Sri Lanka's tour to England, 2011

[Square Drive]

Oh no.. some unfortunate s**t has happened. No Dilhara no Pradeep, and with that gone is the interest for this series.. :(( Pls recall Vaasy.. we don't want to die wondering.. :hitler:

[Feed]

Nothing to fear in England for Kumar Sangakkara More... Nothing to fear in England for Kumar Sangakkara Dileep Premachandran May 26, 2011 When Kavith, his 19-month-old son, comes and taps his knee to ask that he get the train working, Kumar Sangakkara laughs. With winning the bottom line, sportsmen tend to be tightly wound. But though his time in charge of the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chargers has not gone well, Sangakkara exudes calm as he leans back on a couch in the business centre of the team hotel. Little Kavith and his twin sister, Swyree, have given Sangakkara a new perspective. When he talks of defeat, and there have been three in World Cup finals dating back to 2007, there are no end-of-the-world emotions. Sangakkara was still in his teens when the 1996 World Cup championship transformed Sri Lankan cricket, and in the two-year period that preceded him relinquishing the captaincy last month, he presided over a period of unrivalled success. It ended in tears at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, but he looks back on his tenure with justified pride. "If you take 2007 to now, we've reached two 50-over World Cup finals, and the T20 final in 2009," he said. "It's very disappointing to be runners-up, but we do well in big tournaments. "We've broken into the top three of the rankings in both forms of the game on a consistent basis. We hold our own against the best sides in most conditions. That means Sri Lankan cricket has adapted and is not just doing well at home." For long, like Big Brother to the north, the Sri Lankans have been seen as a fiendishly hard side to beat at home who are soft touches away. It's a perception that has yet to change, and as they prepare to take on an England team that has lost only twice at home in the last decade - to India in 2007 and South Africa a year later - Sangakkara is keenly aware of that. "For a good side, it's about how you perform away, how you tackle conditions that are supposed to be difficult for you," he said. "You can't be scared of going to England or Australia, scared of bouncy tracks or swing and seam." Why, then, did he give up the captaincy before such a watershed tour? For once, he's not his usual candid self, hinting subtly at behind-the-scenes interference in a country where the national sport and political chicanery are inextricably linked. "We had great times on the field, two of the most successful years," he said. "But that was a consequence of trying to manage a lot of things behind the scenes." His great friend and predecessor as captain, Mahela Jayawardene, insisted that Sangakkara's withdrawal was perfectly timed. "He'd told us months before the World Cup that it would be his last assignment," Jayawardene said. "Now's the time to build for the future and I believe it's vital to do that when senior players like us are still around." While Sangakkara may no longer call the shots on the field, he is under no illusion as to the enormity of the task that Sri Lanka face. "England are very very good Test side," he said. "During the Ashes, what stood out was their discipline, the efficiency of the bowling. They may not have out-and-out pace, but they possess a lot of control. It's old-fashioned hit-your-lines, hit-your-lengths bowling. "That's going to be the big challenge for us, how we counter that." In his view, Sri Lanka will also have an unlikely ally: television. "We have to recognise how big a part TV and advertising play in the preparation of a modern-day pitch," he said. "People think of cutting down on bounce and seam movement so that Tests last the distance. "In the past, when a subcontinent team toured England, West Indies or New Zealand, it could be hard to tell the wicket apart from the outfield." Sri Lanka go into the Cardiff Test without the retired Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga. Angelo Mathews, their best all-rounder, is injured. But while the pace attack lacks Malinga hustle, Sangakkara emphasises that it is skill that wins Test matches in England. When India were victorious in 2007, Zaheer Khan was the main man. "After [Wasim] Akram and [Chaminda] Vaas, there's Zak," he said. "I'm very open in saying that I don't like facing him. "Look at Brett Lee. He came in as a tearaway quick, but transformed himself into being fast and accurate. Shaun Tait is extremely fast but not accurate. Same pace, both of them, but one a much better-quality bowler." The build-up to this series has been overshadowed by Indian Premier League (IPL) talk, with England's Eoin Morgan also having just returned from a stint. In Sangakkara's eyes, the concerns have no basis. "I don't think there's any debate over how loyal players are to their country. "But they want to play the IPL as well. I don't think players should be put in a position where they have to choose one over the other." And while others shy away from discussing how IPL money has changed lives, Sangakkara relishes the opportunity. "It's a funny thing, isn't it? I don't understand why we shouldn't talk about the financial benefits," he said. "That is the biggest attraction, without a doubt. Why should we be ashamed of saying that? "If you're an elite sportsman, your services are worth what the IPL franchise pays you. It's not a case of: 'should a cricketer be paid this much?' Administrators and past players need to be careful when addressing these issues. "Players cannot be persecuted and victimised now for chances that others didn't have before. Home boards get 10 per cent of what each player makes. That's a significant amount. "The IPL is lucrative for everyone involved." The benefits for young Indian players are obvious, but money aside, what is it that drives a grizzled veteran to excel in a format that many of them see as a lesser test of skill? "When you're a cricketer, what drives you is performance, that hunger to win," Sangakkara said. "The pride you have in your ability, delivering when the chips are down and winning games for your side. "Different things motivate different players. Some might think: 'I'm being paid this much, I must perform.' Someone who's young or been in and out of the team might think: 'If I do well here, I might get into the national side.' " Someone else might just want to show that he's the best. You have to find what motivates you. You never want to be second-best." England should win this three-match series that also includes Tests at Lord's and a first one at Southampton, but with the old firm of Jayawardene and Sangakkara back in harness, do not write off a team that is peerless when it comes to punching above its weight. England v Sri Lanka, first Test History Sri Lanka have never won a Test series in England, but they did win a one-off Test at the Oval in 1998. Captains • Andrew Strauss: Has led England well since taking the role full-time in 2009 and his only series defeat as captain was his first in charge against the West Indies. A mixture of calm thinking under pressure, as well as having one of the best bowling attacks in the world has made his side a real force. Strauss, below, has only one real concern and that is improving his own form having hit only one hundred in his last 30 Test innings. • Tillakaratne Dilshan: Starts his reign in charge today after inheriting the side from Kumar Sangakkara, who stood down from the role prior to the tour. Dilshan’s biggest challenge is going to be finding a way for his weakened bowling attack to take 20 wickets against England’s imposing batting line-up. Weather The forecast is not promising for a full day’s play today with rain showers predicted to hit proceedings. Brighter weather is expected tomorrow and Saturday, but there is more threat of showers in Cardiff on Sunday. Squads • England: Strauss (captain); Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Morgan, Prior, Broad, Swann, Tremlett, Anderson, Finn • Sri Lanka: Dilshan (captain), Sangakkara, M Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Paranavitana, Perera, Silva, Thirimanne, P Jayawardene, Chandimal, Maharoof, Mendis, Pradeep, Fernando, Herath, Randiv, Lakmal, Welegedara Officials Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Aleem Dae. TV Umpire: Aleem Dar. Match Referee: Javagal Srinath.

[Feed]

England wary of Sri Lanka threat More... England wary of Sri Lanka threat Cardiff May 26, 2011 - .Ashes-winners England head into the first Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday insisting they won't take their injury-hit visitors lightly. If England sweep the series 3-0, they will move up into second place in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings. Since England moved to staging seven Tests in a home summer in 2000 they have not lost an early season series. Advertisement: Story continues below Sri Lanka arrived in England without star-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who has retired completely, and fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who has quit Tests on injury grounds. Although they won both their warm-up matches, Sri Lanka's prospects for the first Test have been dealt a double blow by injuries to seamers Nuwan Pradeep (ligament) and Dilhara Fernando (knee). Pradeep's injury is so serious he is set to return home for six to eight weeks while Fernando is struggling to be fit for Thursday. But England captain Andrew Strauss, in what will be his side's first Test match since they won the Ashes 3-1 in Australia in January, dismissed all suggestions of a "homecoming". "We achieved quite an important goal for us as a side to win out there in Australia but our goals now have turned towards this summer and beyond," he told reporters on Wednesday. Strauss made a century for Middlesex against Sri Lanka in the islanders' tour-opening victory and was impressed by what he saw. "They are a very good side. In both games they have played, they have come back from difficult positions to win those games. "We will not be taking them lightly," added Strauss, captain of the England side that suffered a 10-wicket World Cup quarter-final thrashing by Sri Lanka in Colombo in March. As for the absence of Muralitharan, international cricket's most successful bowler of all-time, opening batsman Strauss added: "We all know what he achieved in the game and those boots are big boots to fill. "But a lot of the time they are filled, if not by one person then by a number of different people chipping in. "One thing about the Sri Lankans, they are always competitive and they are good, street-smart cricketers. They'll be very hard to overcome." Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan said the loss of the in-form Pradeep had been a bitter blow. "I'm really disappointed losing him, he's really bowled well in the IPL (Indian Premier League) and here in England. "But I have a few youngsters who will have a chance to prove themselves at this level." And that could mean call-ups for left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara and fellow seamer Suranga Lakmal. Dilshan, added conditions meant Sri Lanka had included just one spinner, left-armer Rangana Herath, in their 12-man squad for the first Test. "He has been bowling really well over the last few matches and he is a very experienced guy who has played a lot of Test cricket over the last few years," explained Dilshan. Sri Lanka's top order, featuring former captains Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, both recently arrived from the IPL, as well as Dilshan himself, could certainly pose problems for England's attack. AFP

[Feed]

Prasanna Jayawardene hits century in first Test as Andrew Strauss caught cold More... England v Sri Lanka: 1st test, day two England (47-1) trail Sri Lanka by 353 runs Prasanna Jayawardene hits century in first Test as Andrew Strauss caught cold By Derek Pringle, in Cardiff 27 May 2011 Andrew Strauss’s England team have rarely had cause to look back and rue the absence of former team-mates but they might have done so on Friday. A better day for cricket in the Principality was not a better day for them as they spilt almost as many chances as they created – most of them in positions previously covered by Paul Collingwood. Collingwood, who is unavailable after retiring from the five-day game at the end of the Sydney Test, was probably on a golf course somewhere in Barbados when Alastair Cook, twice, and then Strauss, put down catches at slip off pace and spin respectively. None of the chances was straightforward, but Collingwood, a man who could seemingly catch pigeons on the wing, would have snaffled at least two of the three on what proved a frustrating day for the home side, a feeling exacerbated further when they lost their captain in the last over of play. Collingwood was not the only player England perhaps regretted not having in their ranks yesterday as Prasanna Jayawardene scored his first hundred abroad and Sri Lanka racked up 400, at least 150 runs more than they should have done on a pitch consistently offering help to the bowlers. Eoin Morgan has yet to bat, but England could have done with a batsman who could bowl better than Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, especially when James Anderson left the field just after tea suffering from a sore back and side. England can ill-afford to lose him now. Ravi Bopara was in the frame for this Test instead of Morgan and would have offered a handy option as fourth seamer, and not just because he has been playing since early April. Those who did bowl for England might have been refreshed, following their lengthy break, but they were not ready, and it showed, though Anderson can count himself unlucky not to have picked up more wickets when the ball swung lavishly in the morning session. It was swing, more specifically an inswinger, from Anderson which got rid of Mahela Jayawardene in the third over of the day. Jayawardene in full flow is one of the great sights in cricket but when the ball twitches about there is a hesitancy that compromises that languid approach. An inswinger rarely gets batsmen of his quality out but it moved late and, having shaped to leave it he suddenly found himself having to present his bat in a hurry. That late decision meant it was not quite where he wanted it when contact with the ball was made, which is why he ended up edging it to first slip, where Strauss took a fine catch. With their best player gone and the ball darting hither and thither, England should really have run through the rest, especially as the doughty Tharanga Paranavitana was out soon afterwards, bowled off an inside edge by Chris Tremlett. That they did not was down to a combination of dropped catches, scrappy bowling, the Decision Review System, and some fine batting from Prasanna Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera. The pair shared a stand of 84 runs for which much of the impetus came from a four-over spell from Trott either side of lunch that cost 21 runs. Trott’s trundle allowed both to accelerate at a crucial time just before the second new ball. And while Samaraweera was out five balls after Anderson took that new ball, for 50, Prasanna Jayawardene was able to weather it to score his third Test hundred and his first outside the subcontinent. Until he was ninth man out for 112, Jayawardene played superbly, cleverly shepherding his partners by finding just the right tempo to bat with each of them. His 35-run stand with Farveez Maharoof owed much to the fine lines of the DRS. Maharoof was reprieved not once but twice after England asked for referrals from Broad and Anderson, both of them close. Ten years ago, 99 per cent of umpires would have given the one from Anderson, which hit Maharoof on the back leg. But DRS has made umpires hyper alert to the geometry of such decisions and as Hawk-Eye later revealed, the ball struck Maharoof’s pad a smidgen outside the line of off stump and that, providing the batsmen is playing a shot, is not out. Having used up their two reviews in quick succession, there was no recourse to appeal for the two lbw shouts Broad had soon after. In almost manic pursuit of his 100th Test wicket, he got redder and redder with fury at every rejection until it seemed that he might burst with the frustration of it all. He got there eventually with the wicket of Thisara Perera, the youngest bowler to achieve the feat for England since a 23-year-old Ian Botham, but not before Trott had fortuitously run out Broad’s nemesis Maharoof, by getting the merest fingertip to a straight drive from Jayawardene off his own bowling. Perera’s departure seemed to be the signal for the rest of the tail to throw the bat and Rangana Herath fell swatting a wide one from Swann to Trott at extra cover. Broad then had Prasanna Jayawardene caught behind before taking a good diving catch at mid-on himself off Graeme Swann, to end Sri Lanka’s innings. With the pitch appearing to have lost most of its devil by now, England’s openers were making sedate progress when Strauss edged Suranga Lakmal to second slip. If he could, with feet that were neither forward nor back, Strauss would have kicked himself, for this is an attack that would look gentle in the second division of the County Championship, let alone a Test match.

[mark12jon]

Prasanna Jayawardene is very Talented and young Player. I Like it's style of Batting. He Looks very mature Player.