In tennis circles, Andrew Kaavinda Wijemanne is becoming a bit of an household name exceeding expectations doing his schools S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia proud.

This week, young Wijemanne won the Kurunegala Club Weekend Ranking Tournament under-18 singles and then partnered with Nevan Kannangara of St. Joseph’s to win the men’s doubles event. He also reached the finals of the Wayamba Championship in the under-18 category before going down to his doubles partner Nevan Kannangara.

The duo also have reached the doubles final in the Negombo Open scheduled for Sunday.

Sri Lanka’s new Interim Committee, helmed by Eran Wickramaratne, has walked out to bat amid a swell of cautious optimism, with cricket lovers hoping the ship can finally be steadied after years of choppy waters. Yet even before the ink has dried, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive, peddling the tired line that failure to hold elections within three months will invite an ICC suspension. That, to put it mildly, is a cock and bull story.

Interim Committees are not alien to Sri Lankan cricket, nor are they frowned upon by the International Cricket Council. In fact, many of the earlier ones, led by men of standing, came in, rolled up their sleeves and put the house in order.

The rot, as many would argue, set in during the era of Mahinda Rajapaksa, when such Interim Committees were used less as repair kits and more as patronage platforms. Mahinda used the cricket board to give positions to his friends. He was always loyal to his friends. In turn, his friends showed their loyalty back to Mahinda by awarding the lucrative television deal of SLC to his second son’s company.

This current Interim Committee, however, reads like a team sheet you wouldn’t mind backing. When you have a former Marylebone Cricket Club President in Kumar Sangakkara, a seasoned ICC match referee in Roshan Mahanama and a respected elder statesman in Sidath Wettimuny, you’re hardly short on cricketing brains trust. Add to that the corporate acumen of Prakash Schaffter and the legal nous of Dinal Phillips, and it’s an all-round side with depth in every department. As Tony Greig once said during a game in Sharjah, ‘Don’t tell anything nasty about Sri Lankan cricket to Dinal Phillips.’

They hardly need advice from the cheap seats, but anyway, here’s our two cents.

First, selection; the engine room of any successful side. Get that wrong and you’re forever chasing the game. Whether it’s Sangakkara, Wettimuny or Mahanama taking the reins, or someone cut from similar cloth, the message is simple: pick a selector who knows his onions. A bull in a China shop is less troublesome than the man heading selections at the moment.

Then there’s the elephant in the pavilion – Test cricket. Between July 2025 and June 2026, Sri Lanka hasn’t got a single Test match. Not one. For a nation that once fought tooth and nail for Test status under the stewardship of Gamini Dissanayake, this is sacrilege. The great man must be turning in his grave.

While the Executive Committee has packed its bags, the top executives still loiter at Maitland Place like a night watchman that refuses to vacate after a collapse. Expect the usual stock responses – Test cricket isn’t profitable, or the calendar is dictated by the World Test Championship. But such thinking is as outdated as playing timeless Tests. Institutions don’t move forward by blocking on the back foot forever. Fresh ideas are needed and perhaps a few long-standing occupants need to walk before they’re shown the pavilion.

Schedule more Test matches, even against sides that are not part of the World Test Championship. Don’t believe in the lies your top executives dish out. Tell them, if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Women’s cricket is another area crying out for attention. While other nations have moved the field up and attacked, Sri Lanka has been content to play defensively. At present, cricket hasn’t been able to appeal to the girls in schools. The chosen sports by girls at school level are netball, basketball, swimming, badminton and athletics. Cricket, sadly doesn’t come among the top ten sports of girls schools be it at Holy Family Convent in Colombo or Marjan Muslim Ladies College in Sammanthurai.

The remedy isn’t rocket science. Invest in schools, provide equipment, open doors. Set a target; say 500 schools playing the game within three years and chase it with intent. Provincial academies could serve as nurseries, turning raw talent into finished products. Cricket, after all, is an expensive sport; without support, many promising players are run out before they reach the crease.

Other sports have shown the way. Basketball, for instance, cast its net wide post-war, tapping into regions like Jaffna and reaping the rewards. Cricket, meanwhile, has been guilty of too much talk about infrastructure and not enough about grassroots. Forget the grandstands for a moment, it’s the nets that matter. Take the game to the people, coach the coaches and give emerging regions a crack at competitive cricket.

The Lanka Premier League, too, has promised much but delivered in fits and starts. Like a flashy opener who flatters to deceive, it has struggled for consistency. Questionable ownerships and off-field controversies haven’t helped. Perhaps it’s time for Sri Lanka Cricket to play the long game – trim profits, bring in credible local investors and build a tournament that can stand the test of time rather than chasing quick bucks.

Then there’s a small but telling symbol of excess – the Minister’s Box at major cricket venues. For years, it has served as a cosy enclosure for the high and mighty. Why not flip the script? Open it up for the disabled, give them a chance to watch the game in comfort. Cricket, after all, belongs to the people, not just those in high office. (Credit to the current Minister of Sports for not using the facility).

The ball now is on Eran’s court.

by Rex Clementine

Chennai Super Kings  (CSK) outplayed Mumbai Indians (MI) for the second time this season, leaving Hardik Pandya’s men on the brink of elimination.

After misreading pitch No. 6 against Gujarat Titans (GT) last weekend, CSK used pitch No .5 to their advantage on Saturday, limiting MI to 159 for 7. Their attack kept banging the ball away on good lengths and hard lengths to make life difficult for MI.Rutraj Gaikwad and Kartik Sharma made light work of the middling target with unbeaten half-centuries. They now rise to sixth on the points table, with their fourth win in nine games.

After opting to bat first, MI crashed seven sixes in the powerplay – five of those came from Ryan Rickelton – but some of that big-hitting was offset by the 19 dots they played out during this phase.

Mukesh Choudhary had missed CSK’s previous game against GT, after they had brought Sarfaraz Khan in as Impact Sub as early as the fourth over. Here, he conceded 25 runs in three powerplay overs.

Prashant Veer, the rookie left-arm spinner, had a rough initiation into the IPL with the ball. Rickelton smacked him for three sixes in his first over. Gaikwad tossed him the ball in the fifth over because Akeal Hosein, who had bagged a four-wicket haul against MI at the Wankhede in the reverse fixture, was out of the team at Chepauk for this one. So, Prashant bowled despite the presence of the left-handed Rickelton at the crease. It released the pressure that Choudhary and Anshul Kamboj had built up.

Rickelton and Naman Dhir took MI to 57 for 1 in six overs.

Six of the first ten overs were bowled by uncapped CSK bowlers. While Veer came back well after the powerplay, it was seamer Ramakrishna Ghosh who was more impressive. He claimed the big scalp of Suryakumar Yadav when he banged a hard-length delivery, and had the batter slicing a catch to Dewald Brevis at sweeper cover for 21 off 12 balls.

Before the start of IPL 2025, Gaikwad had name-checked Ghosh as a player to watch out, but it took a while for him to get a game. He showed glimpses of what he’s capable of on Saturday, returning 1 for 24 in his three overs. Left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahamad gave him excellent support, taking out two left-handers in Rickelton and Tilak Varma.

Suryakumar has struggled through the season, and his numbers against pace have been especially wretched: seven dismissals in nine innings, an average of 10.71 and a strike rate of 133.92. Tilak was dropped by Shivam Dube when he was on 1, but added only 4 to his tally before he mis-hit Noor to Gaikwad at cover.

Naman Dhir top-scored for MI with 57 off 37 balls, but could not find a higher tempo that would hurt CSK. He started quickly – he moved to 19 off nine balls – but slowed down drastically against spin. Along the way, he was also reprieved by Dube, on 19.

Captain Hardik Pandya laboured to 18 off 23 balls before Kamboj had him holing out in the final over of the innings. After hitting seven sixes in the first six overs, MI could manage only three in the next 14.

CSK had a shaky start, losing Sanju Samson to Jasprit Bumrah in the second over. At the start of that over, Bumrah got one to angle in at Samson and then veer away late to kiss the outside edge, but Jacks dropped a sitter at slip. At the end of that over, Bumrah found Samson’s outside edge once again, with Rickelton holding onto the catch this time.

After Samson departed for 11 off nine balls, Gaikwad controlled the chase along with Kartik. He picked away Trent Boult for two fours and a six in the third over and went on to bring up back-to-back half-centuries.

At the other end, Kartik targeted the mystery spin of AM Ghazanfar, taking him for 23 off 13 balls. He closed out the game with an eye-catching reverse-scoop off Boult, and sent 34,940 fans at Chepauk into frenzy.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 160 for 2 in 18.1 overs  (Sanju Samson 11, Rutraj Gaikwad 67*, Urvil Patel 24, Kartik Sharma 54*; Jasprit  Bumrah 1-20, A M Ghazanfar 1-40) beat Mumbai Indians 159 for 7 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 37, Banab Dhir 57,  Suryakumar Yadav 21, Hardik Pandya 18; Anshul Kamboj 3-32, Noor Ahmad  2-26, Ramakrishna Ghosh 1-24, Jamie Overton 1-23) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]