Essex win marred by Vaas injury

Essex cruised to victory by nine wickets against Middlesex but the match was marred by injury to Chaminda Vaas.

The Middlesex bowler collided with the boundary boards on attempting to catch a Ravi Bopara drive at long-off and was taken to hospital with a neck injury.

Eoin Morgan starred for the visitors as he struck 100 in what looked to be a challenging total of 277-7 in 50 overs.

But Mark Pettini (103no) and Varuna Chopra (102) made it look easy as Essex wrapped it up with 28 balls to spare.

Bopara hit an unbeaten 56 off 42 balls to follow his century against Ireland last week as Essex completed their third win out of four matches in the Friends Provident Trophy.

But the home side's innings was delayed by 27 minutes as Sri Lanka star Vaas received treatment on the field, before he was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.

"Chaminda unfortunately fell back into the boards and hit his head. He's been taken to do some neurological tests," said Middlesex coach Richard Pybus.

"He was conscious and could feel his fingers and feet. You've got to be very careful with an injury like this, it can sometimes be 48 hours to do the checks."

The 33-year-old paceman was assessed by a consultant at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford before being released at around 1930.

Middlesex had made a bright start to the match, openers Ed Joyce and Nick Compton putting on 52 in 10 overs before Morgan arrived at the crease to stroke a sumptuous century.

David Nash was also among the runs with 51 while Danish Kaneria was the pick of the home bowlers, finishing with figures of 4-49.

But Essex made light of the visitors' total as openers Pettini and Chopra put on 193 in 34 overs, both batsmen recording their highest one-day score against docile bowling, Ben Hutton taking the only wicket when he had Chopra caught at deep square leg.

ICC confirms make-up of revised ICC Cricket Committee

May 15, 2007

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene and Michael Holding, the ex-West Indies fast bowler, are among the people who will form part of the ICC's newly constituted cricket committee.

Also included are Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, chief ICC match referee and former Sri Lanka captain Ranjan Madugalle and Craig Wright, the former Scotland captain.

The new structure is designed to be representative of all interests in the modern game and replaces the previous set-up which was made up of the nominated representatives from each of the Full Members (Boards and players) and leading Associates.

The new 13-member committee, which will meet for the first time on 30 and 31 May in Dubai, will be chaired by ex-India captain Sunil Gavaskar, an ICC Cricket World Cup winner in 1983.

It will also feature recently appointed Western Australia coach Tom Moody, another player to enjoy ICC Cricket World Cup success - with Australia in 1987 (as a squad member) and 1999 - and someone who coached Sri Lanka to the ICC Cricket World Cup final earlier this year.

The ICC Executive Board, which previously approved the recommendation of the ICC Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) to amend the structure of the Cricket Committee, approved the personnel set to sit on it at its meeting in Cape Town in March.

The remit of the ICC Cricket Committee is to discuss and consult on any cricket-playing matters and to formulate recommendations to the CEC which relate to cricket-playing matters.

The Committee (and the interests from which its members are drawn) will be made up of the following people:

Chairman - Sunil Gavaskar (former India captain and opening batsman and ICC Cricket World Cup winner in 1983)

Past players (2) - Ian Bishop (former West Indies fast bowler) and Mark Taylor (ex-Australia captain)

Representatives of current players (2) - Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka captain; Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman, was the original nominee for this position but he is unavailable due to commitments playing county cricket in the UK) and Tim May (ex-Australia off-spinner, ICC Cricket World Cup winner in 1987 and now Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations)

Full Member team coach representative (1) - Tom Moody (former Sri Lanka coach)

Member Board representative (1) - Duleep Mendis (former Sri Lanka captain and now SLC Chief Executive)

Umpires' representative (1) - Simon Taufel (member of the Emirates Elite Panel and named Umpire of the Year three times in a row at the ICC Awards)

Referees' representative (1) - Ranjan Madugalle (ICC chief match referee and former Sri Lanka captain)

Marylebone Cricket Club representative (1) - Keith Bradshaw (took over as the MCC's Secretary and Chief Executive in October 2006 in succession to Roger Knight; former first-class cricketer for Tasmania in Australia. MCC is the custodian of the Laws of Cricket)

Statistician (1) - David Kendix (a statistician/scorer and the man responsible for the creation and development of the LG ICC Test and ODI Championships and nominated by the ICC to sit on the committee)

Media (1) - Michael Holding (former West Indies fast bowler and now part of the commentary team for Sky Sports in the UK)

Associate representative (1) - Craig Wright (former Scotland captain)

Commenting on the change to the ICC Cricket Committee, ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said: "It is excellent news that both the new structure and the make-up of the committee have been approved.

"The game of cricket now has at its disposal a group of outstanding cricket brains covering all aspects of the game and with their collective input we will be able to ensure that, moving forward, a strong sport is able to grow even stronger."

Simon Taufel said: "The Emirates Elite Panel of umpires is very pleased to have representation on the ICC Cricket Committee and be able to have input into how the game is structured at the highest level.

"There is an enormous amount of cricket experience on the Elite Panel of umpires and we hope to be able to contribute in a positive way to improving the game for all participants and spectators."

Michael Holding, who has already sat on an ICC panel of experts that examined the issue of illegal bowling actions, said: "If the ICC believes I can make a contribution to the committee then I am delighted to take part as I am always happy to be involved in anything that is for the betterment of the game."

Details of the ICC Cricket Committee's agenda and of the meeting itself will be announced in due course.

Test cricket returns to the R Premadasa Stadium

May 13, 2007

The venue will host a Test after a gap of two years © Cricinfo Ltd

Test cricket returns to the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the venue famous for holding the world record Test total of 952 for 6 by Sri Lanka, when it hosts the first Test of the three-match series against Bangladesh next month. The series, which also includes three ODIs, gets underway on June 25.

The stadium is currently the property of Sri Lanka Cricket who have signed a 33-year lease and acquired the premises. It has hosted only two Tests in ten years, the last one coincidentally against Bangladesh, in 2005.

The Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy was originally scheduled to host the first Test but poor ground conditions prompted a change in schedule, and it will now host the third Test starting July 11. The Saravanamuttu Stadium will host the second Test from July 3.

Bangladesh are due to arrive in Colombo on June 17 and wind off their tour on July 26.

Itinerary
June 17 - Arrival
June 20-22 - Warm-up match at Colts
June 25-29 - 1st Test, Colombo (R. Premadasa Stadium)
July 3-7 - 2nd Test, Colombo (Saravanamuttu Stadium)
July 11-15 - 3rd Test, Kandy
July 18 - One-day warm-up match, Colombo (NCC)
July 20 - 1st ODI, Colombo (Saravanamuttu Stadium)
July 22 - 2nd ODI, Colombo (R Premadasa Stadium)
July 24 - 3rd ODI, Colombo (R Premadasa Stadium)

Moody quits as Sri Lanka coach

May 14, 2007

Tom Moody will coach Western Australia next season © Getty Images

Tom Moody has resigned as Sri Lanka's coach and will return home to Perth to take up a role guiding Western Australia for the next three seasons. Trevor Penney, who worked with him as an assistant coach at Sri Lanka, will also join Western Australia under Moody.

The decision makes Sri Lanka the sixth Test-playing nation to lose their coach during or after the World Cup. Sri Lanka Cricket wants Penney, who has a contract until August, to act as caretaker coach for the side's series against Bangladesh in June-July. Sri Lanka's next assignment after the Bangladesh matches is the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September.

Moody said his family, who lived in England while he worked in Sri Lanka, played a large part in his decision. "It was a very difficult decision to make given the strong relationship that has been built between SLC and myself," he said.

"But at this stage in my life it was important that I made a bigger commitment to my family. However, I will be more than happy to assist in whichever way I possibly can for the continuous success of SLC." It is expected Moody's advice will play a role in determining who succeeds him.

An SLC statement indicated there were no hard feelings. "SLC regrets that Tom Moody has to leave our services and respects his decision," it said. "SLC is grateful to Tom for his valuable contributions to the success of the national and SLC during his tenure. We wish him all the success in his future endeavors."

Moody will reportedly have his salary boosted by a sponsorship deal with Vikas Rambal, the Indian industrialist, who lives in Perth. Moody, a former captain of Western Australia who led the state to two Sheffield Shields and a domestic one-day title, has been at Sri Lanka since 2005 and before that coached Worcestershire.

He said it would be terrific to return home and work with his former state team-mates Graeme Wood, who is the Western Australian Cricket Association's chief executive, and Justin Langer. In April, Langer announced he was stepping down as captain but continuing as a player, and he let slip the move was prompted by the knowledge Moody would be taking over as coach.

Abu Dhabi series to go ahead as scheduled

May 9, 2007

All three matches will be played under floodlights at the Sheikh Zayed stadium

The three-match ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has finally been confirmed after the organisers secured sponsors and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), according to one of its officials. The series was originally scheduled for May 9 but was postponed till May 18 due to Sri Lanka's delayed arrival from the Caribbean and lack of interest from sponsors and television channels.

"The Abu Dhabi cricket officials have informed us that there are no financial issues anymore and the series would go ahead as planned," Zakir Khan, PCB's Director of Cricket Operations, told The News.

Zakir also rejected reports that Sri Lanka was set to receive a bigger amount or their participation in the desert series. "It is absurd. Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka would be paid the same amount to feature in the series," he said without disclosing the amounts involved.

The organisers in Abu Dhabi had initially planned for a triangular tournament featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa but were forced to alter their plans after the South Africans refused to participate in the proposed event. The series would also be without several stars from either side as leading Pakistani batsman Younis Khan and pace star Shoaib Akhtar made themselves unavailable for the event. From the Sri Lankan side, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara would miss the series.

The three matches there would be played on May 18, 20 and 22 under floodlights.

Sri Lanka decide to ring changes

World Cup runners-up Sri Lanka have named a much changed squad for a three-match series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi later this month.

Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara will all be absent playing county cricket in England.

And the selectors have left out former skipper Marvan Atapattu and seam bowler Nuwan Kulasekera.

Among the new faces are uncapped opener Malintha Warnapura and seam bowler Ishara Amarasinghe.

"Malintha deserves the break. He's done exceptionally well with the 'A' team and his choice was automatic," said chief selector Asantha de Mel.

"Ishara bowls at a good pace and he's got the talent - we want to see how he goes. He's like Lasith Malinga, unusual action and troubles batsmen often."

Only nine members of the World Cup squad will be involved in the series, which includes matches on 18, 20 and 22 May.

Wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who played the last of his three one-day internationals four years ago, will replace Sangakkara and there are also recalls for batting prospect Chamara Kapugedara and leg-spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi.

The decision to leave out Atapattu is an indication that the 36-year-old's international career may be drawing to a close, at least as far as one-day cricket is concerned, although De Mel insisted the door was still open for him to return.

"Marvan will be considered in the future, but for this series we thought of going with a couple of young guys," De Mel added.

Sri Lanka squad: Mahela Jayawardene (Captain) Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, TM Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Lasith Malinga, Malintha Warnapura, Prasanna Jayawardene, Ruchira Perera, Ishara Amarasinghe, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Chamara Kapugedara.

President welcomes Sri Lanka Cricket team

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

May 08, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa hosted a welcoming ceremony for the Cricket World Cup runners-up Sri Lankan team this evening at the Temple Trees.