Sports
Bangladesh kickstart T20 leg with historic win
Three days after registering their maiden ODI win in New Zealand, Bangladesh once again made history in Napier, this time with their maiden T20I win on these shores.
Opting to bowl first on what Jimmy Neesham felt was a “naughty little wicket” at the halfway mark, Bangladesh restricted New Zealand to 134/9, thanks to five shared wickets between Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan, before chasing the target with eight balls and five wickets to spare.
It all started in the first over of the match. Mahedi Hasan got the new ball to spin and bowled Tim Seifert but what followed was even more dramatic. Shoriful Islam, the left-arm pacer, picked two wickets in the next over, first getting Finn Allen edging behind and then trapping Glenn Phillips lbw. Mahedi then returned to pick the wicket of Daryl Mitchell, skidding one past his edge to breach his defences, and it took some shot-making from Mark Chapman in the last over of PowerPlay to take NZ to 36/4 by the end of six overs.
Neesham and Santner put on 41 runs for the sixth wicket, the highest partnership of the innings, and had Bangladesh thinking for the first time in the innings. Tanzim Hasan Sakib, the debutant, came in for a bit of a stick and conceded 15 runs to the pair in the 14th over of the innings. It took Shoriful Islam to come back and break the stand as Santner mistimed a pull and was caught inches above the ground by Soumya Sarkar at mid-wicket.
Top-scorer Neesham (48 off 29) threatened to take New Zealand to a par score but right after he scored 6, 4 and a 6 off three consecutive deliveries spread across 16th and 17th overs, Mustafizur had him caught in the deep. The pacer then bowled the 19th over and conceded only 1 run, all but sealing New Zealand’s total below the par mark.
Bangladesh lost Rony Talukdar and Nazmul Hossain Shanto inside the PowerPlay but the nature of the target allowed Litton (42* off 36) to play with patience and prevent further damage. It helped that Soumya Sarkar walked in with an attacking intent at the other end, his 22 off 15 helping chip crucial runs off the target. Once he was bowled by Ben Sears, Towhid Hridoy and then Mahedi Hasan did the exact same thing as Bangladesh eased to the target.
Brief Scores:
New Zealand 134/9 in 20 overs (James Neesham 48, Mitchell Santner 23; Shoriful Islam 3-26, Mahedi Hasan 2-14, Mustafizur Rahman 2-15) lost to Bangladesh 137/5 in 18.4 overs (Litton Das 42*, Soumya Sarkar 22, Mahedi Hasan 19*; James Neesham 1-07) by 5 wickets
Colombo Kaps defended 197 runs to win the 12th match of the Lanka Premier League by restricting Dambulla Sixers to 176/8 at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Saturday [25] night.
SCORES:
Colombo Kaps 197/5 in 20 overs [Rubin Hermann 39, Sadeera Samarawickrema 16, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 12, Kamindu Mendis 88*, Ben McDermott 14, Janith Liyanage 17; Fazalhaq Farooki 1-41, Dushmantha Chameera 1-41, Ramesh Mendis 1-05, Gulabdin Naib 1-15]
Dambulla Sixers 176/8 in 20 overs [Pavan Rathnayake 50, Marques Ackerman 40, Gulabdin Naib 28, Maheesh Thhekshana 13; Shahnawaz Dahani 2-20, Wanuja Sahan 1-34, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-33, Malsha Tharupathi 1-26, Milan Rathnayake 1-26]
Kandy Royals’ bowlers led by Nuwan Thushara were able to defend their score of 165 to win the 11th match of the Lanka Premier League by defeating Galle Gallants by 11 runs at Dambulla on Saturday.
SCORES:
Kandy Royals 165/6 in 20 overs [Lahiru Udara 16, Dale Phillips 34, Wanidu Hasaranga 16, Moeen Ali 41, Angelo Mathews 28, Vijay Shankar 15; Pramod Madushan 2-41, Akif Javed 2-26, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 2-36]
Galle Gallants 154/8 in 20 overs [Sam Harper 14, Charith Asalanka 14, Chamika Karunarathne 52, Dasun Shanaka 57*; Nuwan Thushara 3-33, Asitha Fernando 2-33, Moeen Ali 1-11, Wanidu Hasaranga 1-26]
Innovative Production Group (IPG), the tournament rights holder of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), in consultation with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), has terminated the franchise agreement with Sports Commune, which was granted franchise rights of the Jaffna Kings.
The termination follows the franchisee’s inability to fulfil its financial obligations under the terms of the franchise agreement. As a result, all rights relating to the Jaffna Kings franchise have reverted to IPG, which, together with Sri Lanka Cricket, has assumed full operational control of the team.
IPG confirms that the 6th edition of the LPL will proceed as scheduled and Jaffna Kings will continue to participate in the tournament under the same nomenclature, with no changes to the squad, tournament format, or match schedule.
To ensure the uninterrupted operation of the franchise, IPG and Sri Lanka Cricket have taken complete responsibility for all player, coaching staff, and support staff contracts. The organizers also confirm that all logistical arrangements for the team have been secured, ensuring the squad is intact for the tournament.
Furthermore, approximately 90% of all player and staff payments have already been completed, with the remaining payments to be settled in accordance with contractual commitments.
IPG and Sri Lanka Cricket remain committed to delivering a successful sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League while upholding the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and transparency for players, teams, commercial partners, and fans.
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