Sri Lanka will have to adjust quickly to the Test format as well as different wickets if they are to challenge England in their backyard, batting coach Marvan Atapattu said Tuesday.
"The biggest challenge is to adjust to English conditions," Atapattu said as the bulk of Sri Lankan touring party left for England for a two-month tour.
Senior players Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, as well as a few others, will join the squad later after completing their commitments in the Indian Premier League, a lucrative franchise-owned Twenty20 competition.
The IPL players will hardly get time to acclimatise as they will arrive just ahead of the second and last practice game against England Lions from May 19.
With a new skipper in Tillakaratne Dilshan and an overhauled team management, the task will be cut out for the Sri Lankans against a side whose last Test outing saw them thrash Australia in the Ashes.
Sri Lanka last held a test series at home against the West Indies in November-December 2010 but all the three games were ruined by rain.
"We are playing a Test series after after a gap of a few months. Winning the Test series in England is our aim," Atapattu added.
The Sri Lankans are set to play three Tests, a Twenty20 international and five one-dayers during the England tour, which begins with a three-day practice match against Middlesex at Uxbridge from May 14.
The first Test in Cardiff begins on May 26.
"A (Test) win will make it easier for our preparation work for the one-day and T20 games," said Atapattu, a former Sri Lankan skipper.
The away side are also without retired spin great Muttiah Muralitharan who shaped the team's win in a one-off Test at the Oval in 1998 with a rich haul of 16 wickets.
Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test series in England with their best result so far being a 1-1 draw in 2006.
It was Muralitharan again who starred for Sri Lanka in that series, taking eight wickets in the second innings of the second Test at Trent Bridge to shape a 134-run win for his team.
Atapattu however played down the absence of the spin legend, saying the tour offered a fine opportunity for fringe players like Farveez Maharoof and Kaushal Silva to prove their credentials.
Maharoof, currently playing county cricket for Lancashire, made an impressive start to the season with a hundred on his debut against Somerset at Liverpool.
Silva, 24, is uncapped but has an impressive first-class average of 45 and has been picked up as a back-up for Prasanna Jayawardene.
Sri Lanka to hold cricket elections after court orders
ri Lanka Cricket is set for an overhaul after the Supreme Court on Monday ordered that the island’s richest sporting body, which has been run by an interim committee since 2004, should be elected.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court asked the sports ministry to hold elections and make the appointments by July 6, a court official said.
The sports minister had been using his powers till now to appoint officials to the interim committee.
The court order came after the local United Southern Sports Club filed a fundamental rights petition on behalf of clubs who have not been able to elect officials to the board.
A lack of elected office bearers has often been blamed for problems plaguing the sport in the country.
Australia’s Trevor Bayliss, who recently quit as Sri Lanka coach after a four-year stint with the team, had underlined the need for a strong and stable cricket administration.
“Good teams like Australia usually have got strong or good management backing the team up. That’s an area we can improve here,” he said in his parting comments.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court asked the sports ministry to hold elections and make the appointments by July 6, a court official said.
The sports minister had been using his powers till now to appoint officials to the interim committee.
The court order came after the local United Southern Sports Club filed a fundamental rights petition on behalf of clubs who have not been able to elect officials to the board.
A lack of elected office bearers has often been blamed for problems plaguing the sport in the country.
Australia’s Trevor Bayliss, who recently quit as Sri Lanka coach after a four-year stint with the team, had underlined the need for a strong and stable cricket administration.
“Good teams like Australia usually have got strong or good management backing the team up. That’s an area we can improve here,” he said in his parting comments.
Come with proof for match-fixing in Sri Lankan cricket -Muralitharan and Jayawardene
Hashan Tillakaratne said match-fixing in Sri Lankan cricket has existed since 1992, Muralitharan and Jayawardene were quick to say that the claims should be backed by proof.
Tillakaratne, who played 83 Tests and 200 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in a career spanning 18 years, claimed that his teammates have been involved in match-fixing for almost two decades. The comments from the former batsman drew mixed reactions, with many of his teammates including Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene, besides Sri Lanka Cricket, questioning them and asking him to provide proof.
Tillakaratne, who played 83 Tests and 200 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in a career spanning 18 years, claimed that his teammates have been involved in match-fixing for almost two decades. The comments from the former batsman drew mixed reactions, with many of his teammates including Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene, besides Sri Lanka Cricket, questioning them and asking him to provide proof.
Muttiah Muralitharan
“I don’t know why he said this. If somebody is making such claims, he should first give enough proof to support them, otherwise someone can sue him.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2011.
SLPL teams and Logos
Sri Lanka Premier League(SLPL) Team Names and Logo's
These logos and SLPL team names are not confirmed names. Official SLPL team names and logos will be announce at a media brief in next couple of weeks.
Sri Lanka Premier League Team Logo's,Sri Lanka Premier League Teams,slpl team names,slpl team logos,slpl logos, Sri lankan Premier league team names
Logo's
These logos and SLPL team names are not confirmed names. Official SLPL team names and logos will be announce at a media brief in next couple of weeks.
Sri Lanka Premier League Team Logo's,Sri Lanka Premier League Teams,slpl team names,slpl team logos,slpl logos, Sri lankan Premier league team names
Sri Lanka Cricket Twenty20 league in July and August 2011
Sri Lanka Cricket is organising a Twenty20 league in July and August 2011 featuring their top players as well as internationals from India, Australia, Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa. The tournament, which will have five regional teams led by senior Sri Lankan cricketers, is the latest in a series of Twenty20 leagues, with some degree of international participation, that have been created over the past few years.
The league will be run by the Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment, which won the organisational rights and is now looking at securing a TV deal. It is understood to have approached around 35 international players including Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Yusuf Pathan and Shahid Afridi, and most of Sri Lanka's leading cricketers.
Salaries in the league will be on the lower side; one estimate suggested three salary slabs with the highest at $30,000, which is what a mid-level player would get for each game of the IPL.
The BCCI is understood to have given the league its blessing and the tournament's timing - it will coincide with India's Test series in England - will suit India's limited-overs specialists. An Indian player, who was one of the first to be approached by the organisers, said he was made to understand that the tournament was being held with the approval of the Indian board.
"I was made an offer during last season of Ranji Trophy," the player told ESPNcricinfo. "I did not agree at the time but they [the organisers] said it is not as popular a league as the IPL so money won't be that big. We left it by saying we can talk more as the time goes. Perhaps a new offer could come after the IPL."
While the league will be a lower-profile event compared to other Twenty20 tournaments, it is likely to benefit from the fact that many players will be free from international commitments at that time. It is also likely to draw in several players who are no longer active in international cricket. Shoaib Akhtar is one player who is understood to be a certainty for the tournament and Herschelle Gibbs is also believed to have been approached.
The league will also be a boon for players from Pakistan, who currently are not part of the IPL and whose international exposure has been limited because of security issues.
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