World’s richest and most lucrative cricket league IPL season 7 is reaching its climax and the international cricket summer is underway with wounded England hosting mighty Sri Lanka.
Match fixing has hit the headlines once again with former New Zealand opener, Lou Vincent giving information on ‘widespread cricket fixing’.
Sri Lanka beat Kent to register first win in England
Sri Lanka recorded their maiden win in England beating Kent by a hefty margin of 128 runs at Canterbury on 16th of May.
The tourists posted a total of 301 for the loss of seven wickets as Angelo Mathews top-scored with 51. Sri Lankan batting lineup clicked perfectly as 7 batsmen surpassed 25 run mark. Kent could only manage 173 all out in reply, as Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera and Ajantha Mendis claimed three wickets apiece. Alex Blake was the most impressive batsman with a valiant knock of 60 runs in 65 balls.
Sri Lanka slaughters Sussex
English county team Sussex was blown away by quality Sri Lanka as the world T20 champions showed their class in impressive fashion beating the home team by 10 wickets at Hove on 18th of May.
The Sharks were restricted to just 126-7 from their 20 overs by some superior bowling by Thisara Perera and Lasith Malinga in particular as they took 2 wickets apiece. Matt Machan top scored for Sussex with a well compiled 63 runs in 45 balls. Sri Lanka made short work of the chase with Dilshan and Kithruwan Vithanage signaling their intent right from the start as Sri Lanka stormed to victory off just 9.1 overs with Tillakaratne Dilshan smashing an unbeaten 73 and Kithuruwan Vithnage 52 not out.
World T20 Champions outclass England
Sri Lanka weathered a belligerent knock of 66 from Alex Hales to beat England by nine runs at The Oval grounds on 20th of May in its first Twenty20 international since winning the world title last month.
Allrounder Thisara Perera smashed 49 off 20 balls to lift the Sri Lankans to 183-7 after being put into bat. Lahiru Thirimanne and Kithruwan Vithanage impressed with plucky knocks of 40 and 38 respectively. Skipper Lasith Malinga, widely regarded as the world’s leading T20 bowler, proved tough to get away in taking three for 28 with his distinctive ‘slingshot’ deliveries to restrict the Englishmen to only 174.
Chandika Hathurusinghe appointed Bangladesh Head coach
The Bangladesh Cricket Board has appointed former Sri Lanka batsman, Chandika Hathurusingha as Bangladesh’s head coach for a two-year period. He has left his position as the assistant coach of New South Wales. This will be his first stint as head coach of an international side. Hathurusingha replaces Shane Jurgensen who resigned as Bangladesh head coach last month after completing 14 months of his two-year stint.
Match fixing frights International Cricket AGAIN!
The Black demon of Match fixing has made news headlines around the world after former New Zealand opener, Lou Vincent giving out information on ‘widespread cricket fixing’ on 15th of May. Present New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has given a testimony to the ICC anti-corruption and security unit on 17th of May. Former kiwi all-rounder Chris Cairns denied corruption allegations on him in a statement on 20th of May after Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum have both mentioned a Player X in their statements.
SLC Super Fours tournament to commence in June
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced the launch of the SLC Super Fours 2014 Tournament for the second consecutive time. The tournament will be played from 27th June – 02nd July, 2014 at the SSC grounds. SLC Super Fours tournament is the premier T20 tournament in Sri Lanka which will have four provincial teams including national stars.
IPL play-offs race heat up
Indian Premier League season 7 is reaching its climax with play-offs to be played on the final week of May. Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders have confirmed their berths in the play-offs and all three teams are playing to their extreme in the final league games to get their place in the top 2 of the overall standings in which they will have two chances to make it to the final on June 1st.
Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians will battle it out for the final place in the play-offs with Sunrisers Hyderbad, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the play-offs race. Lendl Simmons of Mumbai Indians smashed the first century of the season when he scored a belligerent inning of 100 unbeaten runs in 61 balls with 14 boundaries and 2 sixes. Glenn Maxwell of Kings XI Punjab lost the Orange Cap for the most runs as Robin Uthappa snatched it as he has amassed 572 runs in 13 games.
Two-horse race for South Africa test captaincy
Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers have both expressed their desire to lead South Africa in white kits after the retirements of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. Amla’s interest in the job comes as a surprise because he has been reluctant to captain in the past. De Villiers is the current South Africa ODI captain.
