Sri Lankan Cricketers to Contest Parliamentary Elections?

Cricketers entering politics is not a new thing in South Asia. Arjuna Ranatunga and Imran Khan, two world cup winning captains from the region are the best examples. With the Sri Lanka General Election 2010 is scheduled for 8th April 2010, there are speculations that some of the prominent cricketers will enter politics scene this time around too.

During the presidential election held in January, prominent Sri Lankan cricketers like Sanath Jayasuriya and Muththaia Muralitharan appeared in TV commercials supporting president Mahinda Rajapakshe. Sanath Jayasuriya went on stage in several election rallies in the south of the country, where his home town is located. There were speculations those days that Sanath Jayasuriya will contest the upcoming Parliamentary Election in Sri Lanka. But those were all unconfirmed rumors. Pramodaya Wickramasinghe, who was a fast bowler in his time will most probably contest for the http://general-election-2010.yahaluwo.com/ from the Matara District.

With about two weeks to go for nominations, let's keep our fingers crossed!

Moody will Return to West Australia. Who Will Be the next Sri Lankan Coach?

Successful Sri Lankan coach, Tom Moody declared his resignation from Sri Lanka Cricket coach position, and said that he will return to West Australia where he started his coaching career. There were speculations that Moody is going to be next English coach, but he decided against it at the end.

Sri Lanka Cricket has made a request to fielding coach Trevor Penney to act as caretaker coach for the side's series against Bangladesh in June-July.

Moody said his family, who lived in England while he worked in Sri Lanka, played a large part in his decision. "It was a very difficult decision to make given the strong relationship that has been built between SLC and myself," he said.

"But at this stage in my life it was important that I made a bigger commitment to my family. However, I will be more than happy to assist in whichever way I possibly can for the continuous success of SLC."
It is expected Moody's advice will play a role in determining who succeeds him.

When Tom Moody was appointed as Sri Lanka coach, many questioned whether it was the right decision. When he leave his possition, he has proven a point that it was a right decision by SLC. We've seen, Dav Whatmore coming out of the blue and doing miracles with 1996, WC winning Sri Lanka team. Moody did the exact same thing. Now, both Whatmore and Moody are highly demanded Cricket coaches in the international level.

So far there's no reports of who would be the next coach of Sri Lanka Cricket team. As at now, the position for "coach" is vacant in all 4 test playing nations in the sub continent, making it more difficult for all 4 boards to attract "quality" coaches, at "reasonable price".

Dates Fixed for Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan Series in Abu Dhabi

Last few days the cricket world was so busy discussing the legitimacy of Gilchrist's hidden ball, so the attention was taken away from the future events in the playing field.

I'm now bit (may be a lot) bored about the debate about the squash ball, because the things has moved far away from the core of the problem (Whether it was legal or not?). A simple issue which could have been solved by a single statement from the cricket committee of the ICC, now has moved to a big controversy with some Sri Lankan fans talking about a replay of the finals, and some Australians accusing us "sore losers" who cry for the loss in the WC final. I'm not surprised about the reaction of Australian fans, because it's their way of reacting to things unfavorable for them. They simply make some racist comment about subcontinental players and fans, and move on. (Ask any of the black skinned player about how it feels like to play infront of a big crowd in Sydney or Perth) They describe everything from the angle of winning and losing. Not from the aspect of what is right and wrong. Something fundamentally wrong I guess.

Finally, since the issue is now discussed at the top level of the game (not at few blog posts here and there), I'm bit relieved that we would see an end to the controversy pretty soon.

More importantly, we have some "real cricket" coming up in couple of weeks, as the dates for Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan series in Abu Dhabi has finally fixed.

The first of the three match series will be played on 18th of May, followed by the second match on 20th May and the last match on 22nd May. The sad news is Sri Lanka will be missing Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara who have county commitments in England.