Sports
Mahinda record nine wickets win
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle registered nine wickets win over St. Anthony’s College, Wattala as Tharusha Dilshan scored an unbeaten 70 for them to reach a target of 136 runs in 18 overs in the Under 19 Division I Tier B cricket encounter at Wattala on Friday.
Mahinda made a crucial declaration when they were just eight runs ahead of the home team and restricted St. Anthony’s to 143 runs in the second innings. This time Kaveen Rukshan was the pick of the bowlers taking six wickets. Senuka Dangamuwa picked up two wickets to end up with a match bag of nine wickets.
In the other matches, a third wicket stand of 188 runs between Onajith de Silva and Lakvin Abeysinghe – both scored centuries – was the batting highlight of the day as their heroics helped Dharmaraja post 286 runs against St. Sylvester’s at Lake View.
Match Results and Scores
Mahinda in nine wickets win over
St. Anthony’s at Wattala
Scores
St. Anthony’s 137 all out in 60.2 overs (Ravindu Jayasanka 49n.o.; Arosha Udayanga 2/27, Senuka Dangamuwa 7/49) and 143 all out in 54.3 overs (Amitha Sandeepa 37, Kavindu Senadi 21n.o.; Senuka Dangamuwa 2/38, Kaveen Rukshan 6/46, Tharusha Dilshan 2/18)
Mahinda 86 for 4 overnight 145 for 9 decl. in 59 overs (Pramesh Madubashana 38, Hareen Achintha 26; Madura Bashitha 2/44, Amitha Sandeepa 4/28, Kavindu Senadi 2/31) and 138 for 1 in 17.3 overs (Tharusha Dilshan 70n.o., Pramesh Madubashana 36, Senuka Dangamuwa 31n.o.)
Petes earn first innings points at Bambalapitiya
Scores
St. Peter’s 157 all out in 54.2 overs (Oween Salgado 31, Shennon Rodrigo 50; Hirusha Gimhan 4/57, Sanuka Cheran 3/19) and 241 for 8 in 60 overs (Asadisa de Silva 62, Nathan David 24, Shennon Rodrigo 63, Joshua Sebastian 22, Sachin Perera 21; Akash Dewmina 3/69)
Holy Cross 77 for 2 overnight 124 all out 79.3 overs (Sanuka Cheran 23, Anuhas Seeman 30, Sonal Awadika 24; Himaru Deshan 22; Ishira Ayupala 3/20, Shennon Rodrigo 2/36, Rithil Suraweera 4/32)
DSS take first innings advantage
at DSS ground
Scores:
St. Anthony’s 123 all out in 37.2 overs (Janith Rathnasiri 38, Charuka Akanayaka 21; Kaveesha Piyumal 22; Dilash Kumaranayaka 3/08, Randisha Bandaranayaka 3/21, Randula Peiris 3/16) and 10 for no loss in 2 overs
DSS 141 all out in 45.1 overs (Pesandu Weerasinghe 20, Chenul Pinsara 21; Dilash Kumaranayake 23; Bimash Vidudaya 3/32, Kaveesha Piyumal 2/40, Dinura Ganegoda 2/13)
St. Thomas’ 264, St. Anne’s 111/3
at Ambepussa
Scores
St. Thomas’ Matara 264 all out in 64.2 overs (Abdul Maajid 24, Pesandu Sanjana 85, Jimuth Iddamalgoda 50, Kumesh Nawanjana 36, Loshitha Diksith 33; Bazeer Shakeel 2/32, Geethika de Silva 2/30, Shehan Kumara 5/62)
St. Anne’s 111 for 3 in 33 overs (Janajith Weeramuni 20no., Niduwara Dissanayake 30n.o.; Bhanuka Insamal 2/48)
Cambrians looking for first innings
points at Moratuwa
Scores:
Royal 147 all out in 40.1 overs (Ovina Ambanpola 20, Yasindu Dissanayake 24, Ramiru Perera 23, Dunura Senaratne 21, Bulan Weeratunga 44; Rasindu Fernando 3/23, Naveen Fernando 2/18, Suwas Ranaweera 3/07)
Prince of Wales 133 for 5 in 44 overs (Rivith Jayasooriya 30, Sachira Demein 20, Oshana Maneesha 29n.o., Naveen Fernando 31n.o.; Dinura Senaratne 2/12, Basitha Bandara 2/14)
Onajith and Lakvin in bug stand
at Lake View
Scores
Dharmaraja 286 all out in 83.2 overs (Onajith de Silva 102, Lakvin Abeysinghe 105; Arusha Jayasinghe 4/76, Nimesha Silva 5/70)
St.Sylvester’s 7 for 1 in 8 overs
Devapathiraja 200, St. Sebastian’s
101/6 at Ambalangoda
Scores:
Devapathiraja 200 all out in 59.4 overs (Chamindu Padmika 21, Dharshaka Sandeepa 52, Puljith Wathsuka 26, Gimhan Rasanjana 23, Pathum Shaminda 20; Vihanga Theekshana 2/20, Maheesha Sithum 2/35, Nishal Rashmika 2/14, Nimna Fernando 4/27)
St. Sebastian’s 101 for 6 in 38 overs (Hasith Kavinda 20, Maheesga Sithum 38n.o., Vihanga Theekshana 22; Pathum Shaminda 2/25)
B Sai Sudarshan and Prasidh Krishna once again stood up for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Ahmedabad. This was GT’s fourth successive win in IPL 2025 and it took them to the top of the points table.
After RR opted to bowl on a red-soil pitch, Sai Sudharsan’s 82 off 53 balls, his third half-century of the season, steered GT to 217 for 6. With no dew in the second innings, it proved way too steep for RR to chase down. Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan struck in the powerplay before Prasidh picked up 3 for 24 in the middle overs to keep RR on the back foot. Despite Shimron Hetmyer’s fighting fifty, RR were all out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Joffra Archer didn’t have a great start to IPL 2025. In his first two games, he conceded 109 from 6.3 wicketless overs. But he boucned back in his next two with a combined 4 for 38 from seven overs. He breathed fire tonight as well. In his first over, he rushed Sai Sudharsan with a 152.3kph bouncer. In his second, he got one to move in at 147.7kph and pegged back Shubman Gill’s off stump. His match-up against Gill in T20 cricket now reads: 15 balls, ten runs, three dismissals.
For his former captain Jos Buttler, Archer had two slips, a short leg and a catching square leg, and welcomed him with a menacing bouncer that Buttler did well to evade. Buttler inside-edged the next ball just wide of short leg, and then pushed Archer through the covers for four.
Sai Sudharsan generally takes time to get going. Here, he attacked right from the start. He ramped, scooped, drove and cut, and took his side to 50 in 5.1 overs. By the end of the powerplay, he had 39 against his name, off 22 balls. Only Wriddhiman Saha (54 vs Lucknow Super Giants in 2023) has scored more runs in an innings for GT in that phase.
Buttler was on 12 off 13 at one point but hit four fours in his next six balls to move to 31 off 19. He and Sai Sudharsan added 80 off 46 balls before Maheesh Theekshana trapped Buttler lbw. After a brief dip in the scoring rate, M Shahrukh Khan opened up and smashed 36 off 20 to re-inject momentum.
Sudharsan was dropped on 81 by Shubham Dubey off Archer in the 18th over, but he only added one more to his tally. Then Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ransacked 30 in the last two overs to take GT past 200.
RR did not have a great start. Yashasvi Jaiswal slashed Arshad to deep third in the second over of the chase and Nitish Rana did the same against Siraj in the next. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag counterattacked and added 48 off 26 balls for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya had Parag caught behind in the seventh over. Parag immediately reviewed the decision, confident that his bat had only hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, with Ultra Edge also bringing up a second spike when the ball passed the bat.
Coming into this game, Rashid had picked up just one wicket in four outings. Tonight, he struck in his first over. It was a shortish ball that didn’t bounce as much as Dhruv Jurel expected, and Sai Sudharsan at deep midwicket gobbled up the mistimed pull.
Rashid enjoys a favourable match-up against Hetmyer, having dismissed him six times in 63 balls for 79 runs before this game. He almost had Hetmyer lbw for a first-ball duck but the ball had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. From there on, Hetmyer dominated Rashid and hit him for 26 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. However, Rashid was too good for RR’s Impact Sub Shubham Dubey and had him lbw for 1.
In his final over, the 16th over of the innings, Prasidh had Archer caught at mid-off and Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg, both off short balls. With RR 145 for 8 after 16 overs, the result was sealed. They dragged their innings into the final over but that did little to reduce the margin of their defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 217 for 6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Jos Buttler 36, M Shahrukh Khan 36, Rahul Tewatia 24*, Rashid Khan 12; Joffra Archer 1-30, Tushar Deshpande 2-53, Sandeep Sharma 1-41, Maheesh Theekshana 2-54) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 (Shimron Hetmyer 52, Sanju Samson 41, Riyan Parag 26; Mohammed Siraj 1-30, Arshad Khan 1-19, Prasidh Krishna 3-24, Kulwant Khejroliya 1-29, Sai Kishore 2-20, Rashid Khan 2-37) by 58 runs
[Cricinfo]
Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Tournament
Speedster Manasa Madubashana celebrated his 19th birthday sharing four wickets each with spinner Yenula Dewthusa as St.Joseph’s sealed a comfortable 71 runs victory over Trinity in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs tournament final at Surrey Village ground on Wednesday.
Chasing 205 runs to win Trinity’s top order batsmen were rattled by Madubashana who took four wickets in a decisive seven over spell. He took wickets in consecutive balls in his second over to trigger a collapse from which Trinity never recovered.
The four wicket hauls by Madubashana and Dewthusa restricted Trinity to 133 runs. In their chase, Trinity lost wickets at reguler intervals and a laboured 48 runs from Sweath Anurajeewa only managed to delay the outcome till the 48th over. His innings came to an end when Madubashana held on to a regulation catch off the bowling of Aveesha Samash.
Earlier put to bat, St. Joseph’s too lost wickets at reguler intervals, but mini partnerships between Abishek Jayaweera and Senuja Wakunegoda (52 for the second wicket), and Jayaweera and Nimthaka Gunewardena (45 for the 3rd wicket) enabled them to stay aloft.
Gunawardena top scored with 47 runs, while skipper Kenath Liyanage played a vital role anchoring the tail with an unbeaten 29 runs.
The title victory capped a remarkable end to the Joes limited overs tournament campaign after having reached the knockout stage with only two victories under their belt.
by Reemus Fernando
Schools Relay Carnival commenced at Diyagama on Wednesday. Here are some pictures from day one of the three-day championship.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
Lyceum International Wattala were the winners of the Under 20 distance medley
relay. (From left) Himansi Pradeepani, Shalomi Rashni, Rashini Karunarathne
and Jithma Wijethunga.
.Under 20 boys medley relay winners, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena. (From
left) Andrew Akash, Kalana Jayamanna, Kavindu Jayamanna and Denuth Nimesh.
Under 12 boys’ 4x100m relay winners, Maris Stella College. Negombo (From left) Tanujitha Weerasekara, Senith Ranasinghe, Milan Fernando and Denuth Thenujan.
Girls’ Under 12 4×50 metres relay winners, St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo. (From left) Jenuli Perera, Sanah Fernando, Glesha Nanayakkara and Dehara Alwis.
Woman jailed over £39 donation to Ukraine freed in US-Russia prisoner swap
Enforcing the law against bribery and corruption is not an act of political revenge but a profound human responsibility – President
Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
-
Business4 days agoColombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
Business6 days agoDaraz Sri Lanka ushers in the New Year with 4.4 Avurudu Wasi Pro Max – Sri Lanka’s biggest online Avurudu sale
-
Features5 days agoStarlink in the Global South
-
Business7 days agoStrengthening SDG integration into provincial planning and development process
-
Business6 days agoNew SL Sovereign Bonds win foreign investor confidence
-
Features2 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part III
-
Features5 days agoModi’s Sri Lanka Sojourn
-
Midweek Review2 days agoInequality is killing the Middle Class