-Imantha-
Friday, March 30, 2012
AL
-Imantha-
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Galle International Stadium
Galle International Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 View of Galle Stadium in 2010 |
|
| Ground information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Galle, Sri Lanka |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 6°01′53.19″N 80°12′58.78″E |
| Establishment | 1876 |
| Capacity | 35,000 |
| Owner | Galle Cricket Club |
| Tenants | Sri Lanka Cricket Galle Cricket Club |
| End names | |
| City End Fort End |
|
| International information | |
| First Test | June 3 1998: Sri Lanka v New Zealand |
| Last Test | August 31 2011: Sri Lanka v India |
| First ODI | June 25 1998: Sri Lanka v India |
| Last ODI | July 6 2000: Sri Lanka v South Africa |
| Domestic team information | |
| Galle Cricket Club (? – present) | |
| As of 02 August 2010 Source: Cricinfo |
|
History
The ground was built in 1876 as a race course. There was no permanent pavilion until 1892, when a ‘grand stand’ was built according to a suggestion of Mr. P A Templer, the then Secretary of the Galle Municipality Council. Eventually the racing ceased and the ground was used for cricket matches more than races. In 1927, the ground was officially declared as a cricket stadium.The ground hosted its first first-class match on 29 February 1984. A turf wicket was introduced to the stadium in 1945 under the guidance of Mr. Dhanapala Lorensu Hewa who was then secretary of the Galle Cricket Ground. The assistance of the Colombo Cricket Club was also taken for this.[1]
The ground was later upgraded to international cricket standards, and became the seventh international cricket stadium in Sri Lanka able to host Test matches. The first test match was played on the ground on 3 June 1998. It was played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, resulting in a win for Sri Lanka by an innings and 16 runs. The first ODI match was scheduled to be held on 25 June 1998 between India and Sri Lanka, but was abandoned due to the ground being waterlogged from overnight rain and heavy raining in the morning.
On 26 December, the ground was devastated by the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.[2] Most of the buildings in the stadium were damaged, and the ground was damaged substantially. In the weeks that followed, the stadium became a temporary shelter for hundreds of people displaced from the tsunami. A temporary camp and a helipad were constructed there in order to assist the survivors.
Renovation of the Galle International Stadium began on 8 May 2006. The renovation included several new buildings including a new pavilion and a media centre. The seating capacity was also increased. The re-constructed stadium was opened by Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan President on 17 December 2007. After the reopening of the stadium, the first Test match was held between Sri Lanka and England on the same day, which resulted in a draw. The Galle stadium is also noted for the fact that in 2010 it was the stadium that hosted the last match of arguably one of the best cricketer produced by Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan. Murali needed 8 wickets to reach the 800 mark and took his first casualty of the match and 793rd casualty overall was Sachin Tendulkar. He then took 5 wickets in the first innings of that Test match. Then in the second innings, he got 2 wickets quite easily, but then had to bowl a long spell to get his 800th wicket that was of Pragyan Ojha which was caught by Mahela Jayawardene in the first slip.
Ground Information
The ground favours spin bowling, and is considered favourable to the Sri Lankan side which has several good spin bowlers and also a batting line up that is good at playing against spin bowling. This idea is supported by the fact that Sri Lanka has won 7 of the 13 Test matches that have been held at the stadium. The ground is adjacent to a Dutch built fort and is bordered by the sea on two sides.The ground covers an area of 4.216 hectares, the distance from the wicket to the boundary being 75 yards and blue grass is used on the turf. The stadium includes three indoor practice nets and four outdoor nets. The average first innings score in the Galle international stadium is 340. Mr. Jayananda Warnaweera is the current ground manager.[3]
Mahinda Rajapakse pavilion
This pavilion was a new addition to the stadium during the post-tsunami renovations. It is named after the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse who gave the clearance for the reconstruction to begin at a stage when the future of the stadium had been uncertain. This pavilion can provide seating for up to 500 VIP guests. It also contains a media centre that can hold 150 media personnel, and is equipped with two TV control rooms and a radio commentators’ room. The dressing rooms of the two teams are also in this pavilion.[4]Galle Cricket Club pavilion
The Galle Cricket Club pavilion was formerly the main pavilion of the stadium, and was opened on 18 September 1955. This was constructed with the money collected from a lottery organized by the Galle Cricket Club. The Galle Gymkhana Club also made a significant contribution to the construction of this pavilion.Problems faced
The reconstruction of the ground had been reconsidered by the Sri Lanka Cricket and the Sri Lankan government mainly due to some restrictions imposed on constructions on the coastline and also some internal problems within the Sri Lanka cricket board. Suggestions had also been made to construct the stadium at a different location.[5] However the final decision was to renovate the existing stadium. The cost of the reconstruction was approximately Rs. 500,000,000. International support was obtained for this, and former cricketers Shane Warne (Australia) and Ian Botham (England) also made notable contributions.[6]During the renovations, another problem emerged that threatened to stop the construction. One of the new buildings being constructed blocked the view of the adjacent fort, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The Galle Heritage Foundation and some other organizations expressed concern over this, pointing out that this may result in the fort being removed from the UNESCO world heritage sites. This issue was later resolved and the construction re-continued after some time.[7]
Saturday, March 17, 2012
අපේ(මගේ) එවුන්..
හ්ම්ම්..ඉස්කොලේ ගිහින් ඉවර වෙන්නත් ලගයි නේ..! මට ඒක මතක් වුනේ අපේ සෙට් එකේ තිලා, යුනිට් එකේ මහ සභා රෑස්වීමෙදි කරපු නියම දේශනේකින් පස්සේ..ක්රිකට් ගහපු එවා, ටවුන් එකෙ වල බෑහපු ඒවා..සෙට් වෙලා ප්රොජෙක්ට් කරපු ඒවා, කාපු චාර්ටර් කටු..මේ සේරම තව ටික දවසකින් එලකිරි මෙමරීස් ටිකක් විතරක් වෙයි..ඒත් එක දෙයක් ශුවර්..කාටවත්ම නෑති ලස්සනම, සිරාම රියල් මෙමරියක් මටයි අපේ සෙට් එකටයි නම් තියෙනව..ඒක බය නෑතුව කියන්න පුලුවන්...! අපේ සෙට් එකට කරන උපහාරයක් විදියට මම නම් ටික(කාඩ්) දාන්නම්. මාත් එක්ක අන්තිම වෙනකම්ම හිටපු, තාමත් ඉන්න එවුන් මේ...
බන්ඩි, තාරා, තිලා, පොලා, සුදූ, චින්, පූර්, රියා, මම බින්දු..!
බන්ඩි, තාරා, තිලා, පොලා, සුදූ, චින්, පූර්, රියා, මම බින්දු..!
On this day...
On this day 16 years ago, Sri Lanka changed cricket forever
By Hilal Suhaib | March 17, 2012
On March 17, 1996 Arjuna Ranatunga's men changed the face of ODI cricket forever. AFP PHOTO/Saeed KHAN.
The ODI game has seen numerous transformations over the years but none more important that the one it took back on March 17, 1996. If Kerry Packer revolutionised the game in the ‘70s by introducing coloured clothing, matches played at night and the introduction of the white ball; the sport’s minnows at the time Sri Lanka re-branded it in 1996 for audiences of the next generation and beyond.
In 1996, Sri Lanka were a team with potential but very few expected them to win the World Cup. How they went about it has set the benchmark for all teams for years to come.
The tournament was marred with controversy when Australia and West Indies refused to tour the island for their group matches after the Tamil Tigers bombed the Central Bank in Colombo - 50 people died and more than 1500 suffered serious injuries. Understandably, the Aussies and the West Indians feared for their lives, which forced them to forfeit their matches in Sri Lanka.
Thanks to the two forfeited matches, Sri Lanka had already qualified for the quarter-finals before playing a single match and were just three wins away from the coveted trophy, before even a ball was bowled in the tournament.
In their opening game, Sri Lanka restricted Zimbabwe to 228/6 in 50 overs. While it may appear to be a low score according to today’s standards, a run rate of 4.56 was an acceptable one at the time. Sri Lanka reached their target in 37 overs at a run rate of 6.18, despite losing both their openers for cheap. The team strategy was to attack right from the onset. If their dashing openers failed, others would continue with the onslaught.
That’s what set Sri Lanka apart from the rest of the cricketing world that year. It wasn’t the fact that Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana were slamming everything around from the start – that had been done before. Sri Lanka revolutionised the ODI game by giving its entire top order the freedom to attack the new ball in the first 15 overs.
When
Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya failed, Aravinda de Silva and Asanka
Gurussingha carried on the relentless attack, piling on pressure on the
opposition’s bowlers. AFP PHOTO/SENA VIDANAGAMA.When teams
were content scoring 60 runs against the moving new ball in the first
15 overs, Sri Lanka targeted 100 and beyond. They surpassed 100 runs in
the first 15 overs on three occasions in that tournament. England
skipper Michael Atherton referred to it as “a spectacular way to fly”,
after Arjuna Ranatunga’s men blew his side away during their
quarter-final encounter in Faisalabad.
When Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya failed, Aravinda de Silva and Asanka Gurusinha carried on the relentless attack, piling on pressure on the opposition’s bowlers. While many bowlers suffered at the hands of the Sri Lankans in that World Cup, none suffered a more horrible fate than India’s opening bowler Manoj Prabhakar.
Prabhakar was a key element in India’s Test and ODI side in the ‘90s; skilled enough to open batting with Sachin Tendulkar and open the bowling. He was fast creating a name for himself as one of India’s finest all-rounders of all-time until he found himself in the way of a rampaging Sri Lanka.
Prabhakar’s career ended at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on March 2, 1996. When the 24th match of the 1996 World Cup was over, Sri Lankan batsmen had plundered 47 runs off just four Prabhakar-overs. The right arm fast-medium bowler resorted to bowling off-spinners in hopes of salvaging some pride.
Others too suffered at the hands of the Sri Lankans. Australia’s Shane Warne finished the World Cup final wicket-less and with the most expensive figures in the match (0/58 in 10 overs). Rajab Ali of Kenya was taken for 67 runs in his six overs in a group stage match – he was on track to concede more than 100 runs had he completed his quota. English all-rounder Phil DeFreitas was carted to all parts and was taken out of the attack after just 3.4 overs. He had conceded 10.36 runs per over.
Sri Lanka came two runs short of the 400-run mark when they made 398/5 in their 50 overs against Kenya in the 28th match of the tournament. Not until 2006, when Australia and South Africa met in Johannesburg did a team manage to better the ’96 world champions’ effort and cross the 400 barrier.
When Ranatunga’s men met England in the first quarter-final of the tournament, the English had never been knocked out of the competition before the semi-final stage in all previous World Cups. A mind-numbing assault from Jayasuriya, coupled with the brilliance of Sri Lanka’s middle order batsmen, saw them surpass England’s total of 235/8 with relative ease. It was the first time England had failed to qualify for a semi-final of a World Cup and the first time Sri Lanka had qualified for one.
As the New York Times put it,
With skipper Ranatunga, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillakaratne, along with Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Dharmasena down the order, Sri Lanka batted deep. Ranatunga was so confident that his side could chase down any score, that pitch or atmospheric conditions were of no concern to him. If he won the toss, he was going to put the opposition into bat.
The final against Australia followed a similar script. With the early demise of Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya, it was up to Gurusinha and De Silva to counter-attack and score as many runs as possible in the first 15 overs. They did. De Silva carried on becoming only the third player to score a century in a World Cup final.
“For a country that until before the tournament was regarded as an international makeweight, victory completed a massive leap in status,” Adam Szreter wrote the following morning for the British newspaper The Independent.
© Island Cricket
By Hilal Suhaib | March 17, 2012
On March 17, 1996 Arjuna Ranatunga's men changed the face of ODI cricket forever. AFP PHOTO/Saeed KHAN.
The ODI game has seen numerous transformations over the years but none more important that the one it took back on March 17, 1996. If Kerry Packer revolutionised the game in the ‘70s by introducing coloured clothing, matches played at night and the introduction of the white ball; the sport’s minnows at the time Sri Lanka re-branded it in 1996 for audiences of the next generation and beyond.
In 1996, Sri Lanka were a team with potential but very few expected them to win the World Cup. How they went about it has set the benchmark for all teams for years to come.
The tournament was marred with controversy when Australia and West Indies refused to tour the island for their group matches after the Tamil Tigers bombed the Central Bank in Colombo - 50 people died and more than 1500 suffered serious injuries. Understandably, the Aussies and the West Indians feared for their lives, which forced them to forfeit their matches in Sri Lanka.
Thanks to the two forfeited matches, Sri Lanka had already qualified for the quarter-finals before playing a single match and were just three wins away from the coveted trophy, before even a ball was bowled in the tournament.
In their opening game, Sri Lanka restricted Zimbabwe to 228/6 in 50 overs. While it may appear to be a low score according to today’s standards, a run rate of 4.56 was an acceptable one at the time. Sri Lanka reached their target in 37 overs at a run rate of 6.18, despite losing both their openers for cheap. The team strategy was to attack right from the onset. If their dashing openers failed, others would continue with the onslaught.
That’s what set Sri Lanka apart from the rest of the cricketing world that year. It wasn’t the fact that Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana were slamming everything around from the start – that had been done before. Sri Lanka revolutionised the ODI game by giving its entire top order the freedom to attack the new ball in the first 15 overs.
When
Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya failed, Aravinda de Silva and Asanka
Gurussingha carried on the relentless attack, piling on pressure on the
opposition’s bowlers. AFP PHOTO/SENA VIDANAGAMA.When teams
were content scoring 60 runs against the moving new ball in the first
15 overs, Sri Lanka targeted 100 and beyond. They surpassed 100 runs in
the first 15 overs on three occasions in that tournament. England
skipper Michael Atherton referred to it as “a spectacular way to fly”,
after Arjuna Ranatunga’s men blew his side away during their
quarter-final encounter in Faisalabad.When Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya failed, Aravinda de Silva and Asanka Gurusinha carried on the relentless attack, piling on pressure on the opposition’s bowlers. While many bowlers suffered at the hands of the Sri Lankans in that World Cup, none suffered a more horrible fate than India’s opening bowler Manoj Prabhakar.
Prabhakar was a key element in India’s Test and ODI side in the ‘90s; skilled enough to open batting with Sachin Tendulkar and open the bowling. He was fast creating a name for himself as one of India’s finest all-rounders of all-time until he found himself in the way of a rampaging Sri Lanka.
Prabhakar’s career ended at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on March 2, 1996. When the 24th match of the 1996 World Cup was over, Sri Lankan batsmen had plundered 47 runs off just four Prabhakar-overs. The right arm fast-medium bowler resorted to bowling off-spinners in hopes of salvaging some pride.
Others too suffered at the hands of the Sri Lankans. Australia’s Shane Warne finished the World Cup final wicket-less and with the most expensive figures in the match (0/58 in 10 overs). Rajab Ali of Kenya was taken for 67 runs in his six overs in a group stage match – he was on track to concede more than 100 runs had he completed his quota. English all-rounder Phil DeFreitas was carted to all parts and was taken out of the attack after just 3.4 overs. He had conceded 10.36 runs per over.
Sri Lanka came two runs short of the 400-run mark when they made 398/5 in their 50 overs against Kenya in the 28th match of the tournament. Not until 2006, when Australia and South Africa met in Johannesburg did a team manage to better the ’96 world champions’ effort and cross the 400 barrier.
When Ranatunga’s men met England in the first quarter-final of the tournament, the English had never been knocked out of the competition before the semi-final stage in all previous World Cups. A mind-numbing assault from Jayasuriya, coupled with the brilliance of Sri Lanka’s middle order batsmen, saw them surpass England’s total of 235/8 with relative ease. It was the first time England had failed to qualify for a semi-final of a World Cup and the first time Sri Lanka had qualified for one.
As the New York Times put it,
On the field, as off, the championship made clear that England's game has migrated, and metamorphosed decisively along the way. As if to underline the point, the English team departed the championship early, humiliated in a quarterfinal by Sri Lanka, a team that English overlords of the game kept out of top-level cricket until a few years ago.Sri Lanka's semi-final batting performance further showed the efficacy of Sri Lanka’s new strategy. India thought they had shot down the Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana show and with it Sri Lanka’s ability to attack with the bat, when both openers were dismissed in the first over. Enter Aravinda de Silva. De Silva’s 47-ball 66 after Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharana and Gurusinha departed cheaply for 1, 0 and 1, was a counter-attack par excellence. It told the Indians that their work was far from done – this team was not reliant on the heroics of just one or two individuals. When De Silva finally fell, Sri Lanka were still in a precarious position at 85/4. But they had with them experienced batsmen in their middle order who could steady the ship in a conventional manner when the top-order failed.
With skipper Ranatunga, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillakaratne, along with Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Dharmasena down the order, Sri Lanka batted deep. Ranatunga was so confident that his side could chase down any score, that pitch or atmospheric conditions were of no concern to him. If he won the toss, he was going to put the opposition into bat.
The final against Australia followed a similar script. With the early demise of Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya, it was up to Gurusinha and De Silva to counter-attack and score as many runs as possible in the first 15 overs. They did. De Silva carried on becoming only the third player to score a century in a World Cup final.
“For a country that until before the tournament was regarded as an international makeweight, victory completed a massive leap in status,” Adam Szreter wrote the following morning for the British newspaper The Independent.
Although they co-hosted the tournament with India and Pakistan, the odds against Sri Lanka winning were as high as 33-1 a few months ago.Cricket changed that day. No longer was it acceptable to score at four runs an over until the shine wore off the new ball. Other teams had to adapt, giving birth to ferocious strikers opening the innings when previously their services were only required for the final 10 overs.
It was a victory for the attacking, imaginative cricket that marked Sri Lanka's performances at every stage of the tournament.
© Island Cricket
Friday, March 9, 2012
ICC Rankings
ICC rankings for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20
ICC Test Championship
| Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 41 | 4830 | 118 |
| South Africa | 28 | 3277 | 117 |
| India | 46 | 5111 | 111 |
| Australia | 42 | 4655 | 111 |
| Pakistan | 35 | 3781 | 108 |
| Sri Lanka | 35 | 3426 | 98 |
| West Indies | 30 | 2604 | 87 |
| New Zealand | 24 | 1998 | 83 |
| Bangladesh | 18 | 135 | 8 |
Zimbabwe is currently unranked, as it has played insufficient matches. It has 167 points and a rating of 42.
Developed by David Kendix
ICC ODI Championship
| Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 44 | 5599 | 127 |
| South Africa | 30 | 3549 | 118 |
| India | 52 | 6063 | 117 |
| Sri Lanka | 49 | 5602 | 114 |
| England | 39 | 4333 | 111 |
| Pakistan | 41 | 4250 | 104 |
| New Zealand | 31 | 2667 | 86 |
| West Indies | 27 | 2146 | 79 |
| Bangladesh | 32 | 1995 | 62 |
| Zimbabwe | 33 | 1511 | 46 |
| Ireland | 14 | 504 | 36 |
| Netherlands | 9 | 137 | 15 |
| Kenya | 9 | 74 | 8 |
Developed by David Kendix
ICC Twenty20 Championship
| Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 22 | 1811 | 129 |
| South Africa | 19 | 1310 | 119 |
| Sri Lanka | 18 | 1056 | 117 |
| New Zealand | 24 | 1596 | 114 |
| Australia | 23 | 1428 | 110 |
| India | 15 | 861 | 108 |
| Pakistan | 29 | 1817 | 107 |
| West Indies | 16 | 711 | 89 |
| Ireland | 10 | 404 | 81 |
| Afghanistan | 8 | 224 | 75 |
| Zimbabwe | 13 | 463 | 51 |
Note: Only teams who have completed at least eight T20 international
matches since 1st August between two and three years ago will have their
rating above converted into a ranking on the main table.
Developed by David Kendix
Friday, March 2, 2012
So..a great day isn't it? Won a thrilling match, and qualified to the
massive CBS finals. fantastic & typical winning momentum is back on
the hands of Lions. However its nice to feel when India removed away
from the ring. wow..a good comeback Lions..all the team was perfect, and
will be, it should be, bcz whenever it happens, we're with you lions.
Oookay now im Having a big hungry to see a series win. after all it'll
be against Australia in their home. Pls do this Lions. You have all the
Srilankan strength to do this. show everyone we're the real World
champs.
Great x 2...!
-IA-
Great x 2...!
-IA-
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