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Vaas to cricket headquarters, Sanga to Edgbaston and Murali to Old Trafford
Thursday, 10 May 2007 - 4:40 AM SL Time
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Three Sri Lankan cricketers will travel to England tomorrow to play county cricket. Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan have been released by Sri Lanka Cricket to play the full county season and the counties have agreed to release the Sri Lankan stars for any international commitments.
The players were allowed to skip the One-Day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, but could comeback for the home series against Bangladesh, which is the only international commitment Sri Lanka has until September, which means, they will be available for the full season.
Vaas represents Middlesex, the home of Lord`s Cricket ground while Muralitharan is returning to Lancashire, with whom he has become famous. Sangakkara will be playing for Warwickshire, another leading English county. This is the first time three Sri Lankans have got the opportunity to play for leading counties simultaneously.
While Muralitharan and Vaas have previous county experience, Sangakkara will be making his debut following an excellent series in England last year with Sri Lanka. Muralitharan, too, had a good tour of England, while Vaas excelled with both bat and ball.
With Sri Lankans having a long break with little cricket either at home or away, it was expected that more than just three counties would have shown interest in Sri Lankan players. Mahela Jayawardene is the most unfortunate to miss out having shown excellent form in both Test and ODI cricket last season in England. Jayawardene captained the Sri Lankans against England and squared the Test series before thrashing them 5-0 in the ODIs. He enjoyed batting as well scoring two ODI hundreds and a match saving 100 at Lord`s in the first Test.
`I think it`s a great opportunity for me. I am looking forward to it. It`s a massive challenge as well and I hope this experience will help me to become a better player,` Sangakkara told `The Island` yesterday.
Warwickshire has produced some of the all time `greats` of the game and have always opted for high profile overseas signings. West Indian superstar Brian Lara and South African fast bowler Allan Donald were two of the county`s prominent overseas players in the recent past.
The outing could be considered vital for Sangakkara as a long season of county cricket teaches you to adapt to alien conditions and he will comeback a better player like the country`s star batsman Aravinda de Silva did after representing Kent in 1995.
Darren Maddy will be his captain, while New Zealander Mark Greatbatch will function as his coach. Warwickshire play in Division One in county cricket.
Muralitharan is no stranger to Lancashire and this will be the bowler`s fourth season with them. He first played for the county in 1999 and followed it up with seasons in 2001 and 2005. The off-spinner is a popular figure at Old Trafford having taken plenty of wickets for the Manchester-based club each season.
`I am certainly looking forward to play for them. It`s been a while since I played for them so it`s good to get back. It`s going to be very tough as I will have to bowl a lot of overs and play lot of matches,` Muralitharan, the second highest wicket taker in the world said.
The county is like a second home for Murali and he`s been a loyal servant, too. Only once did he play for another county. That was when he had a brief stint with Kent, a couple of years back. He will play alongside England hero Andrew Flintoff.
`Freddie is a match winner and it`ll be good to play with him, but he won`t be available for the entire season as he needs to play for England,` Muralitharan added.
`A county season is good and I would recommend it for every batsman. But not for bowlers; the workload can be hectic. If you are experienced, you know how to handle the pressure. But not the younger guys, but then the money is really good and the choice is theirs.`
Murali`s coach will be Mike Watkinson and his fellow overseas player will be Brad Hodge, the Australian middle order batsman.
Chaminda Vaas considers the opportunity to play for Middlesex an honour and said that he will be inspired by the atmosphere at Lord`s, the Mecca of cricket.
It was at Lord`s last year he provided one of the best rearguard actions in Test cricket with a solid half-century that saved the game for Sri Lanka. The all-rounder is confident that the experience will stand him in good stead.
`I am just thrilled to go to Lord`s. You feel the atmosphere inspirational when you play at Lord`s. My previous county stints certainly helped to become a better player, but Lord`s will add the extra zip,` says Vaas suavely.
`As the overseas player, the expectations are high. You have to perform consistently and when you do well, they look after you well, too,` Vaas opined.
Vaas earlier played for Hampshire and Worcestershire, under Tom Moody, and this time his coach will be former Pakistani coach Richard Pybus. Murali Karthik from India will join Vaas as the second overseas player.
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zaharan
Joined: Jun 2006
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10 May 2007 06:08:22 GMT Report for Abuse
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Sangakkara deserves this break and will surely gain a wealth of experience.
All The Best To The Trio. |
dumindak
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10 May 2007 07:30:05 GMT Report for Abuse
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Zaharan
I dont think they can get any valuable cricket experience from counties after playing so many internationals.
Of course they will get some life experience and few bucks more. |
zaharan
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10 May 2007 09:47:23 GMT Report for Abuse
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Duminda,
Out of so many international cricketers only a handful are selected for a county cricket season. It's a cricketers dream to represent an English county.
Apart from the financial benefits, it does wonders for a cricketers future. Aravinda was a good example for Sri Lanka.
He came out a totally different player after a county stint and the knocks he played thereafter were simply amazing and he was placed in the top bracket with Lara and Sachin.
Hope Sangakkara will be a similar. |
banmud
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10 May 2007 10:11:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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| And make a mint of money too. All the best Murali, Sanga and Vaas. |
saliya
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11 May 2007 14:11:14 GMT Report for Abuse
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I suppose Mahela should be applied for English county cricket too. This will give him a chance to build up network with international cricketers.
Murali is the key boller and there must be a replacement for him. I suppose Bandara or Upul Chandana can cover up Murali's position. Warnapura seems to be a good replacement for Marvan but we have to wait and see how he plays.
Edited By - saliya - 11 May 2007 14:14:52 GMT |
anizam
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11 May 2007 16:16:46 GMT Report for Abuse
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And make a mint of money too. All the best Murali, Sanga and Vaas.
Interesting point. Does anyone know how much money they will be making? I know in Srilanka, people like Sanath were making about $70,000 a year, just from the contracts with the SLC.
Thats is still very small money compared to what some of the soccer players in Europe and basketball/American foot ball/base ball guys make in the US...
Does anyone know how much english country cricket pays??? |
banmud
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12 May 2007 15:57:50 GMT Report for Abuse
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Not sure man. But I'm sure it is a better deal than playing club cricket here. Anyway, I heard that good Australian cricket players can make 1 million USD in an year from playing and through endorsements.
Our players don't make much money from endorsements. |
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