Sports
Brothers Murali and Prabu Empower Rural Nuwara Eliya with the Foundation of Goodness
Sri Lanka’s Nuwara Eliya District is famed for its picturesque views, flourishing tea estates and awe inspiring waterfalls. The colder climate also makes it a favourite destination among local and international visitors. However, among the beauty of this district are rural communities that struggle everyday to afford their basic necessities.
This district is home to some of the most under-served rural Sri Lankan communities, consisting mostly of tea estate workers and daily wage earners. Unfortunately, these communities are often marginalized with little or no support to elevate them from the vicious cycle of poverty that they are trapped in.
It is against this backdrop that the Foundation of Goodness recently established not just one but three Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres in Ragala, Kothmale and Hatton in the Nuwara Eliya District. These Empowerment Centres provide free educational, vocational and sports courses such as English Language training, dressmaking, computer training and STEM education, and act as the nerve centre of the village by empowering its population. These new skills provide a step up for rural beneficiaries to better their lives and open new doors of opportunity.
Recently, the Foundation of Goodness together with Founder Kushil Gunasekera and Centre sponsors, Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran, Muthiah Prabagaran and Snackings (Pvt) Ltd declared open the Kothmale and Hatton Centres.
“Murali is someone very passionate about giving and caring for the less privileged and since both Murali and his brother Prabu pledged to establish these productive village empowerment centres, they delivered their promise to match their word of honour. He is well aware of the prevailing circumstances in the tea estate communities and as such the numbers registered exceeding 4,000 is a record breaking achievement from all our 15 centres that demonstrates the need to provide facilities of this kind for their progress,” said Kushil Gunasekera.
The Centre in Ragala located in a tea estate will benefit 1150 rural villagers from 14 villages in the locality. The Kothmale Centre has registered over 1721 rural villagers from 20 villages while the Hatton VHE Centre will empower 1198 villagers from 11 villages.
In total, these Centres will benefit over 4,000 rural Sri Lankans from 45 villages, giving them access to opportunities brought by the Foundation of Goodness that go beyond educational and vocational training, such as educational scholarships, overseas competitions and mentorship.
The total number of Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres established across Sri Lanka by the Foundation of Goodness now stands at 14, empowering over 10,971 rural beneficiaries from 150 villages.
The Foundation of Goodness recognises the extraordinary contribution made towards growing our reach to the central highlands of Sri Lanka by Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran together with his brother Muthiah Prabagaran and Snacking PVT Ltd. Murali always keeps FoG in his heart and over the years, he has donated the entirety of many of his endorsement fees and has now launched his Cameo celebrity promotions exclusively in aid of FoG, ensuring that thousands of rural Sri Lankans across the island receive empowerment courses free of charge, urgent medical and welfare needs and helps improve rural sports development. He constantly promotes the Foundation of Goodness and truly believes in the vision for a better Sri Lanka.
The Foundation of Goodness was established in 1999 and has worked extensively to develop a one of a kind holistic rural community development model that seeks to bridge the urban-rural divide. In 2021 alone, despite struggles brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation of Goodness delivered a wide range of programmes to over 68,000 beneficiaries from 900+ villages across Sri Lanka, free of charge. In addition to its flagship venue and project headquarters, the OYOB Centre of Excellence and Sports Academy in Seenigama, the Foundation of Goodness has also branched out to offer its key courses and resources to distant rural villages via Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres which strive to empower disadvantaged communities so that they may have equal opportunities to excel in life. As the nerve centre of the village, the Village Heartbeat concept works to give underprivileged villagers access to skills that will enable them to develop to their full potential.
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle scored their second outright victory of the season and the first in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ cricket tournament as Senuka Dangamuwa came up with his best bowling figures of the season to halt a fighting Moratu Vidyalaya outfit in Galle on Thursday.
After Arosha Udayanga anchored the tail with an unbeaten 41 runs for Mahinda to post 252 runs, the visitors resisted by posting their highest total of the tournament (200). Skipper Isuru Nidharshana was responsible for more than half of their score as he anchored the top order batting line up with a century. His knock of 105 runs came in 146 balls (12x4s, 1×6). Hasidu Gimsara came up with a 37-ball 46 runs which included four fours and three sixes.
However, their 67 overs of resistance could not prevent them from conceding defeat. Dangamuwa with a six wicket haul was the main wicket taker for Mahinda.
Mahinda only needed 45 runs to win and they reached the target for the loss of two wickets in seven overs.
It is the first outright victory for Mahinda in their group.
Meanwhile, Sri Sumngala, Panadura topped 300 runs against Wesley at Campbell Park. Neksha Iddamalgoda top scored with 119 runs, while Rusith Jayawardana (83) and Sandeep Wijerathne (92) made valuable half centuries.
Results
Mahinda beat Moratu Vidyalaya in Galle
Scores
Moratu Vidyalaya 96 all out in 45.2 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 31, Shehara Fernando 20; Arosha Udayanga 5/35) and 200 all out in 67.2 overs (Isuru Nidharshana 105, Sanjana Senavirathne 20, Hasindu Gimsara 46; Kaveen Rukshan 2/50, Senuka Dangamuwa 6/65)
Mahinda 213 for 9 overnight 252 all out in 61.5 overs (Dulsith Darshana 106, Senuka Dangamuwa 50, Arosha Udayanga 41n.o.; Isuru Nidharshana 2/72, Nishitha Fernando 5/60) and 48 for 2 in 6.3 overs (Dulsith Dharshana 24)
Sri Sumangala post 330 at Campbell Park
Scores
Sri Sumangala 330 for 7 decl. in 84.3 overs (Rusith Jayawardana 83, Neksha Iddamalgoda 119, Sandeep Wijerathne 92; Dinuja Samararathna 3/104)
Wesley 45 for 1 in 13 overs
Through Dane Paterson’s five-fer, Corbin Bosch’s four-wicket haul on debut and Aiden Markram’s gutsy 47*, South Africa ended Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan in a better position compared to the visitors. They finished at 82 for 3 at Stumps, trailing Pakistan’s 211 by 129 runs.
Despite Kagiso Rabada being the best bowler in terms of line and length for the hosts, he remained wicketless after testing the batters on both sides of the willow.
The hosts quickly managed to pick up the last wicket of Khurram Shahzad three balls into the final session bringing a strange Pakistan innings to an end who were aggressive despite losing regular clumps of wickets.
Markram then got South Africa’s innings underway with an elegant straight drive to the boundary but Shahzad accounted for his partner Tony de Zorzi as he rattled the stumps. With a peach of a delivery, Shahzad got one to seam inwards and had de Zorzi bowled for just two. Ryan Rickelton survived a review after he shouldered arms to a ball which came inwards but fortunately for him was missing the off-stump.
Markram punished two poor deliveries for four off Mohammad Abbas as he moved into double digits but Shahzad scalped his partner, getting him to nick behind to the ‘keeper. Markram and new batter Tristan Stubbs steadied the ship with a 44-run partnership which was dominated by the former. Markram played the ball with soft hands and guided testing deliveries to the fence along with pouncing on any width on offer.
Stubbs, who made only nine, was dismissed in an unfortunate manner with the ball keeping low and trapping him LBW. Skipper Temba Bavuma and Markram then played out the remaining overs to take South Africa to Stumps without any further wickets.
Earlier on, Pakistan survived the first hour of play unscathed but the introduction of Bosch changed the course of the game immediately. Shan Masood drove loosely away from his body, edging one to Marco Jansen at gully, off Bosch’s first ball in Test cricket before Paterson picked up Saim Ayub.
Babar Azam scored only four while Saud Shakeel played a strange six-ball 14 in a mindlessly aggressive innings as Pakistan had fallen to 56 for 4 before Lunch.
Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Rizwan resurrected the innings with an 81-run stand but the former threw his wicket almost immediately after reaching his milestone, as Paterson struck in the first over of his fresh spell. Ghulam had played a wild swipe to deep backward-square leg.
Salman Agha too raced off the blocks with a boundary but Rizwan fell soon after edging one to slips as Paterson picked up his fourth. Salman and Aamer Jamal attempted to resurrect the innings with a mini partnership of 47 runs in quick time before a mini collapse ensued as Jamal chopped one back on to his stumps before Salman and Naseem Shah departed within the next eight balls.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan 211 (Kamran Ghulam 54, Aamer Jamal 28; Dane Paterson 5-35, Corbin Bosch 4-24) lead South Africa 82/3 (Aiden Markram 47*, Tristan Stubbs 9; Khurram Shahzad 2-28, Mohammad Abbas 1-36) by 129 runs.
With his family and well-wishers watching along from the Queens Sports Club balcony, Zimbabwe’s veteran batter Sean Williams celebrated his fifth Test ton in Bulawayo to give the hosts the upper hand in the Boxing Day Test against Afghanistan, as they finished on 363 for 4.
Williams not only negated Afghanistan’s spin challenge comfortably but also dominated the other bowlers to finish unbeaten on 145. His control percentage of 90 on a surface that offered decent turn right from the start of play displayed just that, with the inexperienced Afghanistan bowling attack – the visitors were missing Rashid Khan for the Test owing to personal reasons – looking both deflated and bruised by the end of it.
Walking in at the start of the second session to face his first ball with Zimbabwe at 92 for 2, Williams relied on his footwork to get on top of the bowling. Usually a frequent sweeper, Williams, on this occasion, took to the cuts, drives and pulls to shepherd the Zimbabwe innings. With Afghanistan not offering anything too full knowing Williams’ love for the sweep, he countered the bowlers’ lengths by rocking back or going on to the front foot with equal ease.
When Williams charged down the track, he lifted sixes over long-on and long-off. When he hung back, he created the time to slap boundaries through the off side. Williams’ enterprising batting earned him a half-century off 58 balls, and a century off 115.
But Williams’ innings wasn’t the only one to help Zimbabwe finish the day on a high. Opener Ben Curran, one of three Zimbabwe debutants and one of six across the two XIs, set the tone early with 68 off 74 balls. He welcomed fellow debutant Azmatullah Omarzai into Test cricket with a boundary off the allrounder’s first ball in the format, before unleashing ten more boundaries.
Curran was the majority contributor in a 43-run opening partnership with Joylord Gumbie (9), and a 49-run second-wicket stand with Takudzwanashe Kaitano (46), but fell to teen debutant AM Ghanzafar in the last over before lunch after a wrong’un sneaked through his defence to knock his stumps back.
Kaitano and Dion Myers (27), batting at No. 5, could not make full use of their starts, but their time in the middle ensured Zimbabwe lost just one wicket apiece in the two sessions after lunch. With Williams, Kaitano added 78 for the third wicket, while Myers put on 50 for the fourth.
Myers’ dismissal in the 56th over, caught and bowled by Ghazanfar for his second strike, brought in Zimbabwe’s captain Craig Ervine at No. 6, and he made certain that Afghanistan finished the day with way more questions than answers. With Williams showing how to score freely, Ervine dug in and quietly brought up his sixth Test fifty with a leg-side dominant innings.
Ervine’s knock was chanceless, unlike Williams, who, when on 124, needed the aid of a no-ball from Zahir Khan to continue batting. However, Ervine’s 56 in an unbeaten partnership of 143 for the sixth wicket was equally crucial for Zimbabwe to stamp their dominance on the day.
Play was called off five overs before the scheduled stumps owing to bad light, with Zimbabwe ending the day with a run rate of 4.27.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 363 for 4 in 85 overs (Sean Williams 145*, Ben Curran 68, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 46, Craig Ervine 56*; AM Ghazanfar 2-83) vs Afghanistan
[Cricinfo]
Several spells of showers may occur in Northern, North-central, Eastern provinces and in Matale district during the day
Brutality of underworld attacks has intensified over past few years
SJB accuses govt. of politicising public service ahead of elections
-
Sports5 days agoPathirana set to sling his way into Kiwi hearts
-
News3 days agoOffice of CDS likely to be scrapped; top defence changes on the cards
-
News6 days agoSL issues USD 10.4 bn macro-linked bonds
-
Editorial6 days agoRanil’s advice
-
Editorial5 days agoThe games they play
-
Features3 days agoAn Absurd play in Parliament: Qualifications versus education
-
Features5 days agoThe Government’s Term Tests & Results: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
-
Opinion4 days agoWhat AKD and NPP should bear in mind