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Mathews unhappy for lack of test matches for SL
Former skipper Angelo Mathews is unhappy with the amount of Test cricket Sri Lanka are scheduled to play in 2023.
Sri Lanka is only due to play five Test matches this year, with two Tests in New Zealand, one Test at home against Ireland – a side not involved in the World Test Championship – and two Tests in Pakistan.
By contrast, their white-ball schedule is full, with 11 ODIs, six T20Is, the Asia Cup and the Cricket World Cup locked in for the remainder of the year.
However, they can still qualify for the 2023 World Test Championship final at the Oval provided they defeat New Zealand 2-0 in their ongoing series and Australia avoid defeat to India in the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Mathews said: “[It’s] unfortunate that we are not playing too many Test matches this year – it’s as few as five. We are coming off a long layoff; the last Test was six months back.
“Everyone’s talking about Test cricket dying, but we’re not doing any good for Test cricket playing only five Tests a year. Hopefully, we’ll get more matches this year. Five feels like not enough.”
The World Test Championship table perfectly illustrates the unequal distribution of red-ball internationals. England, for example, has played 22 matches during the 2020-23 cycle while Sri Lanka has only played 10.
The majority of series which count towards the Championship is only two matches. However, the big three – Australia, England and India – frequently play four or five-match series against one another.
West Indies international Jason Holder recently expressed his grievance with the lack of Test cricket for nations outside the big three, commenting: “The way world cricket is going now, apart from the big three, every team is barely even playing Test cricket.”
ශ්රී ලංකාවට ටෙස්ට් තරග නොමැතිවීම ගැන මැතිව්ස් නොසතුටෙන්
2023 වසරේ ශ්රී ලංකාව ක්රීඩා කිරීමට නියමිත ටෙස්ට් ක්රිකට් ප්රමාණය පිළිබඳව හිටපු නායක ඇන්ජලෝ මැතිව්ස් නොසතුට පළ කර තිබේ.
ශ්රී ලංකාව මේ වසරේ ක්රීඩා කිරීමට නියමිතව ඇත්තේ ටෙස්ට් තරග 5ක් පමණක් වන අතර, නවසීලන්තයේදී ටෙස්ට් තරග දෙකක්, අයර්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව එක් ටෙස්ට් තරගයක් – ලෝක ටෙස්ට් ශූරතාවලියට සම්බන්ධ නොවන කණ්ඩායමක් – සහ පාකිස්තානයේ ටෙස්ට් තරග දෙකක් ඇත.
ඊට වෙනස්ව, ඔවුන්ගේ වයිට්බෝල් කාලසටහන පිරී ඇති අතර, එක්දින තරඟ 11 ක්, T20I තරඟ හයක්, ආසියානු කුසලානය සහ ක්රිකට් ලෝක කුසලානය වසරේ ඉතිරි කාලය සඳහා අගුලු දමා ඇත.
කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඔවුන්ට තවමත් 2023 ඕවල් ක්රීඩාංගණයේ පැවැත්වෙන ලෝක ටෙස්ට් ශූරතා අවසන් මහා තරගයට සුදුසුකම් ලැබිය හැක්කේ ඔවුන් දැනට පවතින තරගාවලියේදී නවසීලන්තය 2-0ක් ලෙස පරාජය කළහොත් සහ ඕස්ට්රේලියාව බෝඩර්-ගවස්කාර් කුසලානයේ අවසන් තරගයේදී ඉන්දියාවට පරාජයෙන් වැළකී සිටියහොත් පමණි.
මැතිව්ස් මෙසේ පැවසීය: “[එය] අවාසනාවකට අපි මේ වසරේ වැඩිපුර ටෙස්ට් තරඟ ක්රීඩා නොකිරීමයි – එය පහක් වැනි සුළු ප්රමාණයකි. අපි දිගු දොට්ට දැමීමකින් ඉවත් වෙමු; අවසන් ටෙස්ට් තරඟය මාස හයකට පෙරය.
“හැමෝම කතා කරන්නේ ටෙස්ට් ක්රිකට් මැරෙන එක ගැන, නමුත් අපි ටෙස්ට් ක්රිකට් වලට කිසිම ප්රයෝජනයක් කරන්නේ නැහැ වසරකට ටෙස්ට් තරග පහක් පමණක් ක්රීඩා කරනවා. බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා, අපිට මේ අවුරුද්දේ තවත් තරඟ ලැබේවි. පහක් මදි වගේ දැනෙනවා.”
ලෝක ටෙස්ට් ශූරතා වගුව රතු-පන්දු ජාත්යන්තර තරඟවල අසමාන ව්යාප්තිය මනාව විදහා දක්වයි. නිදසුනක් වශයෙන්, එංගලන්තය 2020-23 චක්රය තුළ තරඟ 22 ක් ක්රීඩා කර ඇති අතර ශ්රී ලංකාව ක්රීඩා කර ඇත්තේ 10 ක් පමණි.
ශූරතාවලිය සඳහා ගණන් ගන්නා බොහෝ තරඟාවලි තරඟ දෙකක් පමණි. කෙසේ වෙතත්, විශාල තිදෙනා – ඕස්ට්රේලියාව, එංගලන්තය සහ ඉන්දියාව – නිතර තරඟ හතරක් හෝ පහක් තරඟාවලියක් එකිනෙකාට එරෙහිව ක්රීඩා කරයි.
බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් ජාත්යන්තර ජේසන් හෝල්ඩර් මෑතකදී විශාල ත්රිත්වයෙන් පිටත ජාතීන් සඳහා ටෙස්ට් ක්රිකට් නොමැතිකම සම්බන්ධයෙන් සිය දුක්ගැනවිල්ල ප්රකාශ කළේය: “ලෝක ක්රිකට් දැන් ගමන් කරන ආකාරය, විශාල තිදෙනා හැරුණු විට, සෑම කණ්ඩායමක්ම යන්තම් ටෙස්ට් ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩා කරන්නේ නැත.”
இலங்கைக்கு டெஸ்ட் போட்டிகள் இல்லாததால் மெத்யூஸ் மகிழ்ச்சியடையவில்லை
இலங்கை அணி 2023ல் விளையாடவுள்ள டெஸ்ட் கிரிக்கெட் போட்டி குறித்து முன்னாள் கேப்டன் ஏஞ்சலோ மேத்யூஸ் அதிருப்தி தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
நியூசிலாந்தில் இரண்டு டெஸ்ட் போட்டிகள், அயர்லாந்திற்கு எதிராக உள்நாட்டில் ஒரு டெஸ்ட் – உலக டெஸ்ட் சாம்பியன்ஷிப்பில் பங்கேற்காத ஒரு அணி – மற்றும் பாகிஸ்தானில் இரண்டு டெஸ்ட் போட்டிகள் கொண்ட இலங்கை இந்த ஆண்டு ஐந்து டெஸ்ட் போட்டிகளில் மட்டுமே விளையாட உள்ளது.
இதற்கு நேர்மாறாக, அவர்களின் ஒயிட்-பால் அட்டவணை நிரம்பியுள்ளது, 11 ODIகள், ஆறு T20Iகள், ஆசியக் கோப்பை மற்றும் கிரிக்கெட் உலகக் கோப்பை ஆகியவை இந்த ஆண்டு முழுவதும் பூட்டப்பட்டுள்ளன.
இருப்பினும், 2023 ஆம் ஆண்டு ஓவலில் நடக்கும் உலக டெஸ்ட் சாம்பியன்ஷிப் இறுதிப் போட்டிக்கு அவர்கள் இன்னும் தகுதி பெற முடியும், அவர்கள் நியூசிலாந்தை 2-0 என்ற கணக்கில் தங்கள் தற்போதைய தொடரில் தோற்கடித்து, பார்டர்-கவாஸ்கர் டிராபியின் இறுதிப் போட்டியில் இந்தியாவிடம் தோல்வியைத் தவிர்க்கலாம்.
மேத்யூஸ் கூறினார்: “[இது] இந்த ஆண்டு நாங்கள் அதிக டெஸ்ட் போட்டிகளில் விளையாடாதது துரதிர்ஷ்டவசமானது – இது ஐந்து போட்டிகள் மட்டுமே. நாங்கள் நீண்ட ஆட்குறைப்பில் இருந்து வருகிறோம்; கடைசி டெஸ்ட் ஆறு மாதங்களுக்கு முன்பு நடந்தது.
“எல்லோரும் டெஸ்ட் கிரிக்கெட் அழிந்து வருவதைப் பற்றி பேசுகிறார்கள், ஆனால் நாங்கள் டெஸ்ட் கிரிக்கெட்டுக்கு ஒரு வருடத்திற்கு ஐந்து டெஸ்டுகள் மட்டுமே விளையாடுகிறோம். நாங்கள் இந்த ஆண்டு அதிக போட்டிகளைப் பெறுவோம் என்று நம்புகிறோம். ஐந்து போதாது என்று உணர்கிறோம்.”
உலக டெஸ்ட் சாம்பியன்ஷிப் அட்டவணை சிவப்பு-பந்து சர்வதேச போட்டிகளின் சமமற்ற விநியோகத்தை மிகச்சரியாக விளக்குகிறது. எடுத்துக்காட்டாக, 2020-23 சுழற்சியில் இங்கிலாந்து 22 போட்டிகளில் விளையாடியுள்ளது, இலங்கை 10 போட்டிகளில் மட்டுமே விளையாடியுள்ளது.
சாம்பியன்ஷிப் தொடரில் பெரும்பாலானவை இரண்டு போட்டிகள் மட்டுமே. இருப்பினும், பெரிய மூன்று – ஆஸ்திரேலியா, இங்கிலாந்து மற்றும் இந்தியா – அடிக்கடி ஒன்றுக்கொன்று எதிராக நான்கு அல்லது ஐந்து போட்டித் தொடர்களை விளையாடுகின்றன.
மேற்கிந்தியத் தீவுகளின் சர்வதேச வீரர் ஜேசன் ஹோல்டர், பெரிய மூன்று நாடுகளுக்கு வெளியே உள்ள நாடுகளுக்கு டெஸ்ட் கிரிக்கெட் இல்லாதது குறித்து தனது குறையை சமீபத்தில் வெளிப்படுத்தினார்: “உலக கிரிக்கெட் இப்போது நடந்துகொண்டிருக்கும் விதம், பெரிய மூன்று அணிகளைத் தவிர, ஒவ்வொரு அணியும் டெஸ்ட் கிரிக்கெட்டை கூட விளையாடுவதில்லை.”
A breathtaking opening assault from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi powered Rajasthan Royals to their third consecutive victory in the Indian Premier League 2026, as they defeated Mumbai Indians by 27 runs in a high-octane 11-over contest in Guwahati.
After being asked to bat, Rajasthan came out firing on all cylinders. Jaiswal was at his explosive best, smashing 77 off just 32 balls, peppered with 10 fours and four sixes. He found an able partner in Sooryavanshi, who produced a stunning cameo of 39 from only 14 deliveries, including five towering sixes. The duo stitched together a rapid 80-run opening stand in under five overs, setting the tone for a massive total.
Despite a brief slowdown following a couple of wickets from AM Ghazanfar, contributions from skipper Riyan Parag ensured the Royals finished strongly at 150/3.
Chasing 151 in a shortened game, Mumbai never truly recovered from early setbacks. Jofra Archer and Sandeep Sharma struck crucial blows upfront, removing key batters including Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav cheaply.
A late flourish from Sherfane Rutherford, who hammered 25 off just eight balls, briefly raised hopes, but disciplined bowling from Ravi Bishnoi and Nandre Burger kept things in control.
Mumbai Indians eventually finished at 123/9, falling well short.
Sri Lanka Under-19 Women produced an impressive all-round performance to register a comfortable 52-run victory over England Under-19 Women in their second match of the Tri-Series played in Australia today.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Sri Lanka posted a competitive total of 170 in 42.4 overs. The innings was anchored by a composed half-century from Limansa Thilakarathne, who led the batting effort with confidence and maturity. Despite a few setbacks in the middle order, Sri Lanka managed to build useful partnerships to reach a challenging total.
In response, England Under-19 Women struggled to gain momentum against a disciplined Sri Lankan bowling attack and were bowled out for 118 in 42.1 overs. B. Gillgrass top-scored with 35 off 60 balls, while B. Willis remained unbeaten on 20, but lacked support from the rest of the batting line-up.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers delivered a clinical performance, with A. Thalagune leading the charge with an outstanding spell of 3 for 11. C. Praboda also impressed, claiming 3 for 13 to seal the victory.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has moved swiftly to counter widespread reports alleging that 19 national cricketers failed a recent Physical Performance Test, labeling the claims as misleading and unfounded. The governing body stressed that the narrative circulating in the media does not reflect the true outcome of its ongoing player evaluation process.
In a strongly worded clarification, SLC stated that the report, which emerged on April 3, lacked proper verification and has caused unnecessary concern among fans while potentially damaging the credibility of the national setup. The board reaffirmed its commitment to accuracy and professionalism in all aspects of team management.
As part of its routine quarterly review conducted between February and April 2026, SLC confirmed that several prominent players have successfully met the required fitness standards. Among them are Dinesh Chandimal, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dananjaya, Lahiru Udara, and Prabath Jayasuriya.
At the same time, SLC clarified that a group of players has not yet completed the test due to legitimate circumstances. Fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana and all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga are among those undergoing rehabilitation, alongside Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Binura Fernando, and Lahiru Kumara, whose testing has been deferred accordingly.
The cricket board emphasized that fitness benchmarks remain an essential part of maintaining international standards, but assessments are handled with consideration for player health and recovery. Officials also called for responsible journalism, urging media platforms to verify facts before publication to prevent confusion and protect the integrity of the sport.
With preparations ongoing for upcoming international fixtures, SLC’s clarification aims to restore confidence and shift focus back to performance and development within the national team.
Jaiswal, Sooryavanshi blitz helps Royals continue winning streak
Sri Lanka Women’s U-19s Secure Easy Win
SLC Sets the Record Straight on Player Fitness Reports Amid Controversy
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