Sri Lanka

Domestic matches were allowed to go on in Sri Lanka till March 16 © Getty Images Sri Lanka Cricket has postponed all domestic cricket in the country as the nation went into an island-wide curfew on Friday, to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). This, amid concerns that a local cricket match did

1:32 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff England 463 (Crawley 105, Root 102, Pope 95, Jayasuriya 6-164) drew with Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 150 for 3 (Thirimanne 88*) England’s tour match against a Sri Lanka Board President’s XI was called off 11 overs after tea on the second day, a few minutes after the ECB confirmed

1:14 PM GMT England 354 for 3 (Crawley 105, Root 90*, Pope 84*) vs Sri Lanka Board President’s XI Zak Crawley breezed his way to a fourth first-class hundred, before Joe Root and Ollie Pope finished the day in sight of their own tons as England started their four-day warm-up in brisk and impressive fashion.

6:02 AM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Kusal Perera is likely to receive substantial compensation over his 2015-16 doping suspension, as settlement negotiations with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) reach their final stages. The final amount has not yet been pinned down. But Perera is seeking compensation not only for the roughly $100,000 he and

6:51 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Kusal Perera will not be in contention for a place in the Sri Lanka squad for their first Test against England, starting March 19, after picking up an injury to the middle finger of his right hand during the second T20I against West Indies on Friday. Wanindu Hasaranga will also

1:28 PM GMT Toss West Indies opt to bowl v Sri Lanka West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl in the second – and final – T20I in Pallekele, despite having won comfortably batting first on Wednesday. The decision may have been influenced by the threat of rain later in the evening –

1:41 PM GMT Big Picture Such is the power in West Indies’ batting, that on Wednesday, Dwayne Bravo could have come in as low as No. 9. He didn’t, because he was unrequired. Without Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Bravo facing a single ball, West Indies still muscled their way to an imposing 196. Sri

1:35 PM GMT West Indies won the toss and chose to bat first in the first T20, in Pallekele. Brandon King made his first international appearance on the tour, partnering Llendl Simmons at the top of the order, which meant that despite Shai Hope’s outstanding form in the ODIs, there was no room for him

4:23 PM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Sri Lanka have lost each of their five most-recent T20Is, but the team’s improved fitness standards, and its batting confidence – both of which were on display in the ODI whitewash of West Indies – should have a knock-on effect. This is what captain Lasith Malinga hopes anyway, as

3:37 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Sri Lanka’s 3-0 sweep in the ODIs against West Indies has come with some collateral damage. Fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep and allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva will miss the two-match T20I series which begins March 4, after both picked up injuries in the third ODI on Sunday. Asitha Fernando, the right-arm

9:16 AM GMT Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat in the third ODI, most likely because the Pallekele surface often has something for the seamers under lights. They also won their last match by 161 runs, batting first. The hosts were unchanged for the dead rubber, with Dasun Shanaka and Niroshan Dickwella

12:21 PM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Thisara Perera has made a return to Sri Lanka’s T20I squad after missing the series in India, while fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep and spin-bowling allrounder Shehan Jayasuriya also earn recalls. There was no room, however, for batsmen such as Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Oshada Fernando, who had both impressed in

10:39 AM GMT Toss West Indies chose to bowl v Sri Lanka West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl first in the second ODI, in Hambantota, perhaps expecting their quicks to get something out of a surface that has at times been one of the fastest in the country. Only one change was

12:29 PM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Sri Lanka have completed 38 ODIs since the start of 2018. In that time, how many individual centuries do you think Sri Lanka batsmen have racked up? The answer is six. Just half a dozen hundreds in a period of more than two years, which included a World Cup.

Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes dug Australia out of a huge hole © Getty Images Australia 5 for 123 (Haynes 60, Lanning 41*, Prabodhani 2-17, Siriwardene 2-20) beat Sri Lanka 6 for 122 (Atapattu 50, Sanjeewani 25, Carey 2-18, Strano 2-23) by five wickets Australia are not playing well at all. Australia are still in

3:01 PM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando If Wanindu Hasaranga kept his nerve in the frenzied finish, it’s becuase he’s been a similar situation before. If he batted cleverly with the tail, and measured the last Sri Lanka push to perfection, it’s because memories of triumphing in arguably tougher circumstances are fresh. Sri Lanka needed 28

4:29 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Sri Lanka chose to bowl v West Indies Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field first at the SSC, expecting a little movement in the air and off the surface early in the day. The track itself appeared a good one-day pitch – suited to batting – and

1:18 PM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando On Wednesday, ahead of his first ODI series as Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur spoke about players being handed down well-defined roles within the team. On Friday, on the eve of the first one-dayer against West Indies, he went into a little more detail about what those roles were.

6:17 PM GMT As Sri Lanka and the West Indies prepare to square off in the first of three ODIs on Saturday – which will be followed by two T20Is next month – the series offers the chance for both sides to benchmark themselves as they work towards the T20 World Cup later this year.

9:30 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff As many as ten players opted out of Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan last year, the last time they played ODI cricket, and Sri Lanka have included many of them in a strong squad led by Dimuth Karunaratne, who was one of the players to withdraw, for the three-ODI series

Chamari Atapattu is pumped up after reaching her hundred © Getty Images Overview Sri Lanka have lost their 10 most-recent T20Is – a sequence that goes back to November 2018. Of their previous nine completed matches, Sri Lanka only won one, which means they have lost 18 of their last 19 games. Although there is

8:00 AM GMT Lunch Sri Lanka 293 and 105 for 1 (Oshada 46*, Mendis 46*) trail Zimbabwe 406 and 247 for 7 dec (Taylor 67, Wiliams 53*, Fernando 2-43) by 256 runs On the fifth morning of the second Test in Harare, Sri Lanka ticked off 105 runs from their target of 361 for the

8:00 AM GMT Lunch Zimbabwe 406 and 179 for 5 (Taylor 67, Masvaure 35, Embuldeniya 2-57) lead Sri Lanka 293 (Mathews 64, Raza 7-113) by 292 runs Brendan Taylor’s tenth Test fifty ensured Zimbabwe pressed home the advantage they had worked so hard to build the previous day as the hosts stretched their lead to

8:00 AM GMT Sri Lanka 226 for 5 (Mathews 53*, Raza 4-85) trail Zimbabwe 406 (Williams 107, Raza 72, Taylor 62, Embuldeniya 4-182) by 180 runs Angelo Mathews’ 35th Test fifty rescued Sri Lanka from a precarious position in the first hour of play as Sri Lanka added 104 runs for the loss of three

4:36 PM GMT Madushka Balasuriya Sri Lanka made four changes to the squad that was whitewashed in Australia last year as they attempt to put on a better show at the Women’s T20I World Cup in Australia starting on February 15. Chamari Atapattu will lead the side, while Harshitha Madavi continues as her deputy. ESPNcricinfo

8:00 AM GMT Lunch Sri Lanka 6 for 0 (Fernando 4*, Karunaratne 2*) trail Zimbabwe 406 (Williams 107, Raza 72, Taylor 62, Embuldeniya 4-182) by 400 runs Zimbabwe found it slow going on the second morning as Sri Lanka managed to remove the four remaining batsmen for just 54 runs. Lasith Embuldeniya, who had picked

8:00 AM GMT Zimbabwe chose to bat v Sri Lanka Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams won the toss and elected to bat in the second Test against Sri Lanka. On a dry Harare surface that is expected to get lower and slower as the game wears on, Williams was keen to take the first lease when

4:31 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff England Under-19s 64 for 2 (Young 39*) beat Nigeria Under-19s 58 (Hill 4-12, Qadri 4-24) by eight wicketsScorecard England allrounder George Hill, playing his first game of the Under-19 World Cup, finished with figures of 4 for 12 to help England bowl Nigeria out for 58 in 27.5 overs in

8:00 AM GMT Lunch Zimbabwe 358 and 120 for 3 (Williams 39*, Taylor 38*, Lakmal 3-13) trail Sri Lanka 515 for 9 dec (Mathews 200*, Mendis 80, Raza 3-62, Nyauchi 3-69) by 37 runs Suranga Lakmal knocked out Zimbabwe’s top three inside the first six overs of day five, but an unbeaten 79-run stand between

Jan 18, 2020 Big Picture The last time these two teams met, Zimbabwe gave Sri Lanka an almighty scare. Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza struck hundreds, captain Graeme Cremer took nine wickets, and Sri Lanka were made to chase 388 for victory at Khettarama. Had a very tight stumping decision gone Zimbabwe’s way in the