[Video] Mahela Jayawardena 45* (23) Vs DC | IPL 2008

A fine knock by the Lankan skipper who proved a point to these self proclaimed purists who have written of 20Twenty Cricket as a slog-fest.

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Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene drops English county spell

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene will not be able to play for Derbyshire as planned because of changes to other playing commitments, the English county side said on their Web site (www.derbyshireccc.com).

The batsman had been scheduled to play from late April to mid-July but the move of the Asia Cup to June and changes to India's tour of Sri Lanka meant there was too little time to make a shortened contract worthwhile, the club said.

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[Video] Sri Lanka Vs West Indies | 2nd Test | Presentation ceremony

Queens park Oval | Trinidad & Tobago | 6TH APR 2008

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[Video] Interview with Mahela | 1st test Sri Lanka Vs West Indies 2008

Tony Cozier chats with Mahela at the end of Day 2.
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Sri Lanka batsmen blast Guyana attack

Ceylon Daily News: Sri Lanka began their tour of the Caribbean with an impressive note as they amassed a commanding 343 for 5 at close on day one of their three-day tour opener against Guyana President's Select XI at Providence Stadium here yesterday.

Sri Lanka in search of a permanent opener in the absence of Sanath Jayasuriya, has some early prospects as Malintha Warnapura made a great start with an unbeaten century.

Opener Warnapura who made 132 before he was forced to retire hurt, showed signs of a matured batsman as he occupied the crease for 242 minutes during his 184-ball knock which included one six and 14 boundaries. Writes Elmo from Guyana for The Ceylon Daily news.

Warnapura shared a 115-run first wicket partnership with Michael Vandort, who made 29. Their fruitful alliance came to an end when Vandort bowled by leg spinner Davendra Bishop. The visitors lost the second wicket with the total on 174 when vice captain Kumar Sangakkara was bowled by another leg break, this time by Sharmarh Brooks.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene was unfortunate to miss his century by a mere one run as he was dismissed at nervous 99 - bowled by off spinner Steven Jacobs. Jayawardene hit 12 boundaries during his 110-ball quick knock which came off 127 minutes.

Middle order bat Thilan Samaraweera had a patient 115-minute innings before he was needlessly run out for 34. At the wicket were Tillakaratne Dilshan (9 n.o) and Prasanna Jayawardena, yet to open his account.

It was Guyana's spinners who accounted for all three Lankan wickets to fall as the home team made a desperate attempt to stop the Lankan run feast.

It was nice to see the Lankan batsmen showing some early from, ahead of the all-important Tests against the West Indies.

On completion of the three-day tour opener in Guyana today (19), Sri Lanka team will move to the first Test against the West Indies which is due to commence at the same venue here on Saturday (22).

Sri Lanka will play only a two-Test series against the West Indies. After the second Test to be played in Port of Spain from April 3 to 7, the visitors will play a three-match one day international series against the West Indies. GUYANA, Tuesday.
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[Video] Looking for Mahela?

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No need to panic, says Sri Lanka captain

COLOMBO (AFP): Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said Monday there was no need to panic following the team's repeated batting failures in recent one-day internationals.

"What we have to remember is that all these guys have made a lot of runs in the past," said Jayawardene.

"Everyone takes responsibility for the failure and it is now a question of making right decisions."

World Cup runners-up Sri Lanka lost 3-2 to England in a home one-day series in October, and last month failed to qualify for the finals of a triangular tournament in Australia won by India.

Jayawardene said the batsmen had been working hard to regain form and there was no need to make major changes ahead of the upcoming tour of the West Indies.

Sri Lanka will play two Tests and three one-day internationals on the tour starting on March 17.

Sri Lanka Cricket chief Arjuna Ranatunga echoed those sentiments, saying the he was not "too much worried" about the team's performance in Australia.

"We should move on and have the team ready for the next World Cup," said Ranatunga, captain of the 1996 World Cup-winning squad.

The next World Cup will be jointly hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011. Click to expand...

[Video] Sri Lanka Vs Australia | 12th match | CB Series 2008 | 1st Session

Direct Link

February 29, 2008

Australia v Sri Lanka, 12th ODI, CB Series, Melbourne

Sri Lanka 221 (Dilshan 62, Jayawardene 50, Bracken 4-29) beat Australia 208 (Gilchrist 83, Amerasinghe 3-44) by 13 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Match package
Bulletin - Australia jolt Sri Lanka top order
Quotes - Build-up to final not ideal - Ponting
Gallery

(Courtesy Cricinfo)



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Lankan bats ready to hit form, says skipper

WITH his side needing to win today against India to remain in contention for the finals of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene yesterday attempted to put a positive spin on his team's batting problems, suggesting that the top order was "due" to end the slump. Writes Lyall Johnson for The Age.

"Everyone's due for runs. Our guys haven't clicked as well and they're working really hard,"

"Everyone is trying to get it right in this tournament where the bowlers have dominated a lot of the time. You just have to make sure you settle in, spend some time in the middle and get some confidence."

Should Sri Lanka win, it would move within a match of overtaking India but would need to defeat Australia on Friday at the MCG to do so. A win for the Indians would put them into the final.

And while conceding that his side was underperforming with the bat, Jayawardene also pointed the finger at the Indian batters, saying they had not been contributing a great deal either.

"They've got a good batting line-up but they've struggled as well in the last few games," he said. "The batsmen have struggled in different things but you can't take that for granted.

"They're all good players and I think our guys are due (for runs) pretty soon. It's going to be a good challenge. It has become a semi-final basically for us."

Sri Lanka will enjoy somewhat of a home-ground advantage having played at Bellerive twice this summer — against Australia in a Test and again in a tour match earlier this month against Tasmania. India has not played there on this tour.

"I think we have a good idea of how this wicket is going to fare," Jayawardene said of the usually swing friendly Bellerive. "It all depends on the (weather) conditions. We just need to wait to see how the day turns out."

Meanwhile, Australian coach Tim Nielsen, safe in the knowledge that his side has secured a finals berth, repeated his suggestion that India should concentrate on its own game rather than calling for the Australians to be investigated for their on-field behaviour.

"I said last week, it's interesting how much the opposition teams are talking about what we're doing and at the moment, as far as I can see, we're the only team that's in the finals," Nielsen said yesterday.

"It might be time for them to start looking in their own backyard. There is no doubt both teams are playing the game very hard, no inches (are) asked for and none given and that's how we like to play the game.

"At the moment there are circumstance that are leading to different things being spoken about. Again, the match referees and officials are looking after that but, and I'll say it again, while they're worrying about us it's a good sign, we're the only ones at the moment that are confirmed in the finals."

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Lanka look to punt The Punter

In American Football a Punt is A kick in which the ball is dropped from the hands and kicked before it touches the ground. From the look of things India and Sri Lanka prepare to kick ponting out of the game on his way down..

Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene has laid down a marker for Friday's match in Perth after vowing to target Australian frailties - and Ricky Ponting in particular - as they bid to top the table. A win for Sri Lanka would see them top of the standings, relegating the world champions Australia to bottom. - Cricinfo

This summer both Sri Lanka and India contributed greatly to Ponting's demise as the world's no.1 ranked batsman. Murali thoroughly exposed him during the 2 match test series in Nov/Dec 2007 and now the Indian's have ensured his batting continues to slump. The Indians also managed to change public opinion of Ponting's captaincy and his captaincy tactics. For some he can no longer be considered Australia's finest captain his brash and uncouth mannerisms were severely exposed to all in recent times.
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[Video] Post match interview with Mahela | Match 3 CB Series 2008

Mahela chats with Mark Nicholas on the devastating loss to Australia and Sri Lanka's recent inconsistent ODI form.

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[Video] Aney Yako | Nice ring Mrs. Christina Jayawardena

Mrs. Jayawardena would like to pass on a message to hubby Mahela!

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The selectors aren't to be blamed

A Fortnight or so ago there was outrage amongst cricket fans that Malinga Bandara was not selected to tour Australia next month. I for one questioned the logic behind taking inexperienced fast bowlers to Australia time and time again. Trying to blast the Aussies out with pace is a strategy that hasn't worked for us since the mid 80's. The recent test series proved that our 3 main quick men Vaas, Malinga, Dilhara all failed to rattle the Aussies. We should be sending our upcoming pacemen on more 'A- team' tours overseas rather than throwing them into the deep end. 'Sri Lanka-A' rarely tour Australia and don't have a busy year round schedule.

I was quick to assume that Asantha De Mel being a former fast bowler himself conjured up this team selection and as a result I assumed Asantha had a role to play in Bandara's omission, it turns out I was way off the mark. Mahela speaking to Sa'adi Thawfeeq on Cricinfo not only fully backed the selection he also provided the logic behind not taking a back up spinner for Murali.

When you've got Murali and if he is playing in the side, with the conditions we get in Australia, there won't be any room for a second spinner. It will not give us the adequate balance in our set-up. Our combination could be three quicks and a spinner plus seven batsman or we might go with six batsmen, four quicks, including an allrounder, and a spinner. Banda will only come into play if Murali gets injured. That's why he is a standby.

The other three[Fast bowlers]are fairly new. Even though Kulasekera has been around he hasn't played consistently, Welagedera is a young guy finding his way in international cricket and Ishara - we picked him for his pace and accuracy. He's bowled pretty well in the last 6-12 months in A team cricket. This probably would be a place for us to see what he can do. - Mahela Jayawardene speaking to Cricinfo.

Click here for video of Ishara Amerasinghe on debut

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[Video] NatWest Series | Sri Lanka Vs England | 4th Match | 2006

Scorecard

This was a celebration for Sri Lanka. It would be easy to say their flamboyant and expressive cricket stemmed from the fact they had the series safely in the bag and could let their hair down. But it was just a continuation of how they have carried all before them during the one-day matches and made England look very second rate.

The catalyst was again their captain, Mahela Jayawardene, who gave England another lesson in how to build a one-day innings. When England attempted to chase, the failings that have blighted the series shone like a beacon next to Jayawardene's innings. The top four all made between 30 and 45, only Ian Bell has much defence for being dismissed, and England made 285 without a half-century. writes Andrew McGlashan for Cricinfo.

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[Video] Mahela Jayawardena 134 Vs England | Colombo 2003/04

A sublime century filled with silken strokeplay. Mahela makes the English toil in the blazing hot Colombo sun. Click to expand...

[Video] When Sabina Park woke up to Mahela | World Cup Semi Final 2007

It takes a lot to impress them here at Sabina Park. Many of the locals who came through the turnstiles were weaned on some of the game's all-time greats. Some were here in 1983, when Viv Richards hit a violent 36-ball 61 to transform a dying Test into an improbable triumph, and those whose memories stretch back further can recall the silken strokeplay of Lawrence Rowe.

So when they started purring towards the end of Mahela Jayawardena's innings, you knew you were watching something special. -Cricinfo

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Cricinfo - When Sabina woke up to Mahela Click to expand...

[Video] World Record | Highest batting partnership in Cricket - 624 runs

Mahela Jayawardene came within 26 runs of Brian Lara's record for the highest Test score, Kumar Sangakkara fell 13 short of a triple-hundred and the two put on a historic 624 runs, the highest ever partnership for any wicket in Test or first-class cricket

Related bulletins (Courtesy Cricinfo)

Top Performer - Mahela Jayawardene

Records tumble as Sri Lanka sit pretty Click to expand...

[Video] World Cup 2007 Montage | Team Sri Lanka

A few memorable performances from World Cup 2007. The video was originally uploaded on the day of the World Cup final. Click to expand...

[Video] Murali and Mahela | Mobitel Commercial

Muralidaran and Jayawardena in a new Mobitel Lanka Commercial.

Tags: sri lanka,cricket,murali,mahela jaywardene,muralitharan,muralidaran,commercial

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[Video] Sri Lanka v England, Third Test, Galle, 3rd day 2007/08

Click to view in HD | Encoded at 10000Kbps

3rd day
Bulletin - Hopeless England routed for 81
Andrew Miller - England's goose is cooked
Plays of the day - Vaas the bat
Quotes - Vaas proud of allround display
Audio - David Lloyd: Sri Lanka were sensational
Gallery

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