England picked up three early wickets as Sri Lanka struggled to 218 for six at lunch on the third day of the third and final Test at Lord's on Saturday.
Australia finally have the chance to bring some cheers to their fans after an egregious 2018 when Tim Paine's men take on Sri Lanka at the Manuka Oval from Friday with a series victory beckoning the beleaguered hosts.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, at Pallekele, on Tuesday.
Cheteshwar Pujara marked his comeback with a gritty unbeaten century as India recovered from an early slump to reach a decent 292-8 in their first innings of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Sri Lanka ODI captain Upul Tharanga said the hosts will have to quickly forget the 0-3 drubbing in the Test series and draw confidence from their win over India in the ICC Champions Trophy in June.
Skipper Virat Kohli's strategy to field five bowlers would mean that six specialist batsmen can hardly afford to relax but opener Murali Vijay said there won't be any extra pressure on them when they clash with Sri Lanka in a Test series, starting next week.
Tom Latham finished 264 not out -- a world's best for an opener carrying their bat through a completed innings -- as New Zealand were bowled out for 578, and holding a 296-run first innings lead.
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.
Earlier, resuming on 3-0 and with an overall lead of 99, England lost Keaton Jennings leg before wicket for one off the first delivery of the day from Dilruwan Perera (5-88), which seemed to unhinge their top order.
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.
IMAGES from the 1st T20I played between India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday
Pacer Suranga Lakmal shone with the ball to help Sri Lanka steamroll India by seven wickets in the first one-day international in Dharamsala on Sunday.
India set Sri Lanka a daunting 410-run victory target and dented the tourists' top order to maintain their iron grip on the third and final Test on Tuesday.
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.
Off-spinner Mark Craig grabbed three wickets after lunch as New Zealand completed a 193-run victory, and 2-0 series sweep, shortly before tea on the final day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve on Wednesday.
Rajneesh Gupta gives us all the numbers to tell us how the Indian skipper creates new record after record.
India may be way behind Australia in the Test rankings, but the World Cup holders are just 0.2 points behind the top-of-the-table Kangaroos in the ODI rankings. According to the latest ICC rankings, Australia and India are on 117 rating points and the scores will only be settled in the upcoming tri-series involving the two teams and England, starting January 18 next year.
Backing Virat Kohli's five-bowler theory to win Test matches, former batsman Russel Arnold said that the Indian pace attack has the variety to match their Sri Lankan counterparts.
Spinner Yasir Shah has scaled the number spot in the International Cricket Council Test rankings, becoming the first Pakistani bowler to do so since Mushtaq Ahmed achieved the feat in December 1996.
He is only the fourth cricketer to win the coveted prize after Sachin Tendulkar, who was the first recipient in 2010, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, who won it in 2011 and 2012, and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who won it last year.
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
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.
Sri Lanka off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal scythed through Pakistan's batting order to pick up his first five-wicket haul as the visitors were bundled out for 138 on the opening day of the second test on Thursday.
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews is looking to overwhelming support from the crowd.
Virat Kohli too has stated that choosing between Dhawan and Rahul will be a tough call
JP Duminy scored his fourth Test century and his first in the subcontinent to steer South Africa to a first innings total of 455 for nine wickets declared on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Captain Virat Kohli's blazing blade ensured a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the one-off Twenty20 International as the visitors completed a 9-0 rout of Sri Lanka across all three formats, in Colombo, on Wednesday.
Any other result than India's resounding win looks highly unlikely, consdering the visitors' rampaging run in the preceding Test and ODI series, where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.
Rangana Herath picked four wickets in the second innings to spin Sri Lanka to a 106 win over Australia in the first Test in Pallekele on Saturday.
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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.
After being bowled out for a paltry 183 in the first innings losing as many as eight wickets in a single session, No 3 Mendis (110 off 135 balls) and opener Karunaratne (92 batting, 200 balls) added 191 as the visitors could get only two wickets in the next two sessions.
Joe Root returned to form with a fluent 93 to lead England to a crushing 122-run victory over Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-day international in Cardiff on Saturday.
Kane Williamson scored his fifth century in eight Tests in 2015 to guide New Zealand to a five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka before lunch on the fourth day of the second Test at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Monday.
He has been roped in to arrest the downslide in Sri Lankan cricket and Asanka Gurusinha's assessment of the fall is quite simple -- not grooming anyone to fill in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara's shoes.
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.
Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam struck quick-fire fifties and combined in a record 147-run sixth wicket stand as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by four wickets with one ball remaining in the first one-day international at Hambantota on Saturday.
South Africa took 16 Sri Lanka wickets in a little over two sessions to secure a ruthless victory by an innings and 118 runs in the third and final Test at the Wanderers on Saturday.
Sri Lanka paceman Suranga Lakmal took three quick wickets before Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed a 32-ball 59 to lead Sri Lanka to a tense one-wicket win in a rain-curtailed first one-dayer against West Indies.
Pooran says the team is targeting the home series against India next month to restore pride.
With just one win, Sri Lanka are currently at the sixth spot with four points and will have to win rest of their four matches to stay in contention for the semi-final.
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