All-round Dilshan stars for Basnahira

Basnahira Cricket Dundee 129 for 3 (Dilshan 66*, Tanvir 3-31) beat Kandurata Warriors 95 for 7 (Perera 35, Dilshan 2-26) by 34 runs

Tillakaratne Dilshan lit up a damp Colombo evening with a 39-ball 66 not out and two wickets to ignite Basnahira's SLPL campaign, as they defeated Kandurata by 34 runs in a 13-over match. Playing in front of a small but boisterous home crowd, Dilshan savaged the sometimes wayward Kandurata bowling either side of the wicket, before making the initial breakthroughs for his side with the ball. A direct hit run-out towards the end of the Kandurata innings completed his near-perfect night.

Having laboured to 10 from his first 18 balls, thanks largely to a fiery opening spell from Sohail Tanvir, Dilshan plundered 56 from his next 21. Two scoops to the boundary off Scott Styris' second over heralded the onslaught, before heaving two consecutive legside sixes two overs later. There were plenty of knee-high full tosses, and friendly short balls from the Kandurata bowlers, but in between dispatching the dross, Dilshan struck good balls to the boundary too.

Brad Hodge operated in Dilshan's slipstream to begin with, before playing a few bold strokes of his own to claim 27 from 20 balls. Having struck three consecutive boundaries from Tanvir's third over, he was the victim of his own flamboyance on the next ball, where he went so deep in his crease that his bat disturbed the stumps on its way down to hit the ball. The pair's third-wicket partnership of 70 though, was the bedrock for a good finish, which Dilshan duly provided, by clubbing Kosala Kulasekara's final four deliveries for three fours and a six.

Thilan Samaraweera was the surprise opener for Kandurata, and though his quick 24 promised a tight finish, a Dilshan double-strike in the fifth over dented the visitors' ambitions. Fired up from his innings, Dilshan even gave his Sri Lanka team-mate a sendoff - something the laidback Samaraweera seemed amused at, if anything. Nuwan Pradeep, Charl Langeveldt and Rangana Herath took a wicket a piece as Kandurata fell well behind the asking rate, and though Thisara Perera threatened a revival with a 21-ball 35, he was fighting a lone cause. His wicket, with Kandurata at 84 for 5 from 10.2 overs effectively secured the match for Basnahira.

Sri Lanka name 56 foreign players for SLPL

Sri Lanka Cricket has named 56 foreign players who will play in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League. There are no India or England players - apart from Azhar Mahmood - among the 56, who were picked by the seven franchises via a draft system in Colombo on Thursday. 

Shahid Afridi* was originally supposed to be the icon player for Nagenahira but all the franchises wanted to make sure their icon players were available throughout the tournament. Due to the recently announced Australia-Pakistan series that starts on August 28th, Afridi would potentially miss the semi-finals and finals of the SLPL if his team made it that far, leaving Nagenahira without their icon player at the business end of the tournament. With the agreement of the other franchises, Afridi was released by Naganahira in to the draft, where he was subsequently signed by Ruhuna. Lasith Malinga remains Ruhuna's icon, while Nagenahira's icon player will be named on Friday.

SLC gets official warning for Galle pitch

Sri Lanka Cricket has been given an official ICC warning for preparing a "poor" pitch in Galle for the first Test against Australia that was played from August 31-September 3. The ICC's pitch consultant Andy Atkinson will inspect the pitch at the end of this month and make recommendations about any corrective action required. SLC, for its part, will need to submit a report confirming the recommended corrective action, if any, has been taken prior to staging its next international match in Galle.

The Galle Test, won by Australia, lasted four days, with the home team being dismissed for 105 and 253 in its 125-run defeat. The match referee for the game Chris Broad had expressed his concern about the pitch to the ICC. Richardson and the ICC's chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle, relying on Broad's report, the SLC's response and video footage from the game, then made their decision.

"We have come to a decision that the pitch prepared for the match should be rated as 'poor'," David Richardson, the ICC's general manager for cricket, said in a statement. "It was clear from the video footage of the match that the amount of turn, especially early in the match, was excessive and there were occasions (even on the first day) where the ball went through the surface of the pitch, bouncing unusually steeply from a good length.

Sri Lankan Premier League to go ahead without India

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket will push ahead with its inaugural premier league with Australian and Pakistani players, despite a no-show by Indian stars, the island's sports minister said Sunday.

"We will lose a bit of money because Indian players are not coming but the tournament will be played as planned," Mahindananda Aluthgamage said after failed talks to bring the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on board.

Fast bowlers Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel were among 12 Indian players who were blocked by the BCCI from playing in the T20 tournament in Sri Lanka from July 19 to August 4.

PCB may stop Afridi from playing in SLPL

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said it can ban Shahid Afridi from participating in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) if the former Pakistan captain doesn't stop his rants against the board. 

Earlier this month, the PCB granted Afridi a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to play for Hamp shire in English Twenty20 league after their bitter dispute was settled out of court.

But Afridi's continued tirade has irked the PCB and some top officials are not in favour of granting him an NOC to play in SLPL to be held in Colombo during July-August.

Quoting an unnamed PCB official, Express Tribune reported on Thursday that the Board will not hesitate in taking action against Afridi in case of 'foul play'.

Afridi, after a long stand-off with the PCB that also involved a legal battle, finally left for England to play for Hampshire after getting his NOC back.