Not all doom and gloom despite defeat

We came to England with high hopes for the one-day series so it was a huge disappointment to lose 3-2. I thought we played some very good cricket but we had a couple of really poor games as well. Old Trafford was the closest match of the whole series and unfortunately we couldn't do quite enough to get over the line. It wasn't a polished performance from us and there are a lot of areas to improve on. But it's not all doom and gloom. We showed our fighting spirit and almost pulled the game around at the end.

It's actually quite frustrating looking back on the tour and thinking how good it could have been. We lost the Test series because of one session in Cardiff and in the one-day series it was down to a couple of batting collapses at crucial moments. We can't be too disappointed because we played some really good cricket and weren't outplayed for long periods of time. Hopefully the young players will have learned from their experiences in England.

It was definitely a missed opportunity not to make the most of an Old Trafford wicket that suited our style of cricket. But you still have to play a good game of cricket and we made an awful start by giving away too many runs in the first 10 overs. It was always going to be tough for us to come back from that. However, England were looking at getting 350 and we managed to haul them back brilliantly which was a great effort. But we lost the match in the first 10 overs. Despite chasing hard we made too many mistakes.

Our performance at Old Trafford really summed up one of our major problems on the tour when we lost three early wickets in the run-chase and it's something we need to put right. However, on this occasion we felt we had to go quite hard against the new ball so that it was more comfortable for the boys coming in lower down the order. It was always going to be much harder for them to score at seven or eight an over. Angelo Mathews batted really well while Jeevan Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal played superbly and Kumar Sangakkara helped give us a base from where we almost managed to get the total. There is plenty of room to improve but there are promising signs for the future.

One of the key aims of this tour was to try and identify a new group of Sri Lanka cricketers. After the World Cup we knew there would be some changes and we needed to introduce players with an eye on the next tournament in four years time. We have found some really talented players; Dinesh has played superbly and Jeevan has impressed. Angelo has been with us for a while and we knew what he was capable of, but with Chandimal and Mendis we found out more about them and hopefully we can move forward with them. We have some areas we still need to try and fill; we could do with finding some more fast bowlers and another allrounder or two for the next World Cup. These are things we will keep looking out for but the early signs have been really good.

Our captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, had a tough one-day series but I've played enough cricket to realise we all go through slumps in form. He is a fantastic player who can turn matches around on his own and when you remove that kind player from the equation it makes it tough. But Dilshan is a fighter. I'm sure he won't change his game and he'll bounce back.

             

Sangakkara touched on a very sensitive issue, but it's something everyone was talking about back home, not just us here. I think it was a great speech.

       

As a captain I thought he handled things pretty well. It was a big, big tour for him but I think he showed what he was capable of with that hundred at Lord's, which he made with a broken thumb. If it hadn't been for that injury I'm sure his form in the one-day series would have been a lot different. He would have been able to prepare for the series properly but instead he had to wait two weeks while his thumb healed. There were a lot of things that went against him but, overall, there had been a lot of changes to the team after the World Cup and I thought he did really well.

I was back down the order to No. 4 at Old Trafford but I'm not quite sure what my long-term role will now be. These are things we need to keep working on as we introduce youngsters. It was just a tactical decision and it didn't work for us that day, but on another day it will. In the future, I'm going to be very flexible to see what's best for the team. If that means opening the batting I'll be happy to fill that position. It's all about finding the right balance.

Last week I talked about the challenges facing Alastair Cook as he leads England's one-day cricket forward and both he and his team were impressive in the last two matches. It will take time for him to settle into the captaincy and also for the other players to work around him. They have some quality players in that middle order and everyone has to find their individual roles and then be consistent with that. Cook is a very good player, he's proved that in Test cricket and it's a great challenge to bring that to one-day cricket.

One of major talking points that came up during the series was Kumar's MCC Spirit of Cricket Lecture. I wasn't at the actual event, but know how long he spent writing the speech between the matches. I listened to it afterwards and it was very impressive. A lot of people have taken an interest. It was a bit controversial in places but said some important things about Sri Lanka cricket and what it means to people. He touched on a very sensitive issue, but it's something everyone was talking about back home, not just us here. I think it was a great speech.

We are finishing the tour with a couple of matches in Scotland, but our next major series is against Australia at home. We fancy our chances against anyone in our own conditions, which we see as a fortress. We are very confident and it will be more great exposure for the younger guys who learnt so much on this tour of England. We'll need to be at our best to beat the Australians but we are looking forward to the challenge. There should be some really interesting cricket coming up in the next few months. Hopefully we can kick-start our Test and one-day form back in Sri Lanka. This has been a tough tour but enjoyable and we need to learn lessons from it.

Chandimal, Gunaratne carry Ruhuna to win

ESPNcricinfo staff

July 21, 2011


Ruhuna kicked-off the Sri Lanka Cricket Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Tournament with a convincing 40-run win against Kandurata at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Being asked to bat, Ruhuna put on a competitive 154 for 7, driven by a knock of 63 off 53 balls by Dinesh Chandimal. The chase was off to a terrible start, as offpinner Janaka Gunaratne - who opened the bowling for Ruhuna - and some poor running combined to reduce Kandurata to 4 for 3 in the fourth over. Kandurata didn't recover, slipping to 27 for 5 and 30 for 6, before a rapid, unbeaten 55 from No. 8 Farveez Maharoof carried them to a respectable 114 for 7 in 20.

In the other game of the day at the same venue, Wayamba gained a point against Basnahira by winning a bowl-out, after the match was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled.

Sri Lanka A set tough run chase

ESPNcricinfo staff

July 22, 2011


Sri Lanka 176 and 71 for 1 need 392 more runs to beat Leicestershire 341 and 297 for 8 dec
Scorecard

Sri Lanka A face a huge final-day run chase after being set 463 by Leicestershire although started briskly to reach 71 for 1 despite losing a wicket to the first ball of their second innings.

Leicestershire built their lead at a steady pace with useful contributions throughout the order. Greg Smith hit 67 and took his second-wicket stand with James Taylor to 102 before Sri Lanka staged a mini fightback.

Four wickets fell for 37, including two to offspinner Sachithra Senanayake, but Leicestershire's advantage was always substantial. It was further extended by Wayne White (57) and Tom New (62) as they added 129 in 28 overs to take the game away from the visitors.

Sri Lanka didn't get the solid start they needed to the chase as Malinda Warnapura was caught behind first ball off Nadeem Malik but Lahiru Thirimanne, who was part of the recent Test side that toured England, and Bhanuka Rajapaksascore freely during a truncated final session.

RUMESH RATNAYAKE APPOINTED AS HEAD COACH FOR AUSTRALIAN SERIES 15 July 2011

Minister of Sports Honorable Mahindananda Aluthgamage has approved the appointment of former Sri Lankan Test and One day player, Rumesh Ratnayake as Sri Lanka’s Head coach for the forthcoming Test, One day and T20 series against the Australians.
Ratnayake made his Test debut against New Zealand in 1982-1983 at Christchurch. He took 73 Test wickets in a career which spanned 26 Test Matches.
Rumesh Ratnayake with his whippy action, lively pace and bounce was Sri Lanka’s strike bowler during his playing days. He made his ODI debut against the Indians in Bangalore in 1982, and captured 76 ODI Wickets in his illustrious career, which ended in December 1993.

Rumesh Ratnayake was a member of the Sri Lanka Team that won its first ever Test in 1985, after the Country gained Test status in 1982. He is a recipient of two level three coaching certificates, level 3 Australia in 2009, and ACC level 3 in 2010. Rumesh is currently an Asia Cricket Council development officer, domiciled in Malaysia.

Ramith-‘OBSERVER SCHOOLBOY CRICKETER’ OF THE YEAR 2011

Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2011 is Ramith Rambukwella

As in the previous years the’ Observer Schoolboy cricketer of the year 2011’ was selected by sending coupons appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper. Ramith Rambukwella, of Royal College, the son of the Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella was elected the winner of the coveted trophy. It is pertinent to mentioned that he had polled 50,000 more votes that the amount of votes polled by the runner- up

Canucks Vs. Predators, Game 4: Ryan Kesler Becomes The Hero In Vancouver's 4-2 Victory

Ryan Kesler hadn't scored in the playoffs before heading to Nashville. The land of honky-tonk bars and neon dreams has served Kesler well as he has three goals in two games including two game winning goals for the Canucks. His second game winning goal in two nights have given the Canucks a 4-2 victory in Game 4 and a 3-1 series lead over the Predators.
Nashville's Cody Franson scored his first career playoff goal early in the third on a puck that couldn't even be seen by the television cameras. David Legwand set the play up behind the net and found Cody Franson at the blue line. Franson wound up and shot the puck which went in the net, but was lost by Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo and all of the television cameras in the building.
Vancouver regained the lead off of a Ryan Kesler goal at the 7:28 mark of the third period on a Ryan Kesler goal. Kesler entered the zone on the powerplay and powered his way past two Nashville defensemen and found a open spot to beat Pekka Rinne. It is Kesler's second game winning goal, his first of the playoffs coming on the powerplay in Game 3. The Canucks sealed the deal with an empty net goal late in the third period.
The Canucks offense outshot the Predators 28-21 in the game and winning goaltender Roberto Luongo made 19 saves in the win. In the loss, Pekka Rinne made 25 saves.

Royal in a thriller

In a match that swung vigorously from side to side , Royal pulled off a hard fought 11 points (1 try and 2 penalties) to 10 (2 tries) win over Isipathana to regain the Major Milroy Fernando Memorial Trophy at the Royal Sports Complex grounds yesterday.

Royal captain and Number 8 Shehan Pathirana tries to break off from a tackle by a Isipathana player. An incident in the Royal-Isipathana school rugby encounter which Royal won 11-10 to regain the Milroy Fernando Trophy at the Royal Sports Complex grounds yesterday. Pic: Kavindra Perera

Royal almost handed over the game on a platter to their opponents when in the second half while working their three quarter line a Royal player dropped the ball and a Isipathana player booted the loose ball into the Royal territory and Mekalanka Pramod fell over a to score a unconverted try.
With the score reading 11-10 in favour of Royal , Isipathana had their last chance to push for a win but the last minute penalty was missed by Prashan Attanayake.
Isipathana ran the ball and made full use of possession at every opportunity and at times poor ball handling at crucial moments deprived them from scoring.
Royal played with their forwards, but could not make much headway due to some effective tackling by Isipathana. During the major part of the first half Royal defence looked fragile but Isipathana could not really capitalise on it.
Isipathana missed their first scoring opportunity when skipper Prasad Devinda missed a relatively easy thirty five meter penalty. Then Mekalanka Pramod covered good ground to touch down claiming a try, but referee Pradeep Fernando disallowed it due to knocking on.
Arshad Jamaldeen missed an easy 25 meter penalty for Royal and both teams were trying hard to break the dead lock.
Finally Isipathana managed to draw first blood through their winger Mekalanka Pramod who touched down for an unconverted try and Isipathana led 5-0. Isipathana should have added another three points to their tally not for skipper Prasad Devinda failing to put over a penalty. Arshad Jamaldeen reduced the deficit 3-5 by firing over a penalty.
Isipathana led 5-3 at the breather.
On resumption Jamaldeen put over another penalty for Royal to take the lead 6-5.
Royal playing with better cohesion scored their first try when Arshad Jamaldeen's cross kick was followed by the winger and skipper Shehan Pathirana who gave the finishing touches falling over. Jamaldeen missed a difficult conversion.
During the mid second half Royal made a costly mistake when their three quarters dropped the ball near their goal line and a Isipathana player Mekalanka Pramod booted the ball and fell over.
Play was held up in semi darkness due to a section of the crowd throwing objects at the side referee soon after a Isipathana player was sent off the field.
When play resumed Isipathana was awarded a penalty and their last chance of winning faded away when Attanayake fluffed with the kick.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade Destroy Celtics Down the Stretch to Help Heat Take 2-0 Series Lead

IAMI -- With seven minutes left in the Celtics' Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Miami Heat, they had a clean slate and a chance to steal a difficult road win from the South Beach behemoth.
It was 80-80. After all the minor injuries, all the scoreless stretches and all the explosions of athleticism and scoring from LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, it was even-steven. All the Celtics needed was one last push to pull off a comeback win, tie the series 1-1, and head home with a chance to pull away.

Instead, they watched the Heat go off for a 14-0 run, and they're headed back to Boston with their tail between their legs, down 2-0.

"They scored and we couldn't score," Doc Rivers said. "Honestly, let's just simplify it.

"I always say that if we can't score down the stretch, that's always on me. I've got to do something different. I've got to go to Paul [Pierce] more. I've got to get Ray [Allen] more shots. But I've got to tell you, for me today was tough, because I didn't know who the hell was healthy."

That's pretty much where the Celtics stand right now -- aside from being defeated twice in Miami on the scoreboard, they're also looking defeated physically. Rajon Rondo battled back pain on Tuesday night, Pierce left early with a strained foot, and Allen revealed postgame that he needed medical attention Tuesday night after taking a hard elbow from James and feeling short of breath. Not to mention a certain 39-year-old Hall of Fame-bound big man.

The C's had been through a lot in 41 minutes on Tuesday night. They just didn't have enough left in the tank for the final seven.

Between the 7:09 and 3:19 marks in the fourth quarter, the Celtics went without a single point. They tried to get the ball inside, but at a certain point it just wasn't happening for them. They started settling for jumpers, they kept missing, and the discouragement just kept building.

Meanwhile, LeBron and Wade were slicing and dicing the Celtics' defense, cruising late to a 102-91 win. This much has been proven -- if the game is reduced to a battle of individual scorers, then you might as well anoint the Heat now.

"We're not winning that way," Rivers said. "I told you that before the series started. We're not a one-on-one basketball team. I think Paul may be the only one, really, that can beat guys on his own. But they're going to send help, usually with Rondo's guy, making it difficult for him to do that. That's just not who we are."

The Celtics' 2-0 deficit is no fluke. Through two games, they've been the far inferior team. They went into enemy territory and got outplayed by two fantastic players thriving in front of their home crowd. Wade had 38 points in Game 1, James had 35 in Game 2. They haven't just been hot, right now, they're just better.

The C's have never been down 2-0 in the Big Three era. The last time Boston trailed a postseason series after two games, it was the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2004, against the Pacers. Back before Jermaine O'Neal was a Celtic, James Jones was on the Heat and Reggie Miller was on TNT, they teamed up to sweep Boston in the playoffs.

For this group? This is a totally new situation. And it's one that they'll have to stew in for the next three days.

"I've learned over the course of my life and my career that the adversity that we face is ultimately what makes us who we are," Allen said. "That's why we're all here. Being down 2-0 doesn't scare any of us. It doesn't make us nervous. It's just an opportunity to come out and shine. We have an opportunity to go home and play in front of our crowd and put some good basketball out there."

The layoff -- Game 3 isn't until 8 p.m. Saturday -- couldn't possibly come at a better time. The Celtics need a few days to erase the effects of these first two games, both physically and mentally, and as luck would have it those days are on the schedule.

The Celtics are down. Soon, they might be out. But they have some time to refresh themselves and refocus for what's ahead.

"The rest is good," Rivers said. "It's very good for us, because we are a little banged up. Tomorrow I told them to go golfing, go do whatever they want to do. Stay away from each other, stay away from film, and just stay away from basketball. Just relax. Then we'll get right back at it on the next day and build up until Game 3. Game 3 will be in Boston, and we like being in Bosto