Posts
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Australia vs Sri Lanka
Australia tighten grip on Test
Australia tightened their hold on the Sydney Test on the third day and stand an excellent chance of sealing a clean sweep against Sri Lanka. Matthew Wade scored his second Test century in front of a raucous crowd engulfing the venue in a sea of pink on Jane McGrath day, and stretched his team's lead to 138 before Michael Clarke declared. Half-centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne and Mahela Jayawardene gave Sri Lanka hope, not just of recovery but even putting Australia under pressure in the fourth innings, but much of it was crushed by a middle-order implosion in good conditions for batting.
The opener Karunaratne and captain Jayawardene had taken Sri Lanka to within six runs of erasing the deficit, after the early loss of Tillakaratne Dilshan, but Australia wrested the control they had achieved at the end of their innings. Karunaratne, let off on 54 but solid for the bulk, drove at a fullish, reverse-swinging, delivery from Jackson Bird in the final session to feather one to the keeper. Hot Spot didn't capture any heat signature - Karunaratne did not call for a review after being given out - but Snicko later indicated there may have been a nick. Sri Lanka still had the batting to guide them to a competitive lead but much of the damage they suffered from then on was self-inflicted.
Lahiru Thirimanne impressed with 91 in the first innings but failed while trying to hook a quick, short ball from Mitchell Johnson, top-edging it to fine leg. Thilan Samaraweera, inexplicably and totally out of character, charged out to Nathan Lyon third ball, only to miscue it to Michael Hussey, who took a well-judged catch running back from mid-off. Angelo Mathews called and ran after playing one to midwicket but met an unresponsive Jayawardene, who stayed his ground as David Warner dived, collected and returned an accurate throw to Wade to catch the batsman short. When Jayawardene nicked a wide one from Peter Siddle to first slip, Sri Lanka had lost five for 46, leaving Dinesh Chandimal and the tail too much to achieve to test the hosts.
Australia were largely disciplined when they bowled but that didn't prevent Karunaratne and Jayawardene from scoring fluently, both displaying ease and confidence in their century stand. The only threat of discomfort on the pitch for the batsmen was some uneven bounce, but Karunaratne set the tone for the stand as early as the first over. Karunaratne has a tall frame, doesn't have too much flourish in his shot-making, but showed he is especially strong on the off side while being an excellent timer of the ball. He dispatched Mitchell Starc for two boundaries in the first over, chopping him past point then driving a half-volley past mid-off.
The seamers tried to bowl tight lines but occasionally provided width, allowing Karunaratne to be expansive. He scored freely through cover and point, and drove well on the up against Starc, whom he took for four boundaries. He even stepped out to Nathan Lyon, launching him for a six and four past long-on. Jayawardene looked assured, worked the ball around for singles and twos despite the field being brought in and collected boundaries with ease. He scored off Starc on either side behind the wicket, and pulled well, cracking Starc and Bird for fours through square leg. But his own anxiety and frustration grew as he saw two of his partners throw their wickets away, and it wasn't long before he, too, made his way back.
The role played by Wade, who found able partners in Siddle and Bird, in extending the lead to 138 acquired greater significance once Sri Lanka's batting began to unravel after tea. The hundred was still a distant landmark for Wade when the day began, as the priority appeared to be improving Australia's position from one of a slight advantage to greater control. Wade was busy, running hard and occasionally attempting the aggressive shot, but also timed the ball superbly, his first four being just a punch past point off Suranga Lakmal. Siddle fell when he edged Nuwan Pradeep to the keeper - ending a 77-run stand for the seventh wicket - and Rangana Herath hit back with two wickets in quick succession.
Three men in the deep on the off side were not enough to prevent Wade from slicing Pradeep over point as he stepped up his attacking game further with just one wicket in hand; as he watched the field move back in, he picked up a boundary past gully by opening the face. He smashed Pradeep over extra cover, then neatly clipped him past midwicket for two more fours. Bird, at the other end, not only survived but scored during his short stay, long enough for Wade to reach his landmark. In what was to be the last over of the innings, Wade pierced a packed off-side field in the deep to cream Lakmal for two fours, the second of which brought up his century and sparked wild celebrations with an expectant SCG joining in.
Source : ESPN Cricinfo
Friday, August 10, 2012
SLPL to Broadcast on YouTube
The Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) will be broadcast to a global audience via Youtube, SLC president Upali Dharmadasa confirmed on Thursday, with all 24 matches to be streamed on an official SLPL channel.
The move to stream the tournament on Youtube had been initiated by Somerset Entertainment Ventures, who are handling the marketing and operations of the SLPL.\"It was an idea that was brought to us, and we approved it because it gives the tournament the benefit of reaching more cricket fans around the world,\" Dharmadasa said.
ESPN Star Sports* hold the broadcast rights to the SLPL and will be screening the tournament in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as in a host of other South and South East Asian countries.
The SLPL begins on August 11, and will see seven franchises competing over three weeks. The final is scheduled for August 31.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Ruhunu Elevens wins by 4 Runs
Leicestershire 156 for 8 (Razzaq 68, Gunaratne 3-27, Silva 3-29) by four runs
Leicestershire and Ruhuna jostled, pulled, tugged, stepped on each other's toes to try to make it to the train first, but both might have just missed it. Both teams came in looking for their first win, hoping to make it big enough to spoil the party for Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset, who won their first games and were due to face each other later in the evening. Leicestershire needed to chase down 161 in 13.2 overs to ensure automatic qualification, Ruhuna needed to keep them down to 140. As it turned out, led by Abdul Razzaq, one of the cleanest straight hitters of our time, Leicestershire threatened the improbable automatic qualification, but the Ruhuna spinners kept pulling them back. Razzaq perished in one final push for the run-rate boost, and the spinners then choked the lower order to fashion a dramatic win, allowing only 28 runs in the last six overs.
Leicestershire were knocked out, but Ruhuna now had two points, level with Kolkata and Somerset, their net run-rate of -0.28 lagging behind Kolkata's 0.1 and Somerset's 0.05. With only two teams out of the four to go through, Ruhuna were expected to stay back and watch in hope that the final qualifier is one-sided enough to push one of the sides' net run-rate down.
Amid all this number-crunching, it was easy to overlook important good innings on a slow track. Before Razzaq's smashing 68 off 46 came Dinesh Chandimal's fighting 62 off 51 to help Ruhuna recover from 17 for 2 and 67 for 4. Recalled today to represent Sri Lanka in Tests against Pakistan, Chandimal found himself in early with Harry Gurney's slower balls causing a big dent with the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Udawatte.
Chandimal batted intelligently, not taking many risks, hitting the big ones mainly down the ground, adding 44 and 41 with Milinda Siriwardana and Shalika Karunanayake. The stand with Siriwardana helped them recover after they had lost the first four inside 10 overs, the one with Karunanayake provided Ruhuna the final thrust. Karunanayake scored 28 off those 41, off just 15 balls. Forty-seven came off those last four overs, and Ruhuna had elbowed just past Leicestershire with the train approaching.
Razzaq had played an important role in keeping Ruhuna down early on. The second wicket he took was his 100th in Twenty20s. While he played the support role with the ball, he knew he would have to do it all off his own bat. He countered the slowness of the track by simply refusing to play square. Sixty-one of his runs came in front of square, 32 of them down the ground. With his grip high on the bat, he just stood and waited to hit down the ground through the leverage of the long handle. Once he left the crease to smash Jayasuriya into the second tier behind long-on.
Ruhuna, though, kept cutting off Razzaq'a support. Arosh Janoda got Joshua Cobb for 15 off six balls and Asanka Silva took out Andrew McDonald, captain in the injured Matthew Hoggard's absence, for 24 off 15. When Will Jefferson got a rough lbw call to make it 81 for 3 in 9.1 overs, it was clear 13.2 overs would come and go. They came and went. Razzaq, though, wanted as big a run-rate gain as possible, and started trying to hit six off every delivery from the 12th over onwards. Thirty-three came in three overs, but Razzaq finally holed out after escaping two drops.
With 33 required off 36, Leicestershire lost the plot for a bit. Paul Nixon and Wayne White fell playing big shots in the next two overs, and suddenly Ruhuna were the favourites to win. The tail could only manage singles as the noose got tighter and tighter. Then again they played out the 20 overs, reducing the margin to just four runs, which left Ruhuna with a minimum run-rate boost.
By the time Ruhuna got rid of Leicestershire, the train was about to leave the station.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Captain Clarke delivers series victory
In his first series as Test captain, Michael Clarke has delivered Australia a 1-0 victory over Sri Lanka, moved them up to fourth in the ICC Test rankings, retained the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy and broken his own personal drought with his first Test century in 18 months. Not a bad way to start a new job. On the final day of the series, Clarke played a true captain's innings to deny Sri Lanka any hope of winning the match, which ended in a draw that was as good as a victory for Australia.
Sri Lanka began the morning needing quick wickets to knock Australia over and set up a chase. By tea, Tillakaratne Dilshan's men had added only two breakthroughs to the three wickets they had taken on the fourth afternoon, and they were left not only to rue their slow batting in a match they had to win, but also to wonder how long their attack will take to deliver them a Test win in the post-Muttiah Muralitharan era.
Rangana Herath toiled manfully to earn a career-best 7 for 157, but the harsh truth is that Sri Lanka haven't won a Test since Murali last played for them in July 2010. And by losing a home series for just the third time in ten years, they have fallen to fifth on the ICC rankings list. Besides Herath, none of the bowlers looked threatening on the final day, not that their task was an easy one on a pitch offering nothing.
There was a glimmer of hope early, when Phillip Hughes (126) top-edged Herath to square leg, having added only four to his overnight total. But that brought Clarke and Michael Hussey together, and they proceeded to bat Sri Lanka out of the game in a 176-run partnership, an Australian fifth-wicket record against Sri Lanka, beating the 155 set by David Hookes and Allan Border in the first Test ever played between the two countries.
And while Hussey missed the chance to score his third hundred of the series, falling for 93, Clarke didn't waste his opportunity to end a drought that stretched back to Australia's tour of New Zealand last March. It was an outstanding effort from Clarke, for when he came to the crease late on day four, a Sri Lanka victory was very much a possibility.
He batted precisely the way a captain should in such circumstances, first and foremost guarding his wicket fiercely, but also ticking the scoreboard over to add to Sri Lanka's problems. At one point during the morning, he was 24 from 80 deliveries, but he lifted his rate as the day wore on, three times advancing down the pitch to Herath to drive him down the ground for six.
Although he survived a stumping chance when Prasanna Jayawardene failed to glove the ball cleanly, Clarke provided a masterclass in handling spin, using his feet and smothering the turn where he could. He brought up his century in exactly that manner, from his 139th ball, dancing down the pitch to clip Herath wide of mid-on for a boundary, and it was a fine way to cap off a tour during which his captaincy has been bold and thoughtful.
Eventually, Clarke fell for 112 driving a catch to mid-on from the bowling of Herath, following some banter between Clarke and Kumar Sangakkara, and the chirping continued as Clarke walked off the field. But the most important thing was that he had ensured a series win.
The only remaining point of interest was whether Hussey would finish his incredible tour with a century in each innings of a Test for the first time, having scored 118 in the first innings. Alas, he top-edged a sweep off Dilshan and was caught for 93. Still, he was unequivocally the Player of the Series, with scores of 95, 15, 142, 118 and 93, as well as two wickets and a stunning catch.
It continued a remarkable renaissance for Hussey, 36, whose past two series, the Ashes at home and this Sri Lankan tour, have been the most prolific in his Test career. Herath also produced his best Test series, easily topping the wicket tally from either side with 16 at an average of 23, despite missing the second Test to injury, but it will hardly be a series he'll remember with fondness.
Still, he finished off strongly, securing his first six-for when Brad Haddin (30) was caught at wide mid-off, and that became a seven-wicket haul when he trapped Peter Siddle lbw for 26 as the sun set on the SSC. It was also his 100th Test wicket, making him the fourth Sri Lanka player to the milestone, after Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.
Australia were finally bowled out for 488, and Sri Lanka had to bat for two overs before the captains could agree to an early end. Clarke handed the ball to Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon, who both debuted during the series, and finished with one over each.
It was a fitting way to end a series in which Australia's debutants - Lyon, Copeland and Shaun Marsh - played key roles. Their next job is to take on the world No.2, South Africa, in Cape Town and Johannesburg. For now, Clarke and his men can celebrate. Finally, they are moving in the right direction.
2011-09-20
SL vs Aus
LG Abans Series
SLCO Team
2011-09-20
SL vs Aus
LG Abans Series
SLCO Team
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Follow Us:
Twitter Facebook RSS