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.