Sports

Cricket chiefs rope in Romesh De Silva for Hathurusingha vs SLC

Published

6 years ago

2020/07/28

By Rex Clementine

He may be making court appearances for the Catholic Church free of charge, but eminent lawyer Romesh De Silva is turning out to be the costliest legal counsel in the island. Sri Lanka Cricket is faced with an expensive legal battle with their ex-coach Chandika Hathurusingha and SLC is not taking any chances with the case having hired country’s leading lawyer – Romesh De Silva.

Hathurusingha has sued SLC for US$ five million for wrongful termination of employment and in order to avoid a financial debacle the board desperately needs to win the case.

SLC hierarchy is aware of the fact that De Silva will cost them an arm and a leg but what they have is Hobson’s choice. The case is still in early stages and for written submissions for the questions posed by the Arbitrators, the board will pay a sum of Rs. 1.5 million to De Silva. The President’s Counsel is only the Lead Counsel in the case and there are other lawyers involved as well and for all of them the board will incur an initial payment of Rs. 3.5 million.

This may turn out to be the most expensive court case involving SLC. There have been other high profile cases like Geoff March versus SLC in 2012 and WSG Nimbus versus SLC in 2001. The board lost both cases but defeat this time around will make them to feel the pinch as numbers are quite staggering.

From the outset it was argued that terminating Hathurusingha’s services could bring the board trouble. Hathurusingha resumed his three year stint with SLC in 2018 January and when he was sacked, he had only one year remaining in the contract. Even if the board had to pay him for the rest of his contract, it would have cost SLC somewhere around US$ 600,000. However, now they have been sued for US$ five million plus the costly legal charges.

Hathurusingha a former Test cricketer took up coaching after retirement. Following initial success with Moors SC, he migrated to UAE and was brought back to Colombo in 2007 to take up as coach of Sri Lanka ‘A’. Two years later, on the insistence of then Test captain Kumar Sangakkara, Haturusingha was part of the national team’s coaching staff as understudy to Trevor Bayliss.

It was expected that he will succeed Bayliss but disagreement with the board saw him being removed from the post. He then migrated to Australia and worked with New South Wales before Bangladesh hired him as Head Coach. Bangladesh cricket improved steadily under his charge and in 2017 he decided to end his association early to take up the Sri Lankan role.

One of Hathurusingha’s demands before taking up the Sri Lankan role was that he needed to be part of the selection panel. He was stripped of selection duties in December 2018. More than SLC, then Sports Minister Harin Fernando seemed to be keen on removing the coach and Fernando may have cost SLC a fortune. Hathurusingha has good ground to argue as his contract was with SLC and not with Sports Ministry.

The highest point of Hathurusinha’s stint with Sri Lanka was the national cricket team’s 2-0 series win in South Africa. Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to win a Test series in South Africa.

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England limp to 146-9 against Sri Lanka

Published

59 mins ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

Dunith Wellalage got rid of the well-set Phil Salt [Cricinfo]

England stagger to 146‑9 at the end of their 20 overs as they failed to build any sustained partnerships.

This might just be well short of a truly competitive total but they will hope the pitch does them some favours when they come out to bowl.

Brief score:
England 146/9 in 2o overs [Phil Salt 62, Harry Brook 14, Sam Curran 11,Will Jacks 21, Jamie Overton 10*; Dilshan Madushanka 2-25, Dunith Wellalage 3-26, Maheesh Theekshana 2-21, Dushmantha Chameera 1-34] vs England

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Sri Lanka opt to chase against England in Pallekele

Published

3 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

Sri Lanka opt to chase after success here versus Australia [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka have opted to chase against England at Pallekele, hoping to replicate their dominance victory over Australia here to kickstart their Super Eight campaign.

It was six days ago that Pathum Nissanka’s unbeaten 100 saw the hosts chase down Australia’s total of 181 with eight wickets and two overs to spare. And with home skipper Dasun Shanaka is looking to utilise that confidence in this Group 2 encounter.

“We’ve been chasing well in the past few occasions and happy to chase again,” said Shanaka at the toss. “The boys are very confident playing here.”

England skipper Harry Brook – on his 27th birthday – again called for bravery after his side stumbled into the second stage of this tournament. The two-time champions have gone in with an unchanged team for the fourth match in a row, with Jamie Overton retaining his place as the allrounder. Brook’s only slight worry is a cut to Jacob Bethell’s bowling hand (sustained during the match against West Indies), which is likely to prevent him from bowling due to the strapping on his finger.

Sri Lanka meanwhile make two changes to their XI, with Dushmantha Chameera returning in place of Pramod Madushan, having been rested for the defeat to Zimbabwe. Kamil Mishra comes back in for the man who replaced him, Kusal Perrera, as the hosts shuffle once more in an attempt to find a functional opening partnership.

These two squads know each other very well, having only concluded a three-match T20I series against one another at the start of the month, which took place entirely in Pallekele. England secured a 3-0 scoreline, capping things off with a professional 12run win in a low scoring encounter.

As for the outfield, both sides are primed for a different evening of ground-fielding on patchy grass. Heavy rains have punctuated the five das leading into this clash. Overnight precipitation has sodden the edges of the field, though the middle parts of the ground had been well-covered.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Dunith Wellelage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (capt), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Six races, six golds – Klaebo’s historic Olympics

Published

6 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

'Amazing!' - Klaebo sets record for most golds won at a single Winter Olympics

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway’s king of cross-country skiing, broke the record for the most gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics with his sixth of the Games.

Klaebo led a Norwegian sweep of the podium in the 50km mass start classic, with team-mates Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Emil Iversen taking silver and bronze respectively.

The 29-year-old finished the brutal distance in two hours six minutes 44.8 seconds, 8.9secs ahead of Nyenget who takes his third medal of the Games.

“It’s been crazy, it’s a dream come true,” Klaebo told BBC Sport.

“I really think this Olympics has been perfect. Being able to crown the Olympics with the 50km was unbelievable.”

Klaebo breaks the previous record of five golds from a single Games, held by American speed skater Eric Heiden since the Lake Placid Olympics of 1980.

It also extends his own record for most Winter Olympic golds to 11, while he becomes the first athlete to win all six cross-country events at one Games.

Only US swimming great Michael Phelps, who won 23 gold medals, has more Olympic titles to his name.

Born in Oslo, Klaebo moved to Trondheim – a haven of cross-country skiing trails – as a young child, a move that has seen him become the greatest to ever do the sport.

No other man, active or retired, comes close to his record of 116 World Cup wins, while he is also a 15-time world champion, winning all six titles at last year’s edition on home snow in Trondheim.

“After the world championships last year, we knew that it was possible, but to be able to do it, it’s hard to find the right words,” he told reporters.

“[There were] so many emotions when I’m crossing the finish line.”

His sixth Olympic gold at Milan-Cortina adds to the titles he had won earlier in the Games in the skiathlon, sprint classic, 10km interval start free, 4×7.5km relay and the team sprint.

[BBC]