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Can spluttering Sri Lanka get up to full speed at the World Cup Qualifier?

Published

2 years ago

2023/06/19

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Dushmantha Chameera will be among Sri Lanka's key players at the World Cup Qualifier (pic Cricinfo)

Champions once, runners-up twice, a semi-final and quarter-final thrown in for good measure, and ever present in the tournament since making their first appearance in 1975. Safe to say, Sri Lanka’s World Cup record is far from shabby. But now, for the first time in their history, they are in genuine danger of missing out altogether.

Unthinkable? Perhaps. Impossible? Not so much. But how did it come to this? Well, to get the obvious answer out of the way, quite frankly, they haven’t been all that good.

Since the end of the 2019 World Cup, Sri Lanka have won just 18 of 42 ODIs, out of which 23 were part of the World Cup Super League. Of those, they won seven.

Much of this dismal record is primarily down to their batting. In this period, Sri Lanka have crossed the 300-mark just nine times, and struggled in nearly every key batting metric. Dot-ball percentage in the last ten overs? 38.26%. Scoring rate in that phase? A mere 7.38, putting them ninth out of 12 Test-playing nations; only Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan have been worse – two of them they will likely be facing in the qualifiers. even in the crucial middle-over period (11-40) they dwell near the bottom, eighth this time, striking at 5.02 per over with half (50.52%) of the balls they faced being dots.

But it must also be noted that Sri Lanka had a particularly rough set of fixtures for this World Cup Super League cycle. Four of the eight series they played were against India, South Africa, England and New Zealand – the last two away from home.

While they won just one of those, what really dented their chances were the away defeats to Bangladesh and West Indies. And yet, this is a side that has beaten both South Africa and Australia at home – the latter series, as luck would have it, was not part of the Super League – and most recently strung together some impressive displays against Afghanistan – also at home – a team that comfortably qualified for the World Cup.

This, in a nutshell, is the story of Sri Lankan cricket over the last few years. Stifling lows mixed with thrilling highs. Not quite good enough for automatic qualification for the World Cup, but certainly not bad enough to rule out entirely.

So, here they are, in Zimbabwe to play a bunch of qualifiers, in conditions that will not even remotely resemble what they are likely to face in India later this year – provided they qualify of course.

Covid-19 meant that, despite his best intentions and enthusiasm, former head coach Mickey Arthur was hamstrung from the get-go. Tasked with revitalising the side after an abysmal showing at the 2019 World Cup, attempts to build trust and camaraderie while simultaneously trying to improve results was an entirely new challenge with social distancing, bio-bubbles and lockdowns thrown into the mix.

It was around this time that Sri Lanka Cricket also sought to usher in a more youth-centric policy, which has continued under Arthur’s replacement Chris Silverwood. The move, in fairness, paid dividends with Sri Lanka emerging as surprise Asia Cup winners last year, albeit in the T20 format. But in ODIs, there have only been glimpses of that same promise. A series whitewash at the hands of India at the start of the year, including a record 317 run defeat, was a particularly demoralising nadir.

Injuries too have played their part, with in-form Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando missing a large chunk of Super League games. But more than that, it has been the absence of Dushmantha Chameera that has hurt. In Chameera, Sri Lanka have on their hands one of the world’s premier seamers, one who is able to execute precise plans at an express pace. A fit Chameera – whose workload is being carefully managed – will be at the forefront of any Sri Lankan success in the coming weeks and months.

On the face of it, it should be straightforward. While this is not Sri Lanka’s first qualifying experience – they had to qualify for the T20 World Cup last year – it is the first time they have been required to do so in the 50-over format.

The first round is unlikely to provide much trouble with Ireland likely to be the toughest opponents in a group that also has Scotland, UAE and Oman. It’s in the next stage, though, that the potential banana skins may arise.

Barring any surprises, Sri Lanka’s likely opponents in the Super Six round will be West Indies, hosts Zimbabwe, and one of Netherlands, Nepal or USA. The first two should provide the biggest challenge but one that this Sri Lanka side should be able to overcome.

However, if the past few years have shown anything, it is that this is a team capable of beating the best but also holds within itself the capacity to capitulate suddenly and frantically. It is why Sri Lanka’s loyal fanbase goes into these games with a grizzled sense of trepidation. A well-oiled machine, they are not. Rather, one that’s spluttering up to full speed, duct tape at the ready, hoping the wheels don’t come off, as they seek to build up a head of steam to power them through.

(Cricinfo)

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Mohamed Salah signs new two-year contract with Liverpool

Published

2 hours ago

2025/04/11

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Mohamed Salah has scored 243 goals in 394 games for Liverpool [BBC]

Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.

The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.

However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.

“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.

“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.

“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”

Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.

Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.

He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.

Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.

[BBC]

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MS Dhoni to lead CSK after Ruturaj Gaikwad is ruled out of IPL with injury

Published

2 hours ago

2025/04/11

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MS Dhoni chats with Stephen Flemming [Cricinfo]

MS Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Rutraj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.

CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game. He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 8. After five games, he was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he was CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.

“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.

“So we’re disappointed, and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”

Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad. He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership some way into the season after the team went through a bad run of results. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League trophies as well.

“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”

After their home game against KKR on today, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 14 and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20.

[Cricinfo]

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American Airlines planes bump wings at Washington airport

Published

8 hours ago

2025/04/11

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A plane prepares to land as other planes wait their turn to take off on a busy runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, [File: Aljazeera]

An American Airlines plane carrying at least three members of the United States Congress has been struck on the taxiway by the wingtip of another American Airlines jet at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says.

American Airlines Flight 5490, a Bombardier CRJ 900 headed to Charleston, South Carolina, struck American Flight 4522, an Embraer E175 headed to New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, about 12:45pm (16:45 GMT) on Thursday, the FAA said. No injuries were reported.

Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, said on social media that he was on the flight to New York when the incident occurred while waiting to take off on the runway.

The latest mishap at Reagan National will intensify scrutiny over how air traffic is handled at the airport just outside Washington, DC, which has the single busiest US runway.

The FAA will investigate. American Airlines said both aircraft taxied to the terminal and were taken out of service to be inspected by maintenance teams. The damage was limited to a winglet on each aircraft.

(Aljazeera)