Nuwan Pradeep set to fly home

Sri Lanka's preparations for the first Test in Cardiff have taken a blow with the news that Nuwan Pradeep, their match-winning seamer against the England Lions on Sunday, is set to fly home after picking up a knee injury.

Pradeep claimed figures of 4 for 29 in ten hostile overs as Sri Lanka overcame the follow-on to bowl the Lions out for 183 in Derby and win a thrilling contest by 38 runs. However, according to Stuart Law, the bowler sustained damage to his anterior cruciate ligament after treading on the ball in the course of that spell, and is currently seeing a specialist to determine the full extent of the injury.

"It's bad news for the young man," said Law. "If things are okay and he doesn't need an operation, we may opt to keep him here if he can get through, but at this stage it looks like he's flying home. The warmer you are the better with these injuries, but as he stopped he was dragging his leg around yesterday. It's a shame."

No Pak tour without security clearance - Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka will not tour Pakistan unless they get security clearance, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) secretary Nishantha Ranatunga has said. The PCB had asked SLC for their views on playing the scheduled series between the two sides in Pakistan, but Sri Lanka's stand, and a major terrorist attack on Sunday night at a Karachi military base very close to the National Stadium, have severely undermined any hopes of a tour.

"We have received requests from Pakistan over the past three or four months," Ranatunga said. "The PCB told us that they would like to host our team as scheduled in the FTP [Future Tours Programme]. We told them our stance that we need security clearance first before sending a team there again."

Boom Boom Afridi to retire from ODI's

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former captain Shahid Khan Afridi is going to announce his retirement from One Day International after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sacked him as skipper earlier in the week.

Sources told The Sports Encounter on Saturday that Shahid Khan Afridi is really dis-hearted on the way the PCB has dealt with him on his media leakages about his differences with head coach Waqar Younis.

Thieves steal Sri Lankan cricket team's petrol

THE touring Sri Lankan cricket team were left stumped when thieves stole £700 worth of petrol from their team coach following their three day match against Middlesex at Uxbridge this week.

The team had been based at the Heathrow Crowne Plaza Hotel, in Stockley Road, West Drayton.

Anura Tennakoon, Sri Lanka's team manager, confirmed to the Gazette that the theft was discovered on Tuesday, when the team were checking out of the hotel.

He said: "Yes we did suffer a theft of petrol from the coach, it was around £700 worth.

12 Indian cricketers to feature in SLPL

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed that as many as 12 Indian players will feature in the inaugural edition of the upcoming Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) T20 tournament according to a report in 'islandcricket' website.

The tournament which is all set to get underway on July 19 will also see several other international stars including the likes of David Warner and Shaun Tait from Australia and Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard from the West Indies, who are currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), playing in the Island nation.

SLC Secretary, Nishantha Ranatunga Hints At Increasing the Number of Teams in Sri Lanka Premier League

Sri Lanka Cricket secretary, Mr. Nishantha Ranatunga, has hinted at increasing the number of provinces participating in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) to nine after the first few seasons.

The inaugural edition of the tournament, to be held in Sri Lanka in July-August this year, will include seven provinces of Sri Lanka.

The country has total of nine provinces and the two provinces that do not have a team this time include Rajarata and Sabaragamuwa. The SLC secretary assured that the exclusion of these two provinces will not last long and would be part of the national league after the first few seasons.

"We merely wanted to limit the number of teams to ensure competitiveness," said Ranatunga while talking to the media reporters on Tuesday.

O'Brien joins Gloucestershire and Sri Lanka league

CRICKET NEWS: KEVIN O’BRIEN is about to turn his big-hitting World Cup heroics into personal reward on the double after signing up to play for English county side Gloucestershire, while he will also join one of the seven sides to take part in the new Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) Twenty20 tournament later in the summer.


The 27-year-old all-rounder from Sandymount, Dublin, displayed his destructive batting to brilliant effect during the recent World Cup, scoring the fastest century in the tournament’s history off just 50 balls as Ireland stunned England in victory in Bangalore.

Afridi to play in inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League

Karachi: Top Pakistan cricketers are looking to showcase their Twenty20 skills at the inaugural edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) later this summer.

Leading the list of Pakistani players roped in by Sri Lanka is the flamboyant Shahid Afridi, who has accepted an offer to lead one of the SLPL franchises.

"I've accepted an offer to be captain of one of the team in the Sri Lankan Premier League. It's a good opportunity and I will try to make the most of it," Afridi was quoted as saying in The News Wednesday.

Afridi said he has also received a similar offer to lead one of the franchises at the Bangladesh's Premier League, adding that he is looking forward to that assignment as well.

Chris Gayle hits 37 runs in an over!!

PCB released Pakistan players to play in SLPL

Up to eight top Pakistan players are likely to be in the running to play in the first edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), allowing players from that country to finally benefit from some of the riches on offer in lucrative Twenty20 leagues around the world. The SLPL, likely to feature players from around the world, is scheduled to be held at the end of July and beginning of August this year, a window in the FTP where Pakistan has no commitments currently.

Both Pakistan captains - Shahid Afridi from the limited overs side and Misbah-ul-Haq from the Test side - have been approached, as have Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik and Umar Gul.

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Sri Lanka Premier League to have seven teams

The first edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) will be a seven-team inter-provincial tournament played over approximately 18 days at the end of July and the beginning of August this year. The teams will play each other once, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. All the games will be played the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and the winner of the tournament will qualify for the Champions League Twenty20.

ESPNcricinfo has learnt that the seven provinces that will be represented are Basnahira, Kandurata, Nagenahira, Ruhuna, Uthura, Uva and Wayamba. Sri Lanka Cricket will select the players for each team, with domestic players likely to be allotted to their home provinces, thereby ensuring the teams have local support.

Brilliant Bangalore demolish Kochi

Royal Challengers Bangalore 128 for 1 (Dilshan 52*, Gayle 44) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 125 for 9 (Aravind 2-20, Vettori 2-24) by nine wickets

If you aren't a fan of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, there's good news and bad news. The good news first: Tillakaratne Dilshan has found form late, and will not unleash any more violence in the IPL, since he is headed to England. The bad news is that Chris Gayle is in such form that you probably wouldn't notice Dilshan's absence. And then there is worse news - Bangalore are fielding like a team possessed. The hapless Kochi Tuskers Kerala ran into each facet of Bangalore's brilliance, and were dismantled clinically in a nine-wicket hiding, that came with 6.5 overs to spare.

On a day when Royal Challengers Bangalore went green, Gayle and Dilshan did more than their bit for the environment, setting up a finish before the floodlights had to take full effect. Gayle began the mayhem by depositing RP Singh into the second tier behind long-off in the first over. Dilshan responded by looting 20 runs off Ramesh Powar in the second over. What followed was not for children and the faint-hearted.

Dilshan targets Test success with young attack

Tillakaratne Dilshan wants to become the first Sri Lanka captain to secure a Test series victory in England after leaving the IPL early to lead his team. Although they famously won the one-off clash at The Oval in 1998, when Muttiah Muralitharan took 16 wickets, their best results in a series on English soil is the 1-1 in 2006 which was again secured thanks to a matchwinning effort by Muralitharan Trent Bridge.


This time there is no Muralitharan, but Dilshan has promised not to take a backward step over the next month. "Beating England in their own conditions in the early part of summer is not going to be easy, we have to play very good cricket to do that," he said. "But I am really confident with our boys. As a team we can give England a good run. It's a good challenge for everyone. Before the team leaves for England I will have a word with my players. We are going there with only one intention - to win the series. We are not going there just to draw or to survive in England we want to beat them. We are going to England with that mindset. I am seriously looking forward to the upcoming series."