Category: Sports

LONDON, May 31, 2009 (AFP) – Lasith Malinga is such an integral part of Sri Lanka’s fast bowling arsenal that it needed the nation’s president to intervene and ensure he was fit for the World Twenty20s in England. The bowler with the rare sling-arm action, whose toe-crushing yorkers have tested the world’s finest batsmen, sat […]

JOHANNESBURG, May 25, 2009 (AFP) – Commissioner Lalit Modi claimed after Sunday’s final that the Indian Premier League had become a global phenomenon.The claim might have been a touch extravagant, but there could be no doubt that the second version of cricket’s richest tournament, moved at short notice from India to South Africa, contributed to […]

May 05, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised salaries of cricketers and doubled the number of players under contract, an official said. Sri Lanka A Squad: Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Tharanga Paranavithana, Malinga Bandara, Rangana Herath, Dammika Prasad, Chamara Silva, Mahela Udawatte, Gihan Rupasinghe, Suranga Lakmal, Kaushal Silva, Chanaka Welegedara, Isuru Udana, Chaminda Vidanapathirana, Dinesh Deshapriya […]

PORT ELIZABETH, May 3, 2009 (AFP) – Mahela Jayawardene struck an unbeaten 52 to guide Kings XI Punjab to a nail-biting six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday. The Sri Lankan batsman hit seven fours in his 41-ball knock as Punjab surpassed Kolkata’s competitive 153-3 in a last-ball […]

April 16, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan cricketers will be wary, changed men when they line-up at the IPL, their first foreign assignment since they were caught up in the bloodbath of Lahore. On March 3, gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus en route for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan […]

CANBERRA, April 14, 2009 (AFP) – Australia’s Senate will this week examine a critical dispute between sports administrators and global media over the use of digital technology to cover sporting events. The issue has become increasingly controversial, sparking media boycotts of major events as sports bodies seek to impose strict conditions on how games are […]

NEW DELHI, March 23, 2009 (AFP) – Organisers of the Indian Premier League scrambled on Monday to find an emergency venue for the lucrative cricket tournament after security fears forced them to abandon the event’s home nation.England and South Africa are regarded as the front-runners to host the IPL’s glitzy Twenty20 games from April 10 […]

March 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara and star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan say they want security guarantees on future tours after their team survived an attack in Pakistan.The Sri Lankan team bus was ambushed by armed militants in Lahore on March 3 as it drove towards the Gaddafi stadium during […]

LONDON, March 13, 2009 (AFP) – The England and Wales Cricket Board are to review the manner in which they assess potential investors following the collapse of their deal with controversial financier Allen Stanford.The ECB came in for heavy criticism after Stanford was implicated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a multi-billion dollar […]

MELBOURNE, March 10, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka cricket coach Trevor Bayliss voiced fears on Tuesday that extremists would target next year’s Commonwealth Games in India and backed criticism of security arrangements in Pakistan. He supported criticism from match officials travelling in a minibus behind Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore that security was inadequate. […]

MELBOURNE, March 9, 2009 (AFP) – Outspoken Australian umpire Darrell Hair labelled ICC chief Haroon Lorgat a bully Monday for telling officials caught in the Lahore attack to be “more rational” about their experience. Australian umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis have complained that Pakistan failed to protect them when gunmen opened fire as they […]

March 8, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has hired psychologists to help its national cricket team overcome the trauma they suffered in the militant attacks in Pakistan, a doctor said Sunday. The four specialists would work “to mentally boost our cricketers, help them heal their mental scars and overcome the tragedy,” Geethanjana Mendis, head of […]