Sports
Althaf fires Trinity to victory with his ‘golden boot’
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Trinity College rode on the brilliance of Shan Althaf to edged out Royal College 17-16 in the first leg of the 78th Bradby Shield rugby encounter worked off at Royal Sports Complex on Saturday (August 24).
The Trinity kicker produced a splendid performance in both halves of the game and contributed 12 points through his kicking boots and also set up the team’s solitary try. The game was played at a hectic pace with the winners collecting their points through one try, three penalties and a drop goal while Royal responded with one try, one conversion and a three penalties.
Royal got the better of Trinity in the first half despite having lesser possession of the ball. The Reid Avenue boys opened scoring through a penalty off the boot of Idris Farook in the tenth minute of play. But Trinity were not in the mood to trail behind for long and equalized through a Shan Althaf penalty.
The pint sized Althaf then dazzled the packed stadium with a cross kick deep inside the Royal territory to send Murad Raizan over for a try.
Many thought that the South African referee Jaco De Wit was a little lenient on the players. Raizan was clearly tackled while being in the air and the Royal player was only warned after the try was signaled. Even when the game started, the referee only warned players for some dangerous tackles; which on another day in the presence of a Sri Lankan referee would have been certain yellow cards. But overall the referee allowed the free flow of the game as much as rules permitted and even entertained the players and crowd with some light banter and continues chatting with both sets of players. He was once heard saying , “This is not American football, so common lads let’s get on with the scrum”. He probably said this because the players from both teams were a little too slow in getting to the mark he had made on the field for a restart after a knock-on.
Royal took the lead before the two teams crossed over for half time when winger Fahad Nazeer crashed over for an under the posts try. Farook’s conversion put Royal 13-8 in the lead at half time.
The second half was a cracker with Trinity catching up on the score and Royal tackling ruthlessly to avert defeat in front of a home crowd. Althaf’s best moment in the match came when he cleared the space between the two uprights of the goal post when slotting in a penalty in the 49th minute of play. The kick was taken from 48 metres out and all importantly put Trinity back in the lead in the game. He also kicked right a penalty (his second penalty) eight minutes before that feat. Althaf was all over the park excelling in both kicking, attacking and defending and choked Royal throughout the 70 minutes of play.
The Trinity fly half, after that ‘monster penalty’, dropped a peach of a field goal ten minutes from the end to swell the team’s score.
Royal had one more chance to score when they earned a penalty and kicker Farook sent the ball hissing through the uprights.
Trinity had a new skipper in Thisanga Dissanayake who marshalled the players in the absence of regular skipper Anuhas Koddithuwakku who didn’t take the field due to a leg injury. Royal skipper Thiven Perera was outstanding in both attack and defense.The second leg of the Bradby Shield will be played at Pallakele Stadium in Kandy on September 7(Saturday).
One time is a shock. Two times, and the second to beat hosts Sri Lanka at their own game, is Zimbabwe. Led by their canny bowling, Zimbabwe pulled Sri Lanka back from a flying start to keep them to 178 on a sluggish Premadasa track. Their opener Brian Benett, quickest scorer in their history, dropped anchor, stayed unbeaten like his team, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani did all the damage from the other end to seal their second-highest successful T20I chase.
Sri Lanka’s innings had three neat divisions: first 29 balls for 54 for 0, next 72 for 82 for 4 and then a finishing kick of 42 for 3 off the last 19 balls. Zimbabwe went Bennett and non-Bennett. Bennett scored 63 off 48; the other three combined for 102 off 64 balls. Raza was the decisive hand: 45 off 26 after the asking rate had gone past 11.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 182 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Brian Bennett 63*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 34, Ryan Burl 23, Sikandar Raza 45; Dasun Shanaka 1-26, Dushan Hemantha 2-36, Dunith Wellalage 1-27) beat Sri Lanka 178 for 7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 62, Kusal Perera 22, Kusal Mendis 14, Pavan Rathnayake 44, Dunith Wellalage 15*; Blessing Muzarabani 2-38, Graeme Cremer 2-27, Brad Evans 2-35) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
West Indies headed into the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup unbeaten after successfully defending 165 against Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. Spinners Chrishan Kalugamage and Ben Manenti impressed with the ball, and were backed up by some sharp fielding, but the batters couldn’t get the Italian job done.
While Italy exited their maiden World Cup with a win against Nepal and many memories to cherish, West Indies sealed their fourth successive win at the venue where they will face India in their final Super Eight fixture on March 1.
Italy may have sensed an opportunity for another win when they stifled West Indies’ power-packed middle order, but Marrhew Forde’s twin strikes in the powerplay decisively tilted the game in West Indies’ favour. Bowling three overs on the bounce, Forde dismissed both Justin Mosca and No. 3 Syed Naqvi, helping West Indies restrict Italy to 37 for 3 in six overs. Shamar Joseph then bagged four wickets to go with his four catches as Italy were bowled out for 123.
The win was set up by Shai Hope, who hit back-to-back half-centuries and dominated the early exchanges with an array of off-side drives. West Indies lost steam after Hope departed for 75 off 46 balls, but they regained it through their bowlers.
After West Indies were asked to bat first, they hit seven boundaries in the powerplay, and Hope was responsible for all of those. By the eighth over, the West Indies captain had zoomed to a 28-ball half-century. The first boundary by a West Indies player not named “Shai Hope” came in the tenth over when Roston Chase backed away and lifted left-arm spinner JJ Smuts over extra-cover.
Hope peppered the off side, scoring 46 of his 75 runs in that region. Anything that was remotely full and outside off was crashed in the arc between mid-off and point. When Italy dragged their lengths back, Hope was ready for it as well. Like when left-arm seamer Ali Hasan banged one into his upper body, Hope swatted him away over square leg for six in the fourth over. Hope was particularly severe on right-arm fast bowler Thomas Draca, taking him for 20 off nine balls.
Italy finally stopped him in the 16th over when legspinner Kalugagame bowled him with a tossed-up wrong’un.
Brief scores:
West Indies 165 for 6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 75, Roston Chase 24, Sherfane Rutherford 24*, Matthew Forde 16*; Ali Hasan 1-24, Thomas Draca 1-22, Chrishan Kalugamage 2-25, Ben Manenti 2-37) beat Italy 123 in 18 overs (Anthony Mosca 19, JJ Smuts 24, Ben Manenti 26, Grant Stewart 12; Akeal Hosein 1-25, Shamar Joseph 4-30, Matthew Forde 3-19, Gudakesh Motie 2-24) by 42 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka won the toss at the party at Premadasa and decided to bat first. Both, the hosts and Zimbabwe, are through to the Super Eight already, but for Sri Lanka it was important to get in their injury replacements.
The big one, of course, was Matheesha Pathirana, whose tournament ended with a calf injury sustained during the match against Australia. His replacement in the squad, Dilshan Madushanka, came straight into the XI. Also given a look-in was Pramod Madushan, the fast bowler who was already in the squad. In order to organise this virtual bowl-off between Madushan and Madushanka, Sri Lanka rested their lead fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera.
Zimbabwe made no change to the XI that shocked Australia in this World Cup. They were looking to bowl first anyway because of the forecast for some drizzle later on, and hoping to bat in better batting conditions once the lights came on.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
[Cricinfo]
“Investments in Professional Education Are Investments in Institutional Strength and National Progress” – PM
Zimbabwe stun Sri Lanka to enter Super Eight unbeaten
Ex-UK Prince Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts
Navy and Coast Guard seize 04 Indian fishing vessels poaching in Sri Lankan waters
Hope’s 75, Forde and Joseph’s wickets help West Indies go into playoffs unconquered
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
Life style5 days agoMarriot new GM Suranga
-
Business4 days agoMinistry of Brands to launch Sri Lanka’s first off-price retail destination
-
Features5 days agoMonks’ march, in America and Sri Lanka
-
Features5 days agoThe Rise of Takaichi
-
Features5 days agoWetlands of Sri Lanka:
-
News5 days agoThailand to recruit 10,000 Lankans under new labour pact
-
News5 days agoMassive Sangha confab to address alleged injustices against monks
-
News3 days agoIMF MD here