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After their quarter-final heartbreak against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka rode on a brilliant century from their captain Dunith Wellalage to put it past South Africa in the fifth-place playoff semi-final in North Sound.Opting to bat, Sri Lanka had slipped to 25 for 3 by the ninth over, with South Africa’s 15-year-old fast bowler Kwena Maphaka sending the openers back in a fiery first spell. Shevon Daniel and Wellalage then rebuilt with a 62-run fourth-wicket stand, before Daniel was dismissed for a 54-ball 29.By then, Wellalage had played himself in and found strong support from Ranuda Somarathne. The pair added 130, during which Wellalage, who has been a key performer with both bat and ball during the campaign, brought up his century. He eventually fell in the penultimate over of the innings, but not before helping Sri Lanka shift gears.Somarathne himself hit three fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 57 as Sri Lanka ended with a competitive 232 for 6, with the last ten overs counting for 76 runs.With scores of 65, 104, 96 and 97 in four of his last five innings, Dewald Brewis – nicknamed “Baby AB” – was key to South Africa’s chase. But he managed just 6 this time, and was the second wicket to fall inside the powerplay overs.Gerhardus Maree made 44 at just better than a-run-a-ball, but South Africa lost wickets around him and that made it a tall ask for the lower-middle order. With South Africa at 117 for 7, Sri Lanka smelt victory, which they eventually closed out in the 38th over as South Africa were bowled out for 167. Five of the six Sri Lanka bowlers – only last week’s star performer Vinuja Ranpul missed out – were among the wickets.Sri Lanka have now advanced to the fifth-place playoffs, while South Africa will compete for the seventh spot.Meanwhile, Uganda beat Scotland by 51 runs via the DLS method in the 13th place playoff game in Trinidad. Ronald Lutaaya top-scored for them with 64, before Juma Miyaji and Christopher Kidega shared seven wickets, as Jamie Cairns’ 6 for 24 went in vain for Scotland.

Victoria have taken a cautious approach with Will Pucovski by selecting him to play 2nd XI against Tasmania rather than in the Sheffield Shield team as he continues his comeback from his latest concussion.Pucovski, 24, has played two Premier cricket matches for his club side Melbourne in the last two weeks after suffering his 11th career concussion during the warm-up on the final day of Victoria’s Shield clash with South Australia in Adelaide.Related

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There were genuine fears for his future after his latest head knock but he has made a successful return to club cricket scoring 73 from 101 balls for Melbourne on Saturday against Camberwell.Victoria named their Sheffield Shield squad on Saturday to face Tasmania at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Tuesday but Pucovski was not included. They released a statement saying Pucovski remained under “active medical management” by Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia doctors and no timeline has been set for a return to Shield cricket.But he has been selected for the 2nd XI side that will host Tasmania’s 2nd XI at Mervyn G Hughes Oval in Footscray. Should he get through that match there is a chance he could be made available for Victoria’s final Shield match of the season against Western Australia at the WACA starting on March 23.

Hanuma Vihari and Abhimanyu Easwaran are among seven Indian players who are taking part, for varying durations, in the ongoing Dhaka Premier League (DPL), Bangladesh’s only List A (50-over) competition. The others are Parvez Rasool, Baba Aparajith, Ashok Menaria, Chirag Jani and Gurinder Singh. All of them were unsold at the February auction ahead of IPL 2022.Vihari, who was a part of India’s Test XI, which completed a 2-0 sweep over Sri Lanka in Mohali and Bengaluru, will head home to Hyderabad for a short break before traveling to Dhaka. He is expected to join his team, Abahani Limited, later this week. He will miss the first three games of the season for the team, and Afghanistan middle-order batter Najibullah Zadran has been signed up by the club for those games.Easwaran, captain of the Bengal first-class side in India’s domestic circuit and also on the fringes of the national Test side, which he has been with as a reserve in recent times, will turn out for Prime Bank. Rasool will play for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi, Aparajith for Rupganj Tigers, Menaria for Khelaghar, Jani for Legends of Rupganj, and Gurinder for Gazi Group Cricketers.Vihari, Easwaran, Aparajith, Menaria and Rasool aren’t strangers to the DPL, having taken part in it before Covid-19 struck in 2019-2020. Other prominent Indian players, like Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary and Yusuf Pathan, have also played in the DPL in the past.This season, all the participating teams have been allowed one overseas player. Apart from the Indians, Pakistan veteran Mohammad Hafeez will play for Mohammedan Sporting and Zimbabwe allrounder Sikandar Raza will turn out for Shinepukur.The premier Bangladeshi cricketers are on tour in South Africa•AFP

Traditionally a 50-overs tournament, the DPL was tweaked to a T20 format last year to give national players game time in preparation for the T20 World Cup in late 2021. That was also the only year when no foreign players were brought in.The DPL features 11 teams, which will play each other once in a round-robin format. The top six teams then play each other in the Super League once. The bottom two teams from the league phase will be relegated to Dhaka’s first division league.The addition of several overseas players adds some heft to a competition that will largely be devoid of local star power, as the national team is currently in South Africa preparing for three ODIs and two Tests. With the tour set to end on April 12, it’s likely the country’s top players will only be available for the last two weeks of the competition.April to September is typically seen as a free window for India’s domestic players that don’t have IPL teams. While some head to Bangladesh for the DPL, some others, like Faiz Fazal, have featured in club cricket in the UK. This season, too, Cheteshwar Pujara will play for Sussex in the English county circuit.This year, the BCCI is in the process of concluding the first phase – league and one pre-quarter-final – of a truncated Ranji Trophy, with the knockouts scheduled for June, after the IPL.

Warwickshire have signed Nathan McAndrew, South Australia’s seam-bowling allrounder, as an overseas player to fill the void left in their side by Tim Bresnan’s retirement.McAndrew, 28, joined South Australia ahead of this season’s Sheffield Shield after losing his New South Wales contract and was the competition’s second-highest wicket-taker ahead of this week’s final.He is due to be available for up to 10 County Championship fixtures, starting from Warwickshire’s fixture against Essex on April 21, and will also be registered for the T20 Blast as injury cover for Paul Stirling and Carlos Brathwaite.”We’ve looked closely at Nathan over the Australian summer and believe that he could thrive in English conditions,” Paul Farbrace, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, said. “He’s had a good first season with South Australia and he recognises that platform that playing county cricket can give him in getting recognised by the Australian selectors.”With the retirement of Tim Bresnan earlier this year, securing a strong bowling allrounder in Nathan is exactly what we need to help balance our attack and we’re looking forward to welcoming him into the dressing room at Edgbaston next month.”Related

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McAndrew is among a number of players who have benefitted from the ECB’s decision to loosen its criteria for a ‘governing body visa endorsement’ ahead of the 2020 season, in order to ensure leading overseas players were available for the Hundred.Previously, players were required to have appeared in one Test or fifteen limited-overs internationals in the 24 months before their visa application but the ECB added the option of having played at least 20 T20 games in a full-member nation in late 2019, which has opened up a route into county cricket for Big Bash regulars like McAndrew.”Coming over to England to play Championship cricket is something that many cricketers around the world aspire to,” McAndrew said. “To get the chance to represent the County Champions is an unbelievable opportunity.”I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my move to South Australia, but I want to build on the last few months by taking more wickets for Warwickshire. I’ve been playing the best cricket of my career, so I can’t wait to get to Edgbaston and get started with the Bears.”

MS Dhoni will return as the Chennai Super Kings captain, with Ravindra Jadeja stepping down from the position after just eight games in charge. A statement from Super Kings said Jadeja wanted to resign in order to “focus more on his game”.The statement said: “Ravindra Jadeja has decided to relinquish captaincy to focus and concentrate more on his game and has requested MS Dhoni to lead CSK.”MS Dhoni has accepted to lead CSK in the larger interest and to allow Jadeja to focus on his game.”ESPNcricinfo has learnt that the question of whether or not the pressure of captaincy was having an impact on Jadeja, his performances have been in review for the past few weeks. Jadeja was involved in discussions on the matter with the team management, along with the head coach Stephen Fleming and Dhoni. Eventually, Jadeja decided that it would be better for him – and the team – for him to step down. It is learnt that N Srinivasan, Super Kings’ owner, was also consulted before the franchise made the announcement.As to why the franchise went back to Dhoni, it is understood that the team management decided he was still the best person to lead, and there was no credible option. For now, the franchise has decided to focus on the 2022 season and revisit the captaincy issue when planning begins for next year.Dhoni, 40, had captained Super Kings since the IPL began in 2008 – bar the two years when the franchise was suspended in the wake of the 2013 spot-fixing case – but handed over the reins to Jadeja at the start of the 2022 season. Super Kings, the defending champions, have since won two games in eight, and sit at No. 9 out of ten teams on the points table.Overall, out of 213 games as Super Kings captain across the IPL and the now-defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20), Dhoni had recorded 130 wins and 81 losses – and six title triumphs (four in the IPL, two in the CLT20).Ravindra Jadeja’s performances have been below par even as his team has struggled to notch up the wins•BCCI

Jadeja, 33, took over this season despite little experience of leading at the top level. His only previous stint in charge in representative cricket was for India Under-19s, in a series in 2007. He had not captained a senior team full-time prior to this.He is recognised as one of the top all-format allrounders, but in Super Kings’ poor start to defending the trophy they won at IPL 2021, his form took a hit: he has 112 runs in eight games at 22.40, with a strike rate of 121.73, and five wickets at 42.60 with an economy rate of 8.19.This, against 1592 runs overall for Super Kings at 26.53 with a strike rate of 136.41, and 114 wickets at 28.61 and an economy rate of 7.75.In the previous two seasons, especially, Jadeja’s batting form for Super Kings had soared: 459 runs at an average of 57.37 and strike rate of 157.73, as he seemed primed to take over the finisher’s role from Dhoni.Super Kings, who play Kane Williamson’s Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, have little margin for error left if they are to turn things around and make the playoffs after having begun the season with four defeats on the trot.Moeen on the mend
In a boost for Super Kings, allrounder Moeen Ali, who hurt his ankle last weekend, resumed training on Saturday. Moeen will not be ready to play the game against Sunrisers, but the franchise is optimistic about him returning against Royal Challengers Bangalore, on May 4.

When it started to look like Sri Lanka would post a strong total after their brisk 87-run opening stand and make India work hard to win the second match of the series, the hosts lost six wickets for just 14 runs in the last 3.1 overs of their innings to end with a below-par 125 that didn’t prove to be enough.India were made to work slightly in the chase but their deep batting line-up, led by Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur, chased down the target easily to clinch the series 2-0 and help India win their 12th T20I in a row against Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka’s best opening stand in T20Is
Unlike the first T20I in which Sri Lanka struggled to score freely and lost early wickets, Vishmi Gunaratne and Chamari Athapaththu gave their team a solid opening stand after a scratchy start. Gunaratne hogged the strike for the first three overs and struck four fours in the first four overs on either side of the pitch.Athapaththu, meanwhile, had faced only three balls at the end of the fourth over and took seven balls to get off the mark after missing plenty of cuts and heaves. But once she hit her first boundary – a straight six off Deepti Sharma followed by a slog sweep for four in the same over – she cut loose. They collected 12 off the last powerplay over to reach 37 and found boundaries against both pace and spin to post 60 at the halfway mark. Athapaththu targeted her favoured leg side and was particularly attacking against Deepti to score 19 off her 10 balls. She also got two lives when she was dropped at cover point on 24 and survived a tough stumping chance on 34, when Renuka sent a wide down the leg side but Yastika Bhatia couldn’t hit the stumps.Sri Lanka slide after opening stand
Soon after Athapaththu collected two fours in an over off Deepti and Renuka Singh each and brought up Sri Lanka’s best opening stand in T20Is, she holed out to deep square leg off Pooja Vastrakar for 43 off 41.Harmanpreet Kaur shepherded India home after a few quick wickets•Sri Lanka Cricket

When Vastrakar and Harmanpreet conceded just 12 runs in the space of four overs, Gunaratne felt the pressure and also fell by handing a return catch to Harmanpreet for 45 off 50. No Sri Lanka batter reached double-figures thereafter as Deepti came back to remove Harshitha Samarawickrama and Nilakshi de Silva in the 18th over, Hasini Perera and Oshadi Ranasinghe fell in the 19th and Renuka removed Dilhari Kavisha in the last to keep the hosts’ tally of the last four overs to just 19 runs for five wickets.Harmanpreet takes India home after a strong start
Mandhana started the chase with an exquisite cover drive, and Shafali Verma helped India put on 31 in four overs with her trademark power and charge down the pitch. She went after Ranasinghe’s offbreaks by hitting her over mid-off in the second over, and when she tried a third consecutive boundary against her in the fourth over, she found mid-off to fall for 17 off 10.S Meghana took on left-arm quick Udeshika Prabodhani with four fours in the fifth over, using dabs behind square on either side, a well-timed cover drive and an outside edge, and India were 47 for 1 with one powerplay over left.India, however, stuttered in between when three of their batters were stumped but they never looked in trouble. Meghana was stumped off Kumari for 17 in the sixth over, before Mandhana continued to pepper the off-side boundary with her drives and dabs. By the time she fell at the end of the 11th over, India needed a comfortable 40 from 54 balls.Jemimah Rodrigues, India’s top scorer in the opening game, handed a catch to backward point for 3 before Bhatia stitched a patient stand of 23 with Harmanpreet. Even though Bhatia was also stumped, for 13 in the 18th over, India needed just 12 more off 16 and Harmanpreet sealed the win with her trademark sweep. En route, she also became the leading T20I runscorer for India, going past Mithali RajIndia won’t be completely pleased with the performance though. They leaked overthrows and gave the hosts nearly three run-out chances in one ball when Harmanpreet swept a ball in the 18th over to deep midwicket and called for two, but Bhatia didn’t want the second. A wayward throw from the deep saved Bhatia, the fielder backing up couldn’t run her out either at the bowler’s end, and another throw reached the keeper’s end slightly late when the batters took the third run.

In the land of the Kiss-Me-Quick hat, Yorkshire and Surrey have been squeezing each other slow. In the first 263 overs of the match, Yorkshire strutted their stuff with 521 and Surrey winked back with 515. Both sides have scored at around four an over and, although the draw remains favourite, there is still ample time for final-day frolics.Adam Lyth and George Hill set a more puritanical tone in Yorkshire’s second innings and seemed set to survive the final 20 overs of the day only for Jamie Overton to take two wickets in the penultimate over as he had Lyth caught off a glove with one that bounced and left him and added the nightwatcher, Dom Bess, lbw for nought to the second ball he received. A markedly inexperienced batting line-up still has a big job to do.This is another excellent Scarborough surface. It is more batter-friendly than some of recent vintage, but it offered pace and bounce on the first day and, as the sun has shone down, it has begun to offer a little grip for seamers and spinners alike.In place of Adam Lyth and Jonny Tattersall, Yorkshire’s providers on the first two days, Surrey offered their own opening batter and wicketkeeper combination in Rory Burns and Ben Foakes. Only Foakes was denied a hundred and he was unfortunate because he hardly put a foot wrong in making an unbeaten 86 from 156 balls.Burns began the third day on 94 and he reached 132 (260 balls) before Shannon Gabriel, the West Indian quick, squeezed the ball through the smallest gate from around the wicket to clip his off stump. Hashim Amla was beaten on the drive by Jordan Thompson, who also claimed Will Jacks to a dirty drag-on. At 303 for 5, still 218 behind and the second new ball only eight overs old, Yorkshire might even have imagined enforcing the follow-on, but Aaron Hardie and Overton hit about then on either side of tea to dispel the notion. A rumbustious last-wicket stand of 48 between Foakes and Dan Worrall then let Surrey back into the match.Yorkshire’s fight was led by Bess, who appears to be in his best rhythm of the season, and who was rewarded with 5 for 125, including three stumpings for Tattersall on his return to the side. There was also an excellent arm ball to Jamie Smith – a catch, on this occasion, for Tattersall – and perhaps a bit of fortune as Conor McKerr was ruled to be caught at the wicket as his bat scraped against the ground. He has had to fulfil a holding role for much of the summer and he adapted well to a surface offering some turn. He is beginning to look a more seasoned bowler after the disruption of his early England experience.There was also a brief moment of concern when Thompson injured himself in the field. No player embodies Yorkshire county cricket these days more than Thompson – Lyth perhaps? – and the Vitality Blast finals day is on Saturday at Edgbaston. There was every reason to sub him for a while and check him over. That is not Thompson’s way. He is as robust as they come and, after a once-over from the physio, he yanked his freshly-awarded county cap a little further down his head and tested his fitness by a dash and dive after the next ball.Down on the sea front, Scarborough was basking in one of its most golden days of the summer. On South Bay you could never give global warming and the cost-of-living crisis a second thought with temperatures a balmy 20C and stalls offering five doughnuts for £3; cash preferred. Even reports of gull muggings are down, although the giant ones hanging around malevolently outside a tattoo parlour were so menacing that they looked capable of stealing not just your fish and chips but your wallet.The Terror Tower offered the chance to TOUR THE FILMSETS OF THE CHILLER MOVIES, even though it was only a little place and it was difficult to believe that you could cram Pinewood Studios sets into somewhere so small. But then exaggeration is only to be expected in Scarborough. No less a staid body than English Heritage likes to claim that the castle has a 3,000-year-history on the grounds that someone once found a bit of ancient pottery on a site that is more accurately dated to Medieval times.North Marine Road needs no exaggeration. “Finest cricket ground in t’world,” White Rose loyalists regularly sigh, although Yorkshire’s long list of absentees might have contributed to thinner-than-normal attendances. Who knows, there might even be a bit of sulking going on about the off-field struggles that have bedeviled the club in the past year. Hampshire are along in a fortnight and it will be school holidays and they will hope for the stands to be better populated.At times like this, the appointment of Ottis Gibson as head coach seems to be a masterstroke. His geniality and authority bring hopes that a happier future – one built on equal opportunities for all – is achievable. Many Yorkshire players are out of contract at the end of the season and he deserves a young squad to pin their faith in his leadership. Some of them, even, before Yorkshire head for Finals Day.Before play began, old men watched him suddenly break off from his supervision of Yorkshire’s preparations to call over a young lad on the terraces for a couple of impromptu catching routines. When it was over, the youngster remembered to shout “thank-you”, Gibson signalled recognition of his good manners and the old men burst into slightly self-conscious applause.Surrey, with a 17-point buffer over Hampshire, in second, would leave the East Coast relatively satisfied with draw points, but with Hampshire seemingly destined to beat Warwickshire and Lancashire positioned to put Somerset under pressure on the final day, their nearest challengers are both capable of overhauling them as they seek to win only their second title in 20 years.

Alice Davidson-Richards has won a recall to England’s ODI squad in the wake of her century on Test debut, while there are maiden call-ups for Issy Wong and Lauren Bell for the 14-woman group to take on South Africa.Davidson-Richards made her only previous ODI appearance more than four years ago, but impressed in the drawn Test at Taunton, where she scored 107 and took 1 for 43 – making her only the second England player, after WG Grace, with a hundred and a wicket on Test debut.Wong and Bell both won their first England caps in the Test, and could now make ODI debuts in the three-match series starting on July 11. England have suggested that they will manage the workload of Wong, 20, but the temptation to throw her in will be great after a display of pace and accuracy in Taunton, where she claimed 3 for 100.Katherine Brunt, who has retired from Test cricket, returns to the group, as does Danni Wyatt. Of the players who featured in England’s run to the World Cup final earlier this year, Anya Shrubsole has retired, Tash Farrant is injured and Freya Davies misses out – named instead among a 13-woman England A squad to play a T20 warm-up against South Africa on Monday.”Although these South Africa ODIs don’t form part of the ICC Women’s Championship, we are at the beginning of a new three-year cycle, which is so exciting,” England head coach, Lisa Keightley, said. “We have to keep looking forward and trying to improve as a team, and we were so delighted with the energy and skill that the four debutants brought in the LV= Insurance Test match.Related

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“I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing something similar in the Royal London Series and throughout the rest of the summer, with new players putting their hands up to win games for England and selection becoming tougher and tougher as more players make a case to be included.”England Women ODI squad: Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver, Issy Wong, Danni WyattEngland Women A Squad: Bryony Smith (capt), Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kira Chathli, Freya Davies, Dani Gibson, Bess Heath, Marie Kelly, Freya Kemp, Linsey Smith, Mady Villiers. Travelling reserve: Grace Potts

Difficulties procuring insurance, as well as logistical and security concerns, were some of the issues raised by sponsors and broadcasters that led to the Asia Cup being shifted from Sri Lanka to the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka Cricket has revealed.”They felt that the situation in Sri Lanka was not conducive to garner the confidence of the stakeholders,” SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said in a media briefing.”Not only the member countries, but a tournament of this magnitude requires other stakeholders, like the broadcasters, sponsors, etc. What they felt was that the negative publicity shown all over the world, with the petrol queues and all that, didn’t help our cause.”That “negative publicity” refers to the economic crisis currently engulfing Sri Lanka, where a combination of high debt and low foreign exchange, compounded by poor fiscal management by the Sri Lankan government, has paved the way for a fuel and food shortage. This resulted in months-long protests calling for the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President. He eventually ceded to these demands last month, after throngs of protestors converged upon Colombo. The appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as his replacement, however, has failed to turn public sentiment.Related

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It was this tense country state that had made it nigh on impossible for security clearance to be granted for multiple broadcast crews to enter the country.”Sponsors were finding it difficult to get insured, and the security clearance for broadcast crews to enter Sri Lanka was also an issue. The delegates who wanted to come from the other countries also weren’t prepared to come,” explained SLC CEO Ashley de Silva.Further, while hosting bilateral tours against Australia and Pakistan went off without a hitch – even with protests reaching their peak during the second Test against Australia, and protestors a frequent presence outside the Galle stadium – it is understood that the logistics of providing accommodation, security and transport for one foreign team at a time, was a considerably more straightforward task than doing so for the multiple stakeholders involved in a tournament such as the Asia Cup.It didn’t help Sri Lanka’s cause that the Lanka Premier League, which was supposed to begin in the first week of August, was also postponed due to the current situation; it will now be held in November.”The sponsors of the franchises had concerns about coming to Sri Lanka. A sponsorship deal not only entails sponsoring the side, but then the sponsors also need to be able to travel around the country freely. Sponsors come to give prominence to their brands, and they felt that at this time this sort of tournament would not give them the necessary mileage.”That said, despite all these concerns, many of the Asian Cricket Council member nations had largely been on board with Sri Lanka going ahead with hosting the tournament – a sentiment backed up by how late this decision was left – however the key issue none of the boards were able to overlook was the potentially “huge financial losses” had the tournament been cancelled. This was down to the fact that the Asia Cup is a tournament that helps the ACC drum up funds for their development work – funds that are shared among member countries.”This would have been done a long time ago if it was some other country. All the other countries were very supportive of having the tournament here, which is why they kept on delaying a final decision.”But they felt a tournament of this magnitude, looking at the current situation, could not have been played here. They didn’t want to take any chances, because if the tournament got cancelled, all the members would have had to fund ACC for the next two years.”An anti-government protest reached Galle Fort during the second Test against Australia•AFP

There is, though, a silver lining of sorts for SLC, who have retained the tournament’s hosting rights, even though it is now to be held in the UAE. What this means is that SLC will still receive a substantial sum from the ACC, to the tune of roughly $ 6.5 million.Ashley de Silva detailed the expenditure, with the key takeaway being that the UAE will be using revenue from ticket sales to pay for expenses related to the tournament, whereas had Sri Lanka hosted it they would have used $ 2.5 million disbursed as a “hosting fee” to pay for the same and kept ticket sales as profits. Sri Lanka, however, will still receive the “hosting fee,” as well a percentage of ticket sales.”Generally the revenue generated from the broadcast and ground rights goes to the ACC, who at the end of the tournament distributes these funds to the member countries that participate in this tournament. That is between 2-3 million, based on the profit which the tournament generates.”Of the rest of the funds, part of it is given to the host of the tournament. From this we’re supposed to provide the accommodation and conduct the whole tournament in the country. That comes as hosts fee. And the hosts what they normally get is only the ticket money – this is the profit that the host board makes.”So this $ 2.5 million would have gone towards accommodation for the players, officials, and also for logistical expenses related to the tournament. We would have ended up making a maximum of about $200,000-300,000. On top of that we would have also made some revenue from the ticket sales. And then there’s the distribution fund that all the teams would have got.”Now, the UAE will only get the ticket sales, which is what they will use to conduct the entire tournament. We [Sri Lanka] will still get the host fee. In addition to that, the UAE has also promised to give us another $ 1.5 million from the ticket sales.”While this is financially more than what SLC would have been making had Sri Lanka hosted the tournament, the country as a whole will lose out on crucial tourism revenue.”If you look at it, we would have created a lot of awareness about the country and brought in a lot of tourism into the country, if the situation was normal and we held the tournament here. So economically the country also would have benefitted. But nevertheless, the funds we’re generating now will also end up coming into Sri Lanka.”There were also two T20Is against India that had been earmarked, likely after the Asia Cup, which are now off the table.The Asia Cup is set to take place from August 27 to September 11.

Injured Pakistan quick Shaheen Shah Afridi will complete rehabilitation for his knee injury in London. The PCB has said he is expected to regain complete fitness before the T20 World Cup in October though his return to cricket will be decided by the board’s medical advisory panel. The decision represents a reversal of the PCB’s initial plan, who had initially said Afridi would travel with the team while undergoing rehab.Afridi sustained the right knee ligament injury while fielding during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle in July. He has been kept on the sidelines ever since, but he did travel with the team – and some doctors as well – to the Netherlands for a three-match ODI series in August.Ahead of their departure to Rotterdam, Babar Azam said Afridi would play no more than one match. Still, he went on that tour, and it was in the middle of it that the seriousness of the injury emerged. Afridi was ruled out of both the Asia Cup and a seven-match T20I series at home against England in September.”Shaheen Shah Afridi requires uninterrupted, dedicated knee specialist care and London offers some of the best sports medical and rehabilitation facilities in the world,” PCB’s chief medical officer Najeebullah Soomro said in a release issued by the board on Monday. “In the best interest of the player, we have decided to send him there.”The medical department will receive daily feedback on his progress whilst in London and we are confident Shaheen will return to full fitness before the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.”In recent years, 22-year-old Afridi has established himself as Pakistan’s frontline bowler across all three formats, and alongside Babar, is Pakistan’s best known and most marketable cricketer. He has tended to play most of Pakistan’s internationals, providing the team with serious wicket-taking threat, especially in the Powerplay.