Jayasuriya to play for Warwickshire in the Twenty20

Sanath Jayasuriya has signed up to play for Warwickshire in the English counties’ Twenty20 competition next year, the county announced on Friday.

The 38-year-old announced his retirement from Test cricket earlier this month but plans to continue playing for Sri Lanka in one-day internationals. Ashley Giles, the former England bowler who is now director of cricket at Warwickshire, hailed the signing of Jaysuriya as a coup for the county.

“Sanath has vast experience in all forms of cricket but especially the one day format,” said Giles. “He will be a great for the younger members of our squad to learn from and his knowledge of the game will be crucial in the Twenty20 format of the game.

Sri Lanka wins a thriller against England by 88 runs

Vaas and Murali took three wickets each Wednesday to guide Sri Lanka to an 88-run win in the first Test against England.

A brave innings of 74 from Ian Bell was not enough as England slumped to first Test defeat. The Warwickshire batsman struck his second half-century of the match, after top scoring with 83 first time around.

Muralitharan, who took six wickets in the first innings and broke the world record for Test wickets Monday, struggled in earlier sessions but struck rhythm to dismiss Bell and Prior in consecutive overs.

On Tuesday, Sangakkara became the first batsman to score more than 150 runs in four consecutive Tests, helping Sri Lanka set England a challenging 350-run target. He dominated Sri Lanka’s second innings total of 442-8 declared and finished with 152 off 269 balls, including 19 fours. Sangakkara’s 152 followed his unbeaten 200 and 222 against Bangladesh and 192 against Australia last month. He was named man of the match.

Set an improbable 350-run target, England’s main goal was to bat out the fifth day. Michael Vaughan’s men appeared to be sliding towards an inevitable defeat when they lost their fifth wicket of the day, and sixth overall shortly after lunch. But a defiant seventh-wicket stand between Bell (74) and Prior (63) took the contest deep into the evening session.

Prior was dismissed by one which skidded on in similar manner to the one which did for Paul Collingwood in the first innings and Bell undone by an off-spinner which he over-compensated for.

Then Ryan Sidebottom was adjudged out leg before to Murali with a shocking decision by umpire Aleem Dar as the batsman got a big inside edge on the ball. And England’s fate was sealed when Lasith Malinga bowled Matthew Hoggard to give Sri Lanka its first win over England at Asgiriya Stadium.

Sangakkara’s historic innings puts Lanka in command

Sangakkara’s 152, lucky since Ian Bell dropped a simple chance in the slips when he was on 98, means he has scored one century at least against each of the Test-playing countries.

Eight other batsmen have achieved this feat: Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Gary Kirsten, Rahul Dravid and Marvan Atapattu. You may add Matthew Hayden who has scored Test hundreds off every country except Bangladesh but hit another against the Rest of the World.

It was Sangakkara’s 16th Test hundred and his second in a spell in which he also hit 92 in the first innings of this match and 192 off the Australians. Since he discarded his wicketkeeping gloves he has scored 1,529 runs, including seven centuries, and hit 915 runs in a calendar year which did not begin until July.

Don Bradman would be proud of him. On the ground where he learnt his cricket, backing on to his old school, it must have been a satisfying achievement for the only lawyer turned world class batsman but not the only lawyer with a love of dispute.

He will expect Sri Lanka to capitalise on what he and Murali have done by winning on Wednesday although the weather may play a hand. When Sri Lanka was shot out for 188 an England victory looked a formality but the pressure from a supportive crowd, the excitement generated by Murali’s big day and Sangakkara’s relentless batting has turned the game upside down.

Master Blaster bows out with six boundaries in one over

Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya yesterday announced his retirement from Test cricket after the ongoing match against England and the team manager confirmed his decision. His retirement comes the same day team-mate Muttiah Muralitharan overtook Australian Shane Warne’s world record of 708 wickets to become the most successful Test bowler.

An embrace with his team-mate Kumar Sangakkara as he left the field after being dismissed by Matthew Hoggard all but gave his intentions away. Jayasuriya told reporters after the third day’s play in the first Test which ended with Sri Lanka 74 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand. “But I want to continue playing one-day cricket. I had decided before this match that I will retire after the Kandy Test.”

Samantha Algama of Sri Lanka Cricket told AFP. Jayasuriya marked his last Test innings with a spectacular 78 earlier on Monday, an innings that included six boundaries in one over from James Anderson.

Sana the greatest ambassador for the game… Lanka Page wishes you and your family the very best.

Photo Credits to Flickr

Superman Muttiah takes Warne’s record

Rarely has a sportsman beaten a world record to cries of “freakish genius” or “it’s his defect that’s his secret”. But that was the talk in the early hours today when the Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan overtook Australia’s Shane Warne to become cricket’s leading Test wicket-taker. Playing in front of his home crowd in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in the first of a series of Test matches against England, Muralitharan was four behind Warne’s record tally of 708 Test wickets at the start of the match. When Muralitharan took his fifth wicket – bowling England’s Paul Collingwood – and broke the record, the crowd went wild, setting off firecrackers to mark the historic moment. Family and friends applauded from the stands.

What makes the man “a freakish genius” in the eyes of cricket commentators is that a defect in his elbow from birth means he cannot straighten his arm. In another sport this might have been a drawback, but in cricket it has allowed him – controversially – to break the rule that bowlers must bowl with a straight arm to avoid accusations of throwing the ball.

A second physical abnormality is that he is double-jointed in the wrist, enabling him to rotate his wrist 360 degrees. When he bowls, the back of his hand faces the batsman which means he can disguise which way he’s going to spin the ball.

Muralitharan, 35, had hoped to reach the record on a recent tour of Australia but it wasn’t his finest hour, with figures of 4-400 over two Tests.

“It’s a bigger moment than if I had taken it in Australia,” he said this morning in Kandy. “It’s my hometown, my parents are here, my wife is here… all the relatives are here and all my schoolfriends.”

via ranjith.wijewardenegmail.com

Murali the greatest

Muttiah Muralitharan broke Shane Warne’s world record tally of 708 wickets as Sri Lanka sent England crashing in the first cricket Test. Muralitharan, who went into the match needing five wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful bowler. More…

Wicket! Collingwood b Muralitharan 45

He’s done it! Murali bowls Collingwood through the gate to become the all-time leading Test wicket-taker by. On cue, fans let off fire crackers, hit drums and rise to their feet to applaud the achievement.

via Topix Sri Lanka

Sanath Brand Ambassador for London-based Sri Lankan business

The Mike Cooke Group of Companies, a popular London-based Sri Lankan business group has announced the signing of one of Sri Lanka’s most famous cricketing sons as its global brand ambassador. MCG – which owns Fastcash, the household name in Fast and Secure Money Transfers to Sri Lanka from the UK, as well as a range of other products and services aimed specifically at the global Sri Lankan expatriate community – has obtained the services of none other than Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya, one of the most celebrated and successful cricketers of the modern era.

It is the first such instance of a Sri Lankan corporate entity outside the Island signing on an internationally recognized Lankan sporting icon as a brand ambassador. Jayasuriya will exclusively promote MCG’s array of financial, travel, e-commerce, gift and publishing businesses in the major markets where MCG has a presence, including the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.

Mr. Mike Cooke, commenting on this landmark signing, said, “My roots are in Sri Lanka’s rural heart of Anuradhapura and I take great pride in what my company and I have achieved internationally. This is something I share with Sanath Jayasuriya, a simple boy from Matara, who, today, doesn’t need any introduction to the global Sri Lankan community nor to the international cricket-loving public. Sanath’s image and personality will undoubtedly complement my organization as it expands and consolidates its’ positions in the various sectors that it is involved in.”

For Sanath Jayasuriya, a man who has promoted some of the subcontinent’s most famous brands and has become the face of Sri Lankan cricket around the world, the agreement with MCG is a natural evolution. “MCG has always been at the forefront of the expatriate Sri Lankan community in the United Kingdom and elsewhere and it’s an absolute pleasure to be part of the company’s excellence. The company’s association with me personally and with Sri Lanka cricket as a whole goes back some way. I was invited to be featured on the cover of the first issue of UKLanka Times and of course the company was one of the sponsors of Sri Lanka’s successful tour of the British Isles in 2006.”

Sri Lanka posted the biggest victory in Twenty20 cricket

Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya led the way with 88 off 44 balls and captain Mahela Jayawardene blasted 65 off 28 before Jehan Mubarak smashed an unbeaten 46 from 13 balls at the end.

Left-handed Mubarak took 29 runs off the 19th over bowled by seamer Lameck Ngoche as Sri Lanka surpassed by 39 runs the previous highest total of 221-5 by Australia against England in Sydney earlier this year.

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Winners of the ICC Awards for 2007

Winners of the International Cricket Council (ICC) awards for 2007 which were presented at the Sandton Convention Centre here on Monday night:

Cricketer of the Year:
Ricky Ponting – Australia
Test Player of the Year:
Mohammad Yousuf – Pakistan
Emerging Player of the Year:
Shaun Tait – Australia
Captain of the Year:
Ricky Ponting – Australia
One-day Player of the Year:
Matthew Hayden – Australia
Women’s Cricketer of the Year:
Jhulan Goswami – India
Umpire of the Year:
Simon Taufel – Australia
Spirit of Cricket Award:
Sri Lanka

via Daily Mirror