Sports

All-round Chase, effective Motie seal West Indies’ T20I series win over South Africa

Published

2 years ago

2024/05/26

Priyan

Roston Chase hit his first T20I half-century (Cricinfo)

West Indies sealed the three-match T20I series against South Africa, with a match to spare, and successfully defended 208 in front of enthusiastic Sabina Park supporters. With all the fixtures in this series being played at the same venue in Jamaica – which will not host any T20 World Cup games – the weekend crowd were out in full force on a Saturday afternoon to enjoy another strong performance from their side.

After choosing to bat, West Indies started slower than the first match (where they had reached 100 runs by the halfway mark) but paced their innings well. They accelerated in the middle and latter period, thanks to a 56-run fourth-wicket stand off 36 between Roston Chase and Andre Fletcher and a 63-run fifth-wicket stand, off only 25 balls, between Chase and Romario Shepherd. In the process, Chase scored his first T20I fifty.

Anrich Nortje returned to the South African side after almost nine months on the sidelines as he recovered from a lower back stress fracture and was expensive on his return. His four overs cost 47 runs, and he went wicketless. The star of South Africa’s bowling was debutant Nqabayomzi Peter who took 2 for 32, but is not in the T20 World Cup squad.

In response, South Africa were quick out of the blocks and brought up 100 in eight overs but no-one could kick on after Quinton de Kock’s 41. The middle-order were particularly disappointing and folded from 113 for 2 to 167 for 7, losing 5 for 54. South Africa may not be too concerned because none of Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs and David Miller were all not involved in this series and all four will return for the T20 World Cup.

Still, South Africa have not won a T20I series since August 2022, and have lost four of their last five series. Their ability against spin remains a concern and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie benefited most from that. He picked up career-best figures of 3 for 22 and has taken three wickets in each of his last three matches.

Little more than a year ago, Peter was a net bowler, without a domestic contract, bowling to South Africa’s batters in their preparation for a home series against West Indies. Now, after finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker at the CSA T20 Challenge for the title-winning Lions, he made his international debut at Sabina Park and immediately impressed.

Brought on to bowl just after the Powerplay, he tempted West Indies’ stand-in captain Brandon King into a big shot with his fourth ball that was full and wide outside off. King slapped it across the line but could not clear Wiaan Mulder at long-on, who took the catch over his head to give Peter the biggest name on debut. In his next over, Peter was not put off by Kyle Mayers hitting his googly for six and bowled it again. Mayers pulled to the area between deep square leg and fine leg, where Ryan Rickelton ran around to take the catch. Peter finished with 2 for 32 in his four overs.

Roston Chase has played high-level cricket for a dozen years but this is only his 13th T20I and before today, he had yet to score a half-century. That changed with an innovative innings that held West Indies together and ensured they accelerated in the second half of their innings. Five of Chase’s six fours were scored behind square and his two sixes were big ones, both off short balls. The second, off Lungi Ngidi, sailed over the stands and broke a window of one of the parked cars, as he brought up fifty off 30 balls.

Quinton de Kock has not been at his most fluent since retiring from ODI cricket at last year’s fifty-over World Cup but showed signs of returning to his best as he gave South Africa a speedy start. De Kock pulled the first ball he faced to fine leg and beat Kyle Mayers to find the boundary and went on to hit four fours and as many sixes in the 17 balls he faced. The shots of his knock were back-to-back sixes off Akeal Hosein, the first off a full ball that he slammed over mid-on, and the second off a short ball that he pulled over long-on. He was bowled in the same over but was still the major contributor to South Africa’s highest Powerplay score of 85 for 2.

Andile Phehlukwayo was promoted to No.6, above Wiaan Mulder, and was called on with eight overs left, and South Africa still 84 runs away from the target. They had not hit a boundary since the eighth over, and Phehlukwayo had no choice but to try and get one when Gudakesh Motie offered one full and wide. Phehlukwayo attempted a shot go over cover but Shamar Joseph moved to his right and dived diagonally to take an amazing catch in the deep. Two overs later, Akeal Hosein, at long-off, timed his jump well to end Rassie van der Dussen’s innings on 30, and with it South Africa’s hopes.

Brief scores:
West Indies 207 for 7 in 20 overs (Brandon King 36, Kyle Mayers 32, Roston Chase 67*, Andre Fletcher 29, Romario Shepherd 26; Lungi Ngidi 2-41, Bjorn Fortuin 1-21, Nqabayomzi Peter 2-32, Andile Phehlukwayo 2-51) beat South Africa 191 for 7 in 20 overs (Reeza hendicks 34, Quinton de Kock 41, Rassie van der Dussen 30; Roston Chase 1-26, Akeal Hossain 1-45, Gudakesh Motie 3-22, Romario Shepherd 1-23) by 16 runs

(Cricinfo)

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St. Joseph’s basketball dominance continues

Published

1 hour ago

2026/04/19

Thilina Walpola

The victorious St. Joseph’s team

Rarely have St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10, missed out on a semi-final berth in top-tier basketball competitions over the last two decades and they continue their dominance with remarkable consistency. More often than not, they end up in the final, with only the opposition changing; St. Peter’s, Royal, Ananda and Gateway seemingly taking turns to challenge the Joes.

Last week, they secured the Under-20 All-Island ‘A’ Division title, completing back-to-back excellent seasons. The final against Ananda was a one-sided affair, with the Joes cruising to a 70-37 win.

On their way to the title, St. Joseph’s defeated leading basketball-playing schools such as Trinity, S. Thomas’, D.S. Senanayake, Wesley and Prince of Wales.

Leading from the front was captain Methika Jayasinghe, whose outstanding performances throughout the tournament earned him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. He was ably supported by vice-captain Mareen Abishake, along with a talented and well-balanced squad comprising Darren Bernard, Adrian Wijayawardena, Chamindu Wijesinghe, Aaron Gerald, Damketh Dammalage, Raphael Suraweera, Nathan Gunarathne, Praveen Kariyawasam, Isindu Edirisinghe and Brandan Xavier.

Darren Bernard was named Best Offensive Player.

The team’s success was guided by the dedicated efforts of coaches Randima Sooriyaarachchi and Shane Daniel. The duo’s excellence extended beyond St. Joseph’s, with Randima also serving as Head Coach of St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo 07, in their championship-winning campaign at the Under-17 Girls All-Island ‘A’ Division, Tier 1 Basketball Championship, while Shane guided Holy Family Convent, Colombo 04, to victory at the Under-20 Girls All-Island ‘A’ Division, Tier 1 Basketball Championship.

This latest triumph also marks a historic milestone for St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10, as it completes a perfect season across age groups. The college’s Under-17 and Under-20 teams secured all four major titles in 2025, winning both the National Schools Basketball Championships and the All-Island ‘A’ Division, Tier 1 Basketball Championships in their respective categories, an outstanding four-out-of-four record. Remarkably, this builds on an equally successful 2024 campaign, where St. Joseph’s also went four for four in the same tournaments, achieving back-to-back perfect seasons and reinforcing an unprecedented era of dominance in school basketball.

Sports

Gill’s silken 86 keeps Kolkata Knight Riders winless after six games

Published

23 hours ago

2026/04/18

Priyan

Ajinkya Rahane consoles his team-mates after another loss [Cricinfo]

A display straight out of Gujarat Titans‘ (GT) time-tested playbook – high-quality fast bowling to restrict the opposition, and a chase of a below-par target led by the silken Shubman Gill – ensured Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) remained winless six games into their IPL 2026 campaign.

KKR began the contest with a questionable selection – they left out Finn Allen, their highest-ceiling top-order option – and a questionable toss decision – they opted to bat when the home captain, Gill, expected dew to set in later in the evening. And for most of the 39.4 overs of the actual match, they were distinctly second-best.

There was only one brief period of KKR dominance, when they scored 52 in three overs (12th to 14th) as Cameron Green went on a boundary-hitting spree. Green’s 55-ball 79, however, was a strange and ultimately frustrating innings: he struggled for fluency early on, scoring 27 off his first 29 balls, and finished with a whimper, scoring just four off his last 11, a period in which KKR collapsed around him while starving him of strike: they went from 147 for 4 in the 15th over to 180 all out.

The conditions weren’t the flattest – Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada swung the new ball right through the powerplay, and all of GT’s quicks found a bit of seam movement – but this was, nonetheless, a below-par total.

This set up a chase made for GT’s top order. Gill picked off the boundaries surgically in the powerplay – he scored 34 off 15 in that phase – and slowed down when the field spread. He slowed down dramatically, in fact – he only scored 52 off 35 outside the powerplay – but he could afford to because GT had knocked 71 runs off their target in the first six overs, with B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler contributing quick cameos.

The rest of the chase showed the question marks that still hang over this GT line-up – they continued to huff and puff even when the required rate was in the region of a-run-a-ball, and eventually got home with just two balls remaining – and KKR would have ended the match wishing they had scored 20 runs more.

Every ball of Siraj’s first over was an outswinger, and while Tim Seifert – playing his first IPL game since 2022 – put away one that offered a little too much width, the others all asked questions, and one of them took out Ajinkya Rahane, the KKR captain, skewing one high in the air with the swing causing his bat to twist in his hands.

The second over was similar, with Seifert pulling Rabada for a six before the bowler struck back to remove the other batter. This time, the ball swung from a hard length, with extra bounce, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi nicked off in Test-match manner.

GT stuck with their new-ball pair through the entire powerplay, and both bowlers kept asking questions with their accuracy and movement. There was one more wicket – Seifert slapping an innocuous ball from Rabada straight to point – and not many more runs. KKR’s 37 for 1 was the fifth-lowest six-over score of IPL 2026, and their second entry in the bottom five.

Green struggled to middle the ball early on, and went at less than a-run-a-ball – and at a control percentage in the mid-50s – for nearly 30 balls. Then he flicked on a switch, putting his long levers to devastating use, particularly against Rashid Khan, whom he put under pressure with decisive use of the feet. Ashok Sharma, who had dismissed Rovman Powell by changing up from mid-140s hard length to a back-of-the-hand slower one at 106kph, also travelled, and KKR found momentum out of nowhere.

At 147 for 4 in the 15th over, KKR were well on course for 200.

Then came the strangest of collapses. Green was stuck at one end, facing just two balls while KKR lost 5 for 26 at the other. When Green finally got on strike in the 19th over – via Kartik Tyagi getting run-out in the attempt to steal a bye – Prasidh Krishna tied him down expertly, nailing his yorkers even when Green presented a moving target.

And Green, having lost his rhythm, struggled spectacularly in the 20th over, against Rashid, whom he had till then dominated. He scored just one run off the bat off the five balls he faced in the over – a questionable single with No. 11 at the other end – and his most positive scorecard contribution came when he charged, missed, and collected four byes with the unsighted Buttler missing the stumping. Green nicked off to a wide legbreak off the last ball of KKR’s innings, bringing an odd and ultimately unconvincing knock to a close.

Gill stroked three buttery fours in the first two overs, and launched Anukul Roy’s left-arm spin for an effortless inside-out six in the third. Then he took a single and let Sai Sudharsan take on his favourable match-up, which he did with two leg-side sixes to close out a 20-run over.

GT were 40 for no loss in three overs, and Gill kept the momentum going with a sumptuous straight six off Vaibhav Arora in the fifth over. GT didn’t cede any control even when Sunil Narine took out Sai Sudharsan in the sixth over, with Buttler hitting him for two fours – one fortuitous, off the inside edge – and a six off the first five balls he faced. At 71 for 1 with 14 overs to go, there was only going to be one winner.

Gill’s middle-overs slowdown made perfect sense from a situation point of view. KKR needed quick wickets to win this, and they weren’t going to get them from one end as long as Gill was in the middle. But boundaries dried up at the other end too, particularly when Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Buttler in the tenth over.

Washington Sundar scored a run-a-ball 13, and Glenn Phillips struggled to time the ball, and when Gill sliced Arora to a diving Green at deep point in the 17th over, the contest began to look ever so slightly interesting.

The boundaries came in a drip, and Phillips and Rahul Tewatia entered the final over with five runs needed. All of KKR’s main bowlers had bowled out, and Roy’s left-arm fingerspin wasn’t going to be risked with the left-handed Tewatia at the crease. Green, struggling with cramps, hadn’t bowled all evening.

So the task of bowling the last over fell to the military-medium Ramandeep Singh, and he managed to get a bouncer to climb high enough to have Phillips caught on the boundary off his first legal ball, leaving GT with four to get off five balls. GT ultimately got there, but who knows what a more challenging target could have done to them.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 181 for 5 in 19.4 overs (Sai Sudarshan 22, Shubman Gill 86, Jos Buttler 25, Washington Sundar 13, Glenn Phillip 19; Vaibhav Arora 1-35, Sunil Narine 1-28, Varun Chakravarthy 2-34, Ramandeep Singh 1-05) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 180 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 19, Cameron Green 79, Rovman Powell 27, Ramandeep Singh 17; Kaiso Rabada 3-29, Mohammed Siraj 2-23, Prasidh Krishna 1-32, Ashok Sharma 2-45, Rashid Khan 1-44) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Pathirana primed for comeback after injury layoff

Published

1 day ago

2026/04/18

Thilina Walpola

Sri Lanka speedster Matheesha Pathirana has passed his fitness tests with Sri Lanka Cricket and linked up with Kolkata Knight Riders, ready to steam in again after a frustrating spell on the sidelines.

The Knight Riders are propping up the table without a win, their campaign already wobbling placed last. Injuries and indifferent form have left their bowling attack looking toothless and Pathirana’s return could be just the spark they need to stop the rot.

The slinger will undergo further assessment by the franchise’s medical staff, but is tipped to be in the mix for Sunday’s clash against Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens.

“It’s been a challenging few months for me following an unfortunate injury, but I’m grateful for the support throughout this period,” Pathirana said. “I’m now focused on regaining my confidence during the ongoing IPL, contributing to Kolkata Knight Riders and performing to the best of my abilities. I’m looking forward to making a strong comeback and earning my place back in the national team.”

Pathirana, who fetched close to USD 2 million at the auction after being released by CSK, had his progress stalled by a calf injury picked up during Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign, a tournament where the co-hosts were forced to juggle their resources as injuries ripped through their bowling ranks.

Sri Lanka Cricket, tightening the screws on player fitness, made it mandatory for players to pass tests before being granted No Objection Certificates. While the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga and Nuwan Thushara failed to clear the bar, Pathirana ticked all the boxes and got the green light to join the IPL.

Still only 23, the fast bowler with the slingy, Lasith Malinga-esque action has been a handful for batters worldwide, firing in yorkers at will when on song. But his career has been a stop-start affair, with niggles halting his run just when he seemed to be hitting top gear.

KKR, meanwhile, are in desperate need of a breakthrough. Their bowling unit has struggled with Akash Deep and Harshit Rana ruled out with injuries, while seasoned campaigner Mustafizur Rahman had to pull out before the tournament. To make matters worse, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, the world’s number two-ranked bowler, has struggled to find his rhythm.

If Pathirana can hit his straps early, KKR might just find a way to drag themselves back into the contest. For now, though, they are staring down the barrel and hoping the new arrival can deliver a match-winning spell.

Telecom Asia Sport