Sri Lanka

6:44 PM GMT Mickey Arthur is set to take over as Sri Lanka’s head coach. SLC has agreed a two-year contract with Arthur, the former South Africa, Australia and Pakistan coach, with a formal announcement to be made shortly. Joining his backroom staff will be Grant Flower as batting coach, David Saker as bowling coach,

5:42 PM GMT Barny Read Lasith Malinga has his sights set on captaining his country at the T20 World Cup in Australia next year, and possibly beyond, firm in the belief that his body has two more years of cricket left in the tank. It is somewhat of a change in tune from the 36-year-old,

11:20 AM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Mickey Arthur is likely to become Sri Lanka’s next head coach, despite Chandika Hathurusingha not having been officially been fired yet. Arthur has not signed a contract with Sri Lanka Cricket so far, but board officials have expressed confidence that Arthur will take up the role before Sri Lanka’s

7:37 AM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Sri Lanka’s parliament criminalised a wide swathe of corruption-related activity in sports on Monday. This was in the wake of the ICC anti-corruption unit’s investigation into the country’s cricket over the past two years. Below is a rough guideline to the punishments, and a list of many of the

2:33 PM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Sri Lanka has become the first South Asian nation to criminalise several offences related to match-fixing, after its parliament passed all three readings of a bill entitled “Prevention of Offences Related to Sports” on Monday. Offences related to corruption in sports will carry a prison term of up to

3:10 AM GMT Alex Malcolm Interim coach Rumesh Ratnayake believes Sri Lanka must have better preparation on fast pitches prior to next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia if they are to be competitive in the tournament. Sri Lanka were beaten out of sight by Australia in the three-match T20I series that concluded on Friday

7:00 AM GMT Toss Australia chose to bowl v Sri Lanka Aaron Finch won the toss and Australia opted to bowl first in the third and final T20I at the MCG. Finch believed the surface wouldn’t play a big part but wanted to make first use of it with the ball. Australia made two changes.

7:00 AM GMT Big picture Margins of 134 runs and nine wickets (with seven overs to spare) have made the opening two matches of this series horrendously one-sided. David Warner has filled his boots while Aaron Finch, Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell, who has now sadly stepped away from the game for a period of

7:00 AM GMT Toss Sri Lanka elected to bat v Australia Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first at the Gabba, reverting to the blueprint with which they had won four successive matches prior to their thrashing in Adelaide on Sunday. The Gabba surface also looked excellent for batting, but Australia captain

12:53 AM GMT Almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Sri Lanka in Adelaide. And the one thing that went right for them, turned out badly. Lasith Malinga called correctly at the toss and put Australia in. Twenty overs later they had 233 against them. The chase was equally, if not more,

7:00 AM GMT Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bowl against Australia Sri Lanka’s captain Lasith Malinga won the toss and sent Australia in to bat in the first T20I at Adelaide Oval. Malinga’s decision meant David Warner would walk out to open for his first home international since the end of the

4:51 AM GMT A coach not quite sacked, a raft of player withdrawals, a typically chaotic nexus between cricket administration and government: all scenarios not uncommon when it comes to the endlessly fascinating story of Sri Lankan cricket. And yet amid all these 2019 misadventures there have been remarkable, even transcendent moments: A Test series

Oct 25, 2019 Big Picture Australia’s men begin their international summer with eyes firmly on a year from now: the T20 World Cup on home soil. It is the global prize that has eluded them, in a format they have struggled to grasp. With the next 50-over World Cup four years away and the Test

7:00 AM GMT Alex Malcolm Prime Minister’s XI 9 for 132 (Nielsen 79, Rajitha 3-21 Sandakan 3-21) beat Sri Lankans 8 for 131 (Fernando 38, Christian 2-16) by one wicket A sublime 79 from South Australia youngster Harry Nielsen and some last-over heroics from Fawad Ahmed has seen the Prime Minister’s XI squeeze home by

12:52 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Batsmen Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Oshada Fernando have been retained in Sri Lanka’s full-strength squad for the T20I tour of Australia. Lasith Malinga (capt.), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dasun Shanaka, Shehan Jayasuriya, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara,

4:54 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Kumar Sangakkara says that a balanced bowling attack is the key to winning crunch games in short-form cricket, and that he would select a bowler if he was given first pick in the inaugural draft for The Hundred this Sunday. 239 overseas players have registered for the draft and will

1:38 PM ET Madushka Balasuriya Sri Lanka’s selectors will have to put up with a “good headache” when picking the squad for the team’s tour of Australia later this month, SLC’s chief selector Ashantha de Mel said on Wednesday following a string of impressive performances from several fringe players in Pakistan which culminated in a

1:02 AM ET Danyal Rasool in Lahore Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake lavished praise on Pakistan upon the conclusion of his side’s tour, calling the hospitality Sri Lanka had received “a privilege to be appreciated”. Speaking to the media after the visitors beat Pakistan by 13 runs to complete a 3-0 T20I series whitewash, Ratnayake

3:00 AM ET Australia Women 1 for 196 (Healy 112*, Haynes 63) beat Sri Lanka 8 for 195 (Atapattu 103) by nine wickets Alyssa Healy continued her prolific form by plundering a 71-ball hundred as Australia surged to a record-breaking 18th ODI victory in a row with a nine-wicket hammering of Sri Lanka. Chamari Atapattu‘s

3:00 AM ET Sri Lanka opt to bat v Pakistan Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat, in their pursuit of a series-levelling victory in the third and final ODI of the series against Pakistan. Pakistan made two changes to the XI that won on Monday. Imam-ul-Haq who hurt the webbing on his

3:00 AM ET Toss Pakistan chose to bat v Sri Lanka Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first, with batsman Iftikhar Ahmed coming into the ODI XI for the first time since 2015. Iftikhar’s inclusion means there is no room for Asif Ali, who had played two matches during the World Cup. Pakistan’s

10:40 AM ET Danyal Rasool in Karachi In what could be seen as encouraging developments for the prospect of Sri Lanka playing a Test series in Pakistan before the end of the year, Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake said he hoped this series would encourage more Sri Lankan players to tour Pakistan. The three-ODI, three-T20I

3:00 AM ET Australia Women 4 for 217 (Mooney 113, Gardner 49) beat Sri Lanka Women 7 for 176 (Atapattu 113, Wareham 2-19) by 41 runs Australia Women began their international season with an expected victory, as Beth Mooney scored her second T20I hundred, but the story of the day belonged to the visiting captain

3:00 AM ET Karachi’s first ODI in over 10 years didn’t even get as far as the toss. Heavy rain in the days leading up to this match was already proving a challenge, with doubts arising over whether the outfield would dry in time. Then, on Friday, more rain was delivered by towering dark clouds,

11:01 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The ICC’s decision to suspend Zimbabwe from international cricket has cost them the important tour of India next January, when they were scheduled to play a three-match T20I series. The BCCI has replaced Zimbabwe with Sri Lanka for the series, which will be played on January 5, 7 and 10.

1:53 PM ET In its bid to bring international cricket back to Pakistan, the PCB has been spending substantially on players and boards over the years. Whenever international or PSL games have been played in the country since 2015, the PCB has spent millions of dollars to make some headway towards changing perceptions of visiting

9:41 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Sri Lanka spinner Akila Dananjaya has been banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months due to an illegal bowling action. Dananjaya’s suspension is a result of the ICC’s automatic penalty for bowlers who have twice failed an assessment inside a two-year period. Dananjaya was assessed after he was

7:54 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Lahiru Thirimanne and Dasun Shanaka have named Sri Lanka’s ODI and T20I captains respectively for the limited-overs tour of Pakistan. The announcement comes two days after Dimuth Karunaratne and Lasith Malinga, the incumbents, informed the Sri Lanka Cricket of their unwillingness to tour Pakistan, along with eight others, citing security

6:34 AM ET Andrew Fidel Fernando Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has denied Niroshan Dickwella a no-objection certificate (NOC) to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and will also prevent Thisara Perera from playing in the majority of the T20 league, after the two players – and eight others – refused to tour Pakistan in

2:05 AM ET Twice now in international cricket, he has taken four wickets in four balls. Of the 100 hat-tricks in international cricket, he has a 5% share. And if Lasith Malinga had not produced his searing spell on Friday, which in addition to the four-in-four reaped him a match analysis of five wickets for