South Africa need six more wickets with two days still to play to win the second Test against Sri Lanka, who closed the third day at Newlands on Wednesday on 130 for four, still 377 runs behind the mammoth target set them. Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada both took two wickets in the Sri Lankan second innings as the home team closed in on victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. South Africa have ample time to whittle away the rest of the Sri Lankan batting while the visitors, set 507 runs to win, must survive six more sessions if they are to force a most improbable outcome.
A patient half-century by opening batsman Hashim Amla guided South Africa to a consolation 8-wicket victory over struggling Sri Lanka in the Group A encounter at New Delhi on Monday. Chasing a modest target of 121 runs, Amla scored 56 runs off 52 balls to help his team chase down the target with 14 balls remaining. Skipper Faf du Plessis also scored 32 runs off 36 balls, while AB de Villiers hit a brisk 20 off 12 balls.
JP Duminy and Stephen Cook scored half centuries but four wickets for Suranga Lakmal and two for Rangana Herath restricted South Africa to 267 for six on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Monday. Duminy made 63 and Cook 59 as South Africa threatened to dominate on a dry track at St George's Park but wickets at key moments kept Sri Lanka firmly in the game.
For all those who are likely to get a game, there will be just one target -- to make most of their chances as some of them might not get too many with just about 16 months left for the 50-overs World Cup.
England were reeling at 89-4 when Buttler somewhat steadied the innings before Curran clobbered six sixes in his blistering 64 to help them to a competitive score.
The visitors have a 2-0 lead in the series and can wrap up the contest with another win here before leaving for the last leg of the tour in Colombo.
England will be determined to get their act together against defending champions Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka have included pace spearhead Lasith Malinga in their 15-man squad for the Cricket World Cup despite concerns over his fitness after ankle surgery, the country's cricket board said on Wednesday.
The International Cricket Council is likely to incorporate air pollution in its 'Playing Conditions' clause, having taken a serious note of the plight of Sri Lankan cricketers during the recently-concluded Test match against India in New Delhi.
Australia's stand-in skipper David Warner led by example, hitting a brilliant century in their five-wicket win against Sri Lanka to complete a 4-1 series victory on Sunday.
Skipper Virat Kohli's magnificent 243 was overshadowed by unprecedented scenes of mask-wearing Sri Lankan players, who halted proceedings thrice, complaining of poor air quality, on Day 2 of the third Test, in New Delhi.
Sri Lanka's Kaushal Silva roared back into form with a century in the final Test against Australia on Tuesday, boosting the hosts' hopes of a 3-0 sweep against the world number one team at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.
Sri Lankan Kusal Mendis struck a majestic maiden century on day three of the first Test against Australia to leave the bowler-dominated contest evenly poised at Pallekele on Thursday.
The Sri Lankans have played 17 Tests in India in 35 years, but failed to win a single one.
Richardson also took aim at players claiming confusion over ball-tampering rules, saying the laws were clear and their complaints "disingenuous" in a speech at the MCC's Colin Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's.
Sri Lanka opener Kusal Perera blasted the second fastest one-day fifty in their series-levelling two-wicket victory against Pakistan in the second ODI at Pallekele on Wednesday.
England fast bowler James Anderson took five wickets to inspire the hosts to a crushing victory over Sri Lanka by an innings and 88 runs in the first Test in Leeds on Saturday.
Younis Khan scored an epic unbeaten 171 to guide Pakistan to their highest successful run chase and a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the third Test in Pallekele on Tuesday. It enabled the tourists clinch the three-match series by a 2-1 margin.
The biggest positive would be Hardik's inclusion and the way he shaped up in these three Test matches, said Virat Kohli.
Shehzad-Ali add 120 runs for second wicket as Pakistan trail by six runs with eight wickets in hand
Usman Khawaja found his scoring touch and fast bowler Mitchell Starc returned to his fiery best as Australia moved within sight of victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Manuka Oval on Sunday.
Images from Day 4 of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Sunday.
Images from Day 2 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, on Friday.
Ahmed Shehzad smashed 95 off 90 balls as Pakistan thrashed below-par Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the fourth one-day match in Colombo on Wednesday to clinch the five-match series.
Dinesh Chandimal was named skipper of Sri Lanka's Test team on Wednesday, while fellow batsman Upul Tharanga has been tasked with leading the limited-overs squads after Angelo Mathews relinquished the captaincy across all formats a day earlier.
England held their nerve to beat Sri Lanka by 10 runs in a thrilling World Twenty20 Group One match on Saturday, reaching the semi-finals and knocking the defending champions out of the tournament.
'The strange thing is that they (Sri Lanka) did not face any problem till the lunch time of the second day. But as soon as they were handed masks following lunch, the 6 to 7 players were seen wearing masks on the field. And the two fast bowlers who were already facing problems were handed bowling'
India's One-day skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni reckons the current Indian squad is very balanced' ahead of the three-match series against Sri Lanka and insisted that maintaining fitness will be a crucial factor for his side during next month's World Twenty20.
Lakmal's sensational spell, in which he struck thrice without conceding a run in six overs, saw him remove opener Lokesh Rahul on the first ball of the match after play began three and a half hours late due to wet conditions.
When India lost the Wellington Test by 10 wickets, was it the worst defeat for Virat Kohli's team? Rajneesh Gupta has the answers.
A place in the final at stake, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would expect their batsmen to fire as they lock horns in a virtual semi-final of the Nidahas Twenty20 tri-series, in Colombo, on Friday.
All-rounder James Faulkner became the sixth Australian cricketer to claim a hat-trick in one-day internationals, achieving the feat in the second match against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The 26-year-old left-arm bowler got his first wicket when he trapped Kusal Perera leg-before with the final delivery of his eighth over.
Kumar Sangakkara, playing his final one-day international on home soil, set a record for the most runs in a calendar year as Sri Lanka thumped England by 87 runs in the last match of the series in Colombo on Tuesday.
Australia grabbed a handy 86-run lead in the first innings over Sri Lanka and dealt an early blow with the new ball before rain washed out the entire final session for the second consecutive day in the first Test at Pallekele on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan batsmen need to play more sweep and reverse sweep shots against Indian spinners to negotiate the turn and bounce if they wish to save the ongoing second Test in Colombo.
Indian batsmen have done their homework and will not allow Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath to wreck them again at Galle, captain Virat Kohli said on the eve of the first Test between the neighbours on Tuesday.
South Africa need five wickets on Friday to secure victory in the first Test after Sri Lanka provided dogged resistance and were 240 for five at stumps on the fourth day at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth.
Dhananjaya de Silva enhanced his rapidly-growing reputation with an unbeaten 43 as he kept South Africa's strike bowlers at bay to see Sri Lanka to 181 for seven in their first innings at the end of the second day of the first Test on Tuesday. The 25-year-old, who hit a six with his first scoring shot when he made his Test debut against Australia in July, brought Sri Lanka within 105 runs of South Africa's first innings total of 286 before bad light stopped play for the day.
If KL Rahul is fit, Abhinav Mukund will be expectedly left out, a strange coincidence because he was the original back-up opener in this Test squad ahead of Shikhar Dhawan.
A country which produced champion players of spin bowling such as Roy Dias, Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, it has been sharp downward slide for Dinesh Chandimal's men, who have consistently failed against Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
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