Good opening for new coach Atapattu:

Lankans save blushes with series win

Ireland prove poor opponents:

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from England

The Sri Lankan cricketers did well to win one of the two one-day internationals against Ireland in Dublin and take the series one-nil when rain washed off the second game and arrived in London with smiles writ on their faces.

When the Lankans arrived in Dublin, Irish eyes were smiling, because they were confident on inflicting hurt and defeat on the visitors and totting up a victory being an Associate member of the International Cricket Council.Had the Irish won, it would have been great rejoicing for them and a scar on Sri Lankan cricket. True the Lankans were depleted and were sans some of their champions. But had the Lankans lost the excuses that they missed their stars would have been unacceptable.

By winning the game the and the series the Lankan cricketers saved their blushes, the selectors’ blushes and also Head Coach Marvan Atapattu’s blushes who was having his first call as coach.

This being the tail end of the winter and the beginning of the summer, the weather is still cold and windy which is certainly not to the liking of the cricketers who have been excelling when having the sun on their backs.

The Sri Lankans will now have three days training in which to get their game and team right before playing two 50-over practice games against Essex in Chelmsford on May 13 and Kent on May 16 and then a Twenty20 against Sussex in Hove.

The World Twenty20 Champions Sri Lanka will meet England in the one and only Twenty20 game at the Kennington Oval in London on May 20 followed by 5 one-day internationals. England cricket is still in a bit of disarray after the chopping and changing of coaches Andrew Flower and Ashley Giles and batting coach former England Captain Graham Gooch.

They have also been accused of pinching Paul Far brace who was Sri Lanka’s coach and who helped Sri Lanka win the Asia Cup and the World Twenty in Bangladesh recently.

With the Twenty20 and one-day series between Sri Lanka and England hotting up, the first casualty in the England camp is all rounder Stuart Broad.

Son of former left handed England opening batsman Chris who is now a match referee, Stuart has suffered a tendonitis knee injury which will keep him out of the Twenty20 and one-day series against Sri Lanka.

However he hopes to play for England in the Two Test series.

Incidentally Stuart Broad made headline news for the wrong reasons during the Ashes Test series against Australia in England when after nudging a catch to Aussie skipper Michael Clarke in the slips he refused to do the gentleman’s walk back which the Aussies say caused them that Test, the series and the Ashes.

Broad’s unsporting act in not ‘walking’ galvanized the Aussies and the shame they slapped on Alastair Cook’s Englishmen in the recent Ashes series in Australia by beating them 5-nil is attributed to Broad’s poor thinking.