Sports
Can Royal make the unthinkable happen at the Bradby Shield decider?
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Royal College will walk onto the field in Colombo on Saturday with a load on their shoulders when they take on arch-rivals Trinity at the Second Leg of the Bradby Shield annual rugby encounter.
A fact that would really give the host team something to munch on and find strength for Saturday is the thought that Trinity too would be jittery because the lads from the Central Hills did not build enough of a cushion despite winning the first game up in the cool climes of Pallakele. A 13-10 win means Trinity will start the second leg with a thin three-point lead which can be reduced or overtaken in a matter of minutes when the two teams battle for honours in Colombo.
Royal College has proved to be the better side this season and on paper, they are the favourites; given the match is played on a ‘turf’ well-known to them. They would throw everything behind their efforts to take the Shield to their trophy cupboard. Royal are led by second-row forward Randul Senanayake while Trinity are captained by back-division utility player Atab Manzil.
As for the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) this game is only of traditional interest to these two schools because the school rugby authorities took note only of the first leg result of this encounter to feed the points table of the on-going inter-school league rugby tournament. From these two teams, only Royal qualified for the Super round of the inter-school under 19 ‘Fifteen-a-Side’ league tournament along with Isipatana, St. Anthony’s and St. Peter’s.
The teams:
Trinity College rugby pool:
S. Alexander, D. Watagoda, M. Silva, J. Basnayake, V. Kumarage, N. Kumarasinghe, H. Samaraweera, C. Dhanapala, M. Raizan, Atab Manzil (Captain ), H. Faizal, R. Wanasinghe, Anuhas Kodithuwakku, S. Satheeskumar, Shan Althaf, J. Samarakoon, T. Dissanayake, J. Peter, R. Bandaranayake, R. Ilangarathne, Y. Ariyawansha, I. Munasinghe, M. Usman.
Royal College rugby pool:
T. Gamage, I. Azeer, H. Hussein, B. Malalagama,Y. Rajasinghe, Randul Senanayake (Captain), Y. Senewirathne, T. Hassen, Simak Shafeek, Thivain Perera, C. Senewirathne, P. Samarakoon, Philio Calyanarathne, Disas Pathirana, Nabel Yahiya, A. Akram, R.John, Y. Weerasuriya, Y. Ethugala, C. Samarasinghe, H. Hussein, N. Mohammed, D. Gamanayake.
On Tuesday, a day before the ICC is expected to take a final call on Bangladesh’s participation at the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, the PCB wrote to the governing body stating that it supports the BCB’s stance on not wanting to play in India at a time of political turmoil in the neighbourhood. ESPNcricinfo has learned that that PCB also copied the members of the ICC Board in it.
It is understood that the ICC has called a Board meeting on Wednesday to address the matter of the BCB asking for Bangladesh’s matches to be shifted to Sri Lanka because of security concerns in India. It could not be ascertained if the PCB’s email led to the Board meeting being called.
The timing of the PCB email could raise eyebrows, but it is understood that it will not impact the ICC’s stance so far, of not changing the World Cup schedule and allowing Bangladesh to play in Sri Lanka, co-hosts of the tournament with India. The ICC has been firm on this and has conveyed the same to the BCB during its interactions last week.
The BCB, with the Bangladesh government’s support, has refused to travel to India for the team’s group-stage games.
The ICC and the BCB have met several times to discuss the issue, most recently in Dhaka last weekend. But neither side has shifted their stances – the ICC insisting matches must go ahead as planned and the BCB that it cannot send its team to India. January 21 – Wednesday – had been set as a deadline for a decision, less than three weeks before the start of the tournament.
The PCB’s late involvement in the matter comes on the back of a week of speculation around their possible ways out of the impasse. There were unverified reports that the PCB had offered to stage Bangladesh’s games in Pakistan and, more dramatically, that the PCB was reviewing Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup, contingent on what happens with Bangladesh.
The PCB has not commented publicly on the matter, or responded to ESPNcricinfo’s queries.
The stand-off began when the BCCI instructed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to remove Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for IPL 2026. The reasons for that have never been fully explained, though a worsening of political ties between Bangladesh and India has been cited. That prompted the Bangladesh government to formally state that the Bangladesh team would not play its matches in India.
The situation has spiralled since then, even leading to a player boycott in Bangladesh, which affected the ongoing BPL, after a senior BCB official spoke disparagingly of the country’s premier players when asked about the financial implications for the BCB if Bangladesh ended up staying away from the T20 World Cup altogether
(Cricinfo)
Rain in Bulawayo allowed just ten overs of action between Bangladesh and New Zealand .
The match began an hour later than scheduled, and as a 47-over contest after Bangladesh opted to bowl. Iqbal Hossain Emon cleaned Hugo Bogue up for 8 in the second over, but just as Aryan Mann and Tom Jones steadied New Zealand, rain returned, only for no play to be possible after that.
It was New Zealand’s second washed-out game in a row, and they will hope to beat India in their final group game so that they don’t have to depend on the result of the Bangladesh-USA match to progress to the Super Sixes.
No result: New Zealand 51 for 1 vs Bangladesh
The first over of the 202 chase set the tone for what followed as Australia cruised past Japan at the Under19 World Cup in Windhoek. Will Malajczuk smashed Nikhil Pol for 14 runs, and never looked back, racing to a 23-ball fifty and a 51-ball hundred as Australia chased down the target with eight wickets and nearly 20 overs to spare to seal a Super Sixes berth.
By the time Japan finally got rid of Malajczuk, he had thumped 102 off 55 balls, with 12 fours and five sixes. He brought up his half-century midway through the sixth over, by which point Australia were already 66 for 0, with Malajczuk contributing 57 of those runs off 26 balls. At the other end, his opening partner Nitesh Samuel scored 7 from ten deliveries.
The pair added 135 for the first wicket, with Malajczuk doing the bulk of the damage as Samuel settled into a calmer role. While Malajczuk fell shortly after reaching his hundred, Samuel carried on to bring up his fifty off 62 balls in the 25th over and finished unbeaten on 60. He had scored an unbeaten 77 against Ireland in Australia’s opening game of the tournament.
Earlier, Japan were content to take their time after opting to bat. HUGO Tani Kelly was once again their standout, following up his 101 not out against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 79. Japan, however, slipped from a position of stability to lose four wickets for 13 runs in a middle-order collapse, during which legspinner Naden Cooray struck three times.
Tani-Kelly added 72 for the seventh wicket with Montgomery Hara-Hinze before Japan eventually finished on 201, although 30 extras from Australia played its part. The target hardly bothered Australia, whose win makes both teams’ next group game a dead rubber.
Brief scores:
Australia Under 19s 204 for 2 in 29.1 overs (Will Malajczuk 102, Nitesh Samuel 60*; Nihar Parmar 1-35) beat Japan Under 19s 201 for 8 in 50 overs (Hugo Tani-Kelly 79*; Naden Cooray 3-31, Will Byrom 2-32) by eight wickets
(Cricinfo)
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