Paul Farbrace likely to be Sri Lanka's next coach

Colombo, Dec 7: Sri Lanka Cricket is set to hold talks with Englishman Paul Farbrace with a view to appointing him as incumbent head coach Graham Ford's successor. Ford is to leave the Sri Lanka job in January to be with the English county Surrey. SLC executive committee has decided that the governing body should have a discussion with Paul Farbrace, as he had shown an interest to take over the job, the Board said in a statement. Farbrace, 46, a former Kent and Middlesex player served as Sri Lanka's assistant coach to Trevor Bayliss between July 2007 and August 2009. More famously, he was part of the Sri Lanka set up when the team bus came under a terrorist attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore in March 2009. Sri Lanka for months had been looking for a successor to Ford. The names doing the rounds include Greg Chappell, Steve Rixon, Peter Moores, Venkatesh Prasad, Marvan Atapattu, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Ruwan Kalpage
- PTI

Read more at: http://www.thatscricket.com/news/2013/12/07/paul-farbrace-likely-be-sri-lanka-s-next-coach-070133.html

Sri Lankan fast bowler Sylvester Dias dies aged 76

Sylvester Dias, a fast bowler who played first class cricket in Sri Lanka in the 1960s, has died aged 76 following a brief illness.

Dias had to compete for a place in the Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) team alongside bowlers of the calibre of Darrell Lieversz, Norton Fredrick and Ian Pieris. Although branded a matting pitch bowler and finishing with just five first-class games to his name, Dias made a fine impression on first-class debut for Sri Lanka Board President's XI against Imtiaz Ahmed's Pakistan team in 1964 at the P Sara Oval. Dias, Fredrick and Pieris formed a formidable fast-bowling combination to rout the strong Pakistan batting line up for totals of 157 and 112. Following his success against Pakistan, Dias was selected to tour India with the Ceylon side led by Michael Tissera in 1964-65, but couldn't break into the XI.

India meet Sri Lanka for the 41st time in ODIs since 2008

Sri Lanka's 20-run win over defending champions Australia on Monday has set up an ICC Champions Trophy semi-final date with the team they have played the most in ODIs in the last five years - India. Fans of the two teams can be forgiven for looking at Thursday's match

Since July 2008, India have played Sri Lanka 40 times in ODI cricket. In those 40 matches against Sri Lanka, India have won 24 times, lost 14 matches, tied one and contested one no-result.

Australian and Sri Lankan players officially made peac

Australian and Sri Lankan players officially made peace following a fiery end to their final Twenty20 international won by the tourists off the last ball, Cricket Australia said yesterday.
They also sought to play down the angry exchanges as the two sides walked off the pitch after Sri Lanka won by two runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Cricket Australia admitted the rain-hit match finished with "ugly scenes" but stressed "both teams apologised".
Trouble erupted when allrounder Glenn Maxwell, needing four runs from the final ball to clinch victory for Australia, told the Sri Lankans, in no uncertain terms, to get on with it.
Sri Lanka veteran Mahela Jayawardene, who earlier hit an unbeaten 61, yelled back at Maxwell. After the last ball was finally delivered the pair jostled in an angry face-to-face exchange.
Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and captain George Bailey also bickered with Jayawardene and bowler Thisara Perera during the on-field handshakes.
"I went into the Sri Lankan rooms after and they apologised for going over the top. All good," Maxwell said on Twitter.
He also admitted yesterday he too had been at fault.
"Just to clarify... I apologised to Mahela and SL players as well. I have a good friendship with Mahela, and it's gonna stay that way!"
Australian captain George Bailey put the dispute down to "passion mate" and "heat of the moment".
"People care about the game and care about the way they play," he said.
"I know we get along very well with this side. Even just the chats there coming off, I think it's all just heat-of-the-moment stuff.
"But I think what you're seeing is individuals and teams that are pretty keen to win."
Jayawardene agreed. "To be honest it was just the heat of the moment. Things happen and you exchange a few words," he told reporters.
"They play it hard and we play it hard. After the game you are friends."
The tourists won the first T20 match by five wickets at the Sydney Olympic Stadium on Saturday night.
The one-day series was drawn 2-2 after Australia took the test series 3-0.

Sanath Jayasuriya head of new selection commitee national team

Sri Lanka's cricket legend Sanath Jayasuriya has been made the head of a new five-member selection panel for the national team, Sri Lanka Cricket announced.

The 43-year-old star from the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lankan team said he was keen to encourage younger players after he was confirmed in the new role on Monday.

“I am looking forward to start a new journey with young talent to steer Sri Lanka cricket to the winning streak without hurting anyone,” Jayasuriya told the state-run Daily News in comments published Tuesday.

The former captain is now a member of parliament representing the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

He played 110 Tests, 445 one-day internationals and 31 Twenty20 matches during his career.

The others in the selection board are: Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Hemantha Wickremarathne, Chaminda Mendis and Eric Upashantha.

Sapa-AFP