Sports
Rauf takes five as Afghanistan fold for 59
Fast bowlers having batters hopping and swaying away is the perfect fire to the ice that is spinners having batters in a tangle. In Hambantota on Tuesday, the joy of watching bowlers do their thing reached a perfect crescendo, with Pakistan bundling out Afghanistan for 59 to secure a big win.
First, the spin trio of Afghanistan – Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi – spun Pakistan out for 201. Then, Pakistan’s pace treble of Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah put in a fiery display to skittle Afghanistan out for their second lowest ODI total, to win the first ODI by 142 runs.
Rauf picked up five wickets for 18, his best effort in ODIs, after Afridi and Naseem started the Afghan downfall. Afridi began by bouncing Ibrahim Zadran out in his second over before having Rahmat Shah flick a full toss to short midwicket off his next ball. Naseem, who had Gurbaz in a leash with his high pace and movement, dismissed Hashmatullah Shahidi off a bouncer. It got big on Shahidi, who went for the pull and almost cleared forward square leg. But Shadab Khan jumped towards his left and lobbed the ball up, before catching it in a single motion while landing down to dismiss the Afghanistan captain.
With three of the top four batters out for a duck, there was not much to write home about of the rest of the Afghanistan batting show either. Rauf began his spell with a nip-backer that Ikram Alikhil, playing an ODI for the first time since November 2019, inside-edged to the wicketkeeper. Gurbaz was never comfortable throughout his stay and feathered an outside edge to the wicketkeeper for 18, the top score of the innings.
Azmatullah Omarzai attacked his way to 16 off 12 with three fours before retiring hurt, even as Rauf ran through the middle order and finished with a five-for after Mujeeb miscued one to mid-on.
Earlier, on a hot afternoon, Babar Azam won the toss and Pakistan opted to bat on a dry surface but were reduced to 7 for 2 in two overs. Left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi troubled Fakhar Zaman with swing before nicking him off to slip. He slipped in an inswinging yorker on the second ball before getting one to move away, which Fakhar couldn’t resist poking. Mujeeb, opening the bowling, slipped one full in line of the stumps that skid on, beating Babar’s defence to trap him lbw for a three-ball blob.
Mohammad Rizwan, back at No. 4 after batting at No. 5 in the previous series against New Zealand, looked to be positive from the get-go. He stroked Farooqi for two fours in the fifth over. First, he lofted a full ball aerially through the gap at extra cover before caressing one through the same region a ball later. Rizwan hit two more fours off Farooqi’s next over to get Pakistan’s run-rate up.
But Mujeeb, in his fourth over, trapped Rizwan lbw to set Pakistan back. He tossed up a carrom ball around leg that Rizwan missed in his attempted defence to the on side to be hit on the back leg. Replays showed it would have clipped the bails. Agha Salman, coming off a successful series against New Zealand at home in May, was stuck before being flummoxed by a googly from Rashid as Pakistan stumbled to 62 for 4.
All the while, Imam-ul-Haq steadily carried on, punishing the bad balls from Farooqi but more importantly, playing Mujeeb, Rashid as well as Nabi’s spin off the back foot. His half-century was a proper graft, in that it included just the two fours. He ran well between the stumps even as wickets fell around him.
But in a bid to up the ante against Nabi, he top-edged one after coming down the track. However, Shahidi couldn’t hang on after running back from cover. Imam got another life when a lofted drive to deep cover was shelled by Omarzai before a miscued pull fell just short of long-on running in. However, Imam’s luck ran out when he looked to hit Nabi over mid-on, miscuing a shot to Rashid, who took a tumbling catch after backpedalling.
Through his stay in the middle, Imam found an able ally first in Iftikhar Ahmed, with whom he added 50 off 69 for the fifth wicket, and then in Shadab for a 40-run partnership.
Iftikhar helped lead Pakistan’s recovery by using the crease against spin and knocking them down for singles and doubles. He did not let short and wide deliveries go unpunished, using the cut shot for each of his two fours. But an offspinning delivery from Nabi, that held up in the surface, saw him chip a catch to short midwicket.
On the other hand, Shadab, playing just his fourth ODI in 2023, picked Rashid’s googly early and smacked him over his head. He added a further 34 with Naseem for the ninth wicket before a direct hit from Mujeeb from fine leg saw him run-out at the bowler’s end.
Afghanistan managed to bowl out Pakistan for the first time in ODIs, but a meek batting surrender meant their wait for a maiden win against their opponents in the format continues.
91st Battle of the Saints
St. Joseph’s hold the edge when they meet arch rivals St. Peter’s in the 91st Battle of the Saints’ big match starting today. After having beaten Petes by nine wickets in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ quarter-final at Polonnaruwa the Joes arive at the SSC ground to prove that the victory registered two months ago was not a fluke.
St. Joseph’s captained by wicketkeeper batsman Kenath Liyanage are concluding a successful season after having remained unbeaten until they were eliminated in the semi-final by St. Sebastian’s .
A strong batting lineup and a dynamic spin department are making them a formidable outfit.
Experienced campaigner Yenula Dewthusa and Demion de Silva with their left-arm spin and Aveesha Samash and Nushan Perera with off spin provide the Joes variety in the spin department. Dewthusa, Demion de Silva and Nushan Perera are their leading wicket takers. Spinners doing well at schools matches have not been effective at the SSC during the last few big matches. It will be interesting to watch as to how the spinners in these two teams would fare during the three days.
For pace the Joes will look to Maanasa Madubashana and Dunick Perera who are expected to share the new ball.
Abishek Jayaweera and Aveesha Samash will open batting, while Senuja Wakunugoda, skipper Liyanage, Dewthusa and Rishma Amarasinghe form the rest of the top order batting lineup.
St. Joseph’s registered three outright victories this season (beat St. Servatius’, St. Benedict’s and St. Peter’s) and remained unbeaten.
St. Peter’s under Oween Salgado’s captaincy did well to reach the business end of the Tier ‘A’ tournament. But the Petes were uncertain of Salgado’s participation in the big match as they were yet to assess his fitness yesterday morning. He was wounded during a match and the stitched wound had not fully healed according to team sources.
Petes beat Gurukula, St. Aloysius’ and Holy Cross this season. Their only defeat was at the hands of their arch rivals. They will look forward to avenge the defeat at the big match.
The Petes will rely on the likes of Dilana Damsara, Thareen Sanketh, Nathan David and Jason Fernando to take a greater share of batting responsibilities. The middle order batsman Sanketh is their leading batsman and has maintained an average of over 50 runs.
Speedsters Ethan Ransilige and Joshua Sebastian will share new ball duties for the Petes.
Lashmika Perera and Sanketh will share most of the slow ball duties.
St Peter’s are in the possession of the coveted Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc Trophy having last won the big match under the captaincy of Vinu Mohotty in 2016.
St. Joseph’s lead the series tally 12-10. They last won under Ruwantha Fernandopulle’s captaincy in 2008.
St. Peter’s College Team
(Seated from left) Harsha Prabath Perera (Asst. Physio/Trainer & Massuer), Thushara Maduhanka (1st XI Asst. Coach),
Nalin Wijesinghe (Head Coach), Priyadarshana Cooray (MIC – Senior & Junior), Oween Salgado (Captain), Rev. Fr.
Rohitha Rodrigo (Rector), Rev. Fr. Praveen Wijesekara (Priest in Charge – Cricket), Lashmika Perera
(Vice Captain), Dilana Damsara, Rohan Fernando (MIC – 2nd XI), Dinuka D. Godakanda (2nd XI Coach).
(Standing 1st row from left) Dinsara Rathnaweera, Dineth de Silva, Tharin Senvidu, Nathan David, Hiruka Silva, Thareen
Sanketh, Virul Amarapala, Yatheendra Jayaweera, Salith Gallage, Raphael Hettige. (Standing 2nd row from left) Jason Fernando,
Joshua Sebastian, Savi Fernnado, Ethan Ransilige, Asadisa De Silva, Sadeesha Kariyawasam, Enosh Peterson
by Reemus Fernando
120th Lovers’ Quarrel
The stakeholders of the Lovers’ Quarrel Big Match were still pursuing to make the historic 120th edition a reality on the eve of the match after Richmond authorities threatened to pull out citing that Mahinda had violated an accepted norm by included a newly recruited player in the big match team.
The historic edition was scheduled to commence as a three day encounter at the Galle International Stadium today. But the match remained doubtful at the time this edition went to press. The officials of both teams were unavailable for comments on the eve of the match. According to sources close to the two teams the joint big match committee was scheduled to meet in the evening yesterday to take a final decision regarding the match.
Richmond threatened to pull out after Mahinda included Charya Paranavithana in their big match team. Paranavithana captained St. Aloysius’ this season. He is not eligible to play matches that come under the purview of Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association as he is yet to be registered as a Mahinda player. Big Matches are not played according to SLSCA rules but Richmond authorities had raised concerns over the player registration citing that the two schools had honoured the norm even at the big match.
According to sources Richmond were threatening to pull out if Paranavithana’s name was included in the playing XI on the match day morning.
Mahinda concluded a highly successful season as the team captained by Kaveen Rukshan earned the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ promotion this year. They were also the joint champions of the Tier ‘B’ tournament with Thurstan. In contrast former Division I champions Richmond had to fight relegation scares. The team captained by Thamindu Pradeeptha later successfully retained their Tier A position by recording an outright victory.
Mahinda College Team
Seated left to right: T.D. Ajantha Kumara (Head Coach), Y. Nishantha Kumara (Master in Charge – Senior), L. P. Weeraman (Deputy Principal –
Sports), Kaveen Rukshan (Captain), Mr. Janaka Peduruheva (Principal), Arosha Udayanga (Vice Captain), Mr. M.W. Ajith (Prefect of Games), Mr.
Jagath Samarakoon (Master in charge – Junior), Mr. Sachith Lakmal (Asst. Coach)
Standing (Middle row) – left to right – Dineth Pahasara, Thiyon Helika, Vinupa Nethmira, Sahanjith Irugalbandara, Dulisth Darshana, Senuka
Dangamuwa, Sadew Nethmina, Manitha Rajapaksha, Vishmitha Sathsara, Charya Paranavithana, Randula Mabarana
Standing (Back row) – left to right – Sajeew Punsara, Sehas Ashinsa, Kaveesha Githmal, Thevindu Rashmika
by Reemus Fernando
CR & FC huffed and puffed before beating Havelocks Sports Club 25-24 in a keenly contested Clifford Cup semi final game worked off in Colombo yesterday before booking their berth in Sunday’s rugby final, scheduled to take place in Kandy.
In Sunday’s final, CR will meet Kandy SC, the winner of the first semi final.
CR dominated the first half, but Havies came from behind in the second half to be in contention of pulling the game off till the last minute. Havelocks’ chances were boosted with two powerful tries coming from Chathura Dilshan late in the second half. But unpardonable mistakes by the men in the pink and chocolate jerseys helped CR to slip away with the game. Havelocks gave away two yellow cards during extra time in the second half.
The winners collected their points through three tries, two conversions and two penalties while Havelocks responded with three converted tries and a penalty. The winners led 15-10 at half time. Referee Raveen Alexander controlled the game.
By A Special Sports Correspondent
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