Sports
Big win for Thomians
Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Roundup
S. Thomas’ Mount Lavinia beat Prince of Wales by five wickets with a dominating bowling performance in the first innings in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ match at Moratuwa on Saturday. It was the only match that witnessed a result in the Tier A tournament during weekend matches.
Gimhan Mendis took four wickets and Chelan Weerasinghe and Reshon Soloman grabbed three wickets each to rattle Prince of Wales for 64 runs in the first innings.
Following on, the Cambrians were better in the second innings thanks to 70s scored by Nethul Anuhas and Oshan Silva and the unbeaten 43 scored by Nadul Aponso. The Cambrians could avoid an innings defeat thanks to these efforts but their shocking first inning collapse meant that they did not have enough runs to defend when the Thomians came to bat for the second time.
Aaron de Silva and Reshon Soloman were the main wicket takers for Thomians in the second innings.
In the batting department, it was a combined effort for Thomians. Compaired to the Cambrians, the Thomians had only a single half century -Jayden Amaraweera’s first innings 50- but there were others who contributed with 20s, 30s and 40s. The home team were largely depending on couple of batsmen.
At Darley Road, it was a big scoring draw with Trinity taking first innings points against St. Joseph’s.
Trinity had Chaniru Senarathne top scoring with 111 runs for them to post 306 for six wickets declared against the Joes’ 302. For the Joes, the back to back half centuries scored by Aveesha Samash was the highlight.
In the other Tier A match concluded over the weekend, an unbeaten 150 runs by Sisal Hemaka was the highlight as St. Anthony’s Katugastota scored first innings points against Gurukula Kelaniya.
by Reemus Fernando
Even as the smog grew thicker in the Delhi afternoon, Azmatullah Omarzai delivered an all-round performance of immense clarity to give Afghanistan their first win of this T20 World Cup. UAE had them on the mat, huffing and puffing, with 52 needed off the last five overs. The required rate, routinely achieved in the age of modern T20s, looked bigger on a pitch that had stayed slow and grippy throughout.
Omarzai eased the nerves of a close contest – Afghanistan had tied three of their previous six T20Is in India, after all – to seal the match with 6, 4, 4 off his final three balls. He finished on a 21-ball 40*, with a strike rate of 190.47 on a day when Darwish Rasooli’s 143 was their next best. Consequently, Afghanistan’s careful approach had dragged them into the final over of their chase. Two balls into it, Omarzai’s four over covers finished it off.
Despite scoring an under-par 160, UAE sensed a close contest brewing when Junaid Siddiaque had Rahmanullah Gurbaz mistiming a lofted drive to backward point on the second ball of the innings. Ibrahim Zadran’s consolidation was back to its best after a quiet start to this World Cup. He brought up a 37-ball fifty to keep them in the contest.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 162 for 5 in 19.5 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 53, Gulbadin Naib 13, Sediqullah Atal 16, Darwish Rasooli 33, Azmatullah Omarzai 40*; Junaid Siddique 2-23, Muhammad Jawadullah 1-39, Muhamad Arfan 2-30) beat UAE 160 for 9 inn20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 10, Sohaib Khan 68, Alishan Sharafu 40, Syed Haider 13, Haider Ali 13; Azmatullah Omarzai 4-15, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-31, Raashid Khan 1-24) by 5 runs
[Cricinfo]
Allrounder Amelia Kerr has been appointed New Zealand captain for all formats, taking over from Sophie Devine who retired from ODIs following the 2025 World Cup and gave up the T20I captaincy.
Kerr’s first assignment is a home ODI and T20I series against Zimbabwe later this month.
“The captaincy doesn’t change who I am, I am still the same person and will give everything I can to lead this group and hopefully bring our country success,” Kerr said in a statement from New Zealand Cricket. “One of my favourite quotes is: ‘He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tāngata, He Tāngata, He Tāngata. We are people first. As a group we look out for each other, we celebrate each other’s success and we represent our people.
“Encouraging others and building belief around us so we can all be the best we can be both as people and as cricketers.”
Kerr, 25, has played 84 ODIs and 88 T20Is since making her debut in 2016. She has 2304 ODI runs at an average of 41.14, and 106 wickets at an average of 30.61. In T20Is she’s scored 1453 runs at a strike rate of 109.74 and 95 wickets with an economy rate of 6.09. Kerr captained Wellington Blaze to back-to-back Super Smash titles in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Ben Sawyer, the New Zealand coach, hailed Kerr’s leadership ability. “Melie has been an integral member of the squad for many years and deeply understands what it means to be a White Fern and represent New Zealand,” Sawyer said. “She’s an outstanding leader not only through her performances on the field, but also in the respect she has from the playing group off it.
“She has a sound understanding of the game and has strong leadership experience from the games she has captained the White Ferns [in] and her time leading the Wellington Blaze over the past three years.
“We believe leading the White Ferns can take Melie’s game to the next level and know she’s ready to step up and lead this team forward. Melie leading this team at this stage of her career ensures we have continuity and stability through the next cycle to 2029.”
The New Zealand squads for the series against Zimbabwe will be named on February 20. The three-match T20I series begins on February 25 in Hamilton.
[Cricinfo]
In any other context, this would be an ideal palate-cleanser for England as they reset their campaign and cast their eyes forward to next week’s Super Eights in Sri Lanka. Saturday’s five wicket win over Scotland has put Harry Brook’s team on the brink of progression, alongside the Group C leaders West Indies, and it would take perhaps the most embarrassing defeat in their international history for that to fail to come to pass.
But, in the context of what we’ve witnessed of England’s campaign so far, is anyone willing, categorically, to rule it out? Not after the sensational scenes that the Azzurri set in motion in Mumbai last week, they won’t.
If England’s anxieties had been all too apparent in their last-ball victory over Nepal, then Italy’s clinical dismembering of the same opponents four days later showcased an entirely different mindset. Their joy was infectious: simply to be part of the conversation at their first cricket World Cup was one thing, but to flood the occasion with talent, optimism and courage was quite another.
By the end of that ten wicket win, with the Mosca brothers accelerating over the finish line with a combined haul of nine sixes in 76 balls, Italy were playing with a freedom and focus that England simply haven’t been able to locate since the Ashes went south in December.
Twenty-four hours earlier, England themselves had slipped to a meek defeat against West Indies, after which Brook declared his batters had been “too careful” . But as he’s been demonstrating all winter long – including with his impetuous dismissal against Scotland – that boundary between aggression and recklessness remains hard for the skipper and his team to locate.
What an irony it would be, then, if Italy’s willingness to “run towards the danger” proves their best means to close the gap on their illustrious opponents. On paper, it is clearly not a fair contest, and a big-game performance from one of England’s big guns could yet leave us wondering what all the fuss has been about: between Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Brook himself, there are at least three batters who have yet to produce the statement performance that we all know lurks within them.
It certainly shouldn’t require the sort of lion-hearted, backs-to-the-wall qualification bid that has come to epitomise England’s football World Cup clashes with Italy. If Brook emerges in a bloodied headband, Paul Ince-style, to grind his team to their target, they might as well pack their bags and call it quits now. But so much of England’s long winter campaign has been played in the head. Right now, they seem a little stuck inside their own thoughts.
Whether it’s symptom or cause remains to be seen, but Jos Butter’s displays so far in this tournament have been rather anodyne. His first two innings, against Nepal and West Indies, produced a pair of 20s that ended at precisely the moment that he usually seizes control, and though he reached 4000 T20I runs against Scotland, he didn’t get past the second over. At the age of 35, this may be his last realistic chance to drive England deep into a World Cup campaign. The good news is that he should have plenty time left in the tournament to find his best form. The bad news for England will come if he can’t locate it.
High-quality legspin has been a vital weapon in the tournament to date, and no player was more important to Italy’s stunning win over Nepal than their own such weapon, Crishan Kalugamage. His figures of 3 for 18 not only ripped the heart out of Nepal’s batting, they came just days after England’s mighty Adil Rashid had been beasted by the same opponents at a rate of 14 an over, on one of the worst days out of his 17-year career. In a game where his team have nothing to lose, but against opponents whose anxieties against spin have been a defining feature of their performances, the stage is his to give it a rip and see what happens.
Despite their nervy displays so far, England’s team remains broadly settled. Jamie Overton for Luke Wood has been their only change to date, and Overton’s form suggests he’ll continue. The reserves – Wood, Josh Tongue, Ben Duckett and Rehan Ahmed – were the only players to attend optional training on Sunday.
England: (probable) Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (capt), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
Harry Manenti’s first outing as captain, in the wake Wayne Madsen’s shoulder dislocation, could not have gone more swimmingly against Nepal. With Madsen still hors de combat, he will lead his team once more.
Italy: (probable) Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, JJ Smuts, Marcus Campopiano, Harry Manenti (capt), Ben Manenti, Grant Stewart, Gian-Piero Meade (wk), Jaspreet Singh, Crishan Kalugamage, Ali Hasan
[Cricinfo]
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