Colombo: Sri Lanka medium pacer Chanaka Welegedara has been ruled out of the team's Champions Trophy campaign in England next month.
The 32-year-old Welegedara, who has not played ODI cricket in three years, injured his foot during a domestic fixture earlier this month.
He will be replaced by allrounder Dilhara Lokuhettige, who played his last one day international way back in 2005. Lokuhettige, however, has been in fine form with the ball lately, taking plenty of wickets for Sri Lanka Cricket Combined XI.
The inclusion of Lokuhettige, however, is subject to the ICC's technical committee's approval. Sri Lanka have been pooled with hosts England, defending champions Australia and New Zealand in Group A. They will play their first match against New Zealand at Sophia Gardens in Wales on June 9....
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04:53 PM, May 22, 2013
Pudukottai: With the break-up of UPA in Tamil Nadu, Congress leader and former Union minister EVKS Elangovan on Sunday said there was a possibility of his party heading a new alliance sans the two major Dravidian parties - DMK and AIADMK - for the next Lok Sabha elections. Rejecting the charges against Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, he said people were not aware of the party's good work...
01:27 AM, May 20, 2013
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said the Tamil minority now wants to live peacefully in one country and slammed the Tamil diaspora for the lack of support in his reconciliation and rebuilding efforts in the former conflict zones. "Diaspora and the Tamil parties who foster separation still try to take the Tamil society towards destruction", he said while speaking at the Victory Day celebrations marking the fourth...
03:30 PM, May 18, 2013
Chittagong: Bangladesh is evacuating one million people with Cyclone Mahasen expected to hit its low-lying delta coast on Thursday evening, said the United Nations, which estimated 4.1 million people were at risk due to gale-force winds, heavy rain and flooding. Bangladesh has raised its storm warning to seven, on a scale with a maximum of 10, as Mahasen approaches one of the poorest countries in Asia with winds of around...
09:04 AM, May 16, 2013
Colombo: The Sri Lankan government is investigating a controversial video footage aired by a British Channel accusing the army of war crimes during the final phase of the battle with the LTTE. This was conveyed to European Parliament by Sri Lankan Ambassador to European Union PM Amza on Tuesday, a government statement said. The investigation is to happen irrespective of Sri Lanka's categorical rejection of the Channel-4 footage in the...
05:45 PM, May 15, 2013
New Delhi: After incursions in Ladakh, China has now flexed its muscles in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Navy has expressed concern about increasing presence of Chinese navy's submarines and warships in the region. Defence Minister AK Antony will open the bi-annual Naval Commanders Conference in Delhi on Tuesday. The minister, fresh from flagging off the Navy's first MiG-29K squadron in Goa, is expected to highlight concerns over the increasing...
07:40 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Even as the controversy over Laxman Sivaramakrishnan's appointment to the ICC Cricket Committee raged on, the BCCI on Monday received support from its Asian allies Sri Lanka and Pakistan who claimed allegations of the Indian Cricket Board forcing a re-vote were baseless. The furore over the appointment seemed to have created a rift in the cricket world with the Asian countries throwing their weight behind BCCI, which is...
04:30 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: South Africa will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series in July-August of this year, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed on Friday. Sri Lanka will host South Africa for five ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals between July 20 and August 6. The five ODIs will be played between July 20 and 31 in Colombo and Kandy followed by three T20Is on August 2, 4 and 6 in Colombo...
06:57 PM, May 10, 2013
Rameswaram: Thirty fishermen from Rameswaram, who were set free by a Sri Lankan court after being arrested by the island Navy in April 2013 on charges of poaching, arrived at Rameswaram on Wednesday. The fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on April 6, 2013 while fishing near Katchatheevu, an islet ceded by India to the island republic, for allegedly entering into Lankan waters. A court in Mannar on...
01:52 AM, May 09, 2013
Rameswaram: A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday ordered release of 30 fishermen from here, arrested in April by Island Navy on charges of poaching, according to Fishermen Association sources here. President of Pamban Fishermen's Association Arulanandam said they have received a communication stating that a court in Mannar has ordered the release of the fishermen, arrested on April 6 while fishing near Katchatheevu. Magistrate of the court Aananthi Kanagaraj had...
03:20 PM, May 08, 2013
Washington: Ruling out establishing a military base or having permanent boots on the ground in Maldives, a top Obama Administration official has said that the US has consulted India on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which it is currently negotiating with the island nation. "We do not have any plans to have a military presence in Maldives," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told...
12:58 PM, May 07, 2013
Twenty20 cricket is money-spinning and popular but for Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews, nothing comes close to the thrill of playing Test cricket. "Test is the ultimate format. I really enjoy playing Test cricket. It's not always as easy as you think, but Test is the ultimate form. And we (Sri Lankans) always enjoy playing Test cricket," Mathews, who leads the Test and ODI side of the country, said. Mathews,...
05:31 PM, May 05, 2013
Mumbai: The Indian team is scheduled to play two warm-up games against Sri Lanka and Australia ahead of their ICC Champions Trophy Group B opener against South Africa next month in England. The practice match against Sri Lanka is scheduled on June 1 followed by the tie against Australia on June 4, according to BCCI sources. The 15-member Indian squad, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will leave for England from...
04:45 PM, May 04, 2013
Colombo: Sri Lanka Thursday named a 15-member squad for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in England next month with the selectors continuing to snub spinner Ajantha Mendis. Besides Mendis, batsman Upul Tharanga also failed to find a place in the squad for the June 6-23 tournament. Angelo Mathews, who captained Pune Warriors in the ongoing IPL before dropping himself, will lead the Sri Lankan squad with Dinesh Chandimal...
04:14 PM, May 02, 2013
Rameswaram: Two persons who were planning to send several Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to Germany using fake Indian passports were on Wednesday arrested and 71 counterfeit passports seized from them at Naripaiyur in Ramanathapuram district, police said. Cash to the tune of Rs 11.5 lakh was also seized from the duo by the 'Q' Branch Police which nabbed them on a tip-off. The two had promised 71 refugees that they...
12:46 AM, May 02, 2013
Washington: Expressing deep concern over the recent surge in attacks on Sri Lankan media organisations, the US on Tuesday called on the country to ensure freedom of press. "The US calls on Sri Lankan authorities to demonstrate their commitment to the rule of law and freedom of expression by conducting thorough investigations into all attacks and killings of journalists and bringing perpetrators to justice," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell, told...
07:20 AM, May 01, 2013
St. John's, Antigua: The Sri Lanka A team will tour the Caribbean in June to play a series of matches against the West Indies A in all formats, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced. The West Indies tour will involve two Tests (4-day matches), three 50-over encounters and two T20s, a WICB release said on Wednesday. Warner Park in St. Kitts will host the first Test while the second...
02:49 PM, Apr 25, 2013
Washington: US Secretary of State John Kerry has proposed a 20 per cent cut in the American aid to Colombo, a move reflecting the unease in their ties over issues related to human rights, reconstruction and political integration in Sri Lanka after the end of the civil war. It is believed to be the steepest drop for any South Asian country in Kerry's budgetary proposals which was sent to the...
01:33 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Karaikal (Puducherry): In the third such attack in as many days, six fishermen, who ventured into the sea from here, got injured when they were attacked allegedly by Sri Lankan naval men off the Kodiakarai coast, fisheries department officials said on Saturday. The fishermen of Kilinjalmedu fishing hamlet were fishing in Indian waters a few knots South East off Kodiakarai on Friday night when the Lankan Navy personnel arrived there...
12:26 PM, Apr 13, 2013
Colombo: Three armed men set fire to the printing machine of a Tamil-language newspaper that is critical of the Sri Lankan government, forcing the paper to halt printing, the editor said on Saturday. The attack on the Uthayan newspaper office is the fifth attack on the media since January in Sri Lanka's former war zone in the north, and the second after the United Nations passed a resolution on March...
10:36 AM, Apr 13, 2013
