Sports
Akalanka, Nilupul win Commonwealth Youth Games medals
By Reemus Fernando
Hurdler Ayomal Akalanka and high jumper Nilupul Thejana won the silver and bronze medals respectively of their pet events at the Commonwealth Youth Games as Sri Lanka’s track and field team beat heavy odds to complete yet another successful campaign overseas.
Track and field continued to be the country’s shining jewel in the crown of Olympic sports as the team fielded by Sri Lanka Athletics won two medals.
The Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Akalanka clocked 51.61 seconds to finish second behind Jamaican athlete DZA Wright in the 400 metres hurdles final at the multi sports event taking place in Trinidad and Tobago.
Vijitha Central, Dickwella athlete Thejana cleared a height of 2.00 metres to win the bronze medal of the high jump event. It was a huge victory for the track and field sports as the young athletes traveled without the team officials due to denial of visas.
Akalanka’s coach Anura Bandara was schedule to accompany the team as coach cum manager but the National Olympic Committee failed to obtain visas for the team to transit in Amsterdam. The athletes were later helped by Sri Lanka Athletics to obtain US visas. However the young athletes were left without a single official to accompany them after US authorities denied visas for the officials to transit.
Sri Lanka Athletics fielded a team of three boys and two girls for the event. Of them Shalani Hansika Munasighe, who was the other athlete from Ambagamuwa Central had to compete in her first event (long jump) within hours after landing in Trinidad and Tobago. She was placed fourth in the women’s 400 metres hurdles later.
D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo athlete Lesandu Arthavidu finished fourth with a feat of 1.95m metres in the high jump. At the end of the penultimate day of the event Sri Lanka’s two medals had placed the team in the 18th place level with India.
Silver medal winner Ayomal Akalanka with coach Anura Bandara.
Ganuka Fernando accomplished a rare feat reaching the final of the Nepal J30 ITF tournament in Pokohora. He became the first Sri Lankan male player in more than a decade to reach an overseas final at the tournament held in Nepal.
The St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya player finished as the runner up.
He is the first to reach an overseas ITF final after Sharmal Dissanayake accomplished the feat in 2013.
Sharmal has the credit of winning ITF tournaments in India and in Brunei. He also reached another final in India.
After nearly three months of competition, the 33rd Mercantile Services Basketball League concluded with Seylan Bank being crowned as undisputed champions. The defending champions showcased their dominance with an unbeaten record cruising past all their opponents.
Seylan Bank started off the campaign by beating Hatton National Bank in a three point thriller with the final score being 58-55. They overcame Commercial Credit 59-47 and had a big win over David Pieris Motor Company 73-59.
In the semi-final, Seylan Bank overcame Commercial Credit by 13 points while the final was a rematch against David Pieris Motor Company and won comfortably by Seylan.
Epciba Washington Clay of Seylan was named the Most Valuable Player.
The Seylan Bank side comprised; Kamalene Mills, Kunchana Wijesiriwardena, Kindu Jayaliya, Benika Thalagala, Epciba Washington Clay, Hansini Maleesha, Nihari Perera, Sanduni Bollegala, Maleka Rafaideen, Bethani Liyanage and Malavika Ariyaratne.
The Seylan Bank team was coached by Chathura Rodrigo.
New Zealand’s bowling spearhead Matt Henry (calf strain), seam-bowling allrounder Nathan Smith (side strain) and spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner (groin injury) have all been ruled out of the rest of the home Test series against West Indies.
Glenn Phillips, who joined the squad in Christchurch early as a substitute fielder, has officially been added to the Test squad for the remainder of the series, New Zealand Cricket confirmed. This after he proved his match fitness in the Plunket Shield before joining the squad for the first Test, and he could be in contention to be selected in the XI for the second Test.
In another bit of good news for New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell, who put in a long shift as a substitute fielder in the first Test, is set to be available for the second and slot back in as their middle-order mainstay.
Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell had already been sidelined from the second Test in Wellington after suffering a hamstring injury while batting on day one in Christchurch. Mitchell Hay has been added to the squad and could make his Test debut.
Also, a day after uncapped seamer Michael Rae was called up to the Test squad, Kristan Clarke, a seam-bowling allrounder from Northern Districts, was added to it. With Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke managing “return to play” protocols, New Zealand were left scrambling for last-minute replacements, with the Wellington Test set to begin on November 10.
Both Rae and Clarke were pulled out of the third round of the Plunket Shield. Clarke didn’t bowl for ND in the final innings against Otago in Hamilton, with rookie James Naylor stepping in as his replacement.
Clarke, 24, is uncapped in Test cricket, but was recently part of the ODI series against England as a replacement player after Henry had suffered a separate calf injury. He has now earned his maiden Test call-up as a like-for-like replacement for Smith.
“On the cricket field, I’m a bowling allrounder, you know, and I pride myself on trying to offer as much as I can in the game,” Clarke said in October after breaking into the ODI side. “I just want to be a good person around the group also and just offer as much as I can.”
Clarke has played 27 first-class games so far, taking 77 wickets at an average of 33 and scoring 893 runs at an average of 23.50. He was also part of a New Zealand A tour to Bangladesh during the winter. Though bowling is his primary skill, Kristian is also a capable batter and had notched up his maiden century in senior cricket, against Central Districts in the one-day Ford Trophy, in October.
Clarke hails from Te Awamutu, a small town in the Waikato region and played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup before rising up the ranks in New Zealand cricket. His brother Matti Clarke has also played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup.
“Yeah, so [I was] born and raised in Te Awamutu, [and I] still live in Te Awamutu, still at home,” Clarke said. “I hold Te Amuru very dear to my heart – it’s a cool little town and yeah, quiet little place. Just sort of grew up through the cricket system there and then yeah, sort of just went from there.”
While Blair Tickner, who was the reserve seamer at Hagley Oval, comes into the selection frame for Wellington, there might be a toss-up between Rae and Clarke for a potential Test debut at Basin Reserve.
The first Test was drawn after West Indies, faced with a 530-run deficit in the fourth innings, held on for 163.3 overs to pull off a draw, with Justin Greaves (202 not out) and Shai Hope (140) their main men with the bat
New Zealand squad for second Test vs West Indies :
Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner, Michael Rae, Kristian Clarke
[Cricinfo]
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