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Athapaththu’s record-equalling ton gives Sri Lanka 144-run win

Published

2 years ago

2024/07/22

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Chamari Athapaththu scored a record-equalling third T20I hundred [Asian Cricket Council]

Chamari Athapaththu’s T20I best – an unbeaten 119 off 69 balls – formed the heart and soul of Sri Lanka’s crushing win over Malaysia at the Women’s Asia Cup in Dambulla.

There was also a dream outing for 15-year-old ambidextrous wristspinner Shashini Gimhani, who picked up 3 for 9 with her left-arm wrist-spin to send Malaysia on a tailspin in the powerplay from which they couldn’t recover, making it one-way traffic from start to finish.

Vishmi Gunaratne, the half-centurion in Sri Lanka’s win over Bangladesh, was out for 1 when she tamely chipped a check drive to short cover in the second over. But that hardly had any effect on Athapaththu, who kept putting the loose balls away from time to time. She also found some help from a series of lapses by the Malaysia fielders.

Athapaththu broke the shackles in the sixth over with back-to-back boundaries and raised Sri Lanka’s half-century in the next over. For much of the first half, Athapaththu’s elegance, and not her trademark brutality, took centre stage. With hardly any pace on the ball, she innovated at times to get well outside the line to flick and sweep, allowing Harshitha Samarawickrama some breathing space to find her gears during the course of a 64-run second-wicket stand.

Athapaththu hit back-to-back sixes off her opposite number Winifred Duraisingam in the 11th over to raise her half-century off 35 balls. Even then, there was a sense that Sri Lanka weren’t fully out of the third gear. Athapaththu received a lifeline on 56 when she was put down by Dhanusri Muhunan at backward point in the 12th over. That was the trigger for her to go into overdrive.

From 85 for 2 in 11 overs, Sri Lanka made 99 in the last nine. Athapaththu made 68 off her own, a majority of those coming in the last three overs. Unbeaten on 76 off 57 at the end of the 17th over, Athapaththu hit one four and five sixes in the last three overs. This included two back-to-back sixes off Aisya Eleesa’s military medium to bring up a century in the 19th, the first-ever in the history of the Women’s Asia Cup.

Athapaththu’s modus operandi was simple. Clear the front leg and muscle the ball into the arc from long-on to deep midwicket. Malaysia were so out of depth that they operated much of the second half with barely any protection on the leg side boundary against Athapaththu.

Anushka Sanjeewani had the best seat in the house during the course of their 115-run stand off just 62 balls. Sanjeewani’s own contribution to it was 31 off 24. The only semblance of cheer for Malaysia apart from their first wicket came right at the end when Duraisingham picked up two back-to-back wickets to close out the innings.

Gimhani was one of the four changes Sri Lanka made in a bid to give everyone in the squad a run in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. And she responded by picking up three wickets, including two in two overs inside the powerplay, with her left-arm wristspin.

Gimhani imparted plenty of revs on the ball and wasn’t afraid to toss it up. Sure, the quality of the opposition wasn’t the best to challenge her, but figures of 3 for 9 from four overs will be confidence-boosting. Malaysia’s chase never took off and from 17 for 3 in the sixth over, it only kept getting worse. Aina Najwa held on defiantly to bat out 43 balls for her 9 as Malaysia were bowled out for 40 in the final over.

Elsa Hunter, who hit the only two boundaries of the Malaysia innings, was one of Gimhani’s three victims.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women 184 for 4 in 20 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 119*, Harshitha Samarawickrama 26, Anushka Sanjeewani 31; Winifred Duraisingam 2-34, Subaika Manivanna 1-32, Mahirah Izzati Ismail 1-23) beat Malaysia Women 40 in 19.5 overs (Elsa Hunter 10; Kawya Kavindi 2-07, Inoshi Priyadarshani 1-10, Shashini Gimhani 3-09, Sachini Nisansala 1-04, Ama Kanchana 1-05, Kavisha Dihari 2-04) by 144 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Molineux, Dunkley enter WPL 2027 auction with top base price of INR 50 lakh

Published

2 hours ago

2026/10/20

Priyan

Sophie Molineux has previously played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the WPL [BCCI]

A total of 146 players will be competing for 27 available slots in the WPL 2027 mini auction on October 28 in Kochi. Of these, England batter Sophia Dunkley and Australia captain Sophie Molineux are the only two players who have listed themselves at the maximum base price of INR 50 lakh.

The auction pool has 119 Indian players, including 22 capped and 97 uncapped players, with 20 slots available for Indian players. The overseas pool has 27 players – 14 capped and 13 uncapped – including six from Associate teams, with seven slots available.

G Kamalini (released by Mumbai Indians), Kiran Navigre (released by U P Warriorz), Heather Graham and Jess Jonassen have registered at the second-highest base price of INR 40 lakh, while a total of 30 players have registered at INR 30 lakh.

Among the notable absentees are West Indies allrounder Deandra Dottin, who was released by UPW, and Australia legspinner Alana King, who was released by Delhi Capitals. Lizelle Lee, who was DC’s highest run-scorer last season, has also not listed herself after being released by the franchise.

What the teams look like going into the auction

Only two English players – Dunkley and Kira Chathli (INR 10 lakh) – have registered for the auction, with several others, including Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey, Dani Gibson, Lauren Filer and Linsey Smith opting to skip the WPL next year.

Cricinfo has learned that England are likely to play three T20Is in Sri Lanka in early February, which will clash with the final week of the WPL. While the ECB is likely to allow players to stay in India to complete the tournament, most players have instead chosen to prioritise their international commitments ahead of the Champions Trophy later that month.

The relatively low salaries on offer at the WPL are also understood to be a factor in many English players deciding not to register, with most internationals earning significantly more to play in the Hundred (up to £190,000 last year) than the highest permitted base price in the WPL of INR 50 lakh (£40,000 approx).

Molineux was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru [RCB] title-winning squad in 2024, and had bagged 12 wickets in ten games at an economy rate of 7.31. She was retained by RCB for the 2025 season but a knee injury ruled her out of the season. Dunkley, meanwhile, played for Gujarat Giants [GT] in 2023 before opting not to register for the 2024 season. She went unsold in the 2025 auction.

Among the premier internationals who have listed themselves for INR 30 lakh are Australia allrounder Grace Harris (released by RCB), Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu, South Africa left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba and South Africa allrounder Chloe Tryon.

UPW, who released nine players, will go into the auction with the biggest purse of INR 3.75 crore.

[Cricinfo]

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Pakistan quicks seal win after Salman Agha ton sets tone

Published

1 day ago

2026/10/19

Priyan

Salman Agha celebrates reaching his fourth ODI hundred [Cricinfo]

Pakistan withstood a middle-order counterattack from Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage to see off Sri Lanka by 37 runs. In the first match of a tri-series that also includes England, the pair appeared to have put Sri Lanka on course with a 119-run fifth wicket partnership, with the visitors well in front and requiring just 55 from the last seven overs. Liyanage’s wicket, however, saw the bottom fall out of the side, with Sri Lanka losing their last five wickets for 15 runs to allow Pakistan to breathe a sigh of relief.

The win had been set up by Salman Agha, who marked his return to the Pakistan side with his fourth ODI hundred to hold off a collapse and steer the hosts past 300. By the 22nd over, Pakistan had lost four wickets, and looked vulnerable with a relatively long tail. However, Salman’s 90-ball 107 navigated Pakistan expertly out of danger with sizeable partnerships with Hasan Nawaz and Arafat Minhas.

Sri Lanka deprived Shaheen Afridi’s side of a big finish, though, with Eshan Malinga and Asitha Fernando striking multiple blows in the death overs to ultimately bowl Pakistan out for 305. Those runs they had left on the table looked set to cost them dear at the climax of the context. The dew had set in, and Rathnayake and Liyanage were beginning to reverse Pakistan’s early dominance that had seen them skittle Sri Lanka’s top four with few dents made to the chase.

Afridi rotated his cast of bowlers, but aside from Naseem Shah, there appeared no remedy to the free flow of runs. Haris Rauf, Minhas, Saim Ayub and Afridi himself were all worked over, particularly by Rathnayake, who was especially methodical in the way he timed his innings to dance in tune to the required rate. Afridi was sensationally blown out of the attack with a pair of pulled sixes off the hips, in stark contrast to Pakistan’s own struggles against the short ball.

A pair of tight overs from Faheem Ashraf finally induced Rathnayake into a false stroke as he spooned one to Salman at short cover, only for Dasun Shanaka to pick up the slack. But with 53 runs to go, Liyanage chipped Rauf to long-on, and Pakistan blew the house down. Afridi prised Shanaka out the following over, and though the tail limped on briefly, it was only a matter of time.

Pakistan will look back fondly at their dominance in the first 25 overs, which closely mirrored Sri Lanka’s own success in the first innings. Sri Lanka’s top order was ineffective in keeping pace with the asking rate, and Naseem bowled a tidy spell up front, which included the wicket of Avishka Fernando. Ashraf took a sharp catch after Saad Baig dropped the skier, the allrounder showing good reflexes to scoop the ball up. It was, all told, a difficult evening behind the stumps for the debutant, and, in truth, a poor day out for Pakistan’s fielders throughout the innings.

Sri Lanka’s fortune with the toss had carried over to the ODI series, and they inserted Pakistan in Rawalpindi. There was early swing on offer, but it was the extra pace from Dilshan Madushanka that accounted for both openers. Ayub and Fakhar Zaman were both undone by the short delivery, leaving Babar Azam and Baig to rebuild.

The duo put on 74 and were beginning to get the asking rate ticking upwards. However, Babar’s frustrating recent knack of giving away auspicious starts reared its familiar head once more. Malinga was Sri Lanka’s quickest bowler through the innings, and he landed one short that rushed onto Babar, who was late on the pull just five shy of a half-century. Soon after Baig, who had shown promise as well as a willingness to pull rather than back away from bouncers, miscued one himself, holing out to deep fine leg.

It was precisely the sort of situation Salman – dropped from both the Test side and T20 captaincy in the last two months – thrives in, rebuilding during the middle overs of an ODI. He did so flawlessly, halting Sri Lanka’s momentum while staying on top of the run rate, keeping the strike ticking along, and adeptly covering for Nawaz, who had made a more sluggish start. He capitalised when Sri Lanka erred by turning prematurely to Kamindu Mendis’ spin, taking 11 off the 25th over to turn momentum around.

Sri Lanka began to look more toothless with the ball through those middle overs as Salman’s comfort grew. He dominated the stand and brought up his half-century off 48 balls. Nawaz had begun to loosen his shoulders too, illustrated by a six off legspinner Sachindu Colombage, but Asitha rooted him out the following over, ending the fifth-wicket stand ay 97. Salman played a similar shepherding role with Minhas for the sixth wicket, the pair putting on 64, with Salman once again taking on the lion’s share.

Twenty-six runs came off the 44th and 45th overs, but just as Pakistan looked for a big finish, Sri Lanka’s bowlers hit back. Minhas and Salman fell trying to hit sixes, and Pakistan’s lower order soon followed, with Malinga getting rid of Ashraf and Naseem off successive balls. A pair of lusty blows from Afridi allowed Pakistan to scratch past 300.

For long stretches of Sri Lanka’s chase, it appeared as if Pakistan’s unproductiveness in those death overs would cost them. Instead, on a dewy early autumn night in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s pace attack – which shared nine wickets between them – ensured Salman’s efforts would not be wasted.

Brief scores:
Pakistan 305 in 49.5 overs (Babar Azam 45, Salman Agha 107; Eshan Malinga 4-46, Asitha Fernando 3-59, Dilshan Madushanka 2-67) beat Sri Lanka 268 in 48.1 overs (Kamindu Mendis 44, Pavan Rathnayake 79, Janith Liyanage 60; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-55, Naseem Shah 2-43, Haris Rauf 2-48, Faheem Ashraf 2-49) by 37 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Half a million people join protests in France, but some turn violent

Published

2 days ago

2026/10/18

Priyan

An estimated 550,000 people took part in demonstrations across France today to protest against teaching conditions in schools, rising fuel prices and the cost of living.

Marches were largely peaceful and took place in several major French cities, including Paris, where 110,000 people attended.

“We just want to study, we just want a future” one student taking part in the protest in the capital told BBC News, while another said they were ” just trying to make things change”.

But French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said some groups “at the margins of these protests” caused the situation to “degenerate”.

According to the French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, 1200 people were arrested. Officials also reported looting in cities such as Marseille, where masked 8ntruders also entered the city hall. In Lyon, the tourist office was set on fire and shops were damaged.

French President Emmanuel Macron said any vandals and looters would be “prosecuted and punished”, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of left-wing party La France Insoumise, said demonstrations had been calmly mobilised.

Meanwhile, firefighters are continuing to battle a blaze at Limoges City Hall after a reported break-in and arson inside the 19th-century building during protests there.

(BBC)