Story Dark Horses' Time to Rule <Sri lankans win the thriller>

[shantanu_rooney]

Introduction

​

The time has finally arrived for the Dark Horses in World of Cricket to rule . Sri Lanka from the past have been known as real dark horses . Lead by a great skipper Mahela Jayawardena Sri Lanka have been real dominant side under his captaincy . Under Mahela Sri Lanka have won 13 of the 24 test and 42 of the 76 ODIs they played. There are also some real star performers like Sanath Jayasuriya more than 10000 runs , Kumar Sanggakkara who is a brilliant keeper batsman , Muttaih Muralitharan who has who has more than 450 wickets in ODIs and 750 in Test . They have been putting in a lot of hardwork for the country and served their country to the fullest .

Background​

Sri Lanka gained full membership of the International Cricket Conference (as ICC was then known) in July 1981 after years of waiting in the wings.

"If the main criterion to play Test Cricket was the mere ability and skill to play the game then perhaps we should have been playing Test Cricket very many years ago", wrote Hon Gamini Dissanayake, President of the Board of Control for Cricket at the time Test status was granted, who was also instrumental in setting up the Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation mainly to raise funds to develop infrastructure facilities.

The first Test match was played against England in February (17-22) 1982 at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium. Sri Lanka was captained by Bandula Warnapura while Keith Fletcher led England. It was also the Centennial Year celebrating 100 years when the first international game was played in Colombo - also against an England team. England won the first Test by 7 wickets.

Much progress has been made in developing the game since, reaching the climax with the winning of the ICC World Cup in 1996. The record against Test playing nations is quite impressive in both Test matches and One Day Internationals .

Sri Lanka recorded its 50th victory in Test cricket with a win over Bangladesh in Kandy in July 2007. It set a new record in terms of time, as it took Sri Lanka just over 25 years to achieve the feat.

ICC Ratings​

Test

Australia.......138
South Africa....116
India...........109
Sri Lanka.......108
England.........104
Pakistan........100
New Zealand.....83
West Indies.....81
Bangladesh......0

ODIs

Australia.......130
South Africa....128
New Zealand.....116
India...........112
Pakistan........110
England.........106
Sri Lanka.......106
West Indies.....95
Bangladesh......46
Ireland.........18
Zimbabwe........16
Kenya...........0

Current Form

ODI
Sri Lanka defeated Indians in the Asia Cup 2008 Finals held at Karachi , Pakistan . Sri Lanka also had a good tour of West Indies as they drew the 5 ODI match series 2-2​

Test
Sri Lanka defeated India convincingly at home 2-1 . Mendis was their star performer . While in West Indies Sri Lanka drew the series 1-1 .

Upcoming Fixture(s)​

Sri Lanka vs India @ SSC
Sri Lanka vs India @ Galle
Sri Lanka vs India @ Premadasa ​

Credits

Barmyarmy for Player Editor
Tutsi for his shots variation patch
Black Magic for his T20 strokes patch
Mad Snake , Arko , Hitterman for their Faces
Appu and Burma Finest for their bats
Whitehornmatt for overlays
Aamir , SRK for their brilliant kits
Special Credits to Gamerkid and Pakistan Army all the members supporting this story .

I had to stop my South Africa story as I uninstall cricket 2007 . But as Cricket 2005 didnt have all that cricket 2007 had i had to start a new story . Sorry for inconvinience . This is gonna be a cracker of a story .

 

[kookaburra69]

Great start man,looking forward to seeing more

 

[gutterman]

great stuff mate kutgw

 

[Pakistani Army]

Very nice start here Shan. Let's see if the Sri Lankans can rule against superior opposition.

Great presentation mate!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Waugh appointed as New Coach​

Australian Steve Waugh has been named coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team, officials confirmed overnight.

"Waugh has been appointed for a two-year period starting on August 13," Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) spokesman Samantha Algama said.

Waugh, 43, who has no coaching experience, replaces another Australian Tom Moody, who quit last month to work with his home state of Western Australia.

Waugh was picked over fellow Australian Terry Oliver, the Queensland coach, after being interviewed by SLC's selection panel on Thursday.

He played 168 test macthes for Australia as a middle-order batsman and captain from 1985 to 2004 . He was known as the best ever Australian captain as he lead them to victory in some important test series like Ashes and also wo the World Cup 1999 with Australia .

Steve Waugh was not the only one to arrive in Sri Lanka ,

Paul Farbace, 40, at one time an England county player, is the Assistant Coach, taking over from Trevor Bayliss. Having been ECB National Coach (1997-2004), he coached Kent County youth teams and was the Academy Director of the Kent County Cricket Club.

Jade Roberts, 29, the Trainer holds degrees in Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) & Applied Science (Human Movement Studies) and is a qualified sports dietician. He was a Strength & Conditioning coach for the Australian Institute of Sports/Centre of Excellence Cricket Program and Sports Dietician to Olympic level athletes.

Paul and Jade will join Steve Waugh to make Sri Lankans the best in World of Cricket .

 

[Pakistani Army]

Nice to see Steve coach of the Sri Lankans. He has a lot of experience and is a major find by the Sri Lankans.

Nice presentation Shan!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Squads Announced

Sri Lankan cricket board have announced thier 14 man squad that will face India in the Idea ODI Series that will start from the August 15th . Dilhara Fernando, the Sri Lankan fast bowler who has just recovered from a leg injury, has been retained in the one-day squad for the three-match series against India . Sri Lanka have named virtually the same squad which won the Asia Cup last month .

Mahela Jayawardene (capt)
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
Chamara Kapugedera
Chamara Silva
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Chaminda Vaas
Kaushalya Weeraratne
Thilan Thushara
Nuwan Kulasekara
Muttiah Muralitharan
Ajantha Mendis
Mahela Udawatte
Dilhara Fernando​

​

BCCI have announced the 16 man squad to take part in the ODI Series against Sri Lanka .Mahendra Singh Dhoni returns to take charge of the team after pulling out of the ongoing Test series while Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan are back in the squad. Ishant Sharma has been rested for the Sri Lanka ODIs and will return for the Champions Trophy. Virat Kohli, who led India to victory in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, has earned a surprise call-up to the national squad for the ODIs against Sri Lanka .

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt)
Sachin Tendulkar
Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Yuvraj Singh
Rohit Sharma
Suresh Raina
Virat Kohli
Subramanium Badrinath
Irfan Pathan
Praveen Kumar
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
RP Singh
Munaf Patel
Pragyan Ojha​

​

 

[Pakistani Army]

Nice strong squad there for the Sri Lankans.

Great presentation Shan!

 

[ursonly11]

Great work so far Shan ! Looking forward for more . KUTGW

 

[gutterman]

id just like to point out waugh finished his international career in the 2003/2004 season

 

[SciD]

It will be fun bowling six diffrent deliveries in an over with Mendis in your side.

 

[Ollie_H]

id just like to point out waugh finished his international career in the 2003/2004 season

What are you on about? Shantanu has said he finished in 2004?

 

[JD10]

good stuff mate

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Press Conference with the Dhoni .​

Yesterday MS Dhoni arrived in the hotel and 15 minutes later he had to attend the press conference . Dhoni looked very confident about his team and has a lot of trust on them as he said they would deliver and try to win the upcoming ODI Series .

Press : How is the mood in the camp after losing the test series ?

MS Dhoni : The mood is good and the team have forgotten the loss of the series and are working hard to win the upcoming ODI Series . We are confident and we surely think we can win this one .

Press : Mendis was the Man of the Series in the recent series . How are you all going to tackle him in the ODIs ? He looks unplayable !

MS Dhoni : He is a very clever bowler . He bowls different delivaries each ball . We need to see the ball carefully from the finger and then play it . Surely our batsman will learn to play him very soon . We wont go for the big ones in his overs but 3 to 4 an over will be very handy .

Press : Dinesh Karthick and Parthiv Patel didnt perform well in the test Series . Is it the end of the road for them ?

No , not at all . They are very talented players . Dinesh and Parthiv are also very handy batsmen . They still have a lot to give for India . Every player has a bad series or a bad patch . So may be they will return strong in this series .

Press : Thanks a lot and good luck for the ODI Series

MS Dhoni : Thanks a lot .

Sky Sports bags rights

Sky Sports have won the race for telecasting the Idea Cup 2008 between Sri Lanka and India . Skysports will bring all live coverage on Sky Sports 1 . Sky Sports beat Ten Sports , Star Cricket and Zee Sports in the race of winning the telecasting rights . Sky Sports will telecast this ODI Series all over the world . Sky Sports will bring you the best of the commentators and the best ever presentation . Group of Commentators will consist of Harsha Bhogle , Sunil Gavaskar , Sir Ian Botham and Ravi Shastri . Hope you all enjoy this coverage .

 

[gutterman]

great update mate cant wait for the series to start