England win will give team lot of confidence: Mahela

Agencies
June 22, 2019

Leeds, Jun 22: Sri Lankan's shock win over England should change things for the better, feels batting great Mahela Jayawardene, after a run of matches in which they seemed to have "played with a little bit of fear".

Defending a relatively modest target of 233, Sri Lanka bowled out favourites England for 212 for a 20-run win at the Headingley on Friday.

"I hope this game will give Sri Lanka a lot of confidence in this ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. They have beaten one of the best teams in the world, and they need to believe in themselves," Jayawardene wrote in his column for the ICC.

"At times it feels like they have played with a little bit of fear and have not been able to really express themselves. This win should change that."

The former skipper praised Lasith Malinga's match-winning spells, during which he picked up four big English wickets.

"It's not about the six pack, it's about the skill and Lasith Malinga showed that in spades in Sri Lanka’s win over England.

"He has done it so many times for Sri Lanka over the years but it was great to see him at his best," Jayawardene said.

The Lankans needed a Malinga special and the veteran obliged the team with his fine exhibition of fast bowling.

"He was on a mission with the new ball, taking two crucial early wickets which Sri Lanka needed to defend a total like 232.

"Then when Joe Root looked like he was playing one of those innings where he just takes the game away from you, Dimuth Karunaratne turned to Mali and threw him the ball. He told him that he needed him and Mali delivered," said Jayawardene.

"Big players perform in big games and that is what he did, removing Root and then Jos Buttler who could have won the game for England as well."

The batting legend also lavished praise on the Lankan skipper.

"I was really impressed with Dimuth's captaincy, trusting his players, bringing on the off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva at an important time and getting rewarded for that.

"Even after they had batted, I felt that it was a competitive total because the wicket was fairly slow."

He was happy to see Angelo Mathews among the runs.

"It was great to see Angelo Mathews scoring some runs. He still isn't quite in top form and you could tell that he really needed a score.

"At times I wanted him to be more aggressive, but with wickets falling around him, he produced a great innings and was the rock of that batting line-up. A word also for Avishka Fernando. His performance should give Sri Lankan fans a lot of hope for the future."

Jayawardene said the unexpected result will open up the tournament.

"It's a great win for Sri Lanka, but also for the World Cup and it opens things up a little.

"The top four so far have a lot of matches against each other coming up, so they will inevitably drop some points. You look at New Zealand, Australia and England who all have to play each other which does make it interesting.

"That leaves Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies with a chance to close the gap if they can pick up a few more wins."

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News Network
July 16,2020

Kolkata, Jul 16: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday went into home quarantine after his elder brother and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for Covid-19.

Snehasish, a former Bengal first-class player, has been admitted to the Belle Vue hospital in Kolkata after his COVID report came positive.

"He was suffering from fever for the last few days and his test report came positive today. He's been admitted to Belle Vue Hospital," a CAB official said.

"The reports arrived late in the evening. As per health protocols, even Sourav will have to be in home quarantine for a stipulated period," a source close to the BCCI President added.

Snehasish had shifted to their ancestral house, where Sourav is based, in Behala after his wife and in-laws at his Mominpur residence tested positive for the dreaded virus.

The former India captain was, however, unavailable for a comment on the development.

Recently, during an interview to India Today, Sourav had spoken about how life around him has changed, making people more vulnerable.

"My brother visits our factories everyday and he is more at risk," the former batting star had said

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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

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