Sri Lanka

So, England can’t play cricket in the Sub-Continent, still only one test series win in Sri-Lanka in their history. After a string of bent arm mystery spinners and seam picking Pakistani bowlers and bat all day Indians to face over the decades England have all but given up winning there, a 1-1 draw retaining their world number one spot but only just. They have not only lost confidence in playing spin (and for the ICC to do anything about the bent arm cheaters) but in themselves as the punishing heat and a dose or two of the trots have sent them into a downward spiral. The summer series against ... more

Yes, yes, I'm Sri Lankan. Cricket is a passion, and since the (in)famous tour of Australia in 1995/96, they're suddenly a serious team. I'm writing this as I'm on a high, as Jayasuriya's men have just won the Kandy test against West Indies, after losing in Kandy against South Africa, England and India (!) Yes, so we needed Muralitharan to take another 10 wickets to help us win, but hey! He is one of the world's best right now (and YES, his action is perfectly legal!) He's got 371 Test wickets, compared to 410 for Shane Warne, and I'd back him to get to 500 before Warney. I'd back Sri Lanka to ... more

One of the newer test nations, formerly known as 'Ceylon', Sri Lanka have been a real force in world cricket on and off since their surprise success in the 1996 World Cup. I will focus more on limited overs cricket, given that they are presently in the middle of a one-day international series with India and have generally had most of their success as a cricketing team in that format. What people associate mostly with Sri Lanka as a country is their exports. The country are major producers and exporters of Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Coconuts. Add into the equation friendly locals and some ... more

Sri Lanka have been following their disappointing tour of South Africa with better performances in New Zealand. When they return home they will find the England touring party their next opponents already in the country preparing for the test and one-day series. There is no doubt that the South African tour was hugely disappointing and a 3-0 series whitewash was compounded by the fact that the defeats in the second and final tests were by such a huge margin. During this series Sri Lanka found it impossible to post large scores and also had little bowling back up for Muttiah Muralitharan. This ... more

It was a massive shock back in 1996 when Sri Lanka, having never gone beypnd the group stage, won the cricket world cup in India and Pakistan. Then they really did have some great players, like De Silva, Jayasuriya and Ranatunga. These days De Silva is out of favour but still has what it takes, like the century against England, but Ranatunga, the influential captain has gone, and they rely too much on Muralitharan and Jayasuriya. Muralitharan is an amazing spinner who has come through some very difficult times, when he was accused of being a thrower in Australia, and now Sri Lanka rely on him ... more