Sports
Bloomfield end 15-year drought with First-Class triumph
by Rex Clementine
Bloomfield finally broke their 15-year title drought, clinching the First-Class championship with a first-innings win over NCC in the final at R. Premadasa Stadium on Saturday. The two teams, having dominated their respective groups, squared off in the four-day final, with NCC walking in as the fancied side, boasting a half-dozen Sri Lankan internationals. But cricket, as they say, is a great leveler. A marathon double-century from Ron Chandraguptha turned the tide, propelling Bloomfield past the 500-run mark in the first innings and effectively sealing the deal.
Chandraguptha, a former Trinity College star, has been piling on the runs in domestic circuit, and with Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne stepping aside, he might just be in the selectors’ thoughts. His innings was the backbone of Bloomfield’s dominance, as he first stitched together a 119-run opening stand with fellow Trinitian Hasitha Boyagoda (52) and then built an unassailable 200-run partnership with Asitha Wanninayake (96). The former St. Anthony’s Katugastota opener was cruelly run out, just four short of what would have been a well-deserved century.
But there was no stopping Chandraguptha. In searing Colombo heat, he batted for two full days, anchoring Bloomfield to a commanding 508.
NCC, in reply, could only muster 312, with leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay weaving his magic to claim four wickets. With a near 200-run lead heading into the final day, Bloomfield had only one job – bat sensibly, avoid a collapse, and secure the title on a first-innings win.
Bloomfield were the underdogs but a maiden double hundred by Ron Chandraguptha sealed the deal for them.
At 41 for three, there was a slight wobble, but Wanninayake, playing with a steely resolve, soaked up the pressure and posted a back-to-the-wall hundred. His knock ensured NCC had no opening to push for an outright result. If the selectors were watching, he certainly sent a timely reminder that he belongs in the big league.
This victory is a massive shot in the arm for Bloomfield, a club that has faced its fair share of off-field turbulence. They lost a key revenue stream when the Urban Development Authority (UDA) took over ownership of the telecom towers at their premises. To make matters worse, their clubhouse was nearly repurposed for a hotel project aimed at supporting the adjacent rugby facility. Against this backdrop of struggle, lifting the First-Class title is a triumph worth savouring.
For NCC, Lahiru Udara stood tall, continuing his prolific domestic season with a sparkling 145, but his efforts weren’t enough to take his side over the line. He finished as the leading run-scorer of the season with 787 runs in 14 innings at an average of 56, while Chandraguptha wasn’t far behind, accumulating 729 runs at 48.
In the league phase, Bloomfield won four of their eight matches, a feat matched only by Moors. Bloomfield topped Group ‘A’, while NCC edged out Moors in Group ‘B’ to book their place in the final.
The biggest shock of the season, however, came from SSC, a powerhouse of Sri Lankan cricket, being relegated. Along with them, Ragama Cricket Club, Negombo Cricket Club, and Kandy Customs have lost their First-Class status for the next two seasons.
Sri Lanka Cricket has swung the axe on the bloated domestic structure, cutting the number of First-Class teams to 14 next season, with a further reduction to 12 the following year. The move aims to inject more quality and competitiveness into domestic cricket, ensuring the cream rises to the top.
For now, though, it’s Bloomfield who are raising their glasses at Reid Avenue, celebrating a long-awaited triumph – a victory forged in grit, resilience, and a touch of brilliance from Ron Chandraguptha.
Mumbai Indians (MI) put together a third straight win in IPL 2025 as they outgunned a Chennai Super Kings (CSK) side shorn of hitting power. The lack of batting showed in how they played a highly cagey brand of cricket, only targeting certain pockets and conceding match-ups without protest. It took them three overs to hit a boundary, then they went 27 balls in the middle overs without even attempting one, only to cap it off with no boundary in the 17th and 18th overs, bowled by MI’s best bowlers on the night: Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Santner.
Not only did MI manage a run-rate boost with the win that takes them to eight points in eight matches, they also welcomed Rohit Sharma back to runs. Rohit scored his first fifty this IPL – his previous highest was 26 – they put together their first half-century opening stand this IPL, and Suraykumar Yadav got the better of CSK’s spin threat with his various sweeps.
This match was played on the pitch that produced 430 runs for RCB and MI. The toss, as usual, was a big advantage at Wankhede. Which should make it important to look for above-par scores, but CSK took the pragmatic route: don’t risk 120 all out looking for 200. Consequently, their openers tested waters for too long, timing shots straight to fielders. When Shaik Rasheed finally hit one in the air, and for a four, CSK had only 16 in three overs.
Rachin Ravindra by now felt he had to target the change bowler without a sighter. He looked to go big down the ground, and edged the first ball by Ashwani Kumar. His replacement at the wicket, CSK’s younger player of all time, the 17-year-old Aush Mhatre injected some life to the innings with flair reminiscent of Dwayne Bravo. It still meant only 48 runs in the powerplay. The unperturbed MI stayed with Deepak Chahar for a fourth straight over, eventually resulting in the legcutter that got Mhatre out for 32 off 15.
Santner produced a beauty in the eighth over at 77kmph to have Rasheed stumped on the defence, but that brought together Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja. They have batting behind these two, but it’s MS Dhoni, Jamie Overton and Vijay Shankar. So these two decided not to hit anything even though their coming together meant Santner was taken off despite figures of 2-0-8-1. Put together, CSK didn’t make a boundary attempt between Mhatre’s dismissal and the return of Boult in the 12th over.
To be fair to CSK, they did well when they went after Boult and Ashwani, taking 85 in the six overs bowled by them. Dube raced away from 16 off 19 to a 30-ball fifty even as Jadeja hovered around a run a ball. However, when Bumrah got Dube with a slower ball, it allowed MI to bring back Santner for the 18th over because Dhoni and Jadeja were in the middle.
Santner bowled the 18th without a boundary, and it was only a late surge from Jadeja off Boult in the last over that took CSK to a modicum of respectability.
MI have been resurgent in recent times, but they might feel this was the final missing piece in the puzzle. A sizeable opening partnership, and Rohit carrying on from a quick start. He was severe on early errors from the quick bowlers, haring away to 32 off 18 in the powerplay, hitting three sweetly timed sixes. Only R Ashwin managed to keep him quiet. However, he went on to get the better of Ashwin when he slog-swept him for a six in the eighth over.
That six still didn’t take Rohit to a run a ball in his head-to-head against Ashwin in all these years, but it must have provided him a sense of victory against his old foe. Rohit was not the only one getting better of nemeses. Suryakumar entered this match with just 50 runs and four dismissals off 65 Jadeja deliveries. It was Jadeja that brought Suryakumar into the middle with the wicket of Ryan Rickleton in the seventh over. In the ninth over, Surya drove Jadeja over extra cover for four followed by a swept six, his first career six off Jadeja.
This was only a harbinger of what was to come. In all, Surya played nine sweeps for a whopping 35 runs. Three of them flew over the ropes, four others ended in the advertising boards. He outpaced Rohit with ease, and his flourish made sure MI got a bit net-run-rate boost, winning with 4.2 overs to spare.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians177 for 1 in 15.4 overs (Ryan Rickelton 24, Rohit Sharma 76*, Suryakumar Yadav 68*; Ravindra Jadeja 1-28, Matheesha Pathirana 0-34) beat Chennai Super Kings 176 for 5 in 20 overs (Shaik Rasheed 19, Ayush Mhatre 32, Ravindra Jadeja 53*, Shivam Dube 50; Jasprit Bumrah 2-25, Deepak Chahar 1-32, Ashwani Kumar 1-42, Mitchell Sabtner 1-14) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
Zimbabwe dealt an early blow on Bangladesh, after they bowled out the home side for 191 runs on the first day of the Sylhet Test wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani led the charge with three wickets each while Victor Nyauchi and Wessley Madhevere provided impressive support with their two wickets apiece.
The visitors finished the day on a good note too, as their openers Ben Curran and Brian Bennett saw off the 14.1 overs unscathed, with 67 runs on the board. Zimbabwe couldn’t have asked for a better start in a venue where they also beat Bangladesh seven years ago. Bangladesh’s batting woes continued despite a five-month break from Test cricket. They have now been bowled out for under 200 for the sixth time in their last ten Test innings.
Bangladesh’s top order once again didn’t provide them the start. The middle order collapsed too, from 98 for 2, to lose four wickets for 48 runs, after a bit of recovery. Monimul Haque top-scored with 56 while captain Najimul Hossain Shanto made 40, but neither converting to big scores after making starts.
It was Nyauchi who provided Zimbabwe with their first pair of breakthroughs in the first hour. He broke Bangladesh’s opening stand with his fourth ball, when Shadman Islam edged Nyauchi’s wide delivery to gully. Brian Bennett took a splendid catch diving forward. Nyauchi removed Mahmudul Hasan Joy in his next over, bowling an impeccable line, to get the right-hander caught behind for 14.
At the other end, Mominul was dropped before opening his account. Wicketkeeper Nyasha Mayavo couldn’t hold on to the chance that came off Mominul’s bat when he tried to avoid Muzarabani’s short ball. Bangladesh still went to lunch on 84 for 2, after seeing off Zimbabwe’s threat with the new ball.
The visitors however weren’t done yet. Muzarabani peppered Shanto with plenty of short deliveries after lunch. The break lasted an extra thirty minutes due to rain. Shanto, having struck six fours in his knock, couldn’t keep another Muzarabani short ball down, giving Wessly Madhevere a simple catch at point.
Still there was hope for Bangladesh’s two most experienced batters – Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul – to steady the ship. Instead, their dismissals sparked a collapse.
Mushfiqur followed the captain back to the pavilion after making four, when he gave Mazakadza a gift of a wicket in his first over. Mushfiqur couldn’t quite believe it when he struck Masakadza to short midwicket where Bennett completed the catch.
Mominul was next to go, swiping Masakadza to short midwicket after making 56. It was perhaps Mominul’s push for quicker runs that prompted the shot, but it looked too soft in the circumstance. Muzarabani brought back his short-ball prescription for Mehidy Hasan Miraz, knocking him out almost with a brute of a delivery. Mehidy was caught napping in his fourth ball, awkwardly gloving the ball to wicketkeeper Mayavo for a simple catch.
The tail caved in quickly with Jaker Ali on the other end. Taijul Islam was caught behind down the leg-side giving Masakadza his third wicket. Muzarabani clean bowled Hasan Mahmud, before Madhevere removed Jaker and Nahid Rana in the same over to bowl out Bangladesh in the 61st over.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 67 for no loss (Brian Bennett 40*, Ben Curran 17*) trail Bangladesh 191 in 61 overs (Mominul Haque 56, Nojimul Hossain Shanto 40, Jaker Ali 28; Wellington Masakadza 3-21, Blessing Muzarabani 3-50, Victor Nyauchi 2-74, Wessley Madghevere 2-02) by 124 runs
[Cricinfo]
Another away game, another Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) win in IPL 2025, it was their fifth in five matches and this one has taken them to ten points and third on the points table. Less than 48 hours after going down at home, RCB went up north to Mullanpur and exacted revenge from Punjab Kings (PBKS) in comprehensive fashion.
The RCB bowlers hardly gave away anything as PBKS were restricted to 156 for 7. In reply, the chasemaster Virat Kohli was at it again as he recorded his 67th fifty-plus score in the IPL, the most for any batter. Devdutt Padikkal also recorded his first IPL fifty of the season as RCB romped home with seven balls to spare and by seven wickets.
RCB had no hesitation in bowling on what Rajat Patidar called a “decent” surface. For the first six overs, it seemed that it was more than just decent as PBKS smashed 62 in the powerplay with Prabhsimran Singh going big.
Then the RCB spinners came to the fore, and it was one-way traffic thereon. Krunal Pandya picked 2 for 25 in his four overs, Suyash Sharma returned 2 for 26 as RCB put a lid on the scoring in the middle overs. Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar then put on a death-bowling masterclass, hardly giving PBKS an inch.
In the chase, Arshdeep Singh got Phil Salt for the fourth time in T20s, but Kohli and Padikkal added 103 off 69 balls for the second wicket to keep RCB on track. Even as Padikkal and Patidar fell, Kohli held his own to remain unbeaten on 73 off 54 as RCB kept their 100% away record intact.
There is an inevitability when it comes to Kohli and chasing middling totals. He seems to have the scoring all mapped out. How many runs to get, the required rate, when to attack, when to hold himself back. A 158-chase gave him all those liberties. He hit five fours in his first 20 balls, all inside the powerplay. Then for the next 24 balls, he hit none. He was content with taking the ones and the twos, handing back the strike to the more aggressive Padikkal, but ensured he stayed put. He struck two fours and a six after recording his fifty off 43 balls, and stayed unbeaten till the end to take RCB over the line with plenty to spare.
Kohli’s 73* was his 67th fifty-plus score in the IPL, which is the most for any batter in the history of the league. That it came in an RCB win will please Kohli to no end.
It’s been a patchy IPL 2025 for Padikkal. In fact, it’s been a patchy couple of years in the IPL. His last fifty in the league came in IPL 2023, incidentally against PBKS when he was playing for Rajasthan Royals. But when it mattered, he’s come good.
Padikkal was beaten on the upper-cut first ball. That didn’t deter him, and he went again the next ball and carved Arshdeep over the keeper for four. With Kohli going strong, he took the aggressive route. There was an all-run four before he thumped Xavier Bartlett across the line for six. Harpreet Brar was spanked for four before Yuzvendra Chahal was whacked across the line for six. Padikkal raced to his fifty off 30 balls.
He got a high-five from Kohli, and as he raised his bat, for the first time in 14 IPL innings and the first time since May 2023, there was a certain amount of relief on Padikkal’s face.
He celebrated by going 4 and 6 against Marcus Stoinis before finally holding out to long-on for a 35-ball 61 but not before giving RCB a certain amount of cruise control in the chase.
The story, however, looked quite different six overs into the match. Bhuvneshwar, who has a good match-up against Prabhsimran, started with a two-run first over. The next five, though, belonged to PBKS. Priyansh Arya’s pick-up pull off Yash Dayal got the hosts’ six counter running. He drove Dayal through covers again before Prabhsimran smashed Bhuvneshwar for three fours in the third over: a guide past short third, a slap through point and pull through midwicket.
Arya and Prabhsimran took 23 off Hazlewood’s first two overs. Arya fell to Krunal, his top-edge going as far as mid-off but at 62 for 1 after six, the powerplay was PBKS’ all the way through.
RCB have often relied on their pacers for the wickets so far this season. On Sunday, it was the RCB spinners coming to the fore. Prabhsimran failed to clear long-on first ball after the powerplay and was caught by David at long-on. Shreyas Iyer then fell soon after for 6 caught splendidly by Krunal moving to his left from long-on with Romario Shepherd picking his first wicket for the season. It’s been an all-or-nothing season for Iyer. In eight innings, he’s had three fifty-plus and five sub-ten scores.
A needless run out had Nehal Wadhera walking back before Suyash sent back Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis in a single over as PBKS slipped to 114 for 6 after 14. PBKS managed only 67 runs and lost five wickets in the middle overs (between seven to 17), and that was always going to hurt them.
By the time the 17th over arrived, Marco Jansen and Shashank Singh were relatively set. Both these batters have an impressive death-overs strike rate and can hit a long ball. Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood though had other ideas.
The duo put in a proper masterclass in death bowling and left PBKS nowhere. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, the duo landed eight yorkers in the last four overs, and gave away just one boundary – a six off the final ball of the innings. PBKS did not lose a wicket in these four overs but could only manage 28 runs, and that was never going to be enough.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 159 for 3 in 18.5 overs (Virat Kohli 73*, Devuutt Padikkal 61, Rajat Patidar 12; Jitesh Sharma 11*; Arshdeep Singh 1-26, Harpreet Brar 1-27, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-36) beat Punjab Kings 157 for 6 in 20 overs (Priyansh Arya 22, Prabhsimran Singh 33, Josh Inglis 29, Shashank Singh 31*, Marco Jansen 25*; Krunal Pandya 2-25,Romairo Shepherd 1-18, Suyash Sharma 2-26) by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
-
Business3 days agoDIMO pioneers major fleet expansion with Tata SIGNA Prime Movers for ILM
-
Features5 days agoNipping the two leaves and the bud
-
Features5 days agoAvurudu celebrations … galore
-
Features4 days agoProf. Lal Tennekoon: An illustrious but utterly unpretentious and much -loved academic
-
News2 days agoFamily discovers rare species thought to be extinct for over a century in home garden
-
Foreign News2 days agoChina races robots against humans in Beijing half marathon
-
Latest News6 days agoTrump freezes $2bn in Harvard funding after university rejects demands
-
News5 days agoCounsel for Pilleyan alleges govt. bid to force confession