Cricket

One of the favourites for the trophy, Sri Lanka kickstart their World Cup campaign against minnows Canada, well aware that any slip-up could cause embarrassment at the hands of a side which would be eager to prove its worth at the biggest stage of cricket here on Sunday.

The two sides will face off at the new Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, located in the south of the island nation.

There were serious concerns whether the construction at the venue would be ready on time but after missing the ICC deadline by more than two months, the organizers managed to complete the venue just ahead of the match.

Sri Lanka will miss the services of middle-order batsman Chamara Silva, who had to remain in Colombo to attend to a death in the family. Silva will rejoin the squad on Monday in Colombo.

Sri Lanka are one of the favourites to win the World Cup, but captain Kumar Sangakkara said he’s not looking too far ahead. Sangakkara said he prefers to take one game at a time.

“More than the last match (final), we need to do well in the first match which is tomorrow. That’s the most important thing. Our job is to try and win the first game more than try and win the tournament,” Sangakkara said.

“You can’t take Canada lightly. If you take the warm up game they played against England, they lost only by 16 runs. Every team raises the game when the World Cup comes and we need to raise our game and if we do that we can do well,” Sangakkara reminded.

The Sri Lankans will go into the game without knowing what the conditions will offer. None of their players have played at the venue, which has hosted two domestic games and another between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Pakistan ‘A’.

“This is the second time we are coming here and when we see the ground, it looks nice. When I got down, I was surprised to see the progress they have made. We trained at the ground and there doesn’t seem to be any issues. We need to play well whatever the conditions that we get,” Sangakkara said.

The Sri Lankan captain who has played in two World Cup tournaments will be leading the side for the first time. “It’s a great privilege and an honour, not just to captain a World Cup team, but to captain this particular team. They are a wonderful bunch of guys and the best we have in Sri Lanka,” he said.

The hosts are likely to play two spinners with Ajantha Mendis partnering Muttiah Murlaitharan. Nuwan Kulasekara is likely to share the new ball with Lasith Malinga.

Canada, on the other hand, have played in three World Cups including the last two, but haven’t won a game since beating Bangladesh in the 2003 edition.

Their only previous World Cup game against Sri Lanka was in the same tournament in South Africa and it lasted just 140 deliveries as Canada were bowled out for 36 runs, the second lowest total in ODI cricket.

There’s a lot of Sri Lankan influence in the Canadian side as the team is coached by former Lankan wicketkeeper Pubudu Dassanayake.

Former opener Chandika Haturusinghe is the assistant coach of the side and he would have a fair knowledge about the opposition as he was an assistant coach of the Sri Lankan team until last year.

Ruvindu Gunasekara, who is a 19-year-old left-handed batsman, was born in Sri Lanka and played school cricket for St. Peter’s College in Colombo before migrating to Canada. “I think losing Haturusinghe is a big loss to Sri Lankan cricket. He’s one of the best coaches that I have worked with. Canada will benefit hugely by having him,” Sangakkara said.

The Teams (from):

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath.

Canada: Ashish Bagai (Captain), Rizwan Cheema, Harvir Baidwan, Nitish Kumar, Hiral Patel, Tyson Gordon, Henry Osinde, John Davison, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Parth Desai, Karl Whatham, Khurram Chohan, Jimmy Hansra, Zubin Surkari and Balaji Rao.

Australian captain Michael Clarke again failed with the bat as his side lost their first Twenty20 game at home in their one-off international against Sri Lanka at the WACA Ground in Perth on Sunday.

After winning the toss and batting first, the home side, featuring only four players expected to play key roles in the upcoming Ashes series, struggled to 8/133, after slumping to 5/43 in the 11th over.

Sri Lanka cruised to 3/133 in reply, winning with 21 balls to spare, inflicting Australia’s first home defeat in 11 matches.

Clarke went into the game under pressure to retain his spot in the Australian side in the shortest form of the game, as he is averaging just over 20 in the format.

He promoted himself to the top of the order and the move very nearly backfired on the second ball he faced, with an inside edge just missing the stumps.

Clarke should then have been run out on two, when he was sent back by strike Dave Warner and was well out of his ground as the throw by Tillakaratne Dilshan from close range somehow missed.

The 29-year-old briefly looked as if he would capitalise on the good fortune, hitting Dilhara Fernando through mid-wicket for four, before lofting Muttiah Muralitharan, playing his last game in Perth, down the ground for six in the next over.

But on 16, his luck ran out when he lobbed a mistimed drive off Thisara Perera (2/22) down to long on, where a back-pedalling Dilhara Fernando – who had started the Australian rot when he had Warner caught at mid-off for two – misjudged the flight of the ball but stuck out his right hand to cleanly snare a remarkable catch.

Clarke had faced 19 balls, and his departure left the home side struggling at 2/22.

It got much worse though, with Perera then claiming Test opener Shane Watson for four and David Hussey (7) and Cameron White (8) both going cheaply as Australia collapsed to 5/43.

Brad Haddin (35) and Steven Smith (34) then came to the rescue, their 66-run partnership at least giving Australia a modestly competitive total to defend, before both fell in quick succession to Suraj Randiv, who impressed with 3/25 with his off-spinners.

The Sri Lankans had few problems overhauling the total, with captain Kumar Sangakkara unbeaten on 44 and Dilshan making 41.

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The one-off T20 between Australia and Sri Lanka will be played at Perth on Sunday, October 31. This will be followed by a three ODI series, that should lead the Aussies into the Ashes 2010. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are playing in their first international fixture since winning the tri-series in August but the couple of warm-up games in Australia should have helped.

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Sri Lanka had a good start to their tour of Australia when they won the two warm-up games against New South Wales and Queensland. While playing against the main Australian side in Australia will be a different kettle of fish, this could just be their best chance to win a game or two in Australia.

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Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is looking forward to next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 which will be staged in the Indian sub-continent after a span of one and a half decades.

“The Cricket World Cup is the ultimate limited overs competition for a cricketer as it happens only once in four years. The entire cricketing fraternity eagerly waits for this event and when it starts, everyone gets deeply involved,” said Tendulkar, who will become the most capped Test batsman when he plays against Sri Lanka in his 169th match tomorrow.

“It’s a completely different feeling to be part of a Cricket World Cup where the atmosphere and the buzz is very special and to be staged in the sub-continent for the first time in 15 years is a magnificent feeling,” added the Indian batting maestro.

With the World Cup to be co-hosted by India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said winning the the show-piece event on home soil is his biggest dream.

“It can’t get any bigger than the ICC Cricket World Cup in which the best of the best enter with just one objective to take home the Cup that counts,” the Indian skipper said.

“It’s not only my dream to be a Cricket World Cup winner but it’s the wish of every member of Team India to put his hand on the Cricket World Cup trophy. We’ll work as hard as possible to turn our dreams into reality,” Dhoni said.

“This trophy has been eluding us for the past 27 years and I think we have a very good chance at home to break the drought,” he added.

With 200 days to go before the first ball is bowled in the World Cup, the ICC today announced the event mascot’s name as ‘Stumpy’ at the P Sara stadium here ahead of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka starting tomorrow.

The mascot, an elephant, has been named ‘Stumpy’ after an online selection process that drew proposals from thousands of cricket fans around the world.

The lucky winner will receive a cricket bat signed by the all-star quartet of Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sri Lanka’ captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena.

“This is another milestone in the build-up to our flagship event and it’s great to see the game’s best players like Mahendra, Kumar, Sachin and Mahela looking forward to the ICC Cricket World Cup with such enthusiasm,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

“As the excitement builds over the coming 200 days, we will see Stumpy throughout the cricket world, promoting the event and generating enthusiasm,” he said.

The mascot of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, which is an elephant, has been named Stumpy. The name was unveiled in Colombo on Monday.

This is the second elephant mascot. The first was Appu, the baby elephant, in 1982 for the Asian Games in New Delhi.

The International Cricket Council had launched an online competition to suggest names for the mascot of the next year’s mega-event to be held in the sub-continent.

ICC has tried to imbibe morals of an ideal player into the mascot’s personality by stating that the mascot believes in hard work and is always learning to master the art of concentration.

ICC had said the mascot is someone who is young and enthusiastic, and determined individual.

He is someone who thinks cricket is the most fun game in the world and loves playing street cricket. He worships his cricket heroes, their technique, skill and character and dreams of playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup one day.

The first match of the World Cup will be played in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 19 next year and the final is scheduled to be held in Mumbai on April 2.

The Asia Cup ODI tournament will be held in Sri Lanka from June 16 to 25 this year.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Syed Ashraful Huq told The Hindu here that only the four Test playing nations of Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – would take part in the event. Ashraful, in the city to hold discussions with BCCI Secretary N. Srinivasan, said The matches will be staged in Colombo and Premadasa Stadium is the likely venue. In all there will be six league games and the final.

In the last edition of the Asia Cup, we had Hong Kong and UAE in the tournament but we had to shorten the format this time because of the lack of time available for the major teams.

He admitted Malaysia was in contention to host the championship. Yes, Malaysia was in the running. Eventually, the ACC has settled for Sri Lanka.

This will be the fourth occasion Sri Lanka will be hosting the tournament begun in 1984. They played host in 1986, 1997 and 2004 and won the final on each occasion.

The 2010 version is the tenth edition of the Asia Cup. Sri Lanka are the present holders of the trophy having won it in 2008 when Pakistan hosted it. They beat India by 100 runs in the final played at Karachi. Sri Lanka has appeared in every final since the tournament`s inception except the first when it was decided on a round-robin league.

Sri Lanka and India have won the Asia Cup the most occasions four each and Pakistan once. Bangladesh, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates have yet to lay their hands on the trophy.

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Ogilvy & Mather has been selected as the official Advertising and Media Agency for the 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup to be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh next year.

In 1948, David Ogilvy founded the agency that went on to become Ogilvy & Mather later. The company is eighth largest advertising networks in the world and has more than 450 plus offices in 169 cities.

The 10th edition of the World Cup will take place during February and March 2011, with the first match being played on February 19th in Dhaka and final in Mumbai on April 2nd.

It will be Bangladesh’s first time co-hosting of a World Cup and fourteen cricketing nations will complete in the quadrennial event.

The World Cup was also to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.

The tournament will take place at 13 venues in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The prize money for the prestigious event has been set by the ICC Board at a record $10 million in order to reflect the importance of the competition.

Tickets for the premium event will go on sale online from June 1, 2010 at www.iccevents.yahoo.com.

New Zealand are likely to play international matches against Sri Lanka in the United States after striking a partnership with American administrators.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Justin Vaughan on Saturday confirmed a “strategic partnership” had been formed with USA Cricket.

It is likely the New Zealand team will play three games against Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, Florida in late May following the Twenty20 World Cup hosted by the West Indies.

Vaughan stressed the games — the type of matches were not specified — were not yet confirmed but was “optimistic” they would take place.

Sri Lanka recalled left-arm paceman Chanaka Welegedara to their squad on Tuesday for the test series in India next month.

Welegedara, 28, made his debut against England in 2007 but lost his place after suffering problems with his run-up.

Uncapped wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva and middle-order batsman Thilina Kandamby were also named in the test squad.

All-rounder Muthumudalige Pushpakumara is a new face in the Twenty20 squad while fast bowler Dilhara Fernando has been recalled to the one-day party after returning from injury, taking the place of Dammika Prasad.

Sri Lanka are scheduled to play three tests against India, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals.

Test squad: Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Thilina Kandamby, Prasanna Jayawardene, Kaushal Silva, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis

Twenty20 squad: Sangakkara (captain), Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Mathews, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Kaushal Weeraratne, Mendis, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Welegedara, Thushara, Lasith Malinga, Kulasekera

One-day squad: Sangakkara (captain), Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Dilshan, Kapugedara, Kandamby, Upul Tharanga, Mathews, Samaraweera, Jayasuriya, Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Thushara, Kulasekera, Mendis.

If Sanath Jayasuriya proved that age is just a number, the Indian team will take comfort from the thought that the International Cricket Council’s rankings are also just a number.

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While it’s a good talking point to see which team is at the top of the charts, and a badge of honour to be called the No. 1 team in the world, what this group is really after is being considered the best team in the world by their peers.

For a while now it was considered difficult to be consistent in ODIs. But the introduction of Twenty20 cricket has made the 50-over game feel like a long-drawn out affair and made people realise that 300 balls is actually a long time for an innings.

On the day before the final at the R Premadasa Stadium, three teams who will play each other in the Champions Trophy shortly were in completely different spaces in world cricket.

Sri Lanka have grown in stature, boast a varied bowling attack, and even the up and down nature of their batting has been papered over in home conditions.

India, after two days of hard practice and two days of back-to-back matches, were in fine tuning mode.

New Zealand, well, they were in coffee shops and swimming pools, shopping malls and restaurants, having failed abjectly to lift their game enough to challenge either of the other teams in this tri-series.

Of India’s players who took part in the matches on Friday and Saturday, only Yuvraj Singh joined the reserves at a net session.

Having fallen to Daniel Vettori’s spin in the first game and failing to come to terms with Lasith Malinga’s pace and swing in the second game, Yuvraj worked on his batting basics. Gary Kirsten, himself a left-handed batsman, fired in hard tennis balls with a tennis racquet, imparting spin and swerve on the ball, getting it to kick awkwardly at times.

As much as Yuvraj worked on blunting dangerous deliveries, he concentrated on leaving alone anything that didn’t threaten his stumps.

Virat Kohli, who batted and bowled in the nets, was the subject of much discussion as it became known that he had been named replacement for Gautam Gambhir despite having been advised eight weeks’ rest by fitness experts at the National Cricket Academy.

Since then Kohli has played for ONGC in the Corporate Trophy, and is demonstrably able to play, even if he is still bothered by a niggle.

It’s not something Mahendra Singh Dhoni will worry about at all, as India looked likely to make no changes to the team that has played the first two matches of the series. If anything they might consider bringing Praveen Kumar into the mix, but neither RP Singh nor Ashish Nehra have bowled themselves out of contention for the final.

Like Anil Kumble before him, Dhoni is one captain who does not care much for talk about rankings or the toss or the weather. Even he was forced to sound a warning: “Once you win the toss you have the game 60 % in your favour. If you score around 270 then you are 80 % sure of winning the game.”

The most crucial aspect of Monday’s final could take place half an hour before a ball is bowled.

Squad

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Dammika Prasad, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Thushara