Sports
Joes beat Gateway to take U-16 ‘A’ basketball title
St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10 recently won the under-16 ‘A’ Division Basketball title beating Gateway College, Rajagiriya by 84-66 points in the final at the Rajagiriya Gateway College basketball court.
In the preliminary round the Josephians defeated Wattala St. Anthony’s College by 70-54 , Moratuwa Prince of Wales College by 63-46 , Karandeniya Central College by 63-29 , Ambalangoda Dharmashoka College by 59-37.
In the quarters Joes beat Trinity College, Kandy by 64-50 and went on to beat Ananda College Colombo by 86-55 in the semi-final. St. Joseph’s College remained undefeated throughout the tournament.
Darren Bernard (St. Joseph’s) was awarded as the ‘Most Valuable Player’ of the tournament and Bilal Safaras (Gateway) as the Best ‘Offensive Player’. Aaron Gerald (St. Joseph’s) was picked as the Best ‘Defensive Player’.
Randima Suriyarachchi and Shane Daniel are the co-coaches of the victorious St. Joseph’s College team and Hemal Fernando is the Master-in- Charge.
Zimbabwe remain undefeated against Australia in T20 World Cups after a career-best bowling display from Blessing Muzabarani and a gutsy 64 not out from Brian Bennett helped orchestrate a stunning 23-run win in Colombo and throw group B into chaos.
Muzarabani took 4 for 17 from four overs, ripping out the top order alongside Brad Evans in the powerplay who also took 3 for 23, as Australia never really looked close to chasing Zimbabwe’s impressive 169 for 2 on a slow pitch that had been set up by even contributions from the top four.
Matt Renshaw’s 65 off 44 gave Australia hope but on top of the polished display with bat and ball they also fielded superbly to restrict Australia and threaten their Super Eight hopes.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 169 for 2 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 64*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 35, Ryan Burl 35, Sikandar Raza 25*; Marcus Stoinis 1-17, Cameron Green 1-06) beat Australia 146 in 19.3 overs (Travis Head 17, Glenn Maxwell 31, Matt Renshaw 65; Blessing Muzarabani 4-17, Brad Evans 3-23, Wellington Masakadza 1-36, Ryan Burl 1-09) by 23 runs
[Cricinfo]
After running India close in their opening game in Mumbai, USA were outplayed by Pakistan in Colombo in their second. A third successive defeat, against Netherlands on Friday, will knock them out of contention for the Super Eight stage. History is also against USA: they have not beaten Netherlands in three attempts in men’s T20Is.
USA had earlier given New Zealand a scare during the warm-up fixture in Navi Mumbai, but injuries have weakened them since. Fast bowler Ali Khan is nursing a groin injury while Jasdeep Singh (shoulder injury) has been ruled out of the rest of the 2026 T20 World Cup, with former Pakistan fast bowler Ehsan Adil replacing him in the side. Adil was thrown into the XI straightaway in the second game, but ended up conceding 39 runs in three overs against the country of his birth at the Premadasa. It remains to be seen if Shubham Ranjane, who had hurt his knee, is back to full fitness.
USA are yet to nail down their opening combination: Saiteja Mukkamalla was left out after just one failure, against India. He was their most prolific batter in the lead-up to this World Cup and hit 50 off 31 balls in the warm-up match against New Zealand.
Netherlands will be high on confidence after easing past Namibia on the back of Bas de Leede’s all-round effort in Delhi. They bat deep, with Roelof van der Merwe listed at No. 9, and also have a surfeit of bowling options. That depth was central to giving Pakistan a scare in the tournament opener. Netherlands are also familiar with Chennai conditions – their entire squad trained at the Chennai Super Kings Academy in the city for around a week last month.
Picked as the only frontline left-arm spinner in the Netherlands side, ahead of Daniel Doram and Tim Pringle, Roleof van der Merwe followed up his 1 for 13 in three overs against Pakistan with 0 for 22 in two overs against Namibia. The 41-year-old could play a big role against a right-hand-batter heavy USA line-up.
Saurabh Netravalkar’s Mumbai homecoming was far from sweet: he ended up leaking 65 runs in his four overs for no wickets – the most by a bowler in an innings in the T20 World Cup. The left-arm seamer fared much better in USA’s next game against Pakistan, and will look to return to his best against Netherlands.
There’s no reason for Netherlands to tweak their winning combination unless there are any injuries or illnesses in their camp, though veteran Max O’Dowd has been below par.
Netherlands (probable): Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Zach Lion-Cachet, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaasen
If Ali Khan is fit, he could potentially come back in place of Adil. There might be a toss-up between Mukkamalla and Shayan Jahangir for the opening slot.
USA (probable): Andries Gous (wk), Shayan Jahangir/Saiteja Mukkamalla, Monank Patel (capt), Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi , Shubham Ranjane, Harmeet Singh , Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan/Ehsan Adil
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