Dinara wins second consecutive ITF J30 tournament title

Published

12 months ago

2025/05/5

Dinara de Silva receives the winner's trophy from Tournament Derector Chammika de Silva. (Pic by Kamal Wanniarachchi)

Dinara de Silva won the second consecutive ITF Junior Circuit J30 girls’ singles title when she beat India’s Aleena Farid at the week 2 tournament final at the SSC courts on Saturday.

Dinara beat Aleena Farid 6-3, 6-1 in the final.

In the boys’ final Mahit Mekala (India) beat compatriot Pratyush Loganathan 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to win the title.

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Wasim Khan to step down as ICC’s general manager

Published

10 mins ago

2026/04/22

Priyan

Wasim Khan took over from Geoff Allardice in May 2022 [Cricinfo]

Wasim Khan will step down as the ICC’s general manager, cricket after four years in the role.

Wasim took over from Geoff Allardice in May 2022, after Allardice assumed the CEO role at the ICC. Wasim had arrived at the ICC after nearly three years as the PCB’s CEO.

Wasim was the first British-born Muslim to play county cricket, turning out for Warwickshire in the mid-to-late 90s. A left-handed batter, he played 58 first-class matches and 30 List A matches for Warwickshire, Sussex and Derbyshire. He was part of Warwickshire’s county title-winning campaign in 1995, averaging nearly 50 through the season.

He has since built an impressive administrative career, including a stint as CEO at Leicestershire county and before that at Cricket Foundation where he helped transform Chance to Shine into a leading national cricket charity in the UK.

One of the main challenges during Wasim’s stint at the ICC was an increasingly cramped cricket schedule with more T20 and T10 leagues eating into the space for international cricket. But in the last Future Tours Programme (2023-27) which was finalised during his time, there was actually an increase in the amount of international cricket. The first ever Women’s FTP was also unveiled in this period.

Wasim will finish at the end of June and is set to take up another role from July. His impending exit follows the departure of several senior ICC officials over the last two years, including Allardice – replaced by Sanjog Gupta as CEO – Chris Tetley (head of evens) and Alex Marshall, who led the anti-corruption unit. Tetley has been replaced by Gaurav Saxena and Marshall by Andrew Ephgrave.

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Abhishek’s 135 not out blows Delhi Capitals away

Published

7 hours ago

2026/04/22

Priyan

Harsh Dubey took 3 for 3 in the final over[Cricinfo]

Read this closely. Abhishek Sharma played within himself to bat through a full 20-over IPL innings for the first time and still ended up with 135 not out off 68. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) consequent 242 for 2, with supporting vigour provided by Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen, was more than enough against one of the hitting lightweights of this year’s IPL, Delhi Capitals (DC). The win took SRH level on No. 2 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals, but the others have a game in hand.

This was Abhishek’s ninth T20 hundred, taking him level with Virat Kohli for most centuries by an Indian. Only three men have more T20 hundreds than him. He equalled his own record for most sixes in an innings for an SRH batter, ten, and made this his second entry in the top-five IPL scores.

It was always going to be a tough ask for DC against a strong bowling line-up at home. Nitish Rana, playing more as an offspinner for the three left-hand batters at the top, kept SRH at bay with a fifty, but the asking rate kept soaring. Three wickets in the tenth and 11th overs to Eshan Malinga and Sakib Hussain ended the contest, leaving DC 137 to get off 58 balls. And as offspinner, Rana went for 55 in his four.

For the second match in a row, Abhishek and Travis Head made a measured start. They followed up their 23 for 0 in three overs against Chennai Super Kings with 26 for 0 in three overs here. There seems to be recognition there that their lower middle order is not the most accomplished, and that they don’t always need 250 with their bowling line-up.

On 12 off seven at the start of the fourth over, Abhishek began to manufacture shots, starting with Lungi Ngidi and his slower balls. Having snuck a quiet Rana over in with the new ball, DC looked like they were happy with the small winnings, but then they raised the stakes by handing over the fifth over to Rana. Abhishek was 21 off 11 at this point, and in a mood to hit the next gear. He hit Rana for two successive sixes before Head got one in. All of a sudden, the powerplay read 67 for 0, still among their slower powerplays, especially when they don’t lose wickets.

The DC captain looked like he wasn’t going to get caught in match-ups arising from the direction of turn as he bowled the seventh over without a boundary but Abhishek then took his second over for 16. Even though he got lucky with Head’s wicket off a short ball, Axar didn’t bowl again.

With the wicket just gone, DC snuck in another quiet over from Rana, but Ishan Kishan and Abhishek resumed carnage against the left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav, taking 22 off the 11th over. T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar bowled as well as they could for the next three overs, but still conceded 34. At this juncture, Rana was asked to bowl again, and Abhishek took 23 off him, bringing up his hundred with the second of the sixes in that over. Abhishek’s first T20 hundred took 59 balls; the remaining eight have all come in fewer than 50 balls. This one took 47.

At 115 at the end of the 15th over, Abhishek was a decent shout to challenge Chris Gayle’s 175, but he just couldn’t impart power into his shots even though he kept charging the bowlers. He got only 20 off the last 17 balls he faced, but the remaining 13 balls were maximised by Klaasen, who scored 37 off 13 to go with Kishan’s 25 off 13.

SRH have been keen to give Dilshan Madushanka his IPL debut but a batting collapse in the last match resulted in an extra batter as Impact Player. It didn’t take long to see why. Madushanka swung the ball in the first over, he bowled wobble-seam in the second, and was excellent with old-ball bowling outside the powerplay as well. At the start of his second over, he got rid of compatriot Pathum Nissanka with a catch at mid-off.

Rana and KL Rahul kept fighting but the game was always slipping away. The bowling from Madushanka, Hussain and Malinga kept the pressure up, and the floodgates opened around the halfway mark. Rahul was the first one to go, hitting a low full toss from Hussain straight to deep square leg. Four balls later, Malinga was on a hat-trick, having dismissed Rana and David Miller at the start of the 11th over.

Once again, Malinga found reverse swing, but cleverly he kept mixing it up with slower balls. His four-for took him to 21 wickets after the 10th over in his 14 matches since his IPL debut last year. Among fast bowlers, only Prasidh Krishna has taken more.

Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey joined the party with three wickets in the last over, all catches in the deep.

Brief scores:
Sunriser Hyderabad 242 for 2 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 135*, Travis Head 37, Ishan Kishan 25, Heinrich Klaasen 37*; Axar Patel 1-23) beat Delhi Capitals 195 for 9 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 37, Nitish Rana 57, Sameer Rizvi 41, Tristan Stubbs 27, Ashutosh Sharma 14; Dilshan Madushanka 1-36, Eshan Malinga 4-32, Sakib Hussain 1-29, Harsh Dubey 3-12) by 47 runs

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Damsith’s 13-wicket match haul powers Sri Sumangala to emphatic title win

Published

9 hours ago

2026/04/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya, Hikkaduwa Under 19 Team with officials

Marylebone Cricket Club’s generous support not in vain

Spinner Tharun Damsith delivered a match-winning all-round performance, claiming 13 wickets after scoring a crucial half-century, as Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya, Hikkaduwa crushed Christ King College, Ja-Ela by ten wickets with a day to spare in the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘B’ tournament final at Ananda Mawatha on Tuesday.

‎The comprehensive victory capped a remarkable campaign for the Hikkaduwa outfit, who sealed no fewer than nine outright wins since November. Their only setback of the season came earlier in the tournament, when they suffered a narrow two-wicket defeat to the same opponents during the group stage.

‎Opting to bat first, Sri Sumangala posted a solid 226 in 60.4 overs, built around three valuable contributions. Damsith led from the front with 52, while Shanuka Denuwan stroked a fluent 61 and P. Nirukshan added a steady 43. Despite a fine bowling effort from Lahiru Lakmal, who claimed six for 83, Sri Sumangala had laid a strong platform.

‎The match turned decisively in the very next innings as Christ King were skittled out for just 61 in 22.4 overs. Damsith ripped through the batting lineup with outstanding figures of five for eight, well supported by Latheendra Akash and Sanjana Nethupul, who shared the remaining wickets.

‎Asked to follow on, Christ King showed greater resistance, thanks to a spirited counterattack led by Lahiru Lakmal and Avishka Nirmal. Lakmal played a dazzling innings of 93 off 86 balls, smashing five fours and seven sixes, while Nirmal contributed a quickfire 51 off 37 deliveries with five fours and three sixes. Their efforts helped the side avoid an innings defeat.

‎However, Damsith once again proved unstoppable, returning to claim a sensational eight for 52 in 12.4 overs to complete a match haul of 13 wickets and effectively seal the contest.

‎Set a token target of 12 runs, Sri Sumangala reached 15 without loss in just 1.5 overs to secure a dominant ten-wicket victory and clinch the Division II Tier ‘B’ title in style.

‎Both finalists are set to compete in the Tier A category of the Division II tournament from next season.

Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya, Hikkaduwa has been supported by the charity run by cricket icon Muttiah Muralitharan. The Foundation of Goodness, run by former cricketer and philanthropist Kushil Gunasekara at Seenigama, has now for close to three decades generously supported sports activities in the Seenigama area. Their support has gone beyond cricket and young athletes of the area have now started completing at the global stage having succeeded at national level.

Sri Sumangala’s cricket ground was developed by Marylebone Cricket Club, who continue to support the school. Kushil Gunasekara is an Honorary Life Member of MCC.

The school’s success in cricket is a Cinderella story as they have risen from the lowest ranks. Given the way they are progressing, there’s little doubt that in their ranks they could be having the next Jayasuriya or Muralitharan.

‎Scores:

‎Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya Hikkaduwa – 226 all out in 60.4 overs (P. Nirukshan 43, Tharun Damsith 52, Shanuka Denuwan 61; Lahiru Lakmal 6/83, Pramodh Chamika 3/23) & 15/0 in 1.5 overs

‎Christ King College Ja Ela – 61 all out in 22.4 overs

(Vihanga Dilum 16; Tharun Damsith 5/08, Latheendra Akash 3/17, Sanjana Nethupul 2/19) & 176 all out in 42.4 overs (Lahiru Lakmal 93, Avishka Nirmal 51; Tharun Damsith 8/52)