South Africa stormed into the semi-finals of the World Cup on Wednesday and nobody was more pleased than their Pakistan-born spinner Imran Tahir, who claimed 4-26 to mow down Sri Lanka's middle order in the quarter-final match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Featuring Santer, Jordan, Faulkner, Morris, Zampa.
India's quest for a historic treble ended in heartbreak as Sri Lanka came up with a clinical performance to beat them by six wickets in the final of the World T20 in Mirpur on Sunday. While Sri Lanka emerged third time lucky in a World T20 summit clash, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hopes of adding a second World T20 title to the 50-over World Cup triumph in 2011 and Champions Trophy in England two years later ended in disappointment.
The 2015 World Cup so far has been treat for batsmen and spectators alike. Big scores have become synonymous with this edition of the mega event. So, while some shots sailed over the boundary line, others were opportunities, disguised as catches for fielders. Fielders had to lunge, go full stretch and focus to pocket those catches. Rediff.com presents you a chance to treat your eyes to those beautiful catches that made for plain, super cricket moments.
Images from the World Cup Group A match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Melbourne.
Out-of-form Sri Lanka must play every pool game at the World Cup as if it were a knockout match to ignite their stuttering campaign, captain Angelo Mathews said.
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Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis combined for a 58-run partnership to give Sri Lanka a nervous four-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their World Cup Pool A match at University Oval in Dunedin on Sunday.
West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo says he had "sent a message" to Chris Gayle as he was making a mockery of the Sri Lankan attack, telling the opener to try and go for a bonus-point win in the first match of the Tri-nation One-Day series in Kingston, Jamaica.
Lasith Malinga is fit for Sri Lanka's opening World Cup clash against New Zealand.
Sri Lanka compensated for their batting failure with a disciplined bowling performance to beat United Arab Emirates by 14 runs in a round robin league encounter of the Asia Cup Twenty20, in Mirpur on Thursday.
Gruesome details of the 17-hour siege have been revealed
Hosts New Zealand gave the World Cup a cracking start with a scintillating batting show as they crushed last edition losing finalists Sri Lanka by 98 runs in the opening match of the showpiece event in Christchurch on Saturday.
Herath added three wickets to his previous day's removal of opener Kraigg Brathwaite (34) after taking six wickets in the first innings. He finished with match figures of 10-147.
Corey Anderson scored a composed 81 as New Zealand lurched to a three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Sunday in the first of seven One-day Internationals between the two sides before next month's World Cup.
Sri Lanka were never going to chase 410, but did well enough to bat as many as 102 overs in the second innings, finishing at 299 for five before the captains mutually agreed to a draw.
Statistical highlights on Day 2 of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka
Players with the maximum work load in 2015.
The evergreen Kumar Sangakkara struck his 36th Test century, and first at Lord's, as he guided Sri Lanka past the follow-on mark to finish on 415 for seven on the third day of the first Test against England on Saturday.
High on confidence after their third consecutive win, Mumbai Indians will hold a clear edge over the inconsistent Delhi Daredevils in their key Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
Struggling teams Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab take on each other in an Indian Premier League match in Mohali on Sunday as they desperately seek to get back to winning ways to stay in the hunt for a play-offs berth.
England nearly wasted a flying start before eking out a five-wicket victory in the rain-shortened third one-day international against Sri Lanka in Hambantota on Wednesday.
A magnificent century by Moeen Ali proved in vain as England suffered a 25-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the first of seven one-day internationals on Wednesday.
In a three part series, Rajneesh Gupta highlights all the important numbers from cricket World Cups held between 1975 to 2015.
India were eyeing a series-leveling win in the second Test by reducing Sri Lanka to 72 for two after setting the hosts a daunting victory target of 413, riding on Ajinkya Rahane's sparkling century.
Trent Boult took two quick wickets after lunch to help New Zealand complete a 122-run victory over Sri Lanka on the fifth day of the first Test at University Oval in Dunedin on Monday.
Statistical highlights of the second ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Motera.
Amit Mishra was praised by Virat Kohli as one of the two or three batsmen who showed resistance in India's second innings of the first Test and the bowler has said that his captain's support gave him a lot of confidence.
At stumps on day four, with an hour's play lost because of the weather, Sri Lanka were 109 for three, requiring a further 296 runs to pull off an epic victory.
Blaming their woeful performance to the 'transition phase', Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan said it is advantage India in the ongoing series and they would take couple of years to rebuild the team.
A fit-again Rohit Sharma and Manish Pandey slammed strokeful centuries as India A feasted on Sri Lanka's mediocre attack before registering a comfortable 88-run victory in a warm-up match for the visitors ahead of their ODI series against India at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) on Thursday.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said on Wednesday that he has gone down on his knees to beg record-breaking batsman Kumar Sangakkara not to quit after the World Cup. Sangakkara, 37, will call time on his ODI career at the end of the tournament but he is still in a rich vein of form.
Marlon Samuels' unbeaten century proved in vain as Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 19 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method to complete a 3-0 one-day series whitewash on Saturday.
'I wanted to finish the game and my focus was to see us through to the end'
Sri Lanka shot out the Netherlands for just 39 runs, the lowest ever Twenty20 International total, before winning the Super 10 match in the World Twenty20 by nine wickets, in Chittagong, on Monday.
England took charge of the first Test after James Anderson and Stuart Broad took nine wickets between them in favourable conditions for seam bowling to shoot out Sri Lanka for 91 after Jonny Bairstow's excellent knock at Headingley on Friday.
Rangana Herath picked up four wickets while spin partner Milinda Siriwardana took three as Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 72 runs on the fifth day of the second and final Test on Monday to win the series 2-0.
Statistical highlights of the second ODI between India and Sri Lanka, on Mohali on Wednesday.
Teams play safe, retain star players, total purse at Rs 148 crore versus Rs 198 crore last year
Leicester City stumbled on their march towards the Premier League title when they drew 2-2 with West Ham United and had goalscorer Jamie Vardy sent off at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
Reigning champion India will be bidding to gain further momentum and become only the third side in World Cup history to successfully defend its title after West Indies in 1975 and 1979 and Australia, who won the coveted prize three times in succession between 1999 and 2007.
