Sports

What’s England doing right in Sri Lanka

Published

6 years ago

2021/01/17

Rex Clementine in Galle Fort

There was a time when England barely lasted three days in Galle. The extreme heat, tracks that turned square and skilful spinners brought misery upon successive England teams. But they have found a way to turn the tide. What is England doing right to succeed in Sri Lankan conditions? In the last ten years, England have visited the island on three occasions and have never lost a series.

The easy answer is to say that the Sri Lankan team has lost some big names and the team is in transition. That’s not the truth. When England squared the two match series in 2012, the big three – Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and T.M. Dilshan – were very much part of the side. So, they must be doing something right to do well here.

To start with England and Wales Cricket Board initiated a programme whereby their young First Class players performed in our domestic cricket. Some of the names that come to mind are Ben Foakes (Colts CC) and Moeen Ali (Badureliya CC). There were many others. The experience these players gain by playing on our surfaces against some good spinners is invaluable.

Foakes for example made his Test debut in the last series in Sri Lanka and he looked pretty comfortable. He went onto top batting charts scoring 277 runs. His wicket keeping was flawless too and he was named Player of the Series.

How many of our players have gone onto represent county cricket in the last ten years?

The other important thing is that England’s development squads are constantly touring sub-continent. This prepares them well when they engage in Test match cricket. Sri Lanka rarely sends their ‘A’ team on overseas assignments these days. We had a former board president who went on record saying that ‘A’ team cricket was a futile exercise as they didn’t bring any money!

The other thing that England have done well is to plan properly. Last year when they were here, they spent more than two weeks before the first Test match and they were involved in two warm-up games. The tour was aborted after the outbreak of the pandemic. This time too, they spent nearly two weeks in Sri Lanka before the opening Test match although they didn’t have the luxury of warm-up games against local sides due to health restrictions.

Sri Lanka’s planning has been extremely poor. The gap between the LPL final and the first Test in South Africa was ten days. That sums up the story. In both Tests against South Africa and the first game against England, our batsmen have been in T-20 mode and we have had little momentum. When will we learn?

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Sports

Devapathiraja clinch U15 Division I title with 33-run win over Royal

Published

8 mins ago

2026/09/4

Priyan

The Devapathiraja College Team and coaching staff with Kushil Gunasekera founder of the Foundationof Goodness who support the school [pic Facebook]

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‎Devapathiraja College, Rathgama came up with a strong all-round performance to defeat Royal College, Colombo by 33 runs and secure the Under-15 Division I cricket title at the Ananda College Grounds on Thursday.

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‎Chasing 193 to win, Royal looked well placed thanks to a determined 78 off 105 balls from Ramiru Thiranagama who scored eight boundaries. Herschel Dan chipped in with 33 off 69 balls and Ravinu Ranathunga made a brisk 22 off 21, but the middle and lower order struggled as Devapathiraja’s bowlers took wickets at regular intervals. After being 126 for three wickets at one stage, Royal lost their last seven batsmen for 33 run to be bowled out in the 44th over.

‎Diyath Sanjitha led the bowling attack with three for 47, ably supported by Deneth Dinuka’s three wickets, while Meneth Sankalana and Gauthem Surya picked up two apiece.

‎Batting first after winning the toss, Devapathiraja posted 192 for nine in their 49 overs. Shanidu Sineth Mikeshara anchored the innings with a patient 51 off 126 balls, while Gauthem Surya provided the acceleration with 45 from 56 deliveries, striking six fours and a six. Himansa Elithpriya (20), Denuwan Yositha (19) and an unbeaten 16 from Sineth Madhusanka helped push the total to a competitive mark.

‎Mahima Silva was Royal’s most economical bowler, returning figures of two for 22 from nine overs, while Wishmida Fernando also picked up two wickets.

‎The victory capped a successful campaign for Devapathiraja, who have now confirmed that they have formidable teams in each of the top three age categories. [RF]

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Mandhana’s record ton powers India into semi-finals

Published

19 mins ago

2026/09/4

Priyan

Smriti Mandhana celebrates her second T20I century [Cricinfo]

Smriti Mandhana filled her batting coffers with her second T20I century, along the way surpassing Mithali Raj for the record for most runs in women’s internationals, to help India secure a second straight win on Thursday night in Dubai.

Hong Kong’s nerves showed on the field when they fell flat at the first sign of attack from India’s batters, and their timid approach in the chase further exposed the gulf in quality and experience. In the end, they lost by 137 runs – 13 more than what Mandhana managed on her own.

A second straight loss meant Hong Kong will only have some pride to play for, as a berth in the next round is now out of the equation.

India’s cautious start

At the end of five overs, India were 38 without loss – not concerning, but not dominating enough either. They took a while to suss up the lack of pace from the bowlers. Mandhana hogged much of the strike; Shafali Verma faced just six balls in the first five overs. Hong Kong couldn’t have been happier at having kept a lid on the scoring.

Shafali steps up

After a tight first over that went for just seven, offspinner Maria Lamplough was clobbered by Shafali for two fours and two sixes in a 22-run over that helped India take off.

Lamplough struggled for consistency and kept looping the ball up, with Shafali needing no second invitation. The first of the two sixes was a shovel over deep midwicket; the next even better – lofted inside-out over deep extra cover.

Shafali’s brief surge ended on 28 in the eighth over, when Marina took an excellent catch running in and diving full stretch from long-on off Ruchita Venkatesh’s bowling. By then, the openers had put on 74.

Mandhana prances towards record century

As new No. 3 Pratika Rawal took a while to gauge the pace of the surface, Mandhana reached her half-century – her 36th in T20Is – off 40 deliveries with a flat six over deep square. Mandhana’s default setting for much of this period was moving over to the off-side to set herself up for several variations of the slog in the arc between wide long-on and deep square.

Her next fifty came off just 18 deliveries. The century could’ve been nipped in the bud had she been taken at deep square leg in the 16th over off Siu Wai, but she accelerated even more soon after bringing up her century that helped her climb atop the list for most international hundreds in women’s cricket.

In the 18th over, she clobbered Venkatesh for three consecutive sixes, and in the same over also went past Mithali’s record for most international runs. This helped India finish strongly, the second half of their innings brought them 107 despite losing a clutch of wickets.

Nandani’s dream run continues

Coming off a three-for against Thailand, Nandani Sharma’s seam presentation and control was immaculate with the new ball as Hong Kong crawled to 4 for 1 in four overs. The wicket, off Mariko Hill, one of their most experienced batters, came off a superb in-ducker on the back of three successive away-swingers. Nandani added one more wicket to her kitty to finish with 2 for 6 off her three overs.

The collapse

The highest partnership of the innings was the 27 between Yasmin Daswani and Natasha Miles for the second wicket; a period where they hardly threw any caution to the wind, choosing instead to bat overs and gain some match time against an opponent they were playing for the first time in 14 years.

The partnership ended when Daswani’s attempt to heave into the leg side was intercepted by a leaping Bharti Fulmali at midwicket to give Deepti Sharma a wicket. Six balls later, Miles was out attempting to cut Prema Rawat’s sharp leg break, nicking behind to Richa Ghosh.

That was the start of the collapse, as India’s spinners closed in, each one getting onto the scorecard with a bagful. There were eight single-digit scores, with 15 the highest. They lost their last five wickets in 11 deliveries, collapsing from 54 for 5 to 56 all out.

India couldn’t have asked for an easier route into the semi-finals.

Scores:
India Women 193 for 5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 124, Shafali Verma 28, Pratika Rawal 10, Richa Gosh 11, Harmanpreet Kaur 10; Marina Lamplough 2-46, Ruchitha Venkatesh 1-30, Joyleen Kaur 1-12) beat Hong Kong Women 56 in 16.2 overs (Natasha Miles 15, Yasmin Daswani 11, Marina Lamplough 14; Nandani Sharma 2-06, Shree Charani 2-16, Deepti Sharma 3-09, Prema Rawat 2-12) by 137 runs

[Cricinfo]

Sports

SSC through to semis after stunning run chase

Published

4 hours ago

2026/09/4

Thilina Walpola

Avishka Fernando powered SSC through a stiff run chase and into the semifinals of the domestic 50-over tournament yesterday

Sinhalese Sports Club produced a stirring run chase in their final group game of the ongoing domestic 50 over tournament, edging out Bloomfield to book their place in the semi-finals.

Set a daunting target of 330, SSC romped home in just 46.4 overs, with former international Avishka Fernando leading the charge with a superb 138 off 114 deliveries, studded with 15 fours and four sixes.

Avishka received excellent support from Nuwanindu Fernando (57) and Nipun Dananjaya (69), both of whom posted half-centuries, before Dunith Wellalage applied the finishing touches with an unbeaten 30 off just 19 deliveries, including one four and three sixes.

Bloomfield had earlier piled up a formidable total thanks largely to Janith Liyanage, who hammered 165 off 130 deliveries with 18 fours and five sixes.

SSC will now meet CCC in Monday’s semi-final, while Colts will take on Moors in the other last-four clash on the same day. The final will be played on Friday.

CCC topped the table in the other group following another high scoring encounter. Kamindu Mendis, stripped of the Sri Lanka vice-captaincy on Wednesday, responded in emphatic fashion less than 24 hours later, opening the batting and smashing 139 off 129 deliveries with 11 fours and six sixes.

He was involved in a mammoth 268 run opening stand with Lasith Croospulle, who made 148. Pavan Rathnayake then chipped in with an unbeaten half-century, while Test sensation Sonal Dinusha, leading CCC, suffered the rare indignity of a first-ball duck.

CCC eventually amassed 369 for five from their 50 overs. Tamil Union, in reply, could manage only 297 despite a century from Sineth Jayawardene.

Colts topped their group with five wins from six games and yesterday recorded a comprehensive 72 run win over Police.

Batting first, Colts posted 266 for six, with Sangeeth Cooray and Muditha Lakshan contributing half-centuries. Police were then shot out for 194 inside 40 overs.

Panadura SC, Ace Capital and BRC also recorded wins yesterday but were unable to press their claims for a semi-final berth.

There have been several high-scoring encounters during the tournament, with Sri Lanka Cricket placing considerable emphasis on producing good batting surfaces for both domestic and international cricket.