Sports

Davies, bowlers keep Brave hopes alive

Published

4 years ago

2022/08/27

THE HUNDRED 2022

Alex Davies’s unbeaten 51 backed up by a disciplined bowling performance helped Southern Brave keep their tournament hopes alive with their third win of the season, beating Trent Rockets by six wickets, at the Rose Bowl on Thursday. Put in to bat, Rockets lost Alex Hales early, becoming Paul Stirling’s maiden wicket in the Hundred. Stirling, who had an impressive outing with the ball, returning 1 for 10 in 15 balls, had the Rockets opener cut to the cover fielder.

Dawid Malan, on the other hand, kept Rockets’ attack going from one end. After slamming Sonny Baker for boundaries off successive balls, he swept Jake Lintott for a six followed by reverse sweeping Rehan Ahmed for a boundary.

Lintott bore the primary assault of Rockets’ attack. After a slow start by the batters in the first 50 balls, Samit Patel hammered the spinner for consecutive sixes – one drilled down the ground, the other swiped through the deep mid wicket region. Lintott ended up conceding 48 runs from his spell.

However, barring Malan’s 41-ball 59, there wasn’t much fluency from Rockets as they were eventually restricted to 138 for 6, with Michael Hogan and James Fuller bagging a brace each, and combining to concede only 38 runs in 35 balls.

Brave’s start to the chase wasn’t any more enterprising, after Sam Cook and Luke Wood struck early – Stirling getting undone by Cook’s slower ball and James Vince playing Wood’s full delivery back on to the stumps to reduce the side to 9 for 2 in 14 balls.

Quinton de Kock and Alex Davies, who revived the chase, struggled to pick up the scoring rate though. Barring a six and a couple of boundaries, the duo couldn’t score a boundary before the former eventually fell on a scratchy 23-ball 24. Davies had it even tougher to find boundaries, having to wait till the 30th ball of his innings.

Nonetheless, in the company of Ross Whiteley, he expertly helped the side take the innings forward. The duo managed to add 71 runs in 38 balls to help close down on the target before Whiteley fell holed out at deep mid wicket on 30.

With 16 needed off the last 11 balls, in an innings where only 8 boundaries were scored in the previous 90 balls, it was still a tricky position. However, Tim David didn’t take too long to bring an end to the contest, slamming Wood for two sixes and then following up with a whack through the backward square leg region for a boundary to end the run chase and hand Rockets only their second loss of the season.

Brief Scores:

Trent Rockets 138/6 in 100 balls (Dawid Malan 59, Samit Patel 21; James Fuller 2-18, Michael Hogan 2-20) lost to Southern Brave 142/4 in 95 balls (Alex Davies 51*, Ross Whiteley 30; Sam Cook 2-25) by 6 wickets (Cricbuzz)

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Sports

Nethul rises to the occation as Ananda dominate day one

Published

18 mins ago

2026/02/28

Thilina Walpola

Nethul Edirimanne

96TH BATTLE OF THE MAROONS

Open bat Nethul Edirimanne rose to the big occasion wth an unbeaten century as Ananda College posted 325 for five wickets at stumps on day one of the 96th Battle of the Maroons Big Match at the SSC ground on Friday.

‎Decidng to bat first, Ananda found Edirimanne holding their top order together as he built up useful partnerships in each session.

‎Edirimanne had just a single half century against his name this season and Ananda’s entire batting line up had just two centuries. Edirimanne batted through to the close of play and remained unbeaten on 150.

‎It was not only his highest score but also the highest score by an Anandian.

‎He had faced 254 balls by stumps and had stroked 14 fours and a six in his knock.

‎The days highest partnership -126 runs for the fifth wicket- was put on by Edirimanne and Ovin Perera who scored 53 runs before being given out lbw to Dunitha Anusara.

‎Perera scored six fours.

‎While Danindu Sellapperuma (33) and Sharada Jayaratne (37) contributed with 30s, Himira Kudagama made 24. Skipper Kithma Widanapathirana’s dismissal for two runs was the only dissapointment for Ananda on an otherwise fruiful opening day.

‎For Nalanda Osanda Pamuditha took two wickets.

Latest News

Madushani, Sumedha among athletes to reach qualifying standards

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/27

Priyan

Madushani Herath

‎

‎by Reemus Fernando

‎

‎Long jumper Madushani Herath and former national javelin record holder Sumedha Ranasinghe were among half a dozen athletes to have reached qualifying standads to make the national pool on day one of the Athletic Trials held at Diyagama today.

‎Former Nannapurawa MV, Bibila athlete Herath cleared a distance of 6.32 metres to win the long jump contest, some 18 centimeters clear of the target set for the first trial.

‎Distance runner Rasara Wijesuriya was more than one minute faster than the qualifying standard set for the 10,000 metres as she stopped the clock in 34:03.29 minutes. Her closest rival Nayana Sewwandi finished more than two minutes later.

‎Olympian Sumedha Ranasinghe cleared 75.50 meters (qualifying mark -75.00m) and was joined by R. Rathusan in that club with a distance of 75.36.

‎Minoli Fernando in the women’s high jump (1.76 m) and K.T. Mathumeethan in the men’s hammer throw (50.42m) were among the other athletes to make an impact reaching qualifying standars.

‎The selection trial is held with the aim of forming a national pool for this year’s Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.

‎

Latest News

Can resourceful New Zealand lock in semi-final spot against already-qualified England?

Published

22 hours ago

2026/02/27

Priyan

England secured their place in the final four with a nervy win over Pakistan [Cricinfo]

While Sri Lankan cricket begins another cycle of seething introspection, there is still business to be concluded in Colombo and Pallekele. New Zealand helped turn the home crowd against their own on Wednesday night and will be looking to confirm their own passage to the semi-finals – for the fourth time in the last five T20 World Cups – when they return to Khettarama to take on England, who are already through.

Looking on anxiously will be Pakistan, who shared the points with New Zealand when their Super Eight encounter was washed out and must consequently cling to the possibility of England making it three wins from three and then making up the net run rate deficit in victory over Sri Lanka (with the results margin from both games cumulatively needing to be around 0 runs, assuming the team batting first makes 180).

England’s campaign so far has turned the phrase “winning ugly” into an art form; the two-wicket triumph over Pakistan that sealed their semi-final spot was so defiantly slapdash it might well end up being nominated for the Turner Prize. The quest for the “perfect game” continues. Certainly, there is no danger of them peaking too early.

If there is one unsettling blot on their copybook so far, it is the continuing travails of Jos Buttler. His haunted look after dismissal for a fourth single-innings score in a row against Pakistan told the story of a horror campaign, but there is no sense yet that England are ready to pull the rug on their greatest white-ball batter of all time.

New Zealand are more in need of the win – even if a close-fought loss might do – but, after a dip at the 2024 World Cup when they were edged out in the first group stage by Afghanistan, they look back to their best as a high-functioning tournament side that always makes the best of the resources available to them.

They came into this World Cup with several players battling injury and illness; Michael Bracewell, a key allrounder in subcontinental conditions, was then ruled out without playing a game. But they have won four out of five completed games with Bracewell’s replacement, the unheralded Cole McConchie, one of stars of their come-from-behind win over Sri Lanka – a game in which their five spin-bowling options trumped the four that England are able to call on (assuming the cut to Jacob Bethell’s bowling hand has healed).

No one should be surprised to see them get the job done again. A New Zealand win would put them top of the group, and also end the uncertainty around the semi-final venues, with Mumbai and Kolkata locked in. Pakistan will be hoping desperately it’s not that straightforward.

While Buttler’s lack of form remains the main talking point, Harry Brook did everything he could to make sure the headlines were about him against Pakistan. At the prompting of Brendon McCullum, Brook elevated himself to No. 3 in the order – having dropped down to No. 5 before the World Cup – and the immediate results were spectacular. Having only done the job a handful of times before for Yorkshire and Northern Superchargers, and never at international level, he made full use of the opportunity for a fast start during the powerplay and was consequently more settled when it came to navigating middle-overs spin (his T20 weak spot). A maiden T20I hundred, from just 50 balls, suggests he should be locked in at first drop for the foreseeable.

Kiwis are all about the collective, with handy performance so far sprinkled around, but one area that might be cause for a smidge of concern is the New Zealand middle order. Partly that is down to the top four being so effective – openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen are their leading run-scorers, closely followed by Glenn Phillips – and partly the abandoned game against Pakistan, which meant they went eight days without playing. Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman have both batted three times and missed the chance for middle time against Sri Lanka, before Mitchell Santner and McConchie produced the vital rescue act. New Zealand have discussed pushing Santner higher, but will likely stick with the incumbents in the expectation they will come good (or not be needed).

England have played the same XI five games in a row and – unless they were to suddenly change their thinking on Buttler, and parachute Ben Duckett in to open – seem likely to stick with that formula. Rehan Ahmed, Josh Tongue and Luke Wood are in the wings, in the event that they wish to test their bench strength.

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

After adapting on the fly to seal such a comprehensive win over the home side, New Zealand are also expected to keep the same balance, with the two quicks and five spin options at their disposal. Jimmy Neesham could return if conditions demand another seam option.

New Zealand: (probable) Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner (capt), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson.