Sports
Sri Lanka off to solid start but Dimuth misses World Record
Rex Clementine in Galle
There was disappointment and frustration as skipper Dimuth Karunaratne missed out on the opportunity of equalling the World Record for most consecutive half-centuries in Test cricket by just eight runs yesterday but Sri Lanka did well to reach 113 for one at stumps in a rain-curtailed day where only 34.4 overs were bowled.
Rain had washed out the first two sessions of the Test match and play got underway only after tea with 45 overs scheduled but after 34.4 overs the light was fading and the umpires suspended play with 30 minutes left.
Dimuth had been in pretty good nick this year and he missed out on the milestone when he offered a return catch to Roston Chase on 42. But by then, he had given Sri Lanka a solid start having added 106 runs for the first wicket with Patum Nissanka.
Sri Lanka handed Chairth Asalanka his Test debut and he became the nation’s 157th Test cricketer
Nissanka started off confidently and outscored his captain. West Indies reviewed when he was on 17 after a leg-before wicket shout off the bowling of Jason Holder was turned down. The tourists lost the review after it emerged that the wickets were missing.
There were some elegant strokes during Nissanka’s unbeaten 61 and his confidence was in show when he came down the track to left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and lofted him over long-off for six. He reached his third Test half-century by driving Holder straight down the ground.
West Indies appealed for a caught behind off Oshada Fernando before he had opened the account and exhausted a second review. Spinner Jomel Warrican prompted his skipper to go upstairs but that was a shocker. It’s not the first time that Warrican had wasted reviews and he seems to be in the mould of Niroshan Dickwella, overenthusiastic and burns reviews unnecessarily.
Sri Lanka handed Chairth Asalanka his Test debut and he became the nation’s 157th Test cricketer. Sri Lanka effectively beefed up their batting by bringing in Asalanka for fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera. There was confirmation from the hosts that Angelo Mathews will share the new ball with Suranga Lakmal. It’s been a while since Mathews has done it in Test cricket.
West Indies, meanwhile, left out Shannon Gabriel and Rahkeem Cornwall bringing in Kemar Roach and Permaul. The latter was playing his first Test match in six years.
It is understood the ICC has told the BCB to inform the Bangladesh government that if Bangladesh continues to refuse to travel to India to play its matches in the 2026 T20 World Cup, then they will be replaced by another team at the tournament. That decision was followed by a vote, where the majority of the ICC Board was in favour of having a replacement.
BCB have been given one more day to come back to the ICC on its stance on playing in India.
If that is the case, then Scotland is likely to replace Bangladesh in Group C at the World Cup. Scotland had failed to qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup, having finished behind Netherlands, Italy and Jersey at the European Qualifier.
[Cricinfo]
Harry Brook admits he was fortunate to keep his job as white-ball captain following a latte night alteraction with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand, and says he is in the process of regaining the trust of his team.
Brook, now in Sri Lanka for England’s ODI series which gets underway on Thursday, was speaking for the first time since news broke that he had been disciplined for the incident in Wellington in October, for which he was fined £30,000 and put on a final warning for his off-field conduct.
“Obviously I made a terrible mistake,” Brook said. “Not only as a player, but as a captain. It’s very unprofessional and I should be leading from the front. “I’ve learnt from my mistakes, I’ve reflected a lot on what’s happened and I know it wasn’t the right thing to do. I want to say sorry to my team-mates, to all the fans that travel far and wide to watch, spend a lot of money on coming out to watch us play cricket and supporting us, and to the ECB for putting them in a tricky situation, and it’ll never happen again. I’m extremely sorry.”
Brook, along with a number of other England players, had been out drinking the night before the third ODI against New Zealand, with the match the final competitive fixture for England before the Ashes began three weeks later.
Brook, who says he then went on his own to a nightclub, says he was “clocked” by a bouncer when attempting to get in.
“We went out for a couple of drinks beforehand and then I took it upon myself to go out for a few more and I was on my own there,” Brook said. “I was trying to get into a club and the bouncer just clocked me, unfortunately. Like I said, I shouldn’t have been in that situation from the start. I wasn’t absolutely leathered, I’d had one too many drinks.”
Brook reported his actions to the management mid-game the next day, and came close to being sacked from his position as captain as a result.
“It was definitely going through my mind,” Brook said of the potential that he would lose his job, before adding that he had not at any stage considered resigning. “Never came into my mind. I left that decision to the hierarchy and, look, if they’d have sacked me from being captain, then I’d have been perfectly fine with it, as long as I was still playing cricket for England.
“Probably, yeah,” he added, when asked if he felt lucky to keep his job. “I think I’ve got a little bit of work to do to try and regain the trust of the players. I said sorry to them yesterday. I felt like I needed to say sorry for my actions. It’s not acceptable as a player, but as a captain it’s really not acceptable to do what I did in New Zealand. I’ll be the first person to say that. I hold my hands up.”
In the aftermath of the incident, which was kept private by England until after the Ashes had concluded, Brook sought help from Test captain Ben Stokes, who himself was involved in a high-profile nightclub fight in 2018.
“He obviously wasn’t best pleased at what I’d done,” Brook said. “But he tried to help me through it and he knows exactly what it feels like to be in this situation. We had a few conversations, but we quickly moved on.”
The news broke amid allegations of a drinking culture in English cricket, after players were regularly seen drinking alcohol during England’s tour of Australia.
“No, there’s no drinking culture at all,” Brook said. “Like I said, everybody has the ability to say no. If you want a drink, if you don’t want a drink, you’re allowed to make that decision yourself.
“It wasn’t just drinking [in Australia]. We weren’t just going out and getting leathered every day. We were having a few drinks here and there. We were playing plenty of golf, going to nice cafes, having coffees but we had a few drinks here and there. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s just what human beings do.”
Despite this, England have introduced a curfew for their tour of Sri Lanka, with playing staff not allowed out past midnight.
“That’s been made as a group decision,” Brook said. “We think that it’s the best thing going forward, for the time being, to be able to put us in situations where we can win games of cricket and perform to the best of our ability.”
England play three ODIs against Sri Lanka, starting on Thursday in Colombo, before playing three T20Is ahead of next month’s World Cup. England have struggled of late in the 50-over format, losing 11 of their past 15 matches. That poor run of form will add extra pressure to the position of head coach Brendon McCullum, whom Brook threw his support behind, calling him “the best head coach I’ve had by a million miles”.
England have made a number of changes to their team since their last outing against New Zealand three months ago, with the return of Zak Crawley to the top of the order the most noticeable change. Crawley replaces Jamie Smith as opener, and will play his first List A game in over two years, having last played for England in December 2023. Elsewhere, Liam Dawson has been selected as the second spinner to accompany Adil Rashid in the middle-overs.
England : Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
[Cricinfo]
Charith Asalanka (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pavan Rathnayake, Dhananjaya de Silva, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jeffrey Vandersay, Maheesh Theekshana, Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan, Eshan Malinga.
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