Sports
Jacks, Hain and Rehan star as England go 1-0 up
England registered a largely comfortable 48-run win over Ireland in the second ODI at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Saturday (September 23). Young leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed registered his career-best ODI figures of 4-54 to derail Ireland’s chase and although the visitors added 129 runs for their last three wickets, the result was never in doubt. Earlier in the day, Will Jacks had also got to his highest individual score in ODIs while Sam Hain kickstarted his 50-over career with a fluent 89.
Chasing a competitive target of 335, Ireland started with a bang, much like their opponents in the first half of the game. George Scrimshaw, one of England’s four debutants, had a horror beginning due to a flurry of no-balls that allowed Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie to make a brisk start. Boundaries came aplenty, some even off those no-ball and the Free Hits were also duly dispatched. Before England could get a grip of things, Ireland were racing towards 50 well inside four overs.
To his credit, Scrimshaw bounced back and broke the opening partnership with a ripper. He had Balbirnie caught at slip with a lovely delivery and Matthew Potts struck on the first ball of the next over to castle Stirling. These strikes halted Ireland’s momentum briefly but Harry Tector kept the scoreboard ticking with his brand of fluid strokeplay. Unfortunately for the visitors, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals despite having a healthy run rate in the chase. The introduction of Rehan then changed the complexion of the game drastically.
In his brief career so far, Rehan has shown the knack to bowl genuine wicket-taking deliveries and while the consistency is a work in progress, he has managed to trouble the best of batters across the various white-ball formats. Ireland had no clue about dealing with his potent googly and fell like a pack of cards to his guile. His spin partner Tom Hartley went wicketless but the left-arm spinner also bowled a tidy spell to put in the squeeze on the tourists. From 103-3, Ireland found themselves on the brink at 157/7.
Statistically, the equation still was gettable with the Trent Bridge surface staying good for the entirety of the game. But the lack of wickets meant that it needed a miracle for England to be beaten. George Dockrell, who had earlier enjoyed a good outing with the ball, led the resistance along with the no. 8-11 as the tourists kept chipping away at the target. England’s inexperienced bowling attack struggled to close out the game earlier and barring Brydon Carse, the seamers were quite inconsistent in their spells. Eventually, the scoreboard pressure and the lack of planning from Ireland’s batters let them off the hook.
Earlier in the day, England’s gen-next batting line-up ended with a strong score but given the platform and surface, they left about 25-30 runs out there. Phil Salt and Ben Duckett were guilty of throwing away their starts but Jacks and Hain ensured that they batted deeper into their respective innings. Duckett and Carse provided the ideal supporting knocks needed to push the score past the 330-run mark. Ireland were indisciplined with the new ball and leaked plenty of runs in the first Power-Play but came back well thereafter.
Dockrell along with Craig Young were the pick of the bowlers and the latter’s twin strikes in his first spell was what allowed Ireland to claw their way back into the game. The visitors kept taking wickets at regular intervals and barring the first 10 overs, generally found the right lengths to ensure that England never ran away with the game completely. The good length deliveries weren’t as easy to hit but as is the case with Trent Bridge, the margin for error is also very small for the pacers. Ireland did well to keep England to 334 but in the end, that proved more than enough for the World Champions as they took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-match series with a game to spare.
Brief scores:
England 334-8 in 50 overs (Will Jacks 94, Sam Hain 89; George Dockrell 3-43, Craig Young 2-38) beat Ireland 286 in 46.4 overs (George Dockrell 43, Barry McCarthy 41; Rehan Ahmed 4-54, George Scrimhaw 3-66) by 48 runs
(Cricbuzz)
India’s opening batter Shafali Verma and swing bowler Renuka Singh have moved up to sixth spots in the ICC’s T20I batting and bowling rankings respectively.
Shafali is the leading scorer in the ongoing bilateral series against Sri Lanka by a distance, her 236 runs nearly twice as many as second-highest scorer Smriti Mandhana’s 120. Renuka is also the leading wicket-taker, her four wickets level with team-mates Deepti Sharma, Vaishnavi Sharma and Shree Charani.
Shafali went up four places with back-to-back scores of 69*, 79* and 79 in the second, third and fourth T20Is. Renuka, meanwhile, climbed eight places to reach the joint-sixth position along with South Africa’s Nonkululeko Mlaba, particularly through her 4 for 21 in the third game of the series. Deepti leads the bowlers’ rankings after taking that position last week. Both Shafali and Renuka have also bagged one Player-of-the-Match award each in the series that India lead 4-0, with the last match scheduled for Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram.
If India win today (30), this will be their third 5-0 series win in T20Is. They won by that scoreline in the West Indies in 2019 and in Bangladesh last year. Sri Lanka have, however, never before lost a T20I series 5-0.
(Cricinfo)
The Cabinet of Ministers granted their concurrence to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Youth Affairs to appoint S. Achchudan of Special Grade of Sri Lanka Administrative Service, who is currently serving as an Additional Commissioner of Elections at the Elections Commission who is
recommended by the panel of interviewers to the post of Director General of the Sports Development Department with effect form 01.01.2026.
After three low scores, three tosses lost and three heavy defeats, Sri Lanka gave hosts India more of a fight in the fourth T20I on Sunday when they finally got to chase a target instead of setting one. They got somewhat close thanks to contribution from batters apart from Chamari Athapaththu. With their confidence running a little higher, they would want to sign off fromthis five match tour with one win as the preparations for the T20 World Cup, which is less than six months away, heat up.
India have been clinical all through the series – with their share of luck, having won the first three tosses – in restricting Sri Lanka to totals under 130 and getting home with at least five overs and seven wickets in hand. That presents Sri Lanka the opportunity to test India’s middle and lower order on Tuesday, but with the gargantuan task of going past the duo of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who put up India’s biggest partnership for any wicket to set up the hosts’ highest T20I total. India have had to use only five batters in this series so far.
Whether they set a total or chase one, Sri Lanka would draw inspiration from Hasini Perera’s start on Sunday, in which she took down Renuka Singh and Arundhati Reddy in the opening overs before Nilakshika Silva finally got some runs in the lower order.
Sri Lanka would also want to cash in on any lives their batters are offered as India have been sloppy this series – putting down five catches in the opener and two in the fourth game – which could help the visitors narrow the gap between the two sides.
There are always expectations from Athapaththu when Sri Lanka bat, and it was refreshing to see Hasini Perera take the lead in the opening partnership with her captain on Sunday. It was Perera’s penchant for boundaries that charged Sri Lanka to 52 for 0 in the first four overs. Hasini has played nearly 90 T20Is and the last game of the series will be the perfect chance for her to score her maiden T20I half-century that will only increase the faith in her abilities in the lead up to the T20 World Cup.
She has been dismissed just twice this series and Shafali Verma is reaching scary heights in the T20 format with 236 runs already at a strike rate of 185.82 this series. The next best strike rate this series (minimum 50 runs) is Jemimah Rodrigues’ 140.54. Shafali has taken down every possible bowling combination Sri Lanka have thrown at her at the start and with three half-centuries in a row, a continuation of her boundary barrage could be another spectacular show from the India opener.
Rodrigues missed the fourth T20I while recovering from a mild fever and India brought in Harleen Deol for her first game of the series but she didn’t get a chance to bat. Already leading 4-0, India may also want to hand a debut to 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter G Kamalini, the only player in the squad who hasn’t played this series.
India (possible): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues/Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh/G Kamalini (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Renuka Singh/Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Shree Charani
Sri Lanka have been making changes through the series too, and even though they have used up all their players from the squad of 15, don’t rule out any more changes on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka (possible): Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Imesha Dulani, Nilakshika Silva, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), Kavisha Dilhari, Kawya Kavindi/Malki Madara, Inoka Ranaweera, Malsha Shehani, Nimasha Meepage
[Cricinfo]
Shafali, Renuka close in on top five in ICC T20I rankings
S. Achchudan appointed as Director General of the Sports Development Department.
Amendment of the National Environment Act No. 47 of 1980
Tax relief for Dates received as donations or gifts for Ramadan
Cabinet nod to establish the Sri Lanka Industrial Transformation and innovation Authority
Temporary employment of Sri Lankan labour in the State of Israel
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