Ireland captain Paul Stirling won the toss and opted to bowl against Sri Lanka in the Group B match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Stirling said the pitch looked “hard and firm” but was a bit drier than the last time they were here. “We have got good all-round options in the middle, so we have picked an extra batter tonight. Hope that will come in handy at the backend of the game.” As suspected, there was no room for Josh Little.

Sri Lanka went in with five batters and five bowlers. Their captain Dasun Shanaka felt “anything over 170 would be very good on this pitch”.

The square boundaries are 71 metres and 77 metres. The straight one is 84 metres.

Sri Lanka and Ireland have faced each other only three times in T20Is, with Sri Lanka winning on all three occasions.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk),  Pavan Rathnayake,  Kamindu Mendis,  Dasun Shanaka (capt),  Dunith Wellalage,  Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera,  Maheesh Theekshana,  Matheesha Pathirana

Ireland:  Paul Stirling (capt),  Ross Adair,  Harry Tector,  Lorcan Tucker (wk),  Curtis Campher,  Ben Calitz,  George Dockrell,   Gareth Delany,  Mark Adair,  Barry McCarthy,  Matthew Humphreys

(Cricinfo)

New Zealand may have felt a sense of deja vu after Gulbadin Naib’s half-century andMujeeb Ur Rahman’s double-strike in their opening game of the 2026 T20 World Cup in Chennai. But Tim Seifert’s own half-century and a punchy knock from Glenn Phillips offset the early damage caused by Afghanistan and set New Zealand on the path to victory in the group of death, which also includes fellow title-contenders South Africa.

After Afghanistan opted to bat in a day game, they posted 182 for 6, on the back of Naib’s 35-ball 63, which looked like an above-par total on a challenging Chepauk surface, which offered substantial bounce, especially in the early exchanges, and some grip to the slower bowlers.

That total looked a whole lot bigger once Mujeeb blasted out Finn Allen and Rachin Ravindra in the second over of the chase off back-to-back balls.

Phillips, however, kept out the hat-trick ball and combined aggressively with Seifert to loosen Afghanistan’s grip on the game. They snatched it from Afghanistan’s hands when they cracked Rashid Khan for 14 in his first over. Rashid – and Afghanistan – never really recovered from that as New Zealand wrapped up the chase with five wickets and nearly two overs to spare.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 183 for 5 in 17.5 overs (Tim Seifert 65, Glenn Phillips 42, Mark Chapman 28, Daryl  Mitchell 25*, Mitchell Santner 17;  Mujeeb Ur Rahman  2-31, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-40, Rashid Khan 1-36, Mohammad Nabi 1-18) beat Afghanistan182 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 27, Ibrahim Zadran 10, Gulbadin Naib 63, Sediqullah Atal 29, Daevish Rasooli 20, Azmatullah Omarzai 14, Mohammad Nabi 10*; Matt Henry 1-27, Jacob Duffy 1-30, Lockie Ferguson 2-40, Rachin Ravindra 1-14) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

Thailand votes in a closely watched general election, with progressive reformers and military-backed conservatives vying for control in a country that has cycled through three prime ministers in as many years.

Polling stations opened at 8am local time (01:00 GMT) on Sunday and are set to close at 5pm (10:00 GMT).

While more than 50 parties are contesting the polls, only three – the People’s Party, Bhumjaithai, and Pheu Thai – have the nationwide organisation and popularity to gain a winning mandate.

With 500 parliamentary seats at stake and surveys consistently suggesting no party is likely to win an outright majority, coalition negotiations appear inevitable. A simple majority of elected lawmakers will select the next prime minister.

The progressive People’s Party,  led by Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, is favoured to win the most seats.

But the party’s reformist platform, which includes promises to curb the influence of the military and the courts, as well as breaking up economic monopolies, remains unpalatable to its rivals, who may freeze it out by joining forces to form a government.

The party is the successor to the Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in the House of Representatives in 2023, but was blocked from power by a military appointed Senate and later dissolved by the Constitutional Court over its call to reform Thailand’s strict royal insult laws.

The Bhumjaithai headed by caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is seen as the main defender and preferred choice of the royalist-military establishment.

Anutin has only been the prime minister since last September, after serving in the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was forced out of office for an ethics violation over her mishandling of relations with Cambodia. Anutin dissolved parliament in December to call a snap election after he was threatened with a no-confidence vote.

He has centred his campaign on economic stimulus and national security, tapping into nationalist fervour stoked by deadly border clashes with neighbouring Cambodia.

The third major contender, Pheu Thai, represents the latest incarnation of political movements backed by jailed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and trades on the populist policies of the Thai Rak Thai party, which held power from 2001 until 2006, when it was ousted by a military coup.

The party has campaigned on economic revival and populist pledges like cash handouts, nominating Thaksin’s nephew, Yodchanan Wongsawat, as its lead candidate for prime minister.

Sunday’s voting also includes a referendum asking voters whether Thailand should replace its 2017 military-drafted constitution.

Pro-democracy groups view a new charter as a critical step towards reducing the influence of unelected institutions, such as the military and judiciary, while conservatives warn that it could lead to instability.

Some 53 million people are eligible to vote in today’s [Sunday’s]  election, and the Election Commission said more than 2.2 million voters had already cast ballots during an early voting period that began on February 1.

[Aljazeera]