Sports
Darshana, Amesha, Tharushi turn tables on seniors
100th National Athletics Championships
by Reemus Fernando
Hurdlers Dhanuka Darshana and Amesha Hettiarachchi and runner Tharushi Karunaratne were the top performers among school athletes who took part in the centenary National Athletics Championships. A number of events of the historic championship had to be postponed to April 23rd due to inclement weather which prevailed over the weekend. In the completed events, the trio from the Central Province stood out.
In the 400 metres hurdles heats Dhanuka Darshana clocked sub 52 seconds, a truly outstanding feat considering country’s standards in the junior 400 metres hurdles. The athlete trained by Anura Bandara, the veteran coach of the Asian Games medallist Sugath Thilakaratne, went on to win the national title beating senior counterparts from Sri Lanka Army. In the final his performance was 52.17 seconds. He was the only athlete to finish under 53 seconds, while Army’s A.L.A.I. Ratnasena was placed second in a time of 53.01 seconds.
With his 51.99 seconds feat in the heats Darshana came almost close to beating the National Junior record. It was just 0.03 seconds shy of the 2019 mark of Navodya Sankalpa. Darshana who has reached qualifying standards for the World Junior Championships is among the top four junior athletes in his discipline in Asia this year.
Karunaratne, another athlete to have qualified for the World Junior event shattered Dilshi Kumarsinghe’s National Junior Record in the women’s 800 metres when she clocked 2:04.40 seconds to finish third behind Gayanthika Abeyratne and Olympian Nimali Liyanarachchi. She also qualified from the 400 metres heats as the second fastest athlete. The athlete trained by Susantha Fernando returned a time of 54.43 seconds to win her heat. She is expected to produce a faster feat when the finals are held on April 23.
Apart from Nadeesha Ramanayake who won her heat, all others who clocked faster performances in the women’s 400 metres heats were school athletes. Lakshima Mendis who won the third heat (55.74 seconds) and Jayeshi Uththara (54.96 secs) who finished second behind Ramanayake outdid their senior counterparts in the 400 metres heats.
Amesha Hettiarachchi created a new National Junior record when she clocked 60.23 seconds to win the silver medal in the women’s 400 metres hurdles behind E.K. Madushani. Hettiarachchi who has also qualified for the World Junior event is trained by Prasanna Vithana.
The men’s long jump did not witness the expected performances as seniors failed to reach qualifying standards for the Asian Games. Hirusha Hashen competing against seniors managed to produce a performance of 7.44 metres to finish just outside medals. Though it was 23 centimetres behind his Asian leading feat (Junior category) the athlete was able to outdo a number of seniors.
South Africa won their first T20I in eight attempts (outside of World Cups) against West Indies to take the lead in the three-match series. Crucially, their captain Aiden Markram, fresh off a SA20 hundred, reached his highest T20I score of 86 not out and could not have chosen a better time to find form. After struggling through most of the last 18 months in this format, Markram appeared in fine touch and hit nine fours and three sixes, and faced only eight dot balls in a dominant performance.
Chasing a reasonably challenging total of 174, Markram combined with Lhuan dre Pretorius and Ryan Rickelton for partnerships of 83 and 93 respectively, which meant South Africa’s powerful middle-order could take the night off. South Africa sealed the win with 13 balls to spare.
West Indies lacked any stands of similar significance. While Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell shared a sixth-wicket stand of 74, there were no other partnerships that reached 40 as West Indies lost batters too often. Hetmyer top-scored with 48 while South Africa’s left-arm spin duo of George Linde and Keshav Maharaj took five wickets between them.
West Indies were off to a flying start thanks to Brandon King’s 23 off 14 balls and an opening stand of 39 inside four overs, but South Africa struck quickly to peg them back. Maharaj bowled Johnson Charles before King got down on one knee to sweep Corbin Bosch and played the ball onto his stumps to begin a trend. Sherfane Rutherford was unable to build on his SA20 form and when Maharaj found turn and bounce, he fended and chopped on as West Indies closed out the powerplay on 57 for 3. Then, in the 12th over, stand-in captain Roston Chase, playing in his 50th T20I, tried to hit Linde over cover and played on, and West Indies were 95 for 5.
Though Maharaj took two wickets early on, he was on the receiving end of some of West Indies’ biggest hits from Hetmyer. With West Indies’ 100 up in the 14th over, Hetmyer decided to up the ante, advanced on Maharaj and hit him 102 metres into the Paarl night for his first six. Two balls later, Hetmyer came down the track again, and sent the ball into the wind and over deep midwicket for a second six. Maharaj’s final over cost 16 runs and he finished with figures of 2 for 44 in four overs, the most expensive of his T20I career. Hetmyer was dismissed when Dewald Brevis caught him off Linde.
It’s been a while since someone has drooled over Markram’s drives, with the captain in patchy T20I form over much of the last 18 months, but the signs of old were there from the opening over of the chase. Matthew Forde served up bread and butter for Markram with a wide half-volley second ball. Markram drove through the covers and four was the result. Two balls later, Forde took pace off but kept it full and Markram had all the time in the world to cream the ball past extra cover. And then, to end the over, Markram was on his front foot punching the ball through the covers for a third boundary. For good measure, his fourth four was off Jayden Seales and aerial as he showed off his full range. He raced to 31 off 15 in the powerplay and shared a big stand with Pretorius to set South Africa up well.
After being dropped, recalled, and then given a new position at No. 3, Rickelton had a golden opportunity to learn about his new role with less pressure after the start the openers had.
Pretorius was dismissed in the eighth over when he slog swept Chase to midwicket. Rickelton took an over to get his eye in and then reverse-swept Chase for four, and in Chase’s next over, he slog swept him over midwicket. Though he mistimed a few, Rickelton found his touch with a swivel-pull off Seales for his second six. This – 40 not out – was Rickelton’s highest score in six T20I innings and third-highest overall.
Brief scores:
South Africa 176 for 1 in 17.5 overs (Aiden Markram 86*, Lhuan dre Pretorius 44, Ryan Rickelton 40*; Roston Chase 1-31) beat West Indies 173 for 7 in 20 overs (Brandon King 27, Johnson Charles 13, Matthew Forde 16, Roston Chase 22, Shimron Hetmyer 48, Rovman Powell 29*; George Linde 3-25, Corbin Bosch 2-35, Keshav Maharaj 2-44) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
(a) not having been taken in the Player Auction and
(b) not having withdrawn from the Player Auction process.
New Zealand began in a poor manner losing Marco Alpe for just 2. However, the second wicket partnership carried them to 59/1 inside 8 overs to give New Zealand an excellent platform. From thereon, New Zealand lost their last 9 wickets for just 51 runs in quite an extraordinary manner. The well-set Hugo Bogue’s dismissal triggered the collapse as Abdul Subhan and Ali Raza tormented New Zealand. The duo combined to pick seven wickets as the New Zealand innings came to an end as early as in the 29th over.
New Zealand Under 19s 110 in 28.3 overs (Hugo Bogue 39; Abdul Subhan 4/11, Ali Raza 3/36) lost to Pakistan Under 19s 112/2 in 17.1 overs (Sameer Minhas 76*; Mason Clarke 1/34) by 8 wickets
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