Sri Lanka

They will perhaps be glad to know that an opposition centurion has given them and their attack a top rating. Dinesh Chandimal, who made 107 on Saturday as Sri Lanka established a 241-run lead, said Afghanistan’s bowlers – who have played fewer than five Tests collectively – bowled far better than their experience suggests. “You’ve

Afghanistan 198 and 97 for 0 (Ibrahim 52*, Noor Ali 42*) trail Sri Lanka 439 (Mathews 141, Chandimal 107, Naveed 4-83) by 144 runs Afghanistan’s excellent third day continued through the afternoon session, as Ibrahim Zadran and Noor Ali Zadran batted through it unbeaten. The pitch had little in it beyond bounce, and the beginnings

That Dimuth Karunaratne is a stats nerd, particularly about his career, has been known for some time. But now, 89 Tests in, the captaincy behind him (to his great relief), he has got some serious numbers in his sights. We’ll get to those soon, but for now, the man he is chasing is Usman Khawaja

Sri Lanka 177 for 3 (Karunaratne 77, Madushka 37, Masood 1-29) trail Afghanistan 198 (Rahmat 91, V Fernando 4-51, A Fernando 3-24) by 21 runs Afghanistan removed Sri Lanka’s top three before lunch, their seamers in particular finding tighter lines and better lengths on the second morning. But the hosts still marched towards a substantial

Bangladesh will play two World Test Championship (WTC) matches against Sri Lanka in Sylhet and Chattogram in March. It will be the first time since they started playing at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, that Bangladesh won’t play at that ground in a Test series, as the venue will be busy hosting the

They were first preyed on by Vishwa Fernando, who, in an intense spell, had wicketkeeper-batter Ikram Alikhil caught by a diving Nishan Madushka at gully, before he pinned debutant allrounder Zia-ur-Rehman in front some overs later. Qais Ahmad was then out lbw trying to sweep Prabath Jayasuriya, reviewing unsuccessfully before walking off.

Big picture: A fresh chapter for Sri Lanka The Afghanistan men’s team has played seven Tests in their history; for Sri Lanka, this is the first of eight (perhaps nine) scheduled for 2024. This is, on the surface, a mismatch. Rashid Khan is not with Afghanistan to provide his menacing legbreaks and general inspiration –

Omitted, meanwhile, is Pathum Nissanka, who was part of Sri Lanka’s last Test squad, though he has not played a Test since the middle of 2022. Dilshan Madushanka, who is currently in the UAE playing in the ILT20, is not in this squad either. The same goes for Kusal Perera. This is the first Test

SLC was suspended on November 10 for being in “serious breach of its obligations as an ICC Member”. Specifically, this had to do with “the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka”. The ICC Board said it

UP Warriorz have brought in Chamari Athapaththu as replacement for Lauren Bell, who has withdrawn from the upcoming edition of the Women’s Premier league (WPL). Athapaththu has been signed for her base price of INR 30 lakh (US$36,000 approx.). ESPNcricinfo has learned that Bell informed the Warriorz set-up recently that she wanted to focus on

Toss Sri Lanka choose to bowl against Zimbabwe Sri Lanka have won the toss and chosen to bowl first in the deciding T20I of the series. Both of the previous matches have been won by the chasing team, in tight finishes. Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said dew also played a role in his decision.

Zimbabwe allrounder Luke Jongwe had Angelo Mathews wallpaper when he was younger (whether this was a physical poster or the background screen on a device wasn’t clear). Mathews was also Jongwe’s social media profile picture for a while. So what did Jongwe do to thank Mathews for the years of inspiration? He smashed him for

Toss Zimbabwe opt to bowl vs Sri Lanka Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to chase in the second T20I at Khettarama, their captain Sikandar Raza expecting the pitch to get better as the match wears on. Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said he would have batted first anyway. Zimbabwe have not made a change

Expect to see more of Angelo Mathews in Sri Lanka’s T20 side this year. Expect to see him bowl more frequently. And because this is late-career Mathews, coming back into the white-ball frame after years of being picked only for Tests, expect him also to be driven by grievance to some extent. Following his first

Sri Lanka chose to bowl vs Zimbabwe Sri Lanka have won the toss and opted to bowl first in the first T20I against Zimbabwe in Colombo. For the hosts, Kusal Perera returns to the side, likely at the top of the order. Pathum Nissanka, who missed the ODIs with dengue, is back in, opening the

ICC CEO Geoff Allardice has met with Sri Lanka’s new sports minister, as well as the country’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during a brief visit undertaken to gain a better understanding of the political situation in the country as it relates to cricket administration. In November, the ICC imposed a suspension on Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership,

Toss Zimbabwe chose to bat vs Sri Lanka Zimbabwe have chosen to bat first in the third ODI against Sri Lanka, having won the toss under cloudy skies at Kettarama. The visitors made three changes to their XI, strengthening their bowling by bringing in left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza in place of offspinner Tapiwa Mufudza, swapping

This will be Wanindu Hasaranga’s first series as captain. There is still a spot in the squad for previous captain Dasun Shanaka. Among the omissions from this squad are of opener Avishka Fernando and top order batters Nuwanidu Fernando and Janith Liyanage, who was Player of the Match in the second ODI against Zimbabwe. Also

In only his second ODI, Janith Liyanage produced a match-defining performance, one that took his side to a thrilling win against Zimbabwe in Colombo on Monday. His 95 off 127 balls was by far the highest individual score for Sri Lanka in the second ODI, the next-best score being 21 as the hosts sneaked home

Afghanistan will be topping up their Test-match experience in double quick time by facing Sri Lanka and Ireland in February 2024. With most of the focus on the two limited-overs formats, Afghanistan ended up playing just one Test match over a better part of the last three years. Now, however, they’ve found space in the

Toss Zimbabwe chose to bat vs Sri Lanka Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first in the second ODI, under cloudy skies at Khettarama. The visitors made one change to their side, at the top of the order, bringing Joylord Gumbie into the XI, with Takudzwanashe Kaitano making way. Gumbie has hit two

Toss Sri Lanka opt to bat vs ZImbabwe Looking to change their ODI fortunes around, Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis chose to bat first in Khettarama against a Zimbabwe side that is also searching for a way to turn their tide. There were three debutants across both sides. Batting allrounder Janith Liyanage was carded at

Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka has been ruled out of the ODI series against Zimbabwe, with a suspected case of dengue. If his illness does turn out to be dengue, he will likely be out of the three-match T20I series that follows the ODIs as well. A board release said that Nissanka has been admitted

Sri Lanka’s chief Selector Upul Tharanga has confirmed that Dhananjaya de Silva will replace Dimuth Karunaratne as their Test captain, and thus become the 18th player from his country to lead in Tests. Karunaratne had held the post for 30 Tests, winning 12, losing 12 and drawing six games. Sri Lanka’s most notable wins under

Sri Lanka’s new selection committee, in their first assignment since being appointed, have made eight changes to the side that finished second-last at the ODI World Cup, with Wanindu Hasaranga, Pramod Madushan, Janith Liyanage, Nuwanidu Fernando and Sahan Arachchige also coming into the squad. Making way are Kusal Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushan

Dasun Shanaka‘s reign as Sri Lanka’s white-ball captain has come to an end as Sri Lanka’s new selection committee appointed Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga to lead the ODI and T20I sides, respectively. With Dimuth Karunaratne currently leading the Test side, this is the first time Sri Lanka have three different captains in the three

This is Jayasuriya’s first role with SLC after having been banned from all cricket for two years by the ICC’s anti-corruption unit in 2019. He had incurred that ban after admitting to two charges – the failure or refusal to cooperate with an investigation, and obstructing or delaying an investigation, under the anti-corruption code.

The move comes in the wake of Sri Lanka’s underwhelming 2023 World Cup campaign, which had them win only two out of nine games and subsequently miss out on qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Their first assignment will be picking the squad for Sri Lanka’s home series against Zimbabwe in January, which will be

Zimbabwe will tour Sri Lanka for a series of three ODIs and three T20Is in January. It will be the first bilateral T20I series featuring the two teams in Sri Lanka, and also the first ODI series between them in the island since January 2022. Sri Lanka are currently No. 7 in the ICC ODI

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Shammi Silva made a “fervent appeal” to the ICC to “carve out an exception” that would allow Sri Lanka to continue playing international cricket despite SLC getting suspended, according to an SLC release. The ICC removed Sri Lanka as hosts of the Men’s Under-19 World Cup, which was set for