Sports
Records galore in Galle but Irish eye draw
Rex Clementine in Galle
There are quite a few Cinderella stories in Sri Lankan cricket. Players with numerous economic hardships and challenges going onto become household names in the country thanks to their skill, commitment and perseverance is nothing new. We witnessed yet another such story yesterday as Nishan Madushka converted a maiden hundred into a double hundred becoming the second youngest Sri Lankan to the milestone after Mahela Jayawardene.
Moratuwa has two major cricketing centers – Prince of Wales and St. Sebastian’s. A third force has been producing some quality players over the years without much notice. Nishan Madushka is from Moratu Vidyalaya and comes from the humblest of beginnings with his father, a daily wage earner, being the sole bread winner.
Sheer weight of runs for the school, club, Sri Lanka Development Squad and the ‘A’ team has got the 23-year-old to the senior side and he made it count with a memorable double ton yesterday.
Another Moratuwa boy, Kusal Mendis also posted a maiden double hundred having been previously dismissed twice on 190s. They shared a big 268 run partnership and clearly Mendis was the more stylish timing the ball sweetly and finding the gap with no trouble.
Mendis was on the verge of breaking Wasim Akram’s World Record for the most sixes in an innings in Test cricket but fell short trying to equal the feet. Mendis had hit 11 sixes and failed to clear the 12th as he was caught at long-off. He now owns the Sri Lankan record though having eclipsed Kumar Sangakkara’s eight sixes in an innings.
Angelo Mathews out for a duck in the first Test was dropped on one and made most of the reprieve as he went onto post his 15th Test hundred. It was only the third instance in Test match cricket the top four batters of the line-up had scored hundreds or more.
Sri Lanka also established the highest total in Galle as they declared on 704 for three eclipsing Bangladesh’s 638 all out in 2013. Ireland resumed their second innings being 212 runs behind and the spin duo of Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis picked up a wicket each.
The spin bowlers were getting some assistance from the surface last evening and Sri Lanka will be looking to knock off the next eight wickets soon before rains come down on today’s final day. Ireland need a further 158 runs to make Sri Lanka bat again. The Irish have lost all five of their previous Tests and with a little bit of help from rain are in for a chance to draw the game here.
With the objective of enhancing the living conditions of the agricultural community and increasing the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP, ‘Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme’ is being implemented with the financial contribution form the government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation is
implementing the program in collaboration with the Regional Development Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. All recoveries from loans provided under the program shall be directed to a revolving fund titled the “Sustainable Agricultural Fund”, which shall be utilized exclusively for the provision of
agricultural loans. Using the said fund, it is proposed to implement an agricultural loan scheme titled the “Sustainable Agriculture Programme” for individuals and institutions engaged in agriculture and related activities.
It is expected that an amount of Rs. 800 million from the funds available in the Sustainable Agriculture Fund will be allocated for the implementation of the Sustainable Agriculture Program in the year 2026.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal made by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to implement the “Sustainable Agriculture Program” loan scheme through the Participatory Finance Institution as an annual program from the year 2026.
The BCCI has raised the match fees in women’s domestic cricket, from INR 20,000 to INR 50,000 per day, for those in the first XIs in senior competitions. The decision was taken at an Apex Council meeting on Monday in Mumbai.
Those in the reserves are entitled to half that amount (INR 25,000 per day). There has also been a revision at the age-group level, with players part of the first XIs set to earn INR 25,000 a day, and reserves earning INR 12,500.
Until now, the age-group players used to take home INR 10,000 a day if they were in the XI, while the reserves made INR 5000. This fee structure totalled to a little more than INR 2 lakh a season if they played all league fixtures, including the final. That figure will now be in the region of INR 5 lakh.
The changes are part of BCCI’s ongoing efforts to elevate the domestic game in the wake of India’s maiden ODI World Cup triumph, amid calls within the system to have a relook at match fees.
ESPNcricinfo understands that several top state coaches and players had requested such a change internally to help expand an existing talent pool that the WPL has helped amplify. The pay revision at the junior level stems from a growing interest in the game among younger women, with India emerging champions in back-to-back editions of the Under-19 World Cup.
In 2022, the BCCI had put the match fees of the women’s national team at par with that of men, meaning those playing a Test took home INR 15 lakh per match, while the corresponding amounts for an ODI and a T20I stood at INR 6 lakh and INR 3 lakh respectively.
There has, however, been no change in central contract figures, with those ranked in the highest grade taking home INR 50 lakh, which is less than the lowest pay slab for the men.
[Cricinfo]
Gede Priandana, Indonesia’s 28-year-old right-arm quick bowler, has become the first to pick up five wickets in an over in an international T20I match (where ball-by-ball data is available), achieving the feat in the first T20I against Cambodia in Bali on Tuesday. He is the first man or woman to achieve the feat.
Indonesia had the upper hand in the game, but Cambodia were not out of it yet at the end of the 15th over of the chase of 168, the scorecard reading 106 for 5. Bowling his first over, Priandana struck off the first three balls to record a hat-trick, sending back Shah Abrar Hussain, Nirmaljit Singh and Chanthoeun Rathanak. A dot ball followed, after which Priandana got rid of Mongdara Sok and Pel Vennak to finish off the match, Cambodia getting just one run in the over, a wide between the last two wickets, to end 60 runs short.
Priandana had earlier scored 6 in 11 balls opening the innings alongside Dharma Kesuma, the wicketkeeper-batter, who led the batting show for Indonesia with an unbeaten 110 in 68 balls with eight fours and six sixes.
The feat has, however, been achieved twice before in men’s T20s. Al Amin Hossain took five wickets in an over against Abahani Limited playing for UCB-BCB XI in the Victory Day T20 Cup in 2013-14. The other was when Karnataka’s Abhimanyu Mithun dismissed five Haryana batters in the semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20.
While this is the first time a bowler has taken five in an over in an international game, there have been 14 instances of a bowler taking four in an over before today. The most famous of these was when Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga famously took four in four balls in the third over of a T20Is against New Zealand in 2019.
[Cricinfo]
Implementation of the loan scheme, “Sustainable Agriculture Program”
Cabinet nod to implement ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme in the year 2025 / 26
Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
Match fees more than doubled for women’s domestic cricketers in India
National progress can be achieved only when everyone fulfills the responsibilities entrusted to them with steadfast determination, unity of purpose and resilience in the face of any challenge – President
Indonesia’s Gede Priandana becomes first to pick five wickets in an over in T20Is
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