Herath becomes highest-ranked Sri Lanka bowler

Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has become the highest-ranked Sri Lanka bowler in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers after a good performance in the Lord’s Test which ended in a draw last week.

Herath’s figures of 2-64 and 3-87 have helped him to move up five places to a career-best 19th position. In doing, he has leapfrogged team-mate Ajantha Mendis who has dropped two places to 20th position after missing the Test. A player loses one per cent of his rating for every Test he misses.

Also achieving their career-best rankings to date are England fast bowlers Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett.

Finn, who had match figures of 4-139, has gained three places in the table and is now in 15th position while Tremlett, who had match figures of 3-116, has climbed four places to 24th spot. The two fast bowlers are still in the qualification period. A bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets and with one more Test remaining, the two can potentially improve their rankings further depending how they perform in Southampton.

Also heading in the right direction are Sri Lanka’s pace trio of Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara and Suranga Lakmal. Fernando, in the latest rankings, is in 35th position (up by two places), Welegedara in 53rd (up by eight places) and Lakmal in 71st (up by 15 places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, England opener Alastair Cook has earned eight ratings points for his efforts of 96 and 106 which has not only given him his career-best rating but has also narrowed the gap with four-ranked Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka to just one rating point.

Other batsmen making upward movements include Ian Bell in 17th (up by one place), Tillekeratne Dilshan in 25th (up by nine places), and NT Paranavithana and Prasanna Jayawardena who have both moved up four places each to occupy 40th and 47th positions, respectively.

The latest rankings have also seen some of the biggest names in cricket take a dip.

Mahela Jayawardena and Thilan Samaraweera have dropped two places each to 12th and 13th, respectively, Kevin Pietersen has slipped three places to 29th spot and Andrew Strauss has fallen four places to 33rd position.

The batting table is still jointly led by India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis of South Africa with Jonathan Trott of England in sole possession of third place after Kumar Sangakkara slipped one place to fourth spot.

Meanwhile, the drawn Test means England will not now be able to achieve the number-two ranking in the Reliance ICC Test Championship. The best series result it can now achieve is 2-0 which will put it along side South Africa on 117 ratings points but it will be ranked behind the Proteas when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

SL, India usher in ODI tri-series Down Under after four years

India, along with Sri Lanka, are set to bring back one-day tri-series in Australia after a gap of four years besides playing four Tests against Michael Clarke’s men, starting 26 December. Cricket Australia announced its home international schedule in which India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will head Down Under for up to 47 days for a combined six Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and the ODI tri-series with at least 14 encounters.

“The tri-series returns to the cricket calendar in February after a four-year hiatus and will pit the top three ranked one-day international teams – Australia, India and Sri Lanka – against each other in a 12-match (plus finals) Commonwealth Bank Series,” CA said in a statement.

“The Vodafone Test Series will visit every state capital city this summer starting in early December with the Aussies taking on the Black Caps in two Vodafone Tests for the Trans Tasman Trophy in Brisbane and Hobart.

“India then arrives before Christmas to play four Vodafone Tests, starting with the traditional Boxing Day match at the MCG, before heading to Sydney for the New Year Test, then Perth and finishing in Adelaide with the Vodafone Test over Australia Day,” it added.

CA CEO James Sutherland said fans will be spoilt for choice with three of the world’s best teams visiting the Australian shores this summer.

“ICC Cricket World Cup winner India is also the number one-ranked Test team in the world at the moment. Sri Lanka has also been in great form as we saw in the World Cup, while we know New Zealand is always a formidable opponent that thrives when playing Australia,” he said.

“With the commencement of the ICC World Test Championship we know that every Test win is vital and the Australian team will be keen to start the home season positively against New Zealand,” Sutherland added.

Dilshan ruled out of third test

Reuters: Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan has been ruled out of this week’s third test against England with a thumb injury.

Dilshan was struck by a ball from England fast bowler Chris Tremlett during his innings of 193 in the second test at Lord’s.

“He definitely won’t be playing,” Sri Lanka manager Anura Tennekoon told Sky Sports News. “As a precautionary measure we have kept him out.” Kumar Sangakkara will captain Sri Lanka in the third test at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire which starts on Thursday.

England lead the three-match series 1-0.

Sri Lanka’s WC accounts missing

Sri Lanka’s sports minister today said he suspected an “inside job” over the disappearance of crucial financial data relating to the World Cup co-hosted by the island.

 “It has to be an inside job. A robot didn’t come and steal the hard disks,” Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told reporters a day after police launched an investigation into an alleged break-in.

He said the police Criminal Investigations Department had begun investigations and taken finger prints after the weekend theft was discovered on Monday.

 “Sri Lanka Cricket had backed up the data and we don’t need to worry about losing the information,” the minister said. Local media reported that some papers related to the 2011 World Cup, including audited documents were among the material that had gone missing with the computer hard disks.

Sri Lanka co-hosted the World Cup with India and Bangladesh. (AFP)