Sports
Athletes urge rescheduling time trial after Covid 19 force cancellation
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Lanka Athletics on Monday will consider rescheduling the performance test which was canceled following the closure of the Sugathadasa Stadium due to Covid 19 concerns yesterday.
Officials decided to cancel the performance test which was scheduled to be held over the weekend after police curfew was imposed in several areas in Colombo North including Colombo 13 where the Sugathadasa Stadium is situated.
“The test was crucial for athletes who had trained. They requested to reschedule the event. We will decide on rescheduling the trial on Monday,” national coach Y.K. Kularatne told The Island after meeting with athletes.
“The meeting was with the athletes who are staying in the hostels at Torrington. The hostels will remain open for them and they will continue to train at Torrington,” said Kularatne.
He said that the decision to cancel the two day event was due to the police curfew and the closure of the Sugathadasa Stadium.
Top national athletes were due to engage in the two-day event which was arranged to assess their strengths after a long layoff. Athletes in the super pool and hundreds of leading junior athletes had trained under trying circumstances this year with the hope of competing after the health situation of the country improved.
Sri Lanka Athletics had previously scheduled their National Trial, the first competition for the year on October 23, 24 and 25 but they were compelled to make it a low key performance trial open only to athletes in the super pool and national pools due to the second wave of Covid 19.
Officials were ready to follow a long process to obtain permission for the event as the abandonment of a trial would deny competition exposure until the Senior National Athletics Championship in December.
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IPL 2025: Buttler 73* leads Gujarat Titans past Royal Challengers Bengaluru after Siraj derails former team
Mohammed Siraj’s fiery 3 for 19 against his former team, backed up by Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 73 off 39 balls, helped Gujarat Titans (GT) spoil Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)‘s homecoming and coast to an eight-wicket victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Playing against RCB for the first time after seven years with them, Siraj returned to Bengaluru with a point to prove. Bowling at speeds in excess of 140kph, he rattled the batters in the powerplay and also picked up a key wicket in the death overs. Despite Siraj’s efforts, RCB notched up 169 for 8, riding largely on Liam Livingstone’s fifty and cameos from Jitesh Sharma and Tim David.
With the ball, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were on the mark in the powerplay for RCB. But as the ball got older, the bowling also fizzled away. While Shubman Gill fell cheaply, Sai Sudarshan and Buttler added 75 off just 47 balls to give the chase impetus. Sherfane Rutherford then came in as Impact Sub and added an unbroken 63 off 32 balls with Buttler, as GT romped home with 13 balls to spare.
This was GT’s second win in three games, while RCB’s loss was their first of IPL 2025 after two stellar wins.
Siraj has done his siuuu celebration several times at the Chinnaswamy in the last seven years. Most times, it has been met with a roaring response. On Wednesday, he went on his celebratory run twice in the powerplay to pin-drop silence. Having not been retained by RCB ahead of the auction, Siraj, now playing for GT, had matters to settle. And he did it in style.
It was his spell in the powerplay that stood out. Operating at mid-140kph, Siraj was not just bowling heat but was also precise with his lengths. According to ESPNcricinfo’s data, of the 18 balls Siraj bowled in the powerplay, six of his deliveries landed on a length, off which he picked up two wickets. More importantly, eight of his deliveries finished in line with the stumps, which meant he barely gave the batters any room to work with. RCB managed a control percentage of just 50 against Siraj in the powerplay.
Siraj should have had Phil Salt in his opening over, but Buttler dropped a sitter behind the stumps. Soon after, Siraj had the zing bails flashing when Devdutt Padikkal waltzed down the track, missed, and saw his stumps in a mess. Salt thumped Siraj for a 105m six over midwicket in his next over, to which Siraj responded by flattening Salt’s off stump with a 145.9kph thunderbolt.
Siraj later returned and picked up the key wicket of Livingstone in the 19th over to finish with 3 for 19, sending down 14 dots in his four overs.
At 42 for 4 after 6.2 overs, RCB were in big trouble. Rajat Patidar had just fallen to Ishant Sharma, and the Chinnaswamy was silent. But Jitesh made his intentions clear quite early. He got going with a stylish pull off Ishant before going big. He first brought his wrists into play to loft Ishant over long-on, and dispatched him for two more fours as RCB collected 17 runs off the ninth over.
Livingstone, at the other end, was struggling to get away before finally walloping Rashid Khan over deep square leg. Livingstone was dropped twice, and also survived a missed stumping, and made the best of his luck. Jitesh and Krunal Pandya fell in quick succession to R Sai Kishore, who picked up 2 for 22 in his four overs, which included breaking a flourishing 52-run stand between Jitesh and Livingstone in the 13th over. He tossed one up at Jitesh, who ended up skying it to long-on.
Two overs later, Sai Kishore got Krunal when the ball seemed to hold on the pitch, and a leading edge went right back to the bowler. It was after that that Livingstone took over for RCB. He broke the shackles with a huge six over deep midwicket against Rashid, while David also hit a six and a four. Despite that, RCB were struggling on 129 for 6 after 17 overs. But Livingstone pumped Rashid for three sixes in the 18th to reach his fifty off 39 balls. In all, he smashed Rashid for 39 runs off 17 deliveries, with five sixes.
RCB tonked 64 runs in the last five overs, thanks largely to David’s hitting, as he thumped 32 off 18 balls. But 169 at the innings break looked under-par.
Buttler came into this IPL under pressure. He had just quit the England white-ball captaincy after a disastrous Champions Trophy, and he had not been among the runs either. He was going to a new IPL team after flourishing with Rajasthan Royals, and was going to bat at No. 3, having mostly opened previously.
But in just three innings, Buttler has proved that nothing has changed. He was coming into the game with scores of 70*, 8, 106*, 0, 0 and 100* against RCB since IPL 2022. On Wednesday, he shored up his record further.
Buttler came in to bat with GT struggling a touch. Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar were making the ball talk, and not giving much away. Gill struck Bhuvneshwar over long-on but fell the next ball, caught at deep third. At that stage, GT were 32 for 1 after 4.4 overs.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 170 for 2 in 17.5 overs (Joss Buttler 73*, Sai Sudharsan 49, Sherfane Rutherford 30*, Shubman Gill 14; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-23, Josh Hazlwood 1-43) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 169 for 8 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 14, Rajat Patidar 12, Liam Livingstone 54, Jitesh Sharma 33, Tim David 32; Mohammed Siraj 3-19, Arshad Khan 1-17, Prasidh Krishna 1-26, Ishant Sharma 1-27, Sai Kishore 2-22) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
Punjab Kings (PBKS) bossed both the powerplays en route to their second successive win in IPL 2025. After opting to bowl on a fairly two-paced red-soil pitch, they left Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at 39 for 3 in six overs. Abdul Samad and Ayush Badoni helped LSG overcome that poor start and post 171 for 7, which was a par score according to Nicholas Pooran the holder of the Orange cap.
Pooran’s assessment, however, might have changed quickly after Prabhsimran Singh clattered a 23-ball half-century in the chase. Prabhsimran claimed 45 of the 62 runs PBKS had scored in the powerplay. There would be no way back for LSG, who suffered their second defeat in three games. Shreyas Iyer completed PBKS’ demolition job with an unbeaten 52 off 30 balls.
The first ball that Arshdeep Singh bowled to Mitchell Marsh stopped on him, seamed away from a leg-stump line, and had him skying a catch to Marco Jansen at short third. After having hit fifties in his first two innings this season, Marsh departed for a golden duck.
It was Lockie Ferguson who shared new-ball duties with Arshdeep, ahead of Jansen. Ferguson usually operates with the older ball for New Zealand and various franchises, but PBKS inverted his role on Tuesday to take advantage of a match-up with Pooran. Before this fixture, and across all T20s, Ferguson had snared Pooran four times in 17 balls at a strike rate of 7.05.
However, Ferguson ended up bowling just three balls to Pooran on the day. After being picked away for three fours by Aiden Markram, Ferguson bowled him via an inside edge for 28 off 18 balls.
With two left-handers in the form of Pooran and Risbah Pant in the middle, PBKS matched Glenn Maxwell’s offspin up with them. Maxwell removed Pant for the third time in four innings in the IPL. The IPL’s most expensive signing at INR 27 crore, Pant has managed just 17 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 65.38.
Despite wickets falling at the other end, Pooran remained positive, hitting Maxwell for back-to-back fours in the seventh over. A cat-and-mouse game then ensued between Pooran and Yuzvendra Chahal. The wristspinner’s plan was to hide the ball away from the swinging arc of Pooran with wrong’uns. In his first over, Pooran cracked his wrong ‘uns away for a brace of fours, but in his next Chahal had Pooran holing out to wide long-off for 44 off 30 balls with a loopier wrong ‘un.
When Jansen had his South African compatriot David Miller caught behind for 19 off 16 balls, LSG slipped further to 119 for 5 in the 16th over. Badoni and Samad then briefly changed the mood and tempo of the game with a 47-run partnership off only 21 balls. Samad had launched his first ball, from Jansen, for six after stepping out and then left jaws on the floor when he reverse-scooped Arshdeep over the keeper in the 18th over, which cost PBKS 20 runs. Arshdeep had both batters holing out in the final over, though, to keep PBKS below 180.
Prabhsimran relishes pace on the ball and it was no different on Tuesday. Unlike the first innings, the ball skidded onto the bat in the second, with Prabhsimran ramping Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan for six and four respectively in the first two overs.
Pant responded by throwing mystery spinner Digyesh Rathi at Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya. Rathi created a chance with his second ball, but Marsh fluffed an overhead catch at slip. The drop, though, cost LSG just one run as Rathi had Arya caught by Thakur at mid-on for 8.
Prabhsimran took down Ravi Bishnoi in the last over of the powerplay. He lined up his wrong ‘uns and slog-swept him with the turn over mid-on and square leg. He then greeted dart-it-in left-arm fingerspinner M Siddarth, who was picked ahead of Prince Yadav as LSG’s Impact Player, with a switch-hit four. He brought up his fifty in more sedate fashion with a tucked single.
It felt like LSG needed something special to dismiss Prabhsimran. That something special was a tag-team catch near the boundary from Badoni and Bishnoi. He holed out for 69 off 34 balls.
PBKS required 62 off 59 balls, which was enough for Iyer to knock off a fifty of his own. He forged an unbroken 67-run stand off 37 balls with Impact Player Nehal Wadhera to finish the job with more than three overs to spare.
PBKS established themselves as the early pace-setters, alongside Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC), in IPL 2025 with two wins in two games.
Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 177 for 2 in 16.2 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 69, Shreyas Iyer 52, Nehal Wadhera 43*; Divesh Rathi 2-30) beat Lucknow Super Giants 171 for 7 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 28, Nicholas Pooran 44, Ayush Badoni 41, David Miller 19, Abdul Samad 2; Arshdeep Singh 3 for 43, Lockie Furgeson 1-26, Glenn Maxwell 1-22, Marco Jansen 1-28, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-36) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
106th Hill Country Battle of the Blues
Arch rivals Trinity College Kandy and St. Anthony’s College Katugastota have remained as two of the highest ranked schools cricket teams in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket tournament this season. After having reached the business end of both the two-day tournament and the limited overs tournament, the two teams can take the enviable title as ‘the most successful Big Match rivals’ this season. That will serve as an inspiration for both teams when they meet for the 106th time at the annual big match starting on Thursday.
Though both teams have done equally well this season, Trinity led by Malith Rathnayake are in the annual battle as the team to beat. They have reached the finals of both the two-day tournament and the limited overs tournament.
Trinity’s strong batting line up includes one of the tournament’s highest run scorers in Dimantha Mahavithana who has a double century and four centuries against his name. Chaniru Senaratne, Pulisha Thilakaratne, Vathila Udara and Dinal Fernando have often propelled Trinity to challenging scores.
Thisal Yapa is likely to open their bowling attack, while skipper Rathnayake leads the spin department. Rathnayake is among the top ten wicket takers of the two-day tournament.
St. Anthony’s are led by Charuka Ekanayake. St. Anthony’s reached the quarter-finals of the two-day tournament under Ekanayake’s captaincy. They reached the semi-finals of the limited overs tournament where they were eliminated by the arch rivals.
Ekanayake is expected to play a lead role in both batting and bowling. He has scored over 500 runs and taken over 50 wickets with his left-arm spin. Deputy skipper Januka Rathnayake who opens batting, all rounders Kevan Ramika and Ryan Gregory and speedster Bimash Samarasinghe are the players to watch in the St. Anthony’s camp.
These two teams have often found two days of cricket insufficient to decide a winner. This year the big match is played as a three-day encounter. Both teams will be eager to end a winless stretch which is 13 years long now. No team have recorded a victory after Trinity last won under the captaincy of Niroshan Dickwella in 2012. St. Anthony’s last won under U.D. Alwis’ captaincy in 1992.
Trinity lead the victory tally 23-11. The big match has witnessed 71 encounters end in draws.
Teams
Trinity (from): Malith Rathnayake (Captain), Vathila Udara (Co Vice Captain), Dimantha Mahavithana (Co Vice Captain), Jayavi Liyanagama, Puleesha Thilakaratne, Rajindu Thilakaratne, Kavindu Jayarathne, Dinal Fernando, Sethmika Seneviratne, Adham Hilmy, Thisal Yapa, Ranul Gunaratne, Chaniru Senaratne, Kanilka Anthony, Oshana Lokuge, Praveen Rukunayake, Mahendra Abeysinghe, Viduneth Dammage, Sweath Anurajeewa.
Officials: Naveen Ekanayake (Head Coach), Thisaru Dilshan (Asst.Coach), Bryan Senaratne (Master in Charge), Bandula Pushpakumara (Trainer), Thilanka Dissanayake (Physiotherapist).
St. Anthony’s College Team with officials.
St. Anthony’s (from): Charuka Ekanayake (Captain), Januka Rathnayaka (Vice Captain), Sanuka Kalpana, Okitha Fernando, Kawshika Kumarasinghe, Kevan Fernando, Bimash Samarasinghe, Dinura Ganegoda, Rayan Gregory, Sadew Amarakoon, Naden Ebert, Thilina Edirisinghe, Dinul Wijesinghe, Nikil Abilash, Yohan Senanayake, Vishwa Thilakarathne, Imeth Rajapaksha, Kavindu Nawanjana, Dasun Welianga.
Officials: Bandula Ekanayake (MiC), Priyantha Kumara (Trainer), Kavinda Jayasooriya (Head Coach).
by Reemus Fernando
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