Sports
Sri Sumangala earn Division I promotion, book final berth
Under 19 Division II Tier ‘A’ Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Sumangala College Panadura will join the Division I category in the Under 19 cricket tournament from next season after they registered a first innings victory over Rahula College Matara in the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘A’ semi-final at the ACE Capital CC cricket ground Narahenpita on Friday.
After being halted in the semi-finals last season Sri Sumangala bounced back this year as they launched a determined effort to reach the Tier ‘A’ final.
Sri Sumangala reached the knockout stage as the champions of their group after having registered six outright victories and beat Dharmaloka College Kelaniya by an innings and 30 runs in the quarter-final.
In the crucial semi-final concluded on Friday, Rasika Dilshan and Bihanga Silva did early damage before Mevindu Kumarasiri and Vishwa Lahiru shared seven wickets between them to dismiss Rahula for 138 runs.
Batting first Kishan Eranga top scored with 61 runs for Sri Sumangala to post 188 runs.In their second essay they were 123 for two wickets at close.
They will now meet the winners of the other semi-final match between Tissa Central Kalutara and Lyceum International Wattala in the final.
Scores:
Sri Sumangala 188 all out in 64.3 overs (Kishan Eranga 61, Duranka Silva 21, Vishwa Lahiru 20, Kavindu Gayathra 31, Rasika Dilshan 23n.o.; Sadew Rithmaka 4/52, Oshan Thenuka 3/38) and 123 for 2 in 37 overs (Kishan Eranga 40, Duranka Silva 54)
Rahula 138 all out in 58.1 overs (Imeth Manamperi 25, Sasinu Battage 28, Selak Peiris 37; Vishwa Lahiru 3/35, Rasika Dilshan 2/25, Mevindu Kumarasiri 3/35)
Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.
The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.
However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.
“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.
“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.
“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”
Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.
Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.
He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.
[BBC]
MS Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Rutraj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game. He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 8. After five games, he was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he was CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.
“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.
“So we’re disappointed, and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”
Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad. He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership some way into the season after the team went through a bad run of results. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League trophies as well.
“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”
After their home game against KKR on today, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 14 and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20.
[Cricinfo]
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