littered with classy batting and bowling efforts, and ending with victory for the home side. One cause for concern, though, is the quality of the floodlights at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, which held its first day-night match in nearly three years. Eight floodlight towers were installed in 2003, but Sri Lanka's hero of the day, Lasith Malinga, said team batting under natural light had a definite advantage. "The lights are not good enough by international standards, it is a handicap for the side batting second," he said after the match. "However, Sri Lanka are used to it as we have played number of matches under this condition. We faced only problems when fielding, the fielders found it a little difficult to pick up the ball at times." The lights would have only made it harder for the Pakistan batsmen to pick the distinctive low, round-arm action of Malinga, who collected his first ODI five-wicket haul. That included the final three scalps of a see-saw game, but he felt the deciding factor was Shahid Afridi. Afridi, already charged with the task of uniting a squad notorious for infighting, had hauled Pakistan from a hopeless 32 for 4 to a position of control with one of the finest innings of his career. He dismantled Muttiah Muralitharan and overcame severe cramps to make his first one-day century since 2005, leaving Pakistan only 47 to get off the final ten overs with Afridi and Abdul Razzaq still at the crease. "I didn't feel much pressure because we always felt Afridi had to finish off the match for Pakistan and it was solely in his hands," Malinga said. "It was a matter of trying to contain him and putting pressure on Afridi, we felt that if we got Afridi at any stage, we would win the match." Afridi fell in the 41st over to a blinder from Kumar Sangakkara, much to the delight of the flag-waving Sri Lankan faithful who had turned up, and the Pakistan tail was clueless against Malinga. The defeat adds to the pressure on Pakistan ahead of their high-profile clash against India on Sunday, but coach Waqar Younis remained optimistic of reaching the finals. "We are still not out of the tournament, if we win against India we are back in business," Waqar said. "After a long time, we will be playing against India, which is good to see." As with the batting, Pakistan's bowlers didn't finish off the job after reaching a strong position. "I think the way we got them down to 160-odd for 7 and then let them off the hook to reach 242," he said. "We should have done a lot better in the field, we gave away a few too many runs." Pakistan's cause was also not helped by their cumbersome start to the chase, with debutants Umar Amin and Shahzaib Hasan struggling against the Sri Lankan new-ball attack. Waqar, however, was confident they would fare better in the matches coming up. "We are in a re-building process, we brought three youngsters in on the tour, and we are looking to bring in some more for the next England tour," he said. "We've got to give them a chance, it's tough out there, but that's how you play top cricket, it was their first game, few nerves around." The Pakistan batting wears a new look because of the absence of middle-order stalwarts, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, and the decision to push regular opener Kamran Akmal down the order made the top-order lighter on experience.

http://www.cricinfo.com/asia2010/content/current/story/463311.html

[gaurav92]

Under the lights the ball does a bit but at the same time, spinners don't get much turn and the dew factor also comes into play,. so its a fair point, but in the end we just can't give excuses :headshake:

[zubinpepsi]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

[gaurav92]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[saneindian]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

Wow!! Someone already knows the results of India matches. :hatsoff:

[achilles]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

Ya, you know ya. I agree with you. The only lights we like are the disco-lights at the IPL-parties, you know. These ones are huge and the crowd is also not motivating enough for our players. Lets hope we enjoy our game, you know coz thats what cricket is all about.

[ZodiaC]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

:hysterical::hysterical:

[Karan114]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

Yes of course :cantstop:

[rkt.india]

Under the lights the ball does a bit but at the same time' date=' spinners don't get much turn and the dew factor also comes into play,. so its a fair point, but in the end we just can't give excuses :headshake:[/quote'] 40 degree ke hot summer me due kaha se aayegi raat ko.....

[gaurav92]

Mujhe SL ka taapmaan nahi pata tha :dontknow:

[mastana]

Mujhe SL ka taapmaan nahi pata tha :dontknow:

India Tv dekh lete wahan toh timbaktu ka bhi taapmaan batate honge. :hehe:

[achilles]

India Tv dekh lete wahan toh timbaktu ka bhi taapmaan batate honge. :hehe:

Bahut garib maara yaar. Didn't expect this from the Duke of Joke-try :((

[fineleg]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

LOL! U got that right abt M(ilk) S(nacks) Dhoni, you know! Zuby! ROFL!

[SachDan]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

:hysterical::hysterical:

[asterix]

yem yus Dhoni got a nice reason now.. he can always quote Malinga.. yes ofcourse you know batting 2nd is always difficult.. but u know we are a professional side.. end of the day we have to enjoy and feel good .. we are not looking too much into the results.. we go out there and try to enjoy the game..

Class... :hysterical:

[Zap_Brannigan]

Sri Lanka, Move the matches to morning Clearly batting second is almost like a death sentence..Dont let paki phasssssst steroid monkeys fool you..Had we made 220 batting 1st, we would have won today.

[Mamu]

This is a WIN THE TOSS - WIN THE GAME Tournament Of course Pakis were an abberation. On 2nd thoughts -- How on the bloody earth -- the so called BEST BOWLERS lost this -- with everything in their favor -- well God KNows. They even had a damn good scored on the board to defend.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

A little too lat for these requests. i hope dhoni gets lucky at the toss, like he did in the compaq cup final.

[mastana]

Sri Lanka Cricket defends Dambulla lights Sri Lanka Cricket defends Dambulla lights

The low intensity of floodlights at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium has been a talking point during the Asia Cup, and it could be a factor in Thursday's final as well. Kumar Sangakkara, the home team's captain, thought it was important enough to bowl first in the dead rubber against India on Tuesday so that his side could get some batting time under the floodlights. The Sri Lankan board has been surprised by the complaints from players and insists it has done all it had to before the start of the tournament. "There have been plenty of day-night matches at Dambulla before and there have been no official complaints about the lights then," Ashley de Silva, the Sri Lanka Cricket's head of cricket operations, told Cricinfo. "We just had to check whether the floodlights worked." The game's governing body, the ICC, which has no direct involvement in the operational running of the Asia Cup, has elaborate guidelines on floodlight parameters from the necessary illumination of different parts of the playing area to the positioning of the towers. The complaints about the quality of Dambulla's floodlights started on the opening day of the tournament, when Lasith Malinga said they were not up to international standard. It continued with Gautam Gambhir, Man of the Match in the gripping game against Pakistan, who said after the victory: "I wasn't able to pick the spinners at all, it was impossible to pick them from the hand. The light has to improve." Sangakkara said the batsmen needed to be more watchful while batting under lights at Dambulla. "You can't exactly get into a rhythm as a batsman and keep hitting the ball the same way," he said. "You've got to watch the ball really closely and, with the lights, that's not an easy task once the colour goes off the ball." Except in the final league game when Sangakkara experimented, all teams that have won the toss have decided to bat, wary of the bowler-friendly conditions and light later in the day.

http://www.cricinfo.com/asia2010/content/current/story/464451.html I hope i have not committed any crime by opening this thread.