Record-breaker Kumar Sangakkara sets up Sri Lanka win

• Sangakkara gets record for most dismissals in ODIs
• He also scored an unbeaten 113 for his 21st ton

The New Zealand players pose with the series trophy, New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 7th ODI, Wellington

Record setter in wicket–keeping Kumara Sangakkara celebrates

Reuters: Kumar Sangakkara scored an unbeaten 113 and then returned to break the world record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in one-day internationals as Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 34 runs in the seventh and final match in Wellington on Thursday.
Sangakkara’s 21st one-day hundred anchored Sri Lanka to 287 for six after the visitors opted to bat first on winning the toss.
New Zealand, who won the series 4-2, never recovered from losing early wickets in their chase and were all out for 253 in the 46th over.
The hosts were reduced to 42-3 in the 12th over and barring a 74-run stand between Luke Ronchi (47) and Daniel Vettori (35) for the seventh wicket, Sri Lanka always looked in control.

Sangakkara on his way to his 21st ODI century

Kane Williamson top-scored for New Zealand with 54 while Kyle Mills hit a 17-ball 30 towards the end.
The 37-year-old Sangakkara, who is expected to retire from international cricket after the World Cup, passed Adam Gilchrist as the most successful wicketkeeper when he caught Corey Anderson off the bowling of Shaminda Eranga.
He later added another catch to the tally when he pouched Tim Southee off Thisara Perera, taking his career total to 474 dismissals with 378 catches and 96 stumpings in the 50-over format when he played as a wicketkeeper.
Australia’s Gilchrist achieved 472 dismissals in 287 one-day matches.
“The entire team has been working very hard. The hard work has paid off with some good performances out in the middle,” man-of-the-match Sangakkara said at the presentation. “I just try to do the basics as well as I can.”
Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan (81) and Lahiru Thirimanne (30) gave Sri Lanka a good start, adding 71 for the opening wicket before the latter fell leg before to Anderson.
Sangakkara walked out at number three and then added 104 for the second wicket before Dilshan was out caught by wicketkeeper Ronchi off paceman Southee.
Sri Lanka lost a few quick wickets but Sangakkara held the innings together and brought up his century with a crisp pull shot off Mitchell McClenaghan. The stylish left-hander hit 14 boundaries in his 105-ball knock.
Anderson finished with three wickets for 59 runs for New Zealand.
The World Cup, which is co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia, runs from Feb. 14-March 29.

Cinnamon Lakeside serves up new menu at Long Feng

Known for consistent excellence over the years, Long Feng is one of Cinnamon Lakeside’s signature restaurants and has served up authentic Chinese dishes to discerning diners over the years.
With excellent service, good food and decent prices, Long Feng has held its own despite stiff competition in the city.
However, determined to rise to new heights in terms of its culinary offerings, the restaurant has now revamped its menu, introducing many new dishes while retaining the best of the previous offerings.
By Monday 26 January, around 50% of the dishes on the menu will be all-new offerings which are sure to tempt the taste buds and sate the appetite.

The restaurant itself is also undergoing a facelift, with changes to the acoustics in terms of carpets to muffle sound and make it a quieter dining environment, a new look to the menu and certain upgrades in décor.
With Chinese Master Chef Yang Jiayu at the helm, Long Feng’s new dishes been carefully selected after much thought and in consultation with General Manager Dermont Gale, who is turning things around at Cinnamon Lakeside at an impressive pace.
A new dim sum menu is also on the cards and will be launched in time for Chinese New Year celebrations.
Other culinary-related changes at the hotel include a new menu for 7° North in the near future and two new Thai chefs on board at the Lakeside’s signature restaurant Royal Thai shortly, with a new menu on the cards by March.
Meanwhile, the Cinnamon Lakeside is also planning some unique Valentine’s Day celebrations and other new experiences across the property, which are sure to impress and delight guests.

Sri Lanka Govt. bans casinos in mega integrated mixed development projects

Reuters: The new Government has blocked three casinos approved by the previous administration, among them a $400-million project by Australian gaming mogul James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd.
The widely-expected move redeems an election pledge by new President Maithripala Sirisena to cancel the Crown Resorts licence. Sirisena won an 8 January election, ending a decade of authoritarian rule by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The casinos faced opposition from Buddhist leaders and some of Rajapaksa’s own coalition partners, who feared that gaming could lead to a boom in prostitution and damage values and culture in the mainly Buddhist island nation.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said gazette notices that gave tax concessions to the projects, including Packer’s integrated mixed-development project, had been amended.
“We have decided to ban such approval for casinos,” Wickremesinghe told Parliament. “But they can conduct all other activities,” he added, referring to hotel and residential apartments included in the projects.
Besides Lake Leisure, Packer’s Sri Lankan joint venture, the blocked projects are the $300-million Queensbury resort planned by Sri Lanka’s Vallibel One Plc, and the $850-million Water Front Properties of John Keells Holdings Plc, the country’s biggest conglomerate.
Packer, one of Australia’s richest men, got Sri Lankan cabinet approval for the project in 2013, but its terms were altered in the face of opposition from some Buddhist leaders and political parties, and construction has yet to start.
All casino licences will be reviewed and gaming will be restricted to a specific area of Sri Lanka in future, Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.
“But we have not decided an area yet and the current location is just temporary,” he told reporters in Colombo.
Rajapaksa’s Government had said casinos would be restricted to D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha, an area in the commercial heart of the capital where Crown has planned its hotel.

Casino ban-hit JKH drags stock market down

Reuters: Shares fell on Thursday from a near two-week closing high the previous session, led by John Keells Holdings Plc after the new government cancelled approval for it to help build a casino, brokers said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe on Thursday said the new government had blocked three casinos approved by the previous administration, including a $400-million project by Australian gaming mogul James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd and John Keells Holdings Water Front properties.
Shares of top conglomerate Keells fell 3.72%.
The new Government aims to cut its 2015 fiscal deficit to 4.4% of gross domestic product, better than a target of 4.6% set by the previous administration.
The main stock index ended 0.25%, or 18.78 points weaker at 7,376.51, edging down from its highest close since 16 January hit on Wednesday.
“The market fell on Keells with the government banning casinos,” Reshan Wediwardana research analyst at First Capital Equities Ltd.
“The market will definitely come down in coming days mainly on panic selling of Keells, Dialog, Sri Lanka Telecom and Nestle as the budget imposed taxes on these firms.”
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake in the new Government’s supplementary budget imposed a super gain tax of 25% on companies or individuals who earned more than Rs. 2 billion profits in 2013/2014, while announcing a raft of tax reductions and state sector pay rises to boost consumption.
Wediwardana said an increase in consumers’ disposable income might help the market in the long run.
Turnover was Rs. 1.27 billion ($ 9.61 million), less than last year’s daily average of Rs. 1.42 billion, exchange data showed.
Foreign investors were net buyers of Rs. 122.5 million worth of shares on Thursday, but they have been net sellers of Rs. 331.1 million worth of shares this month. They bought a net Rs. 22.07 billion worth of stocks last year.

Miss Colombia crowned Miss Universe for 2015

REUTERS: A 22-year-old business student and model from Barranquilla, Colombia, was named Miss Universe on Sunday at the annual beauty pageant, beating out 87 other contestants from around the globe.
Paulina Vega, the granddaughter of tenor Gaston Vega, studies business administration at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota and has been a model since she was eight years old, according to the pageant’s website.
Vega triumphed over first runner-up, Miss USA Nia Sanchez, a 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do from Las Vegas, Nevada, who won the US title in June.
Contestants from the Netherlands, Jamaica and Ukraine rounded out the five finalists at the 63rd annual pageant, which was broadcast on NBC from Florida International University in Miami.
Vega is the fourth woman from South America to win the pageant in the past seven years, with contestants from Venezuela taking the title last year as well as in 2007 and 2008.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit Sri Lanka on 14-15 March

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Sri Lanka on 14 March for a two-day state visit, diplomatic sources told Daily FT.
Prime Minister Modi will be the first Indian leader to undertake a state visit to Sri Lanka since Rajiv Gandhi in 1987. Indian Premiers have since visited Sri Lanka only for Multi-lateral meetings, such as SAARC.
The Indian Prime Minister will be in the island for high level meetings on 14-15 March, Daily FT learns.
The Indian Premier’s visit will take place exactly one month after President Maithripala Sirisena travels to New Delhi on 16-19 February, for his first foreign visit since assuming office.
The new Sri Lankan administration has pledged to “reset” relations with New Delhi that had soured somewhat under President Mahinda Rajapaksa who repeatedly attempted to use China’s growing influence in the island as leverage with India. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have indicated they seek to restore the equilibrium.

By Dharisha Bastians

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