Sports
Mahanama, Gurukula record big victories
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahanama, Colombo, Gurukula, Kelaniya and St. Sylvester’s, Kandy scored notable outright victories in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ and ‘B’ tournament matches while St. Anthony’s Katugastota and St. Joseph Vaz’s Colleges fought back to force draws to their encounters.
For Mahanama, Inuka Karannagoda bagged seven wickets including a five wicket haul in the second innings to lead Mahanama to innings and two runs victory. He was also the top scorer for Mahanama (79). It was Mahanama’s fourth outright victory.
At Uyanwatta, Thathsara Eshan and Poorna Kalhara shared bowling honours for Gurukula to beat St. Servatius’ by innings and 114 runs.
At Darley Road, St. Anthony’s in their second innings were five wickets down for 79 runs at one stage with a deficit still to be covered but Thisara Ekanayake dropped anchor with an unbeaten century and put on an unfinished stand of 139 runs with Induwara Galapitage to force a draw to the tournament match.
In a traditional match, Lumbini registered an outright victory against President’s.
Match Scores and Results
Mahanama beat Maris Stella by innings and two runs
at Kirimandala Mawatha
Scores:
Maris Stella
137 all out in 48.1 overs (Levin Fernando 32, Hasidu Perera 25, Ramith Bandara 24; Chamika Heenatigala 4/28, Inuka Karannagoda 2/25) and 108 all out in 27.4 overs (Inuka Karannagoda 5/38, Rashmika Perera 3/29)
Mahanama
193 for 6 overnight 247 all out in 62.5 overs (Dulnith Sigera 65, Inuka Karannagoda 79, Eshan Withanage 30, Rashmika Perera 27, Koojana Perera 22; Nilesh Perera 3/53)
Gurukula in innings and 114 runs win at Uyanwatta
Scores:
St. Servatius’
132 all out in 26.3 overs (Risinu Kithmuka 52; Thathsara Eshan 5/23, Poorna Kalhara 3/27) and 111 for 9 in 43.4 overs (Viran Chamuditha 29; Thathsara Eshan 4/40, Poorna Kalhara 5/55)
Gurukula
302 for 6 overnight 357 for 9 decl. in 80.2 overs (Poorna Kalhara 33, Mohomed Mursad 62, Denura Dimansith 80, Thathsara Eshan 61, Janith Mihiranga 48n.o.; Viran Chamuditha 6/113)
Lumbini in innings win at Colts Ground
Scores:
President’s
84 all out in 37.4 overs (Daham Usindu 23; Shahan Kaushalya 5/20) and 126 all out in 44.5 overs (Isara Kanchana 46; Praveen Maneesha 5/52)
Lumbini
377 for 6 overnight 514 for 9 de. in 89.3 overs (Bimsara Weerasinghe 57, Shahan Kaushalya 206, Praveen Maneesha 31, Pasindu Maheesha 42, Ashan Shanilka 76; Sithum Oshanda 4/123)
Isuru, Dasun help St. Joseph Vaz’s force a draw at Kadirana
Scores
Ananda 366 for 8 decl. in 79 overs (Kithma Withanapathirana 130, Kenul de Zoysa 100, Ravishan Perera 35; Himal Ravihansa 3/91, Vishwa Rajapaksa 2/75)
St. Joseph Vaz’s
52 for 2 overnight 209 all out in 69.3 overs (Hansa Mihiranga 57; Yasandu Kiriella 3/49, Ashinsa Nainayaka 3/42) and 149 for 5 in 41 overs (Isuru Jayasekara 42, Dasun Perera 82; Ashinsa Nainayaka 4/21)
St. Sylvester’s pull off four wickets win
at Pannipitiya
Scores:
Dharmapala
147 all out in 56 overs (Thimoth Pathinayake 31n.o.; Isuru Gunasekara 3/25, Nimesha Silva 3/42) and 192 for 8 decl. in 47 overs (Praveen Ranhiru 76)
St. Sylvester’s
125 for 7 overnight 162 all out in 50.1 overs (Adithya Waduge 35, Akila Wickramasinghe 47; Chithum Baddage 4/58) and 181 for 6 in 42 overs (Kashyapa Dissanayake 93, Arusha Jayasinghe 29n.o.)
Royal win first innings points
at Reid Avenue
Scores:
Royal
251 all out in 83.2 overs (Sineth Jayawardena 102, Ovina Ambanpola 46, Ramiru Perera 57; Manuga Guruge 3/23, Pesandu sanjana 2/55) and 48 for 3 in 9 overs (Ramiru Perera 36)
St. Thomas’ Matara
23 for 1 overnight 241 all out in 101 overs (Kumesh Nuwanjana 58, Loshitha Diksith 57n.o.; Ranuka Malaviarachchi 2/51, Ramiru Perera 2/60, Rayan Sugathadasa 2/45)
Thisara, Induwara save St. Anthony’s
at Darley Road
Scores:
St. Anthony’s
206 all out in 61 overs (Kaveesha Piyumal 54n.o.; Yenula Dewthusa 3/63, Dinuk Serasinghe 3/37, Lahiru Amarasekara 3/52) and 218 for 5 decl. in 51 overs (Thisara Ekanayake 101 n.o., Induwara Galapitage 61n.o.; Lahiru Amarasekara 2/50, Yenula Dewthusa 3/79)
St. Joseph’s
290 all out in 82.3 overs (Abishek Jayaweera 57, Senuja Wakunugoda 87, Dinuk Serasinghe 41; Bimash Vidudaya 3/51, Kaveesha Piyumal 5/92)
Dimantha half century powers Trinity
at BOI ground
Scores
Trinity
196 all out in 73.5 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 50, Supun Waduge 39; Sihath Ramanayake 3/31, Malith de Silva 2/47, Yuri Koththigoda 2/19)
Richmond
40 for no loss in 17 overs
Dewminda anchors St. Sylvester’s at Galle
Scores
Dharmasoka
183 all out in 55.4 overs (Chanuka de Silva 49; Dulsath Nimviru 5/62)
St. Aloysius’
138 for 5 in 44 overs (Deneth Dewminda 56n.o.)
Twenty-three wickets fall on day one
at Mahinda Ground
Scores:
Mahinda
89 all out in 38.5 overs (Pramesh Madhubhashana 27; Nimna Fernando 5/35, Tharuka Manaram 3/15) and 78 for 3 in 29 overs (Tharusha Dilshan 31, Chandupa de Silva 27)
St. Sebastian’s, Katuneriya
75 all out in 26.1 overs (Sadev Nethmina 4/36)
Thomians amass 300 runs against
Petes at Mount Lavinia
Scores:
S. Thomas’
300 for 8 decl. in 87.3 overs (Akash Fernando 65, Mahith Perera 47, Sadev Soysa 24, Senadhi Bulankulame 28, Nathan Caldera 36, Darien Diego 27n.o., Ashen Perera 22n.o.; Shannon Rodrigo 3/70, Vishen Helambage 3/76)
St. Peter’s
26 for no loss in 10 overs at stumps
The winners of the Woorld Test Championship [WTC] final, to be played between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s starting June 11, will secure a prize money of USD 3.6 million, more than double of the winners in the last two cycles. The runners-up, meanwhile, will bag more than USD 2.1 million, while the prize for the same in the previous editions was USD 800,000.
The winners in the last two cycles — New Zealand and Australia — had earned USD 1.6 million each.
“The increase in prize money exhibits the ICC’s efforts to prioritize Test cricket as it looks to build on the momentum of the first three cycles of the nine-team competition,” the ICC said in its release.
India, who finished third on the table, will receive over USD 1.4 million, while fourth-placed New Zealand get USD 1.2 million. Even the prize money for teams finishing fifth (USD 960000) and sixth (USD 840000) — England and Sri Lanka — is more than what it was for the runners-up in the previous editions.
South Africa topped the table in the 2023-25 edition with eight wins from 12 games, and were the first team to seal a final spot with a dramatic two-wicket win over Pakistan. Defending champions Australia got through by pipping India to the second spot after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 at home.
Both teams have named their squads for the final. The focus for South Africa will be on their pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada after his one-month ban for failing a drug test, while Cameron Green makes his return to Australia’s Test side after undergoing a lower spine surgery last year.
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis will replace Jos Buttler in the Gujarat Titans squad for the IPL 2025 playoffs.
Kusal Mendis had been at the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with Quetta Gladiators until last week, playing as their wicketkeeper-batter. He’d last played for them on May 7. But ESPNcricinfo has learned he will not travel to Pakistan for the remainder of the PSL due to perceived safety concerns, and has now pivoted to playing in the IPL, a league in which he has never previously appeared.
Buttler’s unavailability for the playoffs is down to his having been named in England’s ODI squad for the home series against West Indies, which starts on May 29. The IPL’s playoffs begin the same day.
GT have two other wicketkeeping options in their squad, in Anuj Rawat and Kumar Kushagra. However, Kusal Mendis has been in good form for Gladiators, hitting 143 runs at a strike rate of 168 in five PSL matches.
Merely being approached by an IPL franchise as a replacement is something of a career fillip for Kusal Mendis, who had entered his name in the IPL auctions repeatedly, but had never been bought. He is understood to be currently awaiting his India visa, and is likely to join the GT squad on Saturday.
GT currently sit atop the IPL table, equal on points with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but with a better net run rate. They need only one more win to confirm their place in the playoffs.
[Cricinfo]
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has implored the ICC to provide a fair and transparent pathway for at least one of the Caribbean’s sovereign nations to represent West indies at the Los Angeles Olympics.
The heart of the problem here is that while in cricket many countries compete under the name the West Indies are administered by the same cricket board (CWI), the Olympics only allows sovereign nations to contest. There can be no team in which for instance, Barbadans, Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Guyanese, St. Lucians play in the same team, even though that is how regular cricket is organised.
So in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, an event in which six nations will compete in cricket, the region hopes to have at least one of its sovereign states in play. Currently, West Indies women are ranked sixth on the T20I ICC rankings, and the men are fifth. West Indies men have won the T20 World Cup twice, and the women once. It is up to the ICC to nominate the teams that will participate in the Olympics.
There is also the additional complication that the United States, as the host nation of these Olympics, may be a frontrunner to gain automatic qualification despite their low rankings, though that has not been confirmed by the ICC. This means only five further spots are available.
“The Caribbean has always punched above its weight at the Olympics, inspiring the world with our athletic brilliance,” CWI president Kishore Swallow said. “Cricket’s return to the Games in 2028 must not exclude our young cricketers from the same dream that has inspired our athletes. The Olympic Charter emphasizes fairness, transparency, and universality. We are simply asking that these principles be upheld–not just in spirit, but in structure. West Indies cricket must have a pathway, and fully deserves an opportunity to compete.”
CWI has provided the ICC with two possible ways forward. To quote from the CWI release:
- If rankings are used and West Indies men and women teams technically qualify, an internal qualifying tournament among its Olympic affiliated member countries will determine which country represents the West Indies; or
- A global qualifying pathway that includes associate ICC members in the five ICC Development Regions plus member countries of the West Indies.
The first of these options would have the CWI, through domestic tournaments, pick their champions for the LA Olympics. The second would involve a more rigorous selection process, in which the sovereign nations that are members of the West Indies board compete alongside a host of other nations for Olympics spots.
What the CWI board stresses to ICC, however, is that qualification criteria must be “fair and transparent”, citing a bylaw in the Olympic Charter. Caribbean nations are accustomed to Olympic success, as several of them are frequently atop Olympics leaderboards for medals per capita. Their collective achievements in track events in particular, are recognised almost universally as extraordinary.
CWI CEO Chris Dehring said: “Our nations have proudly flown their individual flags atop Olympic podiums as perennial gold medalists. Now, with cricket’s inclusion, we must ensure that our cricketers are not shut out of history. We are ready to collaborate. We are ready to compete. But above all, we are asking for fairness.”
The ICC has made no announcement on what the Olympics qualification process will be, so far.
Cricket has only once been played in the Olympics, way back in 1900. On that occasion, France and Great Britain competed, with Great Britan winning the two day match by 158 runs. The highest individual score for France in the second innings was 8.
[Cricinfo]
The development of a country depends on the productive contribution that its people make towards the nation. — Prime Minister
The Prime Minister participated in the 77th commemoration of AL- NAKBA for Palestine.
WTC winners to get USD 3.6 million in prize money
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