Sports

With Hasaranga out, SL pray Chameera pulls through

Published

4 years ago

2022/01/11

Wanindu Hasaranga has been ruled out of the three match ODI series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka are hoping that Dushmantha Chameera, who had tested positive for COVID pulls through.

by Rex Clementine

Given Sri Lanka’s excellent show in the T-20 World Cup last year, there was hope that we were beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel after the national cricket team’s transition had taken longer than people had wished. The performances of two players stood out towards the tail end of last year as Mickey Arthur’s side turned things around across all three formats. While Dushmantha Chameera was the highest wicket taker in the world in ODI cricket in 2021, Wanindu Hasaranga’s reputation reached new heights like that of Joe Biden, the first Catholic to be US President in more than 50 years with the last being John F. Kennedy.

Hasaranga emerged as world’s number one ranked bowler in T-20 cricket in 2021 and into the bargain Sri Lanka’s highest run scorer in ODIs last year. He was also world’s tenth highest run getter in ODIs in 2021.

Lead up to the three match ODI series against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka have suffered a massive blow with Hasaranga ruled out of the series having sustained a hamstring injury during the LPL. The leg-spinner has got a grade two tare and the medical staff are working around the clock to ensure that he will be fit for the series in Australia later next month.

With Hasaranga out, Sri Lanka are desperately hoping that Chameera pulls through and will be available for selection. The fast bowler had tested positive for COVID two weeks ago and the medical staff are yet to give him the go ahead to resume training. Although the members of the Sri Lankan team entered the bio-secure bubble yesterday in Kandy, Chameera remained in his hometown in Negombo as the doctors were yet to give him the green light.

Chameera has been outstanding in recent months as he provides the breakthroughs with the new ball and then when the ball loses its shine his extra pace becomes quite handy to unsettle batsmen.

Many fans seem to think that Zimbabwe is not a strong opposition. Sri Lanka paid a heavy price last time around for underestimating Zimbabwe when they toured the island as they suffered a first ever series defeat. The series loss was a bitter pill to swallow and Angelo Mathews stepped down as captain as the tourists recorded a come from behind win.

Kusal Janith Perera will not be part of the series as well as he is under rehabilitation and the plan seems to be getting him fully fit for the series in Australia. Dhananjaya de Silva also pulled out from the series due to personal reasons while Avishka Fernando, the explosive opener has tested positive for COVID forcing the selectors to scratch the barrel.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput has been isolated in Colombo after his Rapid Antigen test done on landing in Colombo turned positive for Covid 19. The tourists arrived in the island yesterday and the coach did not travel to Kandy.

The first ODI of the three-match series will be played on the 16th at Pallekele.

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Indonesia’s Gede Priandana becomes first to pick five wickets in an over in T20Is

Published

3 mins ago

2025/12/23

Priyan

Gede Priandana shows off the ball he made history with [Indonesia Cricket]

Gede Priandana, Indonesia’s 28-year-old right-arm quick bowler, has become the first to pick up five wickets in an over in an international T20I match (where ball-by-ball data is available), achieving the feat in the first T20I against Cambodia in Bali on Tuesday. He is the first man or woman to achieve the feat.

Indonesia had the upper hand in the game, but Cambodia were not out of it yet at the end of the 15th over of the chase of 168, the scorecard reading 106 for 5. Bowling his first over, Priandana struck off the first three balls to record a hat-trick, sending back Shah Abrar Hussain, Nirmaljit Singh and Chanthoeun Rathanak. A dot ball followed, after which Priandana got rid of Mongdara Sok and Pel Vennak to finish off the match, Cambodia getting just one run in the over, a wide between the last two wickets, to end 60 runs short.

Priandana had earlier scored 6 in 11 balls opening the innings alongside Dharma Kesuma, the wicketkeeper-batter, who led the batting show for Indonesia with an unbeaten 110 in 68 balls with eight fours and six sixes.

The feat has, however, been achieved twice before in men’s T20s. Al Amin Hossain took five wickets in an over against Abahani Limited playing for UCB-BCB XI in the Victory Day T20 Cup in 2013-14. The other was when Karnataka’s Abhimanyu Mithun dismissed five Haryana batters in the semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20.

While this is the first time a bowler has taken five in an over in an international game, there have been 14 instances of a bowler taking four in an over before today. The most famous of these was when Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga famously took four in four balls in the third over of a T20Is against New Zealand in 2019.

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Ashes over for Cummins, uncertainty over T20 World Cup too

Published

30 mins ago

2025/12/23

Priyan

Pat Cummins added to his tally against Joe Root in the third Test [Cricinfo]

Australia captain Pat Cummins won’t feature again in the Ashes and there is uncertainty about whether he will be available for the T20 World Cup in February, with selectors and medical staff unwilling to take any risks over his long-term health.

When Australia’s squad for the MCG Boxing Day Test was named on Tuesday morning, it was confirmed, as Cummins had flagged after Adelaide, that he would sit out the match. Head coach Andrew McDonald said a few hours later that Cummins’ series was over after one appearance, which helped secure the Ashes.

Cummins was diagnosed with a lumbar stress reaction after the tour of the West Indies, but following an aggressive rehab programme, he bowled brilliantly in Adelaide where he claimed six wickets as Australia won by 82 runs.

“He’s pulled up fine,” McDonald said. “He won’t play any part in the rest of the series and that was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return.

“We were taking on some risk and people that reported on that would understand the risk associated with that rebuild. We’ve now won the series and that was the goal. So, to position him for further risk and jeopardise him long-term is not something that we want to do and Pat’s really comfortable with that.”

Even though Cummins’ Ashes has been limited to one match, McDonald said it had been a huge effort from all involved to even get to that point.

“If he had any setback in the build as well, we would have shut him down straight away,” he said. “Everything went really smoothly and full credit to him [and] the medical team. To navigate through that risk profile to get him back and take six wickets in that game and nail the Ashes series was incredibly pleasing for everyone associated with that.

“If you look at the… decision sort of four months ago and the journey he went on to get to where he was to be able to play the third Ashes Test when people thought it was nigh on impossible, that took an incredible amount of work from our SSSM [Sports Science Sports Medicine] team.”

McDonald said that would be part of a discussion with the other selectors later on Tuesday about the T20 World Cup squad, which is due to be named soon, and indicated that further medical advice would be taken around Cummins’ participation.

Cummins has not played a T20I for Australia since mid-2024 at the previous World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA. Shortly after the upcoming edition takes place in India and Sri Lanka, IPL 2026 will begin, where Cummins is due to captain Surisers Hyderabad (SRH).

“That’ll be an assessment,” McDonald said of Cummins’ T20 World Cup chances. “I’m assuming he’ll have a check-in scan at some point and gather more information around where his back is at… looking forward to the World Cup, whether he’ll be there or not. I can’t really say. It’s quite grey at the moment. We’re hopeful.”

Cummins’ injury along with the one suffered by Josh Hazlewood, who won’t feature at all in the Ashes, and Sean Abbott, who was ruled out before the first Test, has tested the depth of Australia’s pace resources.

Mitchell Starc, led the attack superbly in the first two Tests before producing a series-clinching three wickets on the final day in Adelaide and has already stated his desire to continue through all five matches.

“Starc’s amazing, he’s pulled up fine, I don’t know how he does it,” McDonald said. “I walked into the physio room the other day and sort of just went through the body count and how we’re going. I won’t use exactly what [the physio] said, but he just said he [Starc] is a freak.

“He keeps running in, presenting the pace that he does. There’s a lot to be learned around preparing yourself and targeting the right matches at the right time. He’s given up a lot of IPL opportunities and you’re seeing a player that wants to play Test cricket and he’s still at his best. It’s an incredible story. Let’s hope it continues for a long time yet but he’s a freak, end of story.”

Australia have added Jhye Richardson to their pace options for the fourth Test at the MCG following his recovery from shoulder surgery. Richardson last played a Test during the 2021-22 Ashes.

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Sri Lanka World Cup games uninterrupted despite cyclone and flooding

Published

8 hours ago

2025/12/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Pallekele Stadium in Kandy all set for World Cup fixtures.

Sri Lanka’s share of the T20 World Cup will go ahead without disruption despite a recent cyclone and severe flooding that left large parts of the country battered and bruised.

Tournament organisers confirmed that matches scheduled in the island nation will proceed as planned, with Sri Lanka co-hosting the sport’s showpiece event alongside India. Three venues in Sri Lanka will stage games during the competition.

Sri Lanka is set to host 20 of the 55 matches in the tournament. Should Pakistan advance deep into the competition, the island will also stage a semi-final and the final, as Pakistan are unable to travel to India due to long-standing political tensions between the neighbours.

On November 27, cyclonic storm Ditwah swept across Sri Lanka and several other South-East Asian countries, bringing daily life to a grinding halt. Flooding and landslides claimed at least 634 lives, with more than 200 deaths reported in the central city of Kandy.

A recent inspection of facilities in Kandy, however, allayed fears, with authorities giving the ground the all-clear after confirming that damage was minimal.

“We are happy with the progress we have made and it is going to be a superb event,” an official involved in inspecting the Pallekele Stadium told Telecom Asia Sport. “Sri Lanka has hosted ICC events before with great success and we have no doubt this tournament will be another feather in our cap. Kandy has been cleared, as have the other two venues.”

Work is also nearing completion at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club ground, where floodlights are being installed ahead of five scheduled matches. The capital’s R. Premadasa Stadium will host the bulk of the fixtures, including the blockbuster India–Pakistan clash on February 15.

“There has been huge demand for tickets for the India–Pakistan game,” the official said. “We expect a surge of tourists into Colombo around that fixture, which will provide a significant boost to the economy. Travel companies have already rolled out special packages and we anticipate full houses for several marquee games. India–Pakistan is the main attraction, no doubt, but matches like Sri Lanka versus Australia are also keenly awaited.”

Sri Lanka recently staged several Women’s World Cup matches, some of which were affected by rain. Organisers, however, are confident the weather will stay out of the contest this time, with February and March traditionally dry months in both Colombo and Kandy. (www.telecomasia.net)