Sports
Avishka delivers knockout punch to Dambulla Giants
By Roscoe Thattil from Suriyawewa
A stunning Avishka Fernando century delivered the knockout punch to Dambulla Giants, as they went down by 24 runs to the Jaffna Kings in Hambanthota on Tuesday.
Giants skipper Niroshan Dickwella played into the hands of the Kings when he opted to field first after winning the toss. Batting first and posting big totals has been a strength of Jaffna throughout the tournament.
A couple of early dropped catches by the Giants proved to be very costly as the opening duo of Fernando and Rahmanullah Gurbaz posted 122 for the first wicket. Gurbaz pulled up a hamstring just after reaching his half-century before he was eventually dismissed for 70 runs which came off just 40 balls.
Fernando wasn’t done though as he continued on his merry way before reaching his century off his 63rd ball as the Kings went past the magical 200-run mark. His knock included ten fours and four towering sixes as Jaffna finished on 210/4 in their twenty overs.
The Dambulla Giants’ bowlers had no answers to the onslaught by the Kings batters with Chamika Karunaratne conceding 53 off his four overs while only Nuwan Pradeep and Imran Tahir had economy rates of under ten.
The Giants had no option but to come out swinging from ball one and got to a brisk start as Niroshan Dickwella and Phil Salt put on 39 for the opening wicket in just over three overs but both of them were dismissed in the space of two overs as the Giants found it hard to keep up with the required run rate.
Maheesh Theekshana was the chief destroyer bowling out his quota of four overs in the first half of the innings returning impressive figures of 2/23. The lanky West Indian quick Jayden Seales’ pace and bounce were too hot to handle for the Giants middle order as he accounted for Sandun Weerakkody and Ramesh Mendis in quick succession.
The Dambulla Giants never really recovered from losing the top half of their batting and were eventually defeated by the all-round disciplined Jaffna Kings unit. Karunaratne though fought till the end with an entertaining half-century but could not prevent his team from going down by 24 runs.
The boys from up north will now meet the Galle Gladiators in the final of the LPL 2021 in Hambantota today (23). Interestingly Jaffna Kings have lost the three games they played against Galle Gladiators in the 2021edition. It will also be the repeat of the 2020 LPL final.
Corbin Bosch has been served legal notice by the PCB, alleging breach of contractual obligations, after the South Africa allrounder signed for Mumbai Indians for IPL 2025, thus pulling out of PSL 2025.
This season is the first in which the PSL will be played concurrently with the IPL: The IPL will run from March 22 to May 25, and the PSL from April 11 to May 18. Bosch had been picked by Peshawar Zalmi, in the diamond category, at the PSL draft that was held in January. But on March 8, it was announced by Mumbai Indians that he would be replacing the injured Lizaad Williams in their squad.
The PSL franchises have been keen to take some sort of action on Bosch, as they are worried it could set a precedent for players signing up with the PSL but then switching to the IPL. The idea of an outright ban on such players has also been floated in informal discussions.
A PCB statement said: “The legal notice was served through his agent, and the player has been asked to justify his actions of withdrawing from his professional and contractual commitments. The PCB management has also outlined the repercussions of his departure from the league and expects his response within the stipulated time frame. The PCB will not make any further comments on the matter.”
The statement did not specify what the time frame was for Bosch to respond.
The PCB had shifted the PSL window with a view to improve the quality and availability of overseas players whom the league would be able to sign. When the PSL was in the February-March window, it also had to compete with the SA20, ILT20 and the BPL for players. ESPN Cricinfo had reported last year when the window was changed that holding the PSL draft after the IPL auction had also been discussed, to have greater clarity about the availability of overseas players for the league. Leading into this season, the IPL auction was held in November 2024 and the PSL draft in January 2025.
The PSL draft duly attracted a large number of high-profile players, including David Warner, Daryl Mitchell, Jason Holder, Rassie van der Dussen and Kane Williamson.
[Cricinfo]
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Kandy Sports Club crowned themselves as ‘Cup Championship’ winners in the inter-club league rugby tournament when they overcame their final hurdle by beating Havelocks Sports Club by 50 points to 24 at Nittawela last evening.
Kandy SC was anyway assured of the title this season before this final game of the season even began, given that they were unbeaten thus far in the league tournament. Kandy SC collected their points through seven tries, six conversions and a penalty while Havelocks Sports Club responded with a three converted tries and a penalty.
Kandy SC set the pace for the game from the kick off itself and recorded first half tries through Dinal Ekanayake, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Kenula Hettiarachchi and Dahan Wickremaarachchi and all four conversions were slotted in by Tharinda Ratwatte. Havelocks SC got most of their points in the first half through Sandesh Jayawickreme who scored a try and booted through a conversion. The penalty for the Park Club was kicked right by Samuel Maduwantha.
Kandy SC faced some resistance from Havies after the turn around, but the side from Nittawela found the try line by breaking through a barrage of tackles from the men wearing the pink and chocolate jerseys.
Dahan Wickremaarachchi started the ball rolling for Kandy with a try after the turn around which took the side’s score to 38 with the conversion. Havies played in patches thereafter and scored through Jayathu Rajaratne and Janidu Fernando. Jayawickreme was spot on with the conversions.
Kandy’s Ethen Schneider Loos smashed his way through for the side’s sixth try which was converted by Ratwatte. Kandy had the game in the bag despite Havies playing attacking rugby whenever they had possession. But the score line deference that Kandy maintained throughout the game made it hard for Havies to make a real comeback into the game.
The Nittwala side erupted in jubilation when Ekanayake punted ahead and sent crowd favourite Nigel Ratwatte for the seventh and final try. There was speculation throughout the game that this would be Nigel’s final game for the Kandy SC side. Surprisingly Tharinda missed the conversion.
At the awards presentation ceremony after the game, Kandy Sports Club’s Tharinda Ratwatte was named as the highest points scorer for the 2024/25 league rugby season. He has accumulated 139 points this season.
Havelocks Sports produced the highest try scorer for the season. That award went to Jayathu Rajaratne of Havies. He has had 16 touchdowns this season. Havelocks Sports Club had to be satisfied with the runners-up trophy at the awards presentation. Players from both sides including the coaching staff were presented with medals by the organisers of the tournament.
Meanwhile CR&FC did well in their last outing in the Cup Championship segment of the league tournament when they beat Air Force by 31 points to 16 at Longden Place.
In the two Plate Segment matches, Sri Lanka Navy beat Sri Lions by 41 points to 38 at Race Course.In the other match of the Plate segment, Police SC beat Army SC by 24 points to 17. The match was played at Police Park.
Mutthusami Sivarajan and Rasara Wijesuriya won the men’s and women’s Cross Country Championships of the National Sports Festival conducted in Nuwara Eliya.
Sivarajan representing Central Province returned a time of 34 minutes and 21 seconds to finish ahead of Samantha Pushpakumara and Damith Hemantha Kumara.
In the women’s category, Wijesuriya from Eastern Province clocked 38 minutes and 41 seconds finish ahead of Madhushani Herath and Chamini Herath.
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