Sports
Dimuth’s inimitable captaincy style
by Rex Clementine
Having built up a reputation for himself as a quiet achiever, Dimuth Karunaratne didn’t surprise many when he indicated that he’ll step down from captaincy after the two match home series against Ireland soon after the Sinhala – Tamil New Year.
Dimuth has reasoned that he wanted a new leader at the helm for the next cycle of the ICC Test Championship rather than vacating the post half way through the campaign. That sounds very sensible and thoughts of an unselfish captain.
Given the catastrophe that Sri Lankan cricket has gone through in the last five years, forced to play qualifying round tournaments in white ball cricket and instability in captaincy, Dimuth has done so well having occupied the Test captaincy for more than four years now. Not many Sri Lankan skippers age well like Dimuth.
There was this fast bowler who was desperate to get the captaincy but once at the helm he failed to do a decent job and had to be kicked out eventually.
Dimuth was appointed in 2019 amidst lot of gloom. Sri Lanka had been thrashed 2-0 in Australia and from Canberra the team was flying straight to South Africa. Dinesh Chandimal had been axed as skipper and Dimuth had to accept the role reluctantly. He had spent a night in a Canberra hospital prior to that after being peppered by a barrage of short pitched bowling.
Regrouping the team wasn’t easy. The side was without some of their seniors and was coming back after a series of suspensions for the team management and the captain for the ball tampering fiasco in the Caribbean.
Sri Lankan cricket had become the laughing stock at the world stage and Dimuth had to rebuild the reputation. His style was quite different from other Sri Lankan captains. He gave the players freedom, a lot of it sometimes. He felt that too many restrictions didn’t bring the best out of players and believed the best way forward was by allowing players to be independent. His methods worked as Sri Lanka stunned South Africa by winning the series. It was a historic win as Sri Lanka became the first Asian team to win a series in South Africa. In fact, apart from Australia and England no other team had won a series in South Africa. It was quite an achievement given the low ebb Sri Lankan team was at that point.
In fact, while the national cricket team struggled to come out of their struggles in white ball cricket, the Test team under Dimuth did fairly well managing wins over top nations and their captain was leading from front scoring big runs both home and away.
Dimuth had done so well that lead up to this last series against New Zealand, Sri Lanka had a chance to qualify for the finals of the World Test Championship. He ends up with ten Test wins in 26 matches and only four other Sri Lankan captains have won more Tests than him – Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Arjuna Ranatunga and Angelo Mathews. Incidentally, all four of them have also lost more Tests than Dimuth’s ten.
Dimuth was an honest man. He wasn’t the most aggressive guy but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t take up the grievances of his players. At times he was given a raw deal but he always carried himself well, never bitter and never a bad word for a mate, selector or an official.
Dhananjaya de Silva looks to be his natural successor, but what we feel matters little in Sri Lankan cricket.
When my good friend Nimal Welgama requested me to pen a few lines about Sir Gary Sobers as I had the privilege of playing for Sri Lanka against the mighty West Indies as they were known then, I was wondering whether I can do justice to this awesome cricketing all rounder.
In this particular game Sir Gary fell short of scoring his usual hundred. Sir Gary had a flair for unique stylishness which no other cricketer matched and it came naturally to him. He wore his shirt open all the way down to the navel perhaps to keep himself cool from the hot weather one encounters when playing cricket.He walked into bat leaning forward slightly with a gait that that had confidence written all over it.I had the good fortune of viewing on a video clip of an innings of 230 plus he made in a Match against Australia against a formidable attack headed by fearsome Dennis Lillee where he tore the the bowling to shreds.This innings was described by probably the greatest batters of all time Sir Donald Bradman as the best innings he has witnessed live.A tribute difficult to ignore. I wish to conclude by saying that Sir Garfield Sobers was an all rounder of exceptional ability which void will be hard to fill.
by Anura Tennekoon ✍️
Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute to lift Spain to their second World Cup title with a 1-0 win im extra time over 10-man Argentina in the final.
Torres’s deserved winner on Sunday came 16 years and eight days after Andres Iniesta also scored in extra time to lift the Spaniards to their first World Championship with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands.
It came on La Roja’s 20th shot in the contest against defending champions Argentina that failed to manage any to that point and struggled to wrest possession away from their superior Iberian opponents.
That was true at even strength and became more difficult when La Albiceleste’s numbers were reduced when Enzo Fernandez’s late challenge on Pau Cubarsi left referee Slavko Vincic no choice but to produce a second caution just before the end of normal time.
Spain remain the only nation ever to win a European Championship and World Cup in successive tournaments, having now done so a second time. They are also the first World Cup champions ever to concede only once across an entire tournament.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina failed to earn a title for the first time in three major tournaments, having also captured the 2021 and 2024 Copa Americas either side of their 2022 World Cup triumph.
The 39-year-old eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi finished the competition with eight goals and four assists, but had little time on the ball in the final until Spain finally took the lead. And he never seriously looked like he would lift his side to another great moment as he has so many times in the last two World Cup cycles.
Emi Martinez made 11 saves for La Albiceleste, who fell short in their bid to be the first consecutive World Cup champions since Brazil won the 1958 and 1962 titles.
What had felt so difficult for the first 105 minutes suddenly looked easy after 37 seconds of play in the second period of extra time.
Pedro Porro curled in an out-swinging cross from the left to the back post, Nico Williams won the header and nodded it back into space, and Torres hammered a half-volley at last past the flailing Martinez.
It was his only goal of the tournament, making him the seventh player to score during a tournament in which his side never trailed.
Asked about his goal, Torres said after the game: “Honestly, I didn’t think too much. I just saw the ball coming to me, and I just shot with the power of all the Spanish people.”
The win made Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, at 65, the oldest coach ever to lead a team to the World Cup title
“We are world champions,” de la Fuente said. “It was together we reached this stage.”
There was some pushing and shoving after the final whistle, which was quickly cleaned up, and Spain commenced their celebration as most Argentina players sat on the turf in disbelief.
Cooler heads prevailed, and Spain’s players lined up minutes later to form an honour guard of sorts for Argentina’s squad to walk through on their way to the stage for the runner-up medals.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni admitted that Spain were the better team.
“They were the better side – that’s the truth – but I’ll cherish the memory of them [his side], of what they achieved, and of the value of making it this far,” Scaloni said.
“We have to place immense value on this, because it takes so much effort.”
(Aljazeera)
HONOUR MCA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2026
Sampath Bank powered by a 53 ball 79 by Adithya Siriwardena and excellent bowling performance led by Chamath Dilsara, Dulaj Ashen and Hansaja Bandara registered their third win in the MCA Champions league cricket tournament sponsored by HONOUR mobile phones by crushing MAS Intimates by 131 runs at the Colts Cricket Club Ground on Saturday.
Batting first Sampath Bank powered by Adithya’a 79 and notable scores from Chamara Dilsara [34], HansajaBandara [42] and 20 plus scores from Gajitha Kotuwegoda ,Abhishek Anandakumara and Dumindu Sewmina posted 284/8 in their allocation of 50 overs after which the bowlers led by Chamath Dilsara restricted MAS Intimates to 153.
Scores:
Sampath Bank
284/8 in 50 overs (Hansaja Bandara 41, Adithya Siriwardena 79; Ruvin Senevirathne 2-41)
MAS Intimates
153/10 in 36.1 overs (Maheesha Sithum 39; Dulaj Ashen 2-13, Chamath Dilsara 3-21, Hansaja Bandara 2-15)
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