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Cricinfo previews Sri Lanka’s prospects for the women’s World Cup 2009

Cricinfo staff06-Mar-2009
Medium-pacer Chamari Polgampola could give Sri Lanka some early breakthroughs © Tigercricket.com
Sri Lanka are pretty certain of making it to the Super Six for they just need a win over Pakistan to get there. But what next? A fifth or sixth place will promptly send them to the World Cup qualifiers in 2011. Making it to the top four certainly won’t be easy, but it’s the only way to lose the minnows tag, which their recent performances will show they don’t deserve.However, Sri Lanka have not played outside the subcontinent since the previous World Cup and more importantly will also be on their first visit to Australia. Captain Shashikala Siriwardene has said her side could be the “surprise package” of the tournament and she isn’t far off the mark. While Sri Lanka failed to beat India in the Asia Cup in May last year, they beat West Indies in an exciting 3-2 home series the following October.They come to Australia having won a tri-series in Bangladesh, which included the hosts and Pakistan, and while the victory may not give them confidence for the World Cup, it will give them an edge over teams who enter the tournament without match practice. They have a strong batting line-up led by opener Dedunu Silva. Their bowling is anchored by spinners Suwini de Alwis, who took 21 wickets in the Asia Cup and against West Indies, and Siriwardene, who took 19 in the same period. They also have useful medium-pacers in Chamari Polgampola and Chandi Wickramasinghe.Know your competitionIndia have rarely missed the opportunity to thrash Sri Lanka, especially in Asia Cup games. Their lowest margin of victory has been by 29 runs; de Alwis and Siriwardene took three each to hold them down to 227, after which Dedunu scored 74 off 87 balls but received no support from the others. Siriwardene knows that to make it to the next World Cup, Sri Lanka have a better chance of winning two group matches rather than fighting teams on momentum in the Super Six.England last played Sri Lanka in 2005 on their visit to the country and won both the ODIs by big margins. In their current form they will be virtually impossible to be halted on their way to the World Cup final.Pakistan is a team Sri Lanka have never lost to and will hold a psychological advantage following their comfortable six-wicket win in the tri-series final.Stars of 2009Indian batsman Mithali Raj has predicted the Australian wickets will be slower than they were during India’s visit in November. With the season coming to a close, the pitches would definitely have flattened and lost some of their zip. Left-arm spinner Suwini de Alwis will be looking forward to turning her arm over on such tracks which may offer turn.Shashikala Siriwardene will add pressure on the batsmen with her offbreaks. It should be interesting to watch the two bowl in tandem.In the last year Dedunu Silva has stepped up her game, scoring 413 runs, with three half-centuries, at a strike-rate of 64.93. Sri Lanka will bank on her for some good starts.Squad Shashikala Siriwardene (wk), Suwini de Alwis, Chamari Polgampola, Dilani Manodara (wk), Hiruka Fernando, Rose Fernando, Inoka Galagedara, Gayathri Kariyawasam, Eshani Kaushalya, Udeshika Prabodhani, Deepika Rasangika, Chamai Seneviratna, Dedunu Silva, Sripali Weerakkody.Group fixturesMarch 7 – England v Sri Lanka, Manuka Oval
March 10 – Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Manuka Oval
March 12 – India v Sri Lanka, Bankstown Oval

New Celtic signing Jota ‘can be a frustrating and inconsistent player’, according to The Athletic’s data analyst Mark Carey. 

The lowdown

Jota was one of three Deadline Day arrivals at Celtic Park, along with centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers and striker Giorgos Giakoumakis (via BBC Sport).

He’s joined from SL Benfica on a season-long loan with an option to buy for £6million (via Sky Sports).

The 22-year-old, who’s predominantly a left-winger but can also be deployed centrally or on the right-hand side, has scored two goals and provided three assists in 34 appearances for Benfica’s senior side (via Transfermarkt).

Jota was part of the Portugal squad who reached the final of the Under-21 European Championships at the start of the summer, scoring in the quarterfinal victory over Italy.

The latest

Carey warns that Jota could be a player who draws groans from the stands given his carelessness.

“He clearly has bags of talent,” he wrote. “What is the catch?

“Essentially, he can be a frustrating and inconsistent player. As suggested by his low smarterscout rating for ball retention (20 out of 99), he tends to give the ball away. A lot.”

The verdict

This signing really feels like it could go either way. Jota could simply prove to be a class above and light up the division given his natural flair and showings at youth international level.

But if Celtic experience a tricky run of form, you sense that he’s the kind of player who could become an easy target for frustrated supporters, especially if he takes some time to adapt to a new and extremely physical league.

That’s why it’s smart for the Hoops to have negotiated an option, rather than an obligation, to buy come the end of the season.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou wants this position strengthened.

The chairman of the new seven-member interim committee to run Sri Lanka Cricket, Somachandra De Silva, has pinpointed the ICC World Twenty20, the Under-19 World Cup in 2010, and the 2011 World Cup as targets for Sri Lanka and said that he will give the co

Sa'adi Thawfeeq15-Mar-2009The chairman of the new seven-member interim committee to run Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), former legspinner Somachandra De Silva, has outlined his plan for the next two years. De Silva pinpointed the ICC World Twenty20, the Under-19 World Cup in 2010, and the 2011 World Cup as targets for Sri Lanka and said that he will give the country’s players full support.”I am prepared to give the national cricketers everything they require to win these tournaments. I want them to be mentally and physically prepared for the challenge and I want them to be in a happy frame of mind,” he said. “The other areas my committee and I will concentrate on are negotiating for more cricket tours for the senior, A and junior teams, improving the standards of coaching and umpiring and promoting the provincial and club tournaments.”De Silva, 66, who held the post of schools cricket development officer at SLC, was also the cricket advisor to the country’s president, Mahindra Rajapakse. He said he was given the task of resurrecting Sri Lanka cricket by Rajapakse because of the faith, trust and confidence the president had in him.”The president saw what I could do in the one year I functioned as schools development officer and as his adviser at SLC, where I have in a most professional and systematic manner helped develop virtually every cricket playing school in the country,” said De Silva. De Silva also said he had visited all the provinces encompassing around 415 schools and helped them with cricket equipment and pitches and in some cases, enabled certain schools to revive cricket which they had been forced to give up due to the lack of facilities and material.”In order to promote cricket at U-13, 15, 17 and 19 levels for the first time in the history of schools cricket I brought a rule that every school should have a qualified cricket coach,” he said. “I also appointed qualified Level 1 coaches for every province and a national junior selection committee headed by Sunil Wickremanayake where each of the five selectors are from different provinces along with two school representatives.”De Silva, who played 12 Tests and 41 ODIs and coached the junior national team, said he intended to develop one cricket ground in every district which could be utilised by the schools in the district. He said that he was able to start a cricket development fund which could be utilised for this purpose and presently there was a sum of Rs 8 million (US$ 69,795) collected largely through merchandising Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning souvenirs at the annual cricket festival held in England.”We are also looking at starting work by the end of the month on the Hambantota international cricket stadium which we hope to complete by June-July 2010 so that a 2011 World Cup semi-final could be hosted there,” said De Silva.Under his tenure of coach of the U-19 side, Sri Lanka reached the final of the 1999 World Cup. From that squad the likes of Jehan Mubarak, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kaushalya Weeraratne and Prabath Nissanka went onto play for the senior side. De Silva also coached the 2004 side, from which players like Farveez Maharoof, Upul Tharanga and Thilina Kandamby emerged.”The president has put me in the hot seat as interim committee chairman but with my wealth of experience and the committee that has been given to me I am confident of lifting Sri Lankan cricket to its former pristine glory,” said De Silva.

Leicester City could be set to offload midfielder Nampalys Mendy in a last-minute deal to Turkish giants Galatasaray.

What’s the story?

According to The Leicester Mercury, the 29-year-old is facing a race against time to complete a season-long Gala after being left out of the Foxes’ Europa League squad by Brendan Rodgers.

The Turkish window closes tonight, though, meaning Mendy only has a few hours to seal his move to the Türk Telekom Stadium or he risks sitting on the sidelines until January.

His agent Yacine Ayad provided an update on the Senegal international’s situation in an interview with French outlet FootMercato on Tuesday evening, saying: “The two clubs are okay and Nampalys also for a loan. But the player must arrive in (Senegalese capital) Dakar in the next few hours.

“It is, therefore, a race against time which promises to make him arrive in Istanbul before 23:59 tomorrow (Wednesday) evening and the end of the Turkish transfer window.”

Brendan Rodgers will be delighted

Mendy has struggled to establish himself in the Leicester starting XI since arriving at the King Power Stadium back in 2016, making just 79 appearances for the Midlands outfit in his five-year stay.

It was hoped that the diminutive defensive midfielder would be able to replace N’Golo Kante after the Frenchman departed for Chelsea, but he struggled to live up to those expectations, playing just 271 minutes of Premier League action in his maiden campaign on English shores.

He returned to former club Nice on a year-long loan the following season, before returning to Leicester following the arrival of Claude Puel as the new manager.

Mendy enjoyed a solid 2018/19 campaign, making 31 top-flight appearances for the current FA Cup holders, but Puel’s dismissal once again saw his playing time significantly reduced.

With the arrival of former Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare pushing the £55,000-per-week Mendy even further down Rodgers’ pecking order, a move away from Leicester may be the best solution for all parties.

Therefore, the Northern Irish tactician will surely be delighted that one of his unwanted fringe players could be leaving the club imminently, reducing the chances of the squad harmony being negatively impacted and freeing up funds in the wage budget.

And, in other news…Fabrizio Romano reveals transfer update that’ll have Leicester City fans worried 

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has been given three games to save his job at Villa Park.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Football Insider, who claim that an Aston Villa source has revealed that the 50-year-old will fighting to keep his job should Villa not improve on their results achieved so far this season in the next three fixtures.

The report goes on to state that the former Brentford manager must improve the club’s current 12th place league position prior to the next international break, with Premier League games against Everton, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur coming up for Villa in this period.

Big mistake

Considering the improvement Aston Villa made under Smith last season in comparison to their return to the Premier League in the campaign prior, with the club’s league finish jumping from 17th place to 11th place, in addition to the fact that the 50-year-old’s numerous summer signings are still very much in the process of settling into the club, if the report by Football Insider is to be believed, Christian Purslow could be heading for a big mistake.

While it is true that Villa’s form in the Premier League tailed off following the turn of the year last season, the club nevertheless made magnificent strides towards establishing themselves as a top-half team, something which, it should not be underestimated, is an incredibly difficult challenge.

Furthermore, having sold club captain and talisman Jack Grealish this summer, Smith is currently overseeing something of a rebuild at Villa Park, with the exciting summer signings of Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey, Danny Ings very much still getting to grips with their new manager’s tactical demands and philosophy – something which will naturally take time.

As such, changing the manager at such an early stage of the season – particularly as, while results have not been the best, they are far from disastrous – after giving him a substantial amount of money to spend this summer would seem to be a big mistake on the part of Purslow, who could be doing the club’s top 10 chances this season more harm than good by sacking Smith.

In other news: Insider drops claim on “outstanding” £50k-p/w beast, it’ll be music to AVFC fans’ ears

Paul Farbrace, Sri Lanka’s assistant coach, is his confident his team will be well-prepared for Australia and West Indies, the other teams in their group, when the World Twenty20 gets underway in June

Sa'adi Thawfeeq19-Apr-2009Paul Farbrace, Sri Lanka’s assistant coach, is his confident his team will be well-prepared for Australia and West Indies, the other teams in their group, when the World Twenty20 gets underway in June.”We talked about how we are going to practice and started to do research on West Indies and Australia in terms of Twenty20 cricket,” said Sri Lanka’s assistant coach. “Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara, the captain] is very keen that we are really well-organised and planned and we should give this World T20 a really good show.”I am not going to say that we are going to win it. There are three to five teams that could win this competition. I think it will come down to who prepares the best and who on the day is able to put in that big performance to win close games.”Farbrace, 41, pointed out that not all the senior team-members had featured in the last five Twenty20 internationals, thus making way for other players. “The last Twenty20 game against India is one we should have won,” he said. “We got ourselves into a great position with a much reduced team with no star names. With the side we have and the balance we’ve got within our set-up, we could be a very good Twenty20 team.”Sanga coming in is a follow-on from Mahela [Jayawardene]. Mahela’s been such a successful captain and a great leader, and now Sanga’s got the chance to build on what Mahela’s done. They’ve been great friends which makes the progression from one to the other easy for the players.”The push towards improvement has been helped by the honest appraisal of the players with regard to their inidvidual perfomances, Farbrace said. “In Zimbabwe everybody knew we won the series 5-0 but we also knew that we didn’t bat particular well in that series. There was genuine pleasure that we won a game but there were also long discussions of how we need to improve.”Even in Bangladesh we won the games but there were always areas in which the team wanted to improve. If you are a [Chaminda] Vaas, [Muttiah] Muralitharan or [Sanath] Jayasuriya, to play the amount of games they’ve played, there has to be this drive in them to want to get better. Having these guys in the team means everybody is happy when they win, but they are never satisfied. They always want more.In recent times, Sri Lanka’s one-day record has been disappointing, especially when compared to their Test successes. “With one-day cricket we need to be a bit more planned and a little bit more organised, ” Farbarce said. “What we probably need to do is set a few more targets when we play one-day cricket. We’ve got to get our balance right in allowing people to play their natural game within a framework which allows the team to have a gameplan and develop. That’s something we’ve discussed in the last couple of weeks.”We need to be a little bit more organised and planned with our one-day batting, though the bowling has been good. We just need to be a bit clever so that we have a better strategy on how to play the one-dayers.”The talent of players that Sri Lanka has is really fantastic. With the World Cup in two years time we would like to be involved in a successful campaign. From my own point of view there is so much to be done here. There is also a lot of excitement in terms of the players in the squad. A new captain always brings in a lot of excitement.”Farbrace, who was among the victims of the terror attack in Lahore last month, had suffered injuries to his right arm. He has recovered well since, and has stayed back in Sri Lanka for treatment.

Kolkata Knight Riders have asked the senior pair of Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar to return to India since they do not fit in the present “scheme of things”

Cricinfo staff26-Apr-2009Kolkata Knight Riders have asked the senior pair of Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar to return to India since they do not fit in the present “scheme of things”. The decision was taken after discussions between coach John Buchanan and the team management and while the players were not “happy” they accepted the decision. Both Chopra and Bangar, along with a few injured players will board a flight from Cape Town on Monday.”These [Chopra and Bangar] are two very good senior international players so John Buchanan and the team management thought that if they are not going to have the opportunity [to play] it is unfair to keep them around,” Joy Bhattacharya, Kolkata CEO, said. Chopra played in Kolkata’s first two matches, but got the opportunity to bat only once, managing 11 off 19 balls in first game. Bangar played in the thriller against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, but failed to make an impression, scoring just two.”Nobody is ever happy about going back, but they took it right frame of mind,” Bhattacharya, asked for the players’ reactions. He also said that both players will be back next season as their contracts are for three years.With this latest trim Kolkata have effectively brought their squad strength down to a manageable 20 from the staggering 54 originally picked. There are 11 Indians left in the team in addition to the nine foreigners. “Right now we are down to 11 Indians and seven of them need to play so we don’t think we will trim it,” Bhattacharya said.Kolkata Knight Riders squad:
Anureet Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Arindam Ghosh, Moises Henriques, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Murali Kartik, Charl Langeveldt, Brendon McCullum, Mashrafe Mortaza, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Wriddhiman Saha, Shoaib Shaikh, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Shukla, Yashpal Singh.

Rangers recent stumbles continued on Sunday afternoon as they were unable to get maximum points from thier game at Ibrox.

The champions were unable to break Motherwell down in the Scottish Premiership clash, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Graham Alexander’s side.

Steven Gerrard’s team came into the game off the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Ligue 1 outfit Lyon in the Europa League last Thursday and were unable to return to winning ways in domestic action.

Fashion Sakala opened the scoring in the first half with his first goal for the club, with a second-half equaliser from Motherwell ensuring the game ended square.

One player, in particular, who struggled in the match and contributed to the Gers failing to pick up all three points was central defender Jack Simpson.

Gerrard dropped experienced, reliable, centre-back Leon Balogun to give Simpson a chance to show that he can perform at this level. Instead, the defender provided the head coach with a reminder of why he is not a first-team regular at the moment as he failed to grasp his opportunity.

Simpson was not at the level required to make a positive impact on the match. For the Motherwell goal, the defender allowed a player to dribble the ball past him in the box with relative ease as the defender stuck a lazy leg out and failed to cut out the danger. The forward failed with his attempt but the rebound then fell to the eventual goalscorer, who was able to prod home.

His all-around defensive play was also poor. Per SofaScore, the lightweight lost 67% of his duels on the pitch, losing six of his nine battles in total. He was also dribbled past three times, one of them being for the goal, and only made two tackles, whilst making zero interceptions. This shows that he was ill-prepared for what Motherwell had to throw at him.

On the ball, he was composed, albeit uninspiring. Per SofaScore, he completed 86% of his passes and gave possession of the ball away seven times in the 90 minutes. He failed to register a shot at goal when coming up for set-pieces and did not create any chances for his teammates or complete any dribbles, showing that he did not step out from defence to push the side up the pitch.

Therefore, Gerrard will be feeling let down by the defender as he put his faith in Simpson to step in for Balogun and perform. Instead, he was partially to blame for the equalising goal and struggled with the physical side of the game against Motherwell.

AND in other news, Wilson must make key decision over 28 y/o Rangers “warrior”, Gerrard needs him…

Runako Morton has been called into West Indies’ one-day squad as a replacement for Dale Richards who was forced home with a shoulder injury before the second Test

Cricinfo staff16-May-2009Runako Morton has been called into West Indies’ one-day squad as a replacement for Dale Richards who was forced home with a shoulder injury before the second Test.Morton, who has appeared in 15 Tests alongside 49 ODIs, last appeared for West Indies against Australia, in Antigua, last May and his previous ODI came earlier that year against Sri Lanka.He has two centuries in his one-day career, but his recall is down to a productive domestic season where he scored 1010 runs at 56.11 in the four-day competition.Morton will arrive in England on Monday along with the other one-day specialists who have been included for the three-match series that starts at Headingley on Thursday.

Ryan Jack’s continued injury absence for Rangers is a big problem for the defensive solidity of the team, according to former Gers and Scotland right-back Alan Hutton.

The Lowdown: Jack still out injured

Steven Gerrard’s side have made an up-and-down start to their season, topping the Scottish Premiership table but not always convincing in the competition, as well as being knocked out of the Champions League and losing to Lyon in the Europa League.

Rangers have been without Jack since back in February, with the midfielder still working his way back from a persistent calf problem.

Gary McAllister has confirmed that the 29-year-old is ‘still missing and working hard to get back to full fitness’ currently, as he looks to return sooner rather than later.

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The Latest: Pundit bemoans absence

Speaking to Football Insider after McAllister’s 11-word update, Hutton bemoaned the fact that Jack is still unavailable, claiming the hole in front of the defence has become a big problem:

“The main thing from last year, for me, is Ryan Jack’s missing. I think he’s a huge loss. If you watch the game on Sunday (v Motherwell), Tavernier and Barisic are high up the pitch and Kevin van Veen picks up the ball in behind Tavernier.

“In those kind of spaces, Ryan Jack fills them last season. He goes back into position and covers for the likes of Tavernier. That didn’t happen.

“There was a gap in behind, you need to show him down the line which he wasn’t. He was shown infield which makes Connor Goldson come right out his comfort zone into a wide area.

“Jack Simpson is slow to recognise where the danger is and move across. He can’t cover Goldson who has went out wide. It’s just a kind of mistake after mistake.

“You’re chasing your tail a little bit to try and get a block in. These are the things that seem to be rearing their ugly head game after game.

“It’s simple things but if every single player is making just a little mistake it creates a bigger mistake. From the outside looking in, Ryan Jack is a huge loss.

“He’s very good defensively, he can sniff out danger, can close down spaces really well. They need him back to try and get back into that defensive shape and really help out the team.”

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The Verdict: Vital he returns soon

Hutton is correct in his assessment, with Jack’s all-round game so effective for Rangers last season, with 16 league starts coming his way as Gerrard’s men clinched title glory.

The hope is that he returns in the near future, adding stability to the Gers’ midfield and bringing more consistency to the team, in terms of both performances and results.

An average of 1.1 tackles and interceptions per game apiece in the league in 2020/21 proved to be effective and that can again be the case upon his return.

In other news, one pundit has discussed a potential loan move involving Rangers. Read more here.