Sri Lanka Cricket Archives

Free entry announced for Pakistan vs Netherlands T20 World Cup clash

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced free entry for spectators to watch the curtain raiser clash of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup between Pakistan and the Netherlands, set to take place at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground on Saturday.

According to SLC, cricket fans will be allowed to watch the event’s opening game free of charge.

“The inaugural match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to be played tomorrow at the SSC Grounds, Colombo, will be open to the public free of charge,” the SLC said in a statement.

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“Accordingly, Gates No. 5 and 7 of the SSC Grounds will be opened to the public from 9:30 a.m. The opening match will be contested between Pakistan and the Netherlands, with play scheduled to commence at 11:00 a.m,” the statement added.

For those unaware, weather conditions could disrupt the opening day, with forecasts indicating a mixed outlook: cloudy skies throughout and the possibility of rain increasing as the day progresses.

Morning conditions are expected to remain relatively stable despite heavy cloud cover of around 88 percent.

Temperatures will hover near 31°C, with a RealFeel of approximately 36°C, while humidity is projected to remain high at 77 percent.

Winds from the southeast are likely to blow at around 11 km/h, with gusts reaching up to 32 km/h.

Although the skies will remain overcast, no rainfall is predicted during the early hours.

Squads:

Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan and Usman Tariq.

Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Colin Ackermann, Noah Croes, Bas de Leede, Aryan Dutt, Fred Klaassen, Kyle Klein, Michael Levitt, Zach Lion-Cachet, Max O’Dowd, Logan van Beek, Timm van der Gugten, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren and Saqib Zulfiqar.

READ: All you need to know about ICC T20 World Cup 2026

Sri Lanka Cricket announces revised LPL 6 schedule

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Monday revealed the revised schedule of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which was originally slated to commence in November 2025.

Two months earlier, LPL was postponed in a bid to prepare for the forthcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from 7 February to 8 March.

“Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wishes to announce that the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2025 will not be held this year as originally planned.

The decision was taken after careful consideration of the broader requirement of preparing well in advance for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India during February – March 2026,” the board had said in a statement in October.

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However, the new development has confirmed the Premier League schedule, with the five-team tournament to be played in July.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that the sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League will be held from 8th July to 8th August 2026,” the SLC said in a statement.

“The new dates for the sixth edition were finalised following the postponement of the tournament, which was originally scheduled to be held in December 2025,” the statement added.

The board further emphasized venue preparation for the mega event and confirmed the tournament’s mid-year timeline.

“The postponement was made considering the broader requirement of preparing the ‘Host Venues’ well in advance for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India during February–March 2026.

With this decision, the five-team tournament—Sri Lanka’s topmost domestic T20 competition—will return to a mid-year window, as in several previous editions,” the board statement read.

READ: England urged to ‘use their brains’ ahead of second Ashes Test

ICC suspends Sri Lanka Cricket over political meddling

The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Sri Lanka’s cricket board Friday, saying it had failed to ensure there was no government interference in its affairs.

The game’s world governing body said it had found that Sri Lanka Cricket was “in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and to ensure that there is no government interference”.

The suspension came a day after Sri Lanka’s parliament asked the board to resign over allegations of financial corruption.

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The conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC board later, it said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if the indefinite suspension would affect Sri Lanka hosting the Under 19 World Cup in January.

The crisis involving the cricket board — the richest sporting organisation in the bankrupt island country — came to a head after Sri Lanka’s humiliating World Cup defeat by India last week.

The Sri Lankan parliament unanimously asked Sri Lanka Cricket’s elected board members to resign on Thursday, accusing them of unprecedented corruption involving millions of dollars.

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The board has not yet responded to the parliament’s non-binding resolution.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said Thursday’s move was a “historic resolution that sends a message to the world that Sri Lankan legislators have united to defend cricket and restore the integrity of the game”.

The board is now locked in litigation after it was sacked by the sports minister on Monday, only to be restored the following day by the Court of Appeal pending a hearing in two weeks.

The ICC has rules against political interference and has suspended Sri Lanka before.

READ: New Zealand crush Sri Lanka to diminish Pakistan’s semi-final hopes

Casinos, fake prophet marred Sri Lanka’s World Cup, report finds

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s inglorious exit from the T20 cricket World Cup in Australia was accompanied by players partying at casinos, corruption and the influence of a fake prophet, an inquiry showed Thursday.

Batsman Danushka Gunathilaka was arrested hours after Sri Lanka’s tournament prematurely ended and has been charged with four counts of sexual assault on a woman in Sydney.

An independent panel which investigated Sri Lanka’s off-field behaviour during the World Cup in October-November revealed a litany of wrongdoing among players, officials and associates.

Sri Lanka, the Asian champions, were stunned by Namibia in their opening match and failed to progress to the knockout rounds after finishing fourth in their Super 12 group.

Bowler Chamika Karunaratne was involved in a brawl at a casino along with six team-mates when he objected to a fellow punter taking his picture, the panel’s 63-page report said.

Karunaratne was fined and given a suspended ban last year.

Team manager Mahinda Halangoda told investigators that the players went to a casino for dinner because “all restaurants in Australia close after 8:00 or 8:30 pm” and the gambling venue offered the only food available. The panel did not agree.

The five-member panel recommended that casinos be off-limits for players on overseas tours and that wives be allowed in their hotel rooms — a practice permitted until 2016 — to ensure they do not stray out and violate team discipline.

A former high-performance manager, Jerome Jayaratne, had no role with the team but was sent to Melbourne for 10 days and paid $7,000, according to the document seen by AFP.

Jayaratne is related by marriage to the Rajapaksa family who have dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades, including the president ousted by mass protests last year.

Jayaratne contributed nothing to the team on the trip and spent time with his sister instead, the panel reported.

Former skipper Mahela Jayawardene travelled as a “consultant coach” at the cricket board’s expense but opened a branch of his upmarket Ministry of Crab restaurant chain in Australia, the panel reported.

The investigators, led by retired Supreme Court Justice Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena, called for a comprehensive audit of the Sri Lanka Cricket board and urged the sports minister to seize board documents to ensure evidence was not destroyed.

A man claiming to be a prophet had established considerable influence over some team members and key officials, the panel said, calling for a wider investigation.

Under his influence the bowler Karunaratne left an oil lamp burning in his room, despite hotel warnings of a fire hazard, it added.

There was no immediate comment from Sri Lanka Cricket, but Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe said he will study the report and act on it to ensure team discipline and stamp out corruption.

The panel also called for better physical fitness among national players.

Sri Lanka part ways with Australian Moody ahead of World Cup

COLOMBO: Australian former international Tom Moody is set to leave his post as Sri Lanka’s director of cricket, officials said on Monday, weeks before the T20 World Cup.

The 56-year-old’s three-year contract is being terminated by “mutual agreement”, Mohan de Silva, secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), told AFP.

A senior cricket source who did not wish to be named said that SLC “could not afford his fees in the long run”, despite having savings of over $40 million.

“We also feel we need a person who is more hands-on, who can spend more time in Sri Lanka,” the source added.

The source said that the former Test player was paid $1,850 a day plus expenses for the 100 days a year he was expected to spend in the country, which is suffering its worst economic downturn.

Moody will leave by the end of this month or before the T20 World Cup starts in Australia next month, another source said.

Former Sri Lanka head coach Moody was appointed director of cricket in February last year to help prepare the team for the T20 World Cup and the 50-over version in India in 2023.

There was no immediate comment from the Australian, who last month said that he was taking a similar director of cricket post at Desert Vipers in the newly formed UAE-based International League T20.

Under Moody, Sri Lanka emerged earlier this month as surprise winners of the Asia Cup, seen as a tune-up for the World Cup.

As director of cricket Moody drew up a performance-based pay structure which was resisted by the national squad.

But they were eventually forced to cave in following threats that they would be dropped unless they agreed.

Sri Lanka has faced acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines since late last year, but Sri Lanka Cricket remains flush with cash, according to board officials.

Last week it donated half a million dollars to a cancer hospital which is desperately in need of life-saving medicines and medical equipment.

READ: Security protocol restricts Pakistan team’s movement during England T20Is

Pathirana receives maiden call-up as Sri Lanka reveal squad for Asia Cup

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) unveiled an 18-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022, scheduled to commence on August 27 in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Following his amazing run in the domestic circuit and in the previous edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), young Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana has received a maiden call-up to the national squad for the Asia Cup 2022.

Experienced all-rounder Dasun Shanaka will be leading the Sri Lankan side in the multi-national event. Whereas, most of the names were retained from their previous series against Australia in June.

Sri Lanka squad for #AsiaCup2022 announced: 👇 https://t.co/0R1EnT9qQf

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) August 20, 2022

Sri Lanka will start their Asia Cup 2022 campaign against Afghanistan on August 27 in the curtain-raiser. Whereas, the anticipated clash of the tournament between arch-rivals Pakistan and India will take place on August 28.

Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have already announced their squads for the continental event, while Afghanistan are yet to name their contingent.

Sri Lanka Squad: Dasun Shanaka (c), Dhanushaka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanidu Hasaranga, Mahesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrema, Dushmantha Chameera, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwanindu Fernando.

READ: Major blow for Pakistan as Shaheen Afridi ruled out of Asia Cup 2022

Sri Lanka withdraw from hosting Asia Cup 2022 amid political turmoil

KARACHI: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) expressed its inability to host the Asia Cup 2022 amid political and economic turmoil in the country and contacted UAE cricket authorities to host the upcoming event.

SLC informed the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) that the board would not be in a position to host the upcoming T20 event due to the political and economic crises in the island nation.

“Sri Lankan cricket has conveyed that due to the existing political and economic situation in their country especially where foreign exchange is concerned it is not an ideal situation for them to host such a mega-event of six teams in the island nation,” an ACC source said as reported by an Indian media outlet.

Reportedly, Sri Lanka will contact the UAE to host the multi-nation tournament despite no official confirmation has been made so far in this regard by the SLC.

However, UAE might not be the only replacement option and the venue could also be moved to any other Asian country.

Whereas, the Sri Lankan board recently postponed the forthcoming third edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) due to the ongoing crisis.

It is worth mentioning here that the Asia Cup 2022 is expected to be held in August and September this year in the T20 format, featuring six Asian teams including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

READ: ‘It’s kind of run-of-the-mill’ Wasim Akram favours scrapping of ODI cricket

Sri Lanka Cricket lifts ban on Gunathilaka, Mendis and Dickwella

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) lifted the one-year ban from Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella with immediate effect.

The SLC lifted the ban from the trio; following a request made by the three players to Sri Lanka Cricket.

“The latest decision was taken following a request made by the three players to Sri Lanka Cricket to lift the ban imposed on them,” SLC stated in the press release.

Taking to Twitter, the SLC shared the news of ban-uplifting from the trio.

Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to lift the one-year suspension imposed on Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella: from playing International Cricket, across all three formats, with immediate effect.

READ: https://t.co/qOTLTQ4nYW #SLC #lka

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) January 7, 2022

The SLC banned the three players during Sri Lanka’s tour to England; following the breaching of the bio-secure bubble by the trio.

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