Source: www.anchorfan.com
The game against Australia at the WACA is one of those games that you know you should never have lost. Notwithstanding the great effort from Angelo, the reality is that we should not have been in a position where we needed rescuing anyway. But that happens and we’ve won games too where you come away relieved to have done so. I’m sure that’s how the Aussies would have felt after our match.
After we ourselves fell short by 20 or 30 runs in our opening match at the WACA against the Indians, we enjoyed an excellent session in the field against Australia, who similarly ended up with a below par total. We bowled superbly and our fielding was excellent and we were able to stymie their progress by picking up regular wickets. Kule and Lasith got us off to a great start picking up the early wickets of Mathew Wade and Ricky Ponting, and when Angelo bowled out Dave Warner, it effectively snuffed out their chances of making a big total. Even Dammika and Sachitra, despite being targeted at times, picked up valuable scalps and so it was a fine all-round effort by all the bowlers.
A target of 232 was very gettable and even after the early loss of Upul, Dilshan and I were able to move along without being unduly troubled. My run out that followed was unfortunate, but our inability to prevent the loss of wickets at regular intervals thereafter cost us dearly. This was disappointing because we had seven specialist batsmen and a more-than-competent last four with Dammika, who has a first-class century to his name, batting at No 11. We were not under run rate pressure and, as Angelo demonstrated, we simply needed to bat out the fifty overs and a win was there for the taking.
After Angelo’s heroics at the MCG on our previous visit to Australia in the latter part of 2010, where the challenge he surmounted was even greater, we were on the edge of our seats as he steadily brought us closer to the total. Even though we felt that 18 off the last over was probably too great an ask, we also knew that we had one of the best finishers in the business at the wicket. When Angelo followed up the boundary off the first ball of the final over with a terrific six, our hopes skyrocketed but it was not to be this time around. In that situation, very few bowlers bowl a short ball, especially on a bouncy wicket like the WACA, but it did prove to be a clincher for Mitchell Starc and the Aussies in this instance. (more…)
MEDIA RELEASE
Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara was given just three days holiday in-between tours to South Africa and Australia but was nevertheless determined to travel to Kilinochchi in the island’s war-affected North East to deliver 300 brand new bicycles to poor families in desperate need of transportation.
The bicycle donation was the result of a successful fundraising campaign called Sanga’s Bikes for Life which has so far raised US$50,000, sufficient funds for the delivery of 500 new bikes. The project, which is managed by the Foundation of Goodness (www.unconditionalcompassion.org), is planning a further delivery of 200 bicycles in March.
Bicycles provide countless benefits to a rural community member’s life, allowing them access to employment, markets for sale and purchase of goods, water and food sources. Crucially, for thousands of rural children, the ownership of a bike is the key to a life-transforming education. Without transport many children are unable to attend school and they therefore remain trapped in a cruel cycle of poverty.
“It is really fantastic to handover the bikes and witness first-hand the positive impact they will have on families in the north,” Sangakkara said on his return to Colombo. “I would like to sincerely thank everyone who made a donation. Your donation has helped change a life for the better and that is a very special thing.”
Fundraising has been helped by both private and corporate donors with especially generous contributions from Touchwood Plantations, the leading plantation investment company in Sri Lanka, as well as Ready at Dawn Studios in Los Angeles and Grange Hotels who helped generously through their Indian Ocean Disaster Relief charity. The campaign was also very generously supported by Ananda and Sriya Fernando from Rennaissance Services based in Oman.
“We are really grateful for all the donations, big and small,” Sangakkara said. “It is the simple act of giving that is so special and so inspirational. The families I spoke to were so touched that so many Sri Lankans from the south and from overseas are reaching out to them like true friends and helping them build a new future after three decades of war and hardship.” (more…)
Source: www.anchorfan.com
Immediately after the heavy loss in the first Test at Centurion we re-grouped in a calm but very methodical, thorough and focused manner, putting in a lot of work in the nets and on our fitness. This paid off in Durban with the batsmen fighting back to give us a competitive total, which was then complemented by the bowlers doing an exceptional job to give us a very handy first innings lead. Consequently, we were able to set South Africa a very challenging fourth innings target, with the added luxury of an abundance of time in which to take ten wickets.
We succeeded in doing so with a day to spare and the final result reflects the importance of being able to place an opposition under constant pressure. Being under pressure is something that we ourselves only know too well, particularly in the not too distant past, and it was thus exhilarating and joyful to be able to turn the tables. Doing so in what has been a veritable Lion’s Den for us, where our record was abysmal with seven losses in eight Tests, including the hammering we got in the first Test of this series, made the taste of victory all the more sweeter.
Tilan (Samaraweera) was really fantastic and was the person who wrested the initiative for us from what looked like yet another below-par batting performance at one stage. Returning to the side after being dropped, he showed what a great batsman he is and what an asset he is for us, especially in pressure moments. Comfortably averaging more than 50 in Test cricket, he is a genuine world-class act and we were very fortunate to have him back in our side.
Young Dinesh (Chandimal) too, of course played a big role in our recovery and had a most memorable debut Test match. He proved to be an ideal foil for Tilan in the first innings and to me in the second innings, playing just the right brand of cricket that you need from your No 7 batsman. This position has the difficult responsibility of battling it out with the last recognised batsman from the top six and Dinesh handled this responsibility with great maturity and skill in both his outings to the crease. (more…)
Source: www.anchorfan.com
Mahela Jayawardena is on the cusp of becoming the first Sri Lankan batsman to score 10,000 runs in both Test cricket and ODI cricket. Having earlier reached this landmark in ODI cricket against Pakistan in Dubai last month, he was unlucky not to repeat the exercise in Test cricket in the first Test against South Africa when he was run-out. However, going into the second Test tomorrow at Durban, Mahela is just one run shy of joining a select band of cricketers who have achieved this double – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Brian Lara.
That is some list and whose quality speaks for themselves. So too does Mahela’s record, who in my view, is the finest batsman Sri Lanka has produced to date. The secret to Mahela’s success can be attributed to the possession of a very solid technique that has remained unchanged over time, and a simple back-lift, which enables him to execute his wide array of strokes. He also possesses a natural ability to mix touch and power, and plays pace very well and spin even better. All these have combined to give him a unique platform from which to build a great career, and over the years, Mahela has also understood his game a lot more as well as that of different oppositions. His work ethic has always been exceptional and he has worked harder and harder the longer he has played. All of this, coupled with a very astute cricketing brain, has helped him to get to where he has got to now.
Mahela on occasion gets criticized for not being as effective overseas or, to be more precise, outside of the sub-continent. I do not pay any heed to such comments. While at the end of the day you got to prove it with statistics, Mahela and indeed Sri Lanka have not played sufficient cricket overseas to be able to really do justice to our potential. Adjusting to vastly differing conditions takes time and experience, and repeat tours with reasonable regularity is the only way you are going to perform with similar consistency to conditions that you are familiar with. (more…)
Source: www.anchorfan.com
The second ODI against Pakistan proved to be a scrappy affair, but it was one that brought out the fighting spirit in our team and it was a great effort to come away with a win. Going in to game there’s no doubt that we were under pressure, but it was a self-inflicted pressure given the manner of our loss in the opening match of the series.
Addressing our batting woes in the first match was imperative and fortunately Upul and Dilshan provided us with a solid start. It was also imperative that we had a couple of top-order batsmen going on to make decent contributions, as you needed time at the wicket to adapt to the conditions. These are not pitches where you can come in and play glorious strokes from ball one, especially if the bowlers bowl in good areas with disciplined lines and lengths. So, it is vital to keep busy at the crease and endeavour to rotate the strike and get as many singles as you can without worrying too much about the big hits – with occupation of the crease, boundaries tend to inevitably look after themselves anyway.
The loss of a few wickets, plus the advent of the spinners, slowed us down in the middle stages, but we were not unduly worried as the need was mainly to see a couple of batsmen bat out a 15 to 20-over stretch. Upul had done a great job up to that point to provide us with one of the book-ends of the innings and we needed someone to stay with him, which Mahela succeeded in doing. The pair batted brilliantly and managed their partnership really well which enabled us to get to what was a competitive total on a pitch that was not the easiest to score quick runs on.
However, while we had posted a competitive target, it was still a total that still left us with plenty to do in order to successfully defend it. And we could not have asked for a better start than what the colourful Lasith Malinga provided us with. Getting rid of the dangerous Mohammad Hafeez and Younis Khan in the very first over gave us great impetus. When Thissara Perera then trapped Imran Farhat lbw a couple of overs later, this effectively curbed Pakistan from taking maximum advantage of the opening powerplay overs. (more…)
