That was your final. NZ, SA that…was your final. What an amazing game of cricket, and what a shame they are so few and far between. I’m enough of a cricket fan to be actually happy Sri Lanka didn’t sneak through to that semi final, because the fare that would have been dished out would have made me cry. There’s ...
Raise Your Black Caps Martin Guptill. What the hell dude? Who does that? 237 not out with a six onto the roof. I mean, seriously. The guy who could barely score a run against Sri Lanka finally turns the corner. I hope his return to form enables NZ to win a World Cup. They’ve deserved it, after being strong contenders ...
I didn’t write a preview to the quarter finals, because I was afraid. Afraid of exactly what happened, and afraid of all hate I’d receive for surmising that it might happen. Afraid that I was already getting too emotional about the retirements to be objective about the cricket. It happens, sometimes. There’s no way I can avoid doing a review ...
There’s been quite a response to the ‘Maxwell ponnaya’ signboard. I’ve been also accused of not having a sense of humour, which to me is an insult far worse than being called fat, ugly and/or stupid – all of which are true in varying degrees. Let’s make one confession. I’ve used ‘ponnaya’ on people often enough. Mostly under my breath ...
Apparently Glen Maxwell, while interacting with the SCG crowd had asked the real ponnaya to please stand up. That explains the amount of people on their feet. Really, people. It’s great that everyone has a great time, it really is. Seeing nearly 700 runs scored in a day is a big deal. But that’s all this cricket is to us. ...
Poor old Dimuth Karunaratne was the latest casualty in the Sri Lankan camp yesterday, picking up a broken finger at practice. He follows the previous hamstring injury of Jeevan Mendis and the broken hand of Dhammika Prasad which happened early on in the piece. Prasad seemed a genuine injury. His hand was well and truly broken and a fast bowler ...
So everyone’s happy now. Sri Lanka have won two games handsomely and all is well in the Paradise Isle. Sri Lankans are so fickle and changeable it’s a good thing our weather doesn’t reflect the people. Sri Lankan cricket fans, I think, have – as a majority – lacked perspective. If their team wins great, but if they don’t, they’re ...
Before the World Cup started, I wrote this post https://ballhandling101.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/what-mahela-needs-to-do-to-win-us-games/ I still believe that if MJ doesn’t really fire in a game, either with a big hundred or a quick 40 we probably won’t win that game bar exceptionally good performances by more than one other player. So in situations like we were in on Sunday, the MJ that turned ...
Not the Super Rugby. That’s here too. But the Cricket World Cup. Somehow, with elections. Genocidal resolutions. Sri Lanka’s terrible form, I feel that this is the least hyped World Cup probably since 1999. The cricket buffs are obviously talking about it, but people don’t really seem as enthused. Is that because there’s more going on with them, or because ...
So Sri Lankan won the seventh and final game of the series and Kumar Sangakkara had a scorcher of a game. He became the highest run scorer in Sri Lankan ODI history, surpassing the record of current Chief Selector Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the most successful wicket keeper in ODI’s surpassing Adam Gilchrist’s 472 scalps. He also got 113 ...
Last evening, I was reliably informed that the Army and Navy top brass – the very top brass – had indicated that both Rohitha Rajapaksha and his elder brother and national captain Yoshitha Rajapaksha should not continue to play for the Army and Navy teams and that they be relieved of their captaincies. As a result it is unlikely that ...
Chasing in a ODI game is tough. But on the plus side, unlike the side batting first, there’s the advantage of knowing exactly how much you need to get. This is a sword which has the double edge of ‘scoreboard pressure’ as well as ‘certainty of target’. The Uncertain Target Syndrome, when batting first, is what dictates the innings’ velocity. ...
Make no mistake, Sri Lanka’s best batsman has been batting like a dream in this tournament. He has a hundred a ninety and some other very good scores given the context of the games. Unlike many times in his career he has not gotten out cheaply and has gotten out trying to accelerate the scoring. Only in the 4th ODI ...
I’ve been banging on about this for a while now, and it’s getting a bit old. But in typical fashion I am going to keep flogging this horse. As I said yesterday, Sri Lanka haven’t given themselves the best chance of winning this World Cup. Lasith Malinga is not yet fit, and we don’t have enough quality fast bowling to ...
I’ve been quiet for a month. Sorry about that, but things happened. Like the election, which I was very concerned about and had to keep a tab on. Happily though, 2015 has seen the installation of two leaders I am very chuffed about, and as I write my first blog of 2015, welcome to President Maithripala Sirisena and also to ...
Mahela Jayawardena is a Gemini. Also known as the twins, symbolised by two faces looking in opposite directions. Also reminiscent of the Roman god Janus (where we get January), whose two heads look forward at the new year and back at the old year. Geminis therefore are often two people in one. The twins are not looking in the same ...
What’s wrong with our World Cup squad, I hear you ask? Well a lot, if you ask me. Yes, this is a 30 member pool and there are a lot of untested names. But the most notable absentee in the squad is Logic. With Foresight also being unlucky to be left out. But let’s face it. This 30 isnt’ going ...
Somehow I’ve always considered myself as being relatively rational in the face of death. I realise it is inevitable and that it must be prepared for, both spiritually and ironically, physically. So I don’t know why the news of Phil Hughes’ death shook me so much this morning. Why it almost produced tears, and why I’m still struggling to come ...
A bit of both actually. The good thing is that selection changes have been made. And that was necessary because the squad that went to India certainly wasn’t going to win us a world cup. It’s good to see that as much as I’ve been banging on about it for 18 months now, it needed a debacle for any action ...