Category: Sports

NEW DELHI, February 17, 2011 (AFP) – Canadian rocker Bryan Adams helps kickstart the 2011 cricket World Cup on Thursday at the tournament’s opening ceremony, marking the start of a gruelling six-week sporting marathon. The 10th edition of the showpiece event is being launched in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, joint hosts of the 14-team competition […]

February 17, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan batsman Chamara Silva is likely to miss his team’s opening World Cup match, due to a death in his family, an official said Thursday. Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and 2007 runners-up, face Canada in their first match at the newly-built Mahinda Rajapakse Stadium in the southern town […]

February 12, 2011 (AFP) – Hosts Sri Lanka proved far too strong for minnows Netherlands, posting a crushing 156-run victory in a morale-boosting World Cup warm-up match on Saturday. Sri Lanka, runners-up at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, scored 351-5 off their allotted 50 overs even without prolific run-getters Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela […]

February 12, 2011 (AFP) – While the media of every country usually backs its team, a Sri Lankan newspaper columnist has urged the national squad not to win the World Cup — for the greater good of the nation. “Call me a traitor, a quisling… anything. I don’t want Sri Lanka to be the champions […]

February 12, 2011 (AFP) – Record-breaking Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan goes into his fourth and final World Cup praying that he ends his glorious international career on a high. “In the end, it boils down to the team that takes it one match at a time.” “My role for this World Cup is to […]

LONDON, February 9, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan will play for Gloucestershire’s Twenty20 side after agreeing a two-year deal with the English county, it was announced Wednesday. “Whenever I have watched and observed Murali he has always had and shown an infectious love for the game of cricket. This is something […]

February 10, 2011 (AFP) – Heavy monsoon rains have forced the International Cricket Council to move World Cup warm-up matches from Sri Lanka’s Pallekele stadium, tournament organisers said Thursday. Sri Lanka has been hit by monsoon downpours since December hampering preparation of the pitches at the newly-built Pallekele venue in the island’s central district. Pallekele […]

SYDNEY, February 8, 2011 (AFP) – Legendary Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan is to take a guest coaching role at Australia’s top cricket academy in a bid to revamp the nation’s spin hopes, reports said Tuesday. Muralitharan, the world’s leading wicket-taker in both Tests and one-dayers, would spend several weeks at Cricket Australia’s Centre of […]

February 6, 2011 (AFP) – Ajantha Mendis and Thisara Perera shared seven wickets as Sri Lanka posted a 26-run win over the West Indies in the third one-day international on Sunday to clinch the series 2-0. Sri Lanka showed the depth of their bowling line-up by defending their total of 277-9 and restricting the tourists […]

LONDON, February 4, 2011 (AFP) – British prosecutors charged Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer as well as an agent with corruption offences on Friday as an alleged spot-fixing scandal headed towards the courts. The charges relate to alleged incidents during a Test match against England at Lord’s last year, when Britain’s […]

February 3, 2011 (AFP) – Upul Tharanga cracked an unbeaten 101 to steer Sri Lanka to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over the West Indies in the second one-day international on Thursday. The left-handed opener hit seven fours in his ninth one-day century as Sri Lanka achieved a rain-revised target of 197 with more than four […]

NEW DELHI, January 29, 2011 (AFP) – The International Cricket Council on Saturday rejected a request to keep Eden Gardens in Kolkata as the venue for next month’s World Cup clash between India and England. The ICC sparked a logistical nightmare for organisers on Thursday by asking for an alternative stadium for the February 27 […]