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The left-arm quick is certain he won’t be around for the next ODI World Cup, but he won’t quit ODIs immediately

Andrew McGlashan13-Nov-2023Mitchell Starc is not viewing the knockout stages of this World Cup as the swansong of his ODI career but has reiterated that it will be white-ball cricket that makes way first with a view to playing Tests for as long as possible.Although Starc, who has 230 ODI wickets at 23.17, is certain he won’t be around for the next 50-over World Cup in 2027, when he will be 37, he won’t be ditching the format immediately. Australia’s next ODIs are against West Indies in February but they don’t have anymore scheduled until a tour of England next September. There is a Champions Trophy due to be played in Pakistan in 2025.”I’ll look to keep playing after this, but I don’t doubt that I won’t be making the next World Cup. I’ve no vision for that. Four years is a long,” he told reporters in Kolkata. “I’ve always maintained that Test cricket is the top of the tree for me and I’ll drop off the rest before I let go of Test cricket. For me [the semi-final] is just another one-day game for Australia, it’s not the end of the road in one-day cricket as yet for me.”Starc will be hoping to help Australia get past South Africa in Thursday’s semi-final to earn a spot in another World Cup final on November 19 during a tournament that has been much more of a struggle than his prolific 2015 and 2019 performances.He has taken 10 wickets at 43.90 with an economy rate of 6.55 and conceded he had been below his best. But he revealed he has been carrying some niggles since the Ashes without specifically saying if they were related to the groin and shoulder problems he picked up in England, with the former keeping him out of the South Africa in September. He also noted he was not alone among quick bowlers having a difficult World Cup.Related

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“I certainly haven’t been at the level I would have liked…or not the same level as the last two World Cups anyway, but now a chance at the pointy end to impact again,” he said.”Certainly bowling first on particular wickets, the new ball with two fielders out I think has been almost the hardest time to bowl. You get a bit of an understanding of the wicket as the game goes on…that’s not a sob story, that’s the nature of one-day cricket.”You’ve got two brand new balls on flat wickets, that’s the nature of the World Cup if you look at the runs scored, or certainly centuries scored, as opposed to five wickets taken, the ratios are heavily skewed. Bowlers just have to find a way.”Starc was rested for the final group game against Bangladesh and said the decision was largely taken out of his hands.”The way we started meant we couldn’t rest anyone earlier in the campaign being 0-2. Had the chance with securing the semi-final spot the other night. Glenn [Maxwell] after his knock and his cramping needed a bit of a rest and I didn’t have much of a say in my decision. I’ve carried a few things from the Ashes and it was a chance before the semi-finals.”

The decision will allow the batter to play tournaments like the Road Safety Series and overseas T20 leagues

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2022Suresh Raina, the former India and Uttar Pradesh batter, has announced his retirement from “all formats of cricket,” confirming the end of his IPL and India domestic career. Raina, 35, had already retired from international cricket, announcing that decision on August 15, 2020 shortly after MS Dhoni had retired.”It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of cricket,” Raina posted on Twitter on Tuesday.The decision will allow Raina to play tournaments like the Road Safety Series, for which he has already been confirmed, as well as overseas T20 leagues. “I want to continue playing cricket for two or three years,” he was quoted as saying by . “There are some exciting youngsters who are coming through the ranks of Uttar Pradesh cricket. I have already taken my No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). I have informed BCCI secretary Jay Shah and vice-president Rajiv Shukla about my decision.”I will play in the Road Safety Series. T20 franchises from South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE have contacted me but I am yet to take any decision.”Raina had not played any first-class or list A cricket since 2018, and his last IPL game was in October 2021. Raina was a key figure for the Chennai Super Kings, whom he represented for 11 seasons between 2008 and 2021. He won four titles with CSK in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021 and still remains their top-scorer with 4687 runs from 176 matches. He was released by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2022 player auction, where he was not bought by any of the ten franchises.Raina retires having scored 6871 runs in 109 first-class games, 8078 runs in 302 list A games, and 8654 runs in 336 T20 matches. He began his senior domestic career for UP back in 2002-03, and made his international debut in 2005. Raina played 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 18 Tests for India, and was part of the squad that won the ODI World Cup in 2011. He was the first Indian batter to score a century in all three international formats.

While Hussey flies commercial via Doha, the group waiting in the Maldives will take a BCCI charter flight

Daniel Brettig16-May-2021Michael Hussey will be home from India on Monday, about the same time as the 38 Australian players, coaches and media land on their return from the Maldives.Following a series of Covid-19 positive tests, Hussey was unable to join the Maldives group after the postponement of the IPL but returned a negative test on Thursday night India time. He has now been cleared to return to Australian soil on a commercial flight via Doha.The larger Maldives contingent, including the likes of Pat Cummins, David Warner, Steven Smith and Michael Slater, will travel home to hotel quarantine in Sydney, on a BCCI charter flight that will also stopover in Perth once it reaches Australian airspace.The return of the cricketers, coaches and media have been secured over the incoming arrival caps put in place for overseas travellers to Australia, following negotiations between Cricket Australia, the Australian Cricketers Association, and state and federal governments.”The public will see our best Australian cricketers as almost superheroes. They’re brilliant athletes, great cricketers but they’re human beings [too],” Todd Greenberg, the ACA chief executive had said on May 5. “Some of them are fathers and husbands, and they’re under enormous amounts of stress. Some deal with it differently. This will probably be an experience they will never forget. We will help them when they come home. Some will cope with it really well, others will need support and counselling and that’s what we’ll do.”The last 12 months around the globe, we’ve seen all professional athletes travel differently and charter flights maybe two years ago would have seen a different type of commentary than what we would see today. The reality is we’re going to try to keep them as safe as possible and if that’s available, I don’t think we should shy away from that.”I’m not sure it will create reticence but it will ensure players do their due diligence before they sign [future] agreements,” he added, with the ACA having already advised its players to complete due diligence before signing up for T20 leagues during the pandemic.”The world is literally changing before our eyes, particularly with Covid and on that side of the world, obviously those cases are going up exponentially. We’re enjoying our freedoms here in Australia. It is a very different place over there. If anything it sends a message to players about making sure you do your homework before making any decisions.”A federal government pause on the return of Australians from India concluded on Saturday, with a series of repatriation flights for the first portion of some 9000 citizens beginning over the weekend.

How long? Well, the West Indian opener says he could be around until he’s 45

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2020Chris Gayle’s love for cricket is still going strong. Having taken a break from the game towards the end of 2019, he’s back in action with the Chattogram Challengers in the BPL, and he says he will continue playing T20s for a while yet.”A lot of people still want see Chris Gayle out there in the middle,” Gayle said during a media interaction in Dhaka. “I still have that love for the game and that passion for the game as well. And I would love to carry on as long as possible.”Even in franchise cricket I am still playing a few games here and there around the globe because I still feel I have a lot to offer. The body is feeling good. And I am sure I am getting younger as days go on.”As to how long he might want to carry on, Gayle, who turned 40 in September, joked that he could keep going for five more years.”Forty-five is a good number. Yeah, we can target 45. Let’s target 45, that’s a good number.”Gayle hasn’t played a Test match since 2014, and in August he played what seemed to be – though it might not have been – his farewell ODI in Port-of-Spain. He wasn’t part of West Indies’ recent tour of India and isn’t playing the ongoing home series against Ireland, but he remains part of their T20I plans in a T20 World Cup year.He faces competition from the young faces that have recently come into the team, but he hopes he will still be part of the T20 World Cup in Australia at the end of the year.”It’d be nice. It’s open, the door’s open for a chance,” Gayle said. “We’ll see what happens. We have some bright youngsters ahead of you as well. I will leave the options open to hear back from [the selectors].”

The Surrey batsman will leave the Test party in order for him to get game time with the Lions in the UAE

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2018England will release batsman Ollie Pope from their Test party in Sri Lanka, in order for him to get game time with the Lions, who are embarking on a tour of the UAE to play Pakistan A in all formats.Pope made his Test debut in the summer against India, scoring 54 runs in three innings, but the performance of Ben Foakes on debut in Galle has limited his chances of making further appearances in Sri Lanka. Pope was initially included as the spare middle-order batsman in the squad, but Foakes was called up after an injury to Jonny Bairstow and subsequently scored a century to help set up England’s victory in the first Test.With Bairstow working back to fitness and pushing for a return to the team, and Joe Denly also in the squad, England have a surplus of batting options. The management has therefore decided that Pope would be better served playing than ferrying drinks. He will leave for the UAE on Wednesday, the first day of the second Test in Pallakele.”It is important that Ollie is playing and the selection panel felt that to aid his development the best course of action is for to him to go and play for the Lions in a competitive series against Pakistan A,” Trevor Bayliss, England’s head coach, said.”Ollie needs some game time before the West Indies Test tour early next year and will get more out of playing competitively for the Lions rather than spending the next three weeks in Sri Lanka on the sidelines. He will get the opportunity of playing up to eight matches across all formats in the UAE.”England Lions play one four-day match in Abu Dhabi, starting on November 18, followed by five unofficial ODIs and two T20s.

Somerset and Middlesex are not the only counties in danger of relegation but their meeting at Taunton next week has the makings of a sudden death affair

Tim Wigmore at Kia Oval22-Sep-20171:53

I was just hoping to pull my weight – Sangakkara

Perhaps it was better this way. Sure, Kumar Sangakkara, in the final ever first-class game at a ground he has made into his private playground, was batting serenely, once again, with victory only 15 runs away. All inside The Oval were united in expecting him to stroke the winning runs.
Then Sangakkara took a couple of steps down the ground, drilled a delivery from Dom Bess back to the bowler, and suddenly was out. The silence that enveloped the ground, and even Somerset’s own players, reflected just how surprising this moment was. Sangakkara paused for a few moments, and then walked back. As he did so, every Somerset player shook his hand to congratulate him for a stupendous career – “You’ve got to appreciate genius when you see it,” explained their captain Tom Abell. Sangakkara took off his helmet to soak in the standing ovation he received from the entire ground. He walked up the stairs to The Oval changing room for the very final time, and that was that.A few minutes later, Ollie Pope, one of Surrey’s many young players to have benefited from the extraordinary privilege of three years with Sangakkara, strode down the wicket to thump a six to tie the scores. Two balls later, he lofted a four through long on and secure Surrey’s win. Sport, like life, can move on very quickly.Not that anyone will be forgetting Sangakkara anytime soon. His seasons at Surrey – not just the runs they have brought, but how he has carried himself – have enriched his legacy in the sport and, for those who stayed behind to take selfies with him or simply to say thanks, will not easily be forgotten.”That was very, very special to me,” Sangakkara said, crediting Surrey with rekindling his passion for the game.”The county professional is a very, very special breed of person and I’ve found a completely new respect not just for county cricket but for the game as a whole. To understand that wherever there is first-class cricket, the pride with which they play this sport, the pride in which the club supports the players and the pride with which the fans come and embrace those players, it’s something that suddenly hit me and it hit me once I retired from international cricket. I regret that but I thank Surrey for allowing me to rediscover that immense love and passion that first-class cricket and cricketers have for this game, and what an amazing breeding ground it is for players.”And what of this extraordinary summer, which has already brought 1407 County Championship runs? “I was just hoping to pull my weight in the dressing room. This has been something very special. I don’t really know how it happened. I’ve changed my batting over the last three seasons – I’ve changed my backlift, I’ve tried various things. Something this season has worked.”Whoever replaces him as Surrey’s overseas player – Mitchell Marsh and Hashim Amla are among the names being considered – will have quite a task. “For sides to evolve and grow, you need new ideas, new perspectives and new players coming in. Surrey has a great opportunity next year to look for somebody who will continue to make Surrey grow and for them to become stronger. And I think I’m not that guy, no matter how many runs I get for them. They need someone new, someone different. They have enough talent in that dressing room to be a real, real force in county cricket.”For all the vim with which Somerset bowled on an excellent cricket wicket – how their spinners would have loved assistance of the sort they seem certain to receive at Taunton next week – Ben Foakes’ swagger in the early evening sunshine ensured that Sangakkara’s farewell to The Oval would be in a victory. It was certainly an overdue one for the club: their last County Championship victory came way back on April 10.If Surrey’s target of 143 to win in 39 overs always seemed meagre, it has still taken all of Somerset’s resolve to get that far. After Abell flashed Rikki Clarke’s outswinger straight to second slip, Somerset showed great stoicism and application to add another 174 for the last five wickets.Once again, Steven Davies underpinned a Somerset recovery with an innings of finesse and fortitude. His move from The Oval to Taunton was expected to bring abundant runs; instead, it brought agonising early season struggles. Yet in recent weeks Davies has produced some of the most fluent batting of his career – and much of it against Surrey. After scoring 142, his maiden Championship century for Somerset, at Taunton against Surrey last month – since followed by another against Lancashire – Davies contributed innings of 86 and 52 here. His second innings featured an enthralling duel with Stuart Meaker, who bowled with great vim and located a yorker to uproot Davies’ stumps, only to be received by a no ball. It took a flighted delivery from Gareth Batty, edged into Clarke’s reassuring hands at slip, for Surrey to finally be rid of their old teammate.Then, they had Peter Trego to contend with. Few have embodied Somerset’s decline better this season: from averaging 44.58 in the nearly glorious 2016, he arrived at the crease with an average of 15.91 in 2017. Trego gave the impression of a man channeling Ferdinand Foch’s line: “My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.” If he could not entirely trust his technique, Trego could trust the eye and power that have earned him cherished status in Taunton; on this evidence, his driving has not lost any power. To his evident consternation, Trego would be bowled by Ryan Patel’s energetic medium pace, playing across the line to a straight delivery, but not before he had made 68. Still, Dom Bess’s driving, so crisp that it hinted he could one day be considered an allrounder, ensured 64 would be added for the final two wickets.That Somerset extended the final day beyond 5 o’clock also owed to a hint of fallibility from Sangakkara. The day after Surrey’s end of season awards had, essentially, been an exercise in handing out more awards to one man than he could carry, Sangakkara dropped Trego at first slip, a relatively straightforward chance. Maybe he was just making it easier for Surrey to cope with life without him.While Sangakkara heads to Old Trafford for his last ever first-class game, Somerset have what Abell called a “cup final” against Middlesex next week, needing to win to preserve their Division One status, a task made harder by the possible absence of Trego, who could only bowl one ball because of an ankle complaint. Their plight is partly a reflection of the underwhelming cricket – especially lax batting – that has marred their Championship season. But it is also a reflection that the quality in Division One may well be greater than ever before – and, the sheer ruthlessness of 25% of teams being relegated each year. As September nears its end, Somerset must summon all their reserves of spirit once again.

West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said that the support of senior players was a major factor in achieving victory on his captaincy debut

Peter Della Penna28-Aug-2016West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said the support given to him by senior players was a major factor in achieving victory on his captaincy debut. No one was more pivotal than allrounder Dwayne Bravo, whose nerveless final over clinched a one-run win over India in a run fest at the Central Broward Regional Park in Florida.”I just want to publicly say thanks to all the senior guys for the help and support they give me on the field throughout the 20 overs,” Brathwaite said after the win. “Everyone always has suggestions and it kind of eased my role as captain, as a new captain as well, to have such maturity and such experience on the field always lending a helping hand.”Before the final ball, we were just fiddling with fields and wondering if to double-bluff or just try to stop the two. So Bravo finally decided and I asked him, ‘What’s your plan?’ He said, ‘A slower ball.’ I didn’t believe he’d bowl a slower ball but I told him, ‘I’m backing you. Execute. Express yourself.’ I know he came out trumps for us once again and for how many ever years he’s been doing it in T20 cricket for West Indies, once again he bowled a champion over, stuck to his guns and bowled a very, very top last delivery to one of the best finishers in world cricket.”Outside of the final over, Brathwaite said the game as a whole was one of the most memorable T20 affairs he’d been a part of, made even more special by the fact that it ended with a victory, in his first match leading the side.”It’s a relief. I always wanted to get that first one, that first win as captain,” Brathwaite said. “I know it was a fantastic team effort by the boys. I think that was one of the better T20 games I’ve ever been a part of and it was a fantastic spectacle and I’m just happy that my first game could be memorable but most importantly that we came out on top.”Brathwaite was playing in the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill for the first time, having been with the West Indies Test squad throughout the four-Test series earlier in India’s tour. But with the exception of Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels, the other nine members of the West Indies XI on Saturday had all recently played at the stadium last month, when the Caribbean Premier League held a six-match leg at the facility, while Samuels had also played for West Indies at the ground in 2012.The West Indies squad’s familiarity with the nuances of the venue proved vital at the start of the match, in particular for Evin Lewis and Johnson Charles. One aspect of the ground is the deceptive wind patterns. From field level, the breeze is only faintly detectable. However, standing at the top of the grandstand one will notice the jet stream that cuts through the roof of the stands and blows from elevation northwest above the ground. All that’s required is to get underneath the ball and mother nature does most of the work carrying it over the ropes for six.Charles utilised this jet stream to score brisk half-centuries for St Lucia Zouks against Jamaica Tallawahs in both innings he played at the venue last month while Lewis made 79 for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots against Trinbago Knight Riders. On Saturday, West Indies reached 164 for 1 after 11 overs, and 109 of those runs came in the six overs batting from the Pavilion End, hitting with the jet stream.The last over in that stretch was Lewis’ 32-run 11th over which began with five sixes off Stuart Binny. In all, 16 of the record 21 sixes hit by West Indies on the day came batting from the Pavilion End, making a mockery of the 73-yard boundary measured off by groundsman Mark Perham. Conversely, India only scored 62 runs from their first six overs batting from the Pavilion End.Lewis, who was Man of the Match for his maiden hundred in just his second T20I for West Indies, said afterward that having the experience of playing in the ground recently as part of the CPL was a definite advantage over India at the start of the game.”It had a big impact obviously,” Lewis said. “I played two games on the wicket. Kudos to the groundsman. He’s been doing an extremely good job. I just went out there and backed myself, hit the balls in my scoring areas and put them away.”

Gary Ballance eased his England disappointment by inspiring Yorkshire to a seven-run Duckworth-Lewis victory over Derbyshire in a rain-affected Royal London Cup game at Derby

ECB/PA27-Jul-2015
ScorecardGary Ballance work hard for his runs on a sluggish surface•Getty Images

Gary Ballance eased his England disappointment by inspiring Yorkshire to a seven-run Duckworth-Lewis victory over Derbyshire in a rain-affected Royal London Cup game at Derby.Ballance top-scored with 69 from 70 balls in Yorkshire’s 239 for 6 from 42 overs and although Hamish Rutherford replied with a 44-ball half-century and Billy Godleman hit 45 off 38 balls, Steven Patterson took 3 for 37 as Derbyshire fell short of a revised target of 197 from 29 overs.The rain which delayed the start by 90 minutes had slowed up the outfield and on a sluggish pitch, boundaries were elusive with only 31 runs coming from the opening nine-over PowerplayIt was no surprise when Alex Lees mistimed a pull to mid-on and although Glenn Maxwell straight drove Shiv Thakor for six, he again failed to build on a promising start and flicked Alex Hughes into the hands of deep midwicket in the 15th over.Mark Footitt had Andrew Gale lbw playing across the line to leave Yorkshire on 91 for 3 after 21 overs but Ballance and Jack Leaning provided the momentum required by working the ball into the gaps to add 83 at a run a ball.Leaning pulled Alex Hughes over deep mid-wicket for six but the runs came mainly from astute placement against disciplined bowling, backed up by fielding which was excellent given the conditions.A top-edged hook by Leaning to long leg ended the stand but Ballance cleared the long on boundary and added 36 from 25 balls with Tim Bresnan before a superb one-handed diving catch by Hughes removed the former England international.Ballance was caught behind trying to slog-sweep Ben Cotton with two overs left but Liam Plunkett’s unbeaten 17 from 12 balls took Yorkshire to a competitive total before more rain delayed the game by just over an hour and left Derbyshire chasing a revised target.Godleman drove and pulled Jack Brooks for two fours from the first over and cut and drove Bresnan for two more boundaries in the second but Wes Durston then pulled Brooks to midwicket where Ballance held on at the third attempt.Godleman drove Bresnan back over his head for four and Yorkshire’s frustration increased when Ballance dropped Wayne Madsen at point on 9 two balls later.Madsen drove Patterson down the ground for four but next ball was bowled attempting a ramp and Derbyshire suffered another setback in the next over when Godleman was caught behind trying to drive Plunkett.A mix-up with Rutherford saw Thakor needlessly run out but 11 came from the 17th over bowled by Plunkett and Rutherford raised Derbyshire’s hopes by pulling Will Rhodes for six.Maxwell took a stunning one-handed diving catch at point to remove Hughes and although Rutherford drove the Australian for six and Chesney Hughes hit him for another maximum, Derbyshire’s hopes ended when Rutherford holed out to long-off for 56 before Cotton and Matt Critchley were dismissed in the final over.

Should Glenn Maxwell go to India on next month’s tour it will only be as Australia’s third-choice spinner, with Michael Beer heavily favoured to be named the second spinner behind Nathan Lyon

Daniel Brettig15-Jan-2013Should Glenn Maxwell go to India on next month’s tour it will only be as Australia’s third-choice spinner, with Michael Beer heavily favoured to be named the second spinner behind Nathan Lyon, for the four-Test series.Earlier this summer, Maxwell was chosen ahead of Beer as the lone spinner in the Australia A team that faced the South Africans at the SCG, and was later 12th man for the Test on the same ground. But his struggles for wickets against Sri Lanka’s batsmen have made it clear that the Victorian allrounder is still well short of international standard as a bowler.Known for his customary brio in interviews and the dressing room, Maxwell has admitted that so far, the Sri Lankans have had much the better of him. In this his comments recalled Stuart MacGill when he was rendered bereft by India’s batsmen during the 2003-04 summer. Giving away 50.78 runs per wicket during the series, MacGill remarked that it wasn’t so much that the visitors could read what he was bowling, more that they didn’t care.”Their (Sri Lanka’s) feet are a lot crisper, they go forward and back a lot easier and they seem to have a lot better idea on where they can hit and where they can score,” Maxwell said. “They’ve been excellent in the few games I’ve played against them. It’s been tough. I played the Chairman XI’s game [in Canberra] and they played me really well and hit me to wherever they wanted.”I’ve been coming on when they’ve been consolidating their partnership or there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure. The other night they were 30 runs away from winning. Any time when you come on as a spin bowler on a seaming wicket it’s not a good time to come on, especially if we’ve only got 170 on the board and that was the batters’ fault. I’ve got to keep hanging in there.”Six matches into his ODI career, Maxwell remains wicketless, and scores of five and eight in the first two matches against Sri Lanka did not inspire a great deal of confidence with the bat either. Beer meanwhile has been bowling solidly as ever for the Perth Scorchers in the BBL, digging the ball into the pitch and changing his pace in a manner reminiscent of the best method for taking wickets in India.Beer’s summer has not always appeared likely to end with a spot on Australia’s next Test tour. At the start of the summer the national selector John Inverarity indicated that another left-armer, Jon Holland, was the man next in line behind Lyon. Holland was then invalided out of the season with a serious shoulder injury, but Maxwell was preferred for Australia A. Before that match, Inverarity spoke of Beer in measured and not altogether promising tones.”Michael is well regarded and is a good, steady spinner,” Inverarity had said. “We feel that he’s a known quantity, we don’t need to find out a lot more. And he’ll be bowling in the Shield game [for Western Australia v Victoria]. It’s an ideal opportunity for Glenn Maxwell. You’re the spinner, you get on with it, and see how he responds to that.”Now that Maxwell has admitted this spin-bowling business is not easy, Beer’s known quantity will be more reassuring for Inverarity and his panel.

The Sri Lanka sports minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, has said that the Sri Lanka players would be paid 65% of their dues within the next two weeks

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2011The Sri Lanka sports minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, has said that the Sri Lanka players would be paid 65% of their dues within the next two weeks, while the balance amount would be paid by January 15 next year.”We will be able to complete the full payment by January,” Altuthgamage told the Sri Lankan parliament on Tuesday.Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has not paid their players their salaries since the 2011 World Cup ended in April after running up debts of US$32.5 million to finance the building of two international cricket stadiums in Hambantota and Pallekele, and to renovate the ground in Colombo, for the World Cup.Aluthgamage said that the ICC had agreed to pay US$2 million to SLC and that the coach and players would be paid out of those funds. The Sri Lankan Cricketers’ Association (SLCA) has contacted the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) seeking assistance over the delay in the cricketers’ salaries for series following the World Cup this year.South Africa’s cricketers lent their support to the Sri Lanka players ahead of the upcoming bilateral series between the sides, saying it was a credit to the Sri Lanka team that they had kept going, but the issue needed to be resolved soon.Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, said the board had told him they would try and sort out the payments within the next week. ” We discussed with the Cricket Association last week and they promised it will be sorted out before the Test match, Dilshan told reporters at a press conference in Benoni. “I can’t push more than that. I’m here to play cricket. I have to focus on that.”Dilshan also thanked the South Africa players and FICA for their support. “It [statement by SA cricketers] has definitely helped. Thanks to Graeme Smith and AB [de Villiers] for giving a statement, and to FICA.”Sri Lanka have struggled since the World Cup, losing Test and ODI series to Australia, England and Pakistan. But Dilshan said he didn’t think that the payment saga had affected his team’s performances. “We try to play good cricket. Everyone wants to play cricket. We are not worried about payments. We know it is important but we have come here [South Africa] to play cricket. That’s the main target as a team.”