Sports

Chaminda Vaas

Published

5 years ago

2021/03/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

– A role model par excellence

By Hemaka Amarasuriya

When David Sakar, a professional bowling coach and a state player in Sheffield Shield for Victoria of the past decades, who could not quite make it to his national side, decamped at the 11th hour from Sri Lanka’s tour to West Indies, the team was left high and dry. As the team was without a bowling coach, veteran Chaminda Vaas, who has represtned the country in over 100 Test matches, was co -opted to fill the role hurriedly, sans any negotiations.

Chaminda is the best left-arm pace bowler of our times with 761 internatioanl wickets to his name and easily the most successful fast bowler the country has produced. Having ended his playing career with an exemplary record of achievements and discipline, he is an ideal role model for our youth. Since retirement, his services have been highly sought after as he had worked with the New Zealand cricket team as a Consultant Fast Bowling Coach.

Perhaps his boyhood desire to join the clergy may have served the community and himself better than to b e a professional cricketer, vilified in the twilight of an outstanding career for no fault of his own, other than what he stood for.

I see this as a principled decision to turn down an offer on behalf of all our home born coaches. Just because you are emerging from our own national grid should our coaches monetary value be only 37 percent of those who are employed from overseas? I do not agree with that.

I appeal to our cricket authorities to treat our home grown coaches with the same value proposition and respect as an overseas coach. If they do not see the writing on the wall, strongly emerging countries such as Ireland and USA with the best expertise and investment behind them will soon oust us from the top ten.

(This writer is a former Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket. He was also the Chairman of Singer for several years and generously sponsored the national cricket team in 1990s when support for the game was few and rare. Singer were sponsors when Sri Lanka won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1996. It was also during Amarasuriya’s tenure as country’s cricket chief, Sri Lanka successfully conducted their first ever global sports event – the inaugural ICC Champions Trophy in 2002.)

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Colombo Kaps down Dambulla Sixers by 21 runs

Published

12 hours ago

2026/07/26

Priyan

Colombo Kaps defended 197 runs to win the 12th match of the Lanka Premier League by restricting Dambulla Sixers to 176/8 at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Saturday [25] night.

SCORES:
Colombo Kaps 197/5 in 20 overs [Rubin Hermann 39, Sadeera Samarawickrema 16, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 12, Kamindu Mendis 88*, Ben McDermott 14, Janith Liyanage 17; Fazalhaq Farooki 1-41, Dushmantha Chameera 1-41, Ramesh Mendis 1-05, Gulabdin Naib 1-15]
Dambulla Sixers 176/8 in 20 overs [Pavan Rathnayake 50, Marques Ackerman 40, Gulabdin Naib 28, Maheesh Thhekshana 13; Shahnawaz Dahani 2-20, Wanuja Sahan 1-34, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-33, Malsha Tharupathi 1-26, Milan Rathnayake 1-26]

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Kandy Royals win by 11 runs

Published

12 hours ago

2026/07/26

Priyan

Nuwan Thushara starred with three wickets

Kandy Royals’ bowlers led by Nuwan Thushara were able to defend their score of 165 to win the 11th match of the Lanka Premier League by defeating Galle Gallants by 11 runs at Dambulla on Saturday.

SCORES:
Kandy Royals 165/6 in 20 overs [Lahiru Udara 16, Dale Phillips 34, Wanidu Hasaranga 16, Moeen Ali 41, Angelo Mathews 28, Vijay Shankar 15; Pramod Madushan 2-41, Akif Javed 2-26, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 2-36]

Galle Gallants 154/8 in 20 overs [Sam Harper 14, Charith Asalanka 14, Chamika Karunarathne 52, Dasun Shanaka 57*; Nuwan Thushara 3-33, Asitha Fernando 2-33, Moeen Ali 1-11, Wanidu Hasaranga 1-26]

Sports

Jaffna Kings LPL side under SLC purview

Published

18 hours ago

2026/07/26

Thilina Walpola

Jaffna Kings former co-owner Manjot Kalra is in judicial custody until July 31

Innovative Production Group (IPG), the tournament rights holder of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), in consultation with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), has terminated the franchise agreement with Sports Commune, which was granted franchise rights of the Jaffna Kings.

The termination follows the franchisee’s inability to fulfil its financial obligations under the terms of the franchise agreement. As a result, all rights relating to the Jaffna Kings franchise have reverted to IPG, which, together with Sri Lanka Cricket, has assumed full operational control of the team.

IPG confirms that the 6th edition of the LPL will proceed as scheduled and Jaffna Kings will continue to participate in the tournament under the same nomenclature, with no changes to the squad, tournament format, or match schedule.

To ensure the uninterrupted operation of the franchise, IPG and Sri Lanka Cricket have taken complete responsibility for all player, coaching staff, and support staff contracts. The organizers also confirm that all logistical arrangements for the team have been secured, ensuring the squad is intact for the tournament.

Furthermore, approximately 90% of all player and staff payments have already been completed, with the remaining payments to be settled in accordance with contractual commitments.

IPG and Sri Lanka Cricket remain committed to delivering a successful sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League while upholding the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and transparency for players, teams, commercial partners, and fans.