England tour of Sri Lanka 2021 News

Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has lamented the poor shot selection by batsmen and their wrong approach as reasons behind the second and final match of the series that went horribly wrong for the hosts. Arthur said that an all-out approach that the batsmen took on the fourth day of the Test was not discussed and rather the team had charted a strategy to bat time. "We fought and fought and fought for three days and got ourselves in a really good position, and in two hours we proceeded to throw it away. It was poor batting. It's something I'm going to sit and talk with the players about now. When we lead the game, we've got to be able to put our foot on the neck of the opposition and we didn't do that. That today just wasn't good enough. We've got to learn to be ruthless,” Arthur said. "That was nowhere near our gameplan. Our gameplan this morning was to absorb pressure, grind away, and grind out a couple of sessions to make sure that we got ourselves into a very good position to push for the win tomorrow. That was our strategy. We had a long chat about that this morning. We used the blueprint of our second innings in the first Test match as something that we wanted to base our innings on. Somewhere it's gone horribly wrong. That's something I'm going to dig up and find tonight." Arthur acknowledged that these collapses are occurring very frequently and the series against England was not the first instance when Sri Lanka had wasted all the good efforts made by the bowlers. He added that there will be a round of discussions between him and the team and that the team must find a way to avoid losing games in one session. "This isn't the first time that it's happened, and it's something I need to look into with the team. We let it slip in one disastrous session. Much like in the first Test when we let slip in the first innings again. We can't afford as a team to have those poor sessions. We've got to get our good and our bad closer together. The game was there for us to take and we didn't take it. Extremely disappointed with that,” Arthur added in his review of the series that ended disastrous for the home side in the form of 0-2 sweep.

Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has said that current skipper Joe Root can surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most number of runs in Test cricket. The English captain has shown his class in the recently concluded two-match Test series against Sri Lanka away from home where he scored a couple of tons on the trot including a double-century. "Forget just scoring more Test runs for England than David Gower, Kevin Pietersen and myself. Joe Root has the potential to play 200 Tests and score more runs than even Sachin Tendulkar," Boycott wrote in a column for The Telegraph. Tendulkar holds the record for the most number of Test runs and has amassed 15921 runs in 200 matches for India at an average of 53.8 including 51 centuries to his name. Root on the other side has been a part of 99 matches for England and has scored 8249 runs. "Root is only 30. He has played 99 Tests and scored 8249 runs already. As long as he does not suffer serious injury there is no reason why he cannot beat Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921," Boycott added. Boycott though lauded India skipper Virat Kohli, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and former Australia skipper Steve Smith and went on to suggest that these players can also notch up more runs in the longer format. "His contemporaries, such as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, are wonderful players as well who could also score that many runs. We should enjoy Root and only judge him alongside those guys, not great names of the past because every player is a product of their environment," wrote Boycott.

England completed a clean sweep win over Sri Lanka in Galle after beating the hosts by 6 wickets in the second encounter. Chasing a small total of 164 runs, England went over the line on penultimate day of the match. The visitors had few hiccups before Dominic Sibley and Joe Buttler held the fort and won the game for the side. Sibley remained unbeaten at 56 while Bairstow scored 46*. Lasith Embuldeniya who scalped seven wickets in the first innings picked up three in the second to complete his ten-year in the match. England spinners rattled the hosts in the second innings to scalp all the ten wickets. Dom Bess and Jack Leach bagged a four-for apiece while skipper Joe Root picked up a couple to bundle out Sri Lanka for 126. Embuldeniya top-scored with 40. Earlier, the visiting team rode on Root’s 186 to put 344 in reply to Sri Lanka’s 381 on the board in the first innings. This was Root’s second ton on the trot in the series. For Sri Lanka, it was Angelo Mathews who notched up a hundred while Niroshan Dickwella scored 92. The England seamers shared all the wickets in the first innings with James Anderson bagging a six-wicket haul. “It was nice to spend some time at the crease as I was just trying to build a partnership. Watching Joe, the way he has played in this series, it has been incredible. I have changed a couple of things about myself during this series, it takes a lot of courage to do few of these things. Just trying to work it out. Jos (Buttler) plays at a higher tempo and he took the pressure off me (during that partnership). It's a good win. Let's see what happens against India with a lot of guys coming back in. But scoring some runs has obviously taken some pressure off,” Sibley who scored a half-century in the second innings said. England are now slated to travel to India for four Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs next month.

England achieved a rare feat in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle after the pacers picked all the wickets in the first innings while spinners scalped all the ten wickets in the second innings. Dominic Bess and Jack Leach bagged a four-for each while captain Joe Root picked up a couple of wickets during the course. Leach gave the visitors the first breakthrough after trapping Kusal Perera in front of the stumps. His scalps included the dismissals of Lahiru Thirimane, Dinesh Chandimal and Ramesh Mendis while Bess removed Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews who scored a century in the first innings, wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera. England had put 344, courtesy Root’s second ton of the series on the trot I reply to Sri Lanka’s 381 in the first innings. Lasith Embuldeniya scalped a seven-for the hosts. Later, Sri Lanka began the proceedings in a dismal fashion in the second innings and were left tottering at 78/8 when Embuldeniya and Suranga Lakmal chipped in with a partnership of 38 for the ninth wicket. Embuldeniya scored 40 off 42 including six boundaries and a maximum. They were eventually bundled out for 126 to hand England a target of 164. England lead the series 1-0.

England ride on Joe Root’s second ton of the series against Sri Lanka to steady the ship in first innings of the second Test in Galle while BCCI is keen on getting some crowd in the stands in the T20Is fixtures between India and England. Here are the daily updates from the cricketing world. Joe Root continues form England captain Joe Root continued his form after notching up yet another Test ton against Sri Lanka in the first innings of the second Test in Galle. England were in pursuit of Sri Lanka’s 381 and had lost a couple of early wickets when Root held the fort at one end and smashed 186 runs before getting runout. The visitors ended the Day 3 at 339/9. Lasith Embuldeniya bagged seven wickets for Sri Lanka. The hosts trail the series 0-1. BCCI keen on having spectators in stands for T20Is between India and England The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is pretty keen on getting the crowd in the stands for the T20Is between India and England. "We are trying to open the stadium for fans to witness what awaits to be a thrilling T20I series between India and England. While we are yet to decide on the numbers, the idea is to get close to 50 per cent of the seats filled. But the final decision lies with the government. Safety is a priority even as we adapt to the new normal," the official said, while speaking to ANI. Pakistan announce squad The Pakistan selectors have announced the squad for the first Test against South Africa scheduled to begin on January 26 in Karachi. Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi are some prominent names that have got a place in the side. Squad: Abid Ali, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, M Nawaz, M Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Yasir Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tabish Khan Washington Sundar talks about opening innings for India India all-rounder Washington Sundar has said that it would be a great opportunity if he ever gets a chance to open the innings for India in Test cricket. “I think it will be a blessing for me if I ever get an opportunity to open the batting for India in Tests. I think I will accept the challenge just like our coach Ravi sir did during his playing days,” Washington told PTI during an interaction from his Chennai residence. Natarajan credits teammates for impressive performance India fast bowler T. Natarajan has credited the teammates for his brilliant performance in Australia. Other players supported me in the dressing room. Their motivation and support helped me. I was under pressure to perform when the opportunity was offered,” Natarajan, 29, told the Press during a conference in his home town of Salem in Tamil Nadu. The left-arm pacer made debut for India in all formats on this tour.

England fast bowler James Anderson scalped six wickets in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle while AB de Villiers has become the first overseas player to join the Rs. 100 Cr club. Here are the daily updates from the cricketing world. James Anderson shines England pacer James Anderson returned with figures of 6/40 in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. Batting first, Sri Lanka posted 381, courtesy a hundred from Angelo Mathews and half-centuries from Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal and Dilruwan Perera. Anderson’s scalps included the dismissals of Thirimane, Kusal Perera, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella and Suranga Lakmal. England ended day’s play at 98/2. The visiting team already leads the series by 1-0. AB de Villiers achieves rare feat RCB batsman AB de Villiers became the first overseas player to top INR 100 crore in earnings in the IPL according to a report in InsideSport. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and recently Suresh Raina are the Indian players in this list. The South African has an earning of Rs 11 crore for a season taking him to a total amount of INR 102.5 crore from his contracts. Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers qualify Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers have qualified for the play-offs for this year’s BBL. Scorchers defeated Melbourne Stars by 11 runs to go at the helm of the points table. Umesh Yadav unfollows RCB on Instagram Fast bowler Umesh Yadav has unfollowed RCB on his Instagram account after the franchise released him ahead of the IPL 2021 mini auctions. He has started to follow Chennai Super Kings (CSK).The seamer has played 121 matches picking up 119 wickets at an economy of 8.51, but played just two matches in the last edition and did not manage to pick any wickets. Shubman Gill credits Yuvraj Singh India batsman Shubman Gill has credited Yuvraj Singh for his successful Australian tour. "The camp with Yuvi paaji before the IPL was very useful. During that camp, he prepared me to face the chin music. He used to throw hundreds of short-pitch balls to me from different angles, and I think it helped me a lot," Gill was quoted as saying by the Times of India. "I am relaxed now. Making my debut for India is a big relief. I was a bit nervous,” Gill added.