Sports
Jaffna at the mercy of others in LPL
Nothing has gone right for Jaffna Kings this season in the Lanka Premier League despite their big purse and some of the finest cricketing talents in the world. In their last league game yesterday at RPS, Jaffna had to win against Galle Titans to stay out of elimination, but it turned out to be an anti-climax.
Jaffna Kings put out probably their worst performance ever since the franchise was formed as they were shot out for 89 and then Galle Titans knocked off the target inside 14 overs with seven wickets in hand.
The heavy loss meant that Jaffna’s Net Run Rate took a severe beating falling down to -0.17.
Currently, Jaffna, Galle and Colombo are all locked on six points each while B-Love Kandy and Dambulla Aura are through to the semis. The problem for Jaffna is that they have got no games left to secure two more points or to make amends to their Net Run Rate. Literally, Jaffna’s fate is now not in their hands.
Colombo Striker’s have got two games left and even a defeat to B Love Kandy in today’s game doesn’t rule them out of the equation.
Tuesday’s game between Galle and Colombo will decide who will go through to the semis and both teams could still make it at the expense of Jaffna. Literally, Little Jonny has a better chance of winning the next General Elections from Kurunegala than Jaffna making it to the semis.
It was Kasun Rajitha, who created havoc yesterday claiming the wickets of four top order batters including Jaffna’s international stars – Rahmanullah Gurbaz, David Miller and Shoaib Malik – all for single figure scores.
Lahiru Kumara returning from injury was equally deadly accounting for two wickets while Tabraiz Shamzi also picked up two wickets.
There was no trouble for Galle Titans during the run chase as Kiwi Tim Seifert smashed a 42-ball 55 to seal the deal to keep their chances of going through to the next stage alive.
Jaffna will be kicking themselves for they have got so much depth in their squad with many experienced and talented campaigners and this was the last thing they would have experienced.
Brief Scores:
Jaffna Kings 89 all out (20)
(Dunith Wellalage 22, Kasun Rajitha 4-20, Lahiru Kumara 2-13, Tabraiz Shamsi 2-19)
Galle Titans 90-3 (13.3) (Tim Seifert 55)
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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