Sports
Mendis shines in rained off warm-up game
There was much disappointment for Sri Lanka’s players as the entire day two’s play of their warm-up game against New Zealand Board XI at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln was called off due to rain yesterday. This was Sri Lanka’s only warm-up game ahead of the two match Test series against New Zealand that gets underway on Thursday in Christchurch.
Sri Lanka had declared on 274 for four after the top and middle order batters had spent some useful time in the middle and New Zealand Board XI were 141 for one at stumps on day one. Not a single ball was bowled yesterday due to heavy rain and play was called off early. Kusal Mendis smashed a quick-fire 95 that came off 87 balls with 16 fours and two sixes. Mendis shared a 162 runs stand with Oshada Fernando, who opened batting and made 78. All Sri Lanka’s batters spent useful time in the middle before the innings was declared.
Angelo Mathews batted at number four and made 38 off 67 balls while Dinesh Chandimal scored 35 off 45 balls. Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella didn’t get a chance to bat.
Sri Lanka’s top seven is pretty much settled and they are unlikely to make any changes to the batting unit and it’s the bowling attack they need to figure out. Quicks Kasun Rajitha, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara bowled some decent spells and Kumara was the only wicket taker.
Sri Lanka are likely to play only three quicks in the Test series but some feel that they are better off with all four quicks in with Dhananjaya de Silva being the lone spinner. The selectors are unlikely to follow that bold step.
The Test series is viral for Sri Lanka as a 2-0 series win will give them a slot in the World Test Championship final later this year at The Oval during the English summer. But it’s quite a tough task as in the history Sri Lanka have been to New Zealand on ten Test tours and have just won two Tests. Unlike in white ball cricket, the Test team has been far more consistent and the ability of fast bowlers to run through sides has been a notable feature.
The teams will move to north island for the second Test with Basin Reserve in Wellington hosting the game. It was at this venue Sri Lanka won the 2006 Test with Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva scoring hundreds. Muttiah Muralitharan claimed a match bag of ten wickets. It was also at the Basin Reserve Aravinda de Silva produced his career best 267 during the 1991 tour. In the same game Martin Crowe was dismissed for 299.
Bangladesh cruised to a seven wicket victory to close out their group stage, with a three-for from Iqbal Hossain Emon, and an 82-ball 64 from captain Azizul Hakim leading the way against USA.
Batting first, USA lost opener Amrinder Gill and No. 3 Arjun Mahesh by the end of the third over. But a more applied approach from Sahil Garg and Utkarsh Srivastava took them out of the powerplay to the relative safety of 33 for 2.
The scoring rate was slow throughout their innings, with Bangladesh’s Al Fahad, Shariar Ahmed and Rizan Hossan all taking two wickets, and keeping the scoring rate around a touch below four. When Adnit Jhamb walked out at No. 7 in the 30th over, he kicked into a higher gear. He hit just three boundaries and a six during his knock of 68, but rotated the strike much better than any other USA batter on the day. Alongside the lower order, Jhamb dragged their total up to a respectable 199.
Bangladesh, however, remained in cruise control during the chase. Opener Zawad Abrar was particularly brutal, hitting five fours and three sixes as he raced away to a 42-ball 47. He fell to a caught-and-bowled effort off Garg, but by that point, Bangladesh were 78 for 1, and more than a third of the way to their target.
Another big partnership followed after his dismissal: Hakim hit the sole half-century of the match, stitching together an 88-run partnership with Kalam Siddiki. By the time he was the third batter to be dismissed, the result was a foregone conclusion.
Rizan Hossan hit two sixes in back-to-back overs in the company of Siddiki. The second one closed out the match, giving Bangladesh their first win of the tournament, and pushing USA out of contention for the Super Sixes
Brief scores:
Bangladesh Under 19s 201 for 3 in 41.3 overs (Azizul Hakim 64, Zawad Abrar 47; Rifat Beg 30, Kalam Siddiki 30*; Ritvik Appidi 1-27) beat USA Under 19s 199 in 50 overs (Adnit Jhamb 68*, Utkarsh Srivastava 39; Iqbal Hossain Emon 3-41, Al Fahad 2-38, Shahriar Ahmed 2-32, Rizan Hossan 2-27) by seven wickets
A five-wicket haul from Will Byrom helped Australia top Group A of the Under 19 men’s World Cup after they skittled Sri Lanka for 58. Byrom and Charles Lachmund ripped through Sri Lanka in the first powerplay, reducing them to 31 for 6 at the ten-over mark.
In the third over, Lachmund had yorked out Viran Chamuditha right in front of the stumps, while Dimantha Mahavithana edged one to slip. From there, the procession never stopped. The two tall pacers extracted movement and bounce off a pitch that had plenty in it for those who bowled it quick. Most Sri Lanka batters were either caught in the slip cordon or stuck in front of the crease, unable to counter the movement, and often late on their feet.
Hayden Schiller and Kasey Barton slipped into the attack once the powerplay was done, and immediately took over the same lines and lengths. The highlight of Barton’s own spell was his wicket of Sethmika Seneviratne. He dropped it on a full length and fizzed it back into the off stump, trimming Seneviratne’s bails and breaching through Sri Lanka’s last recognised batter.
Sri Lanka’s bowling defence began with Rasith Nimsara extracting similar movement off the pitch. However, both his bowling, and Kugathas Mathulan’s from the other end, were plagued by inconsistent lines that often drifted down leg. Sri Lanka ended up conceding 11 extras, which included nine wides. After Will Malajczuk fell early, Nitesh Samuel was a little circumspect. But Steven Hogan ensured to finish the run chase with little fuss, just as time before rain drifted in towards the ground.
Brief scores:
Australia Under 19s 61 for 1 in 12 overs (Steven Hogan 28*; Rasith Nimsara 1-20) beat Sri Lanka Under 19s 58 in 18.5 overs (Chamika Heenetigala 14; Will Byrom 5-14, Charles Lachmund 2-19, Kasey Barton 2-13) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
After conceeding a first innIngs deficit, St. Sebastians’ College Moratuwa bounced back in the second innings to record a six wickets victory over Richmond in the Under 19 Division I Tier A match at Ambepussa on Friday.
Adesh Almeida took seven wickets to dismiss Richmond for 149 runs in the first innng but the Sebs failed to capitalize as they were bowled out for 127 runs. The most of the scoring was done by Meshone Ferdinando (44) and Lashen Fernando (39).
When Richmond came to bat for the second time, Koshendra Fernando led the way with a five wicket haul to reduce them to 102 runs.
Chasing 125 runs to win, the Sebs were 53 for four wickets at one stage before Koshendra and Chamath Wellalage joined to dissapoint Richmond. They put on an unbroken 74 runs stand for the fifth wicket to seal the victory.
Scores:
Richmond 149 all out in 46.3 overs
(Minaga Ariyadasa 26, Ranindu de Silva 28, Adesh Almeida 7/58) and 102 all out in 44.3 overs (Bevin Jayawardhana 34; Koshendra Fernando 5/42, Adesh Almeida 2/08)
St. Sebastian’s 127 all out in 43.4 overs (Meshone Ferdinando 44, Lashen Fernando 39; Hiruk Akalanka 3/35, Thenusha Nimsara 5/45) and 127 for 4 in 30.5 overs (Koshendra Fernando 43n.o., Chamath Wellalage 39n.o.; Thenusha Nimsara 2/45)
by Reemus Fernando ✍️
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