Sports

Kalinga, Dilhani, Randi, Puvitharan excel at Athletics Trials

Published

3 years ago

2022/09/19

by Reemus Fernando

Sprinter Kalinga Kumarage, triple jumper Randi Cooray, thrower Dilhani Lekamge and pole vaulter Arunthavarasa Puvitharan reached their personal best feats at the two-day Selection Trial for Asian Games and Asian Championships held at Diyagama over the weekend.

Kumarage, who is the fourth fastest Sri Lankan sprinter in the history over 400 metres reached his personal best clocking 45.70 seconds on Saturday and backed in up with a 21.11 seconds finish to win the men’s 200 metrres on Sunday. In a meeting marked by the absence of several leading athletes including Kumarage’s closest rival Aruna Dharshana, women’s 100 metres sprinter Amasha de Silva and Commonwealth Games participant Gayanthika Abeyratne, the likes of Kumarage, Cooray, Lekamge and Puvitharan produced the most notable performances.

Randi Cooray cleared the 13 metres mark twice in the women’s triple jump and reached her personal best with a feat of 13.40 metres. Emerging triple jumper Neha Hettiarachchi, who established a meet record at the Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championships at the same venue a couple of days back, came up with a feat of 12.77 metres to be placed second.

The two-day event’s only national record was established by Arunthavarasa Puvitharan who cleared 2.15 metres to win the men’s pole vault event on Saturday. Javelin thrower Dilhani Lekamge cleared a distance of 59.41 metres to produce her personal best on Saturday. Her personal best feat will move her up to the tenth position in the list of Asia’s best throws this season.

In the men’s 110 metres hurdles, national record holder Roshan Ranatunga clocked an impressive 14.09 seconds running against the wind (-2.6). Men’s triple jump saw Shreshan Dananjaya clearing 16.63 metres with a +2.5 wind behind him. That is the furthest distance by a Sri Lankan this year. In the women’s sprint events Medhani Jayamanne won both the 100 metres (11.93secs) and the 200 metres (24.32secs), while Nadeesha Ramanayake clinched the first place in the 400 metres (53.97 secs).

Olympian Nimali Liyanarachchi (2:07.09 secs) had little trouble in winning the women’s 800 metres in the absence of national record holder Gayanthika Abeyratne. Sri Lanka Athletics conducted the two-day trial to form pools for next year’s Asian Games and the Asian Athletics Championships.

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Mendis’ 93 not out lifts Sri Lanka to 271 for 6, despite Rashid three-for

Published

2 hours ago

2026/01/22

Priyan

Kusal Mendis pulls during his half-century [Cricinfo]

Kusal Mendis’ 93 not out off 117 balls provided the backbone, Janith Liyanage punched out a 46, and DunithWellalage produced late burst, as Sri Lanka strode to 271 for 6. On a track that offers turn, and at a venue at which chasing has historically been difficult, Sri Lanka’s is a solid – if not imposing – score, even if the hosts are resting some key bowlers.

Adil Rashid added to his excellent Sri Lanka record with 3 for 44, and was unsurprisingly England’s primary weapon, given the conditions. Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, and Rehan Ahmed claimed a wicket each, as England found frequent-enough breakthroughs to cut partnerships short before they grew truly worrying. Although Sri Lanka will be pleased with their score, England will believe it is within their reach.

Mendis was cautious early on. Arriving in the 11th over, he faced out 12 scoreless deliveries – 10 of those from England’s legspinners – before he nurdled himself onto the scoreboard. He was awake to scoring opportunities, particularly in his favoured zones square of the wicket, such as when he struck Rehan for successive boundaries behind point in the 15th over.

But as England continued to bowl tightly to him, and the spinners extracted turn from a dry surface, Mendis chose to proceed in a middling gear, pushing for singles and twos instead of dusting off his more aggressive sweeps. He got to 50 off 62 balls, but slowed down a little after that, particularly after he lost Liyanage, with whom he had put on 88 for the fifth wicket.

Although Mendis hit only a single four after the 41st over, Sri Lanka had Wellalage to crash the finishing boundaries. He hit three fours and a six in his 12-ball 25 not out. Mendis was in the 90s in the last two overs, but Wellalage claimed the majority of the strike, taking a particular shine to Jamie Overton in the final over, which went for 23.

Rashid was masterful with the ball almost from the outset. He slipped a googly past the defences of Kamil Mishara 10 balls into his first spell, then later trapped Dhananjaya de Silva in front, having beaten the batter in the flight. Then in the 43rd over, he cramped Liyanage up and took a simple catch off his own bowling, just as Liyanage was preparing to press the pedal to the floor.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 271 for 6 in 50 overs (Pathum Nissanka 21, Kamil Mishara 27, Kusal Mendis 93*, Janith Liyanage 46, Dunith Welalage 25*; Adil Rashid 3-44) vs England

[Cricinfo]

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We didn’t get justice from ICC: Bangladesh sports advisor

Published

3 hours ago

2026/01/22

Priyan

Asif Nazrul stated that the Bangladesh govt is not willing to change its stance [Cricbuzz]

Asif Nazrul, the Bangladesh government’s sports advisor, on Thursday said that the ICC and the BCCI made no effort to convince the the Bangladesh Cricket Board of the security for their players in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to be hosted in India and Sri Lanka. He also added that they did not deliver justice to their plea of shifting matches to Sri Lanka.

On Wednesday, the ICC rejected Bangladesh’s plea to relocate their venues from India to Sri Lanka, and instead gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board 24 hours to take a decision on their participation. The ICC have also kept Scotland as standby if Bangladesh eventually don’t agree to travel to India to take part in the tournament.

Nazrul, who had a meeting with national cricketers on Thursday, told reporters that they are not ready to change their stance. “The purpose of the meeting was simply to explain to the players why the government took this decision and give them the context. I believe they understood. That was the purpose – nothing else.

“I think we did not get justice from ICC. Whether we will play in the World Cup or not is entirely a government decision. Nothing happened in India in the recent past that suggests things have changed there (security- wise). We hope ICC will give us justice.”

He went on to add: “All of us want to play the T20 World Cup because our players have earned this through hard work. But the security risk situation in India has not changed. The security concerns did not arise from speculation or theoretical analysis. They arose from a real incident – where one of our country’s top players was forced to bow to extremists, and the Indian cricket board asked him to leave India. Simply put, he was told to leave.

“Now this ICC tournament is being held in India. No matter how much the ICC says there is no security risk, the ICC does not have its own country. The country where my player was not safe – and where the Indian cricket board, which is an extended arm of the government, failed or was unwilling to provide him security under pressure from extremists – that is the country hosting this tournament.

“Security will be the responsibility of that country’s police and security agencies. So what has changed since that incident that would make us believe that there will be no extremist flare-ups again? They could not protect Mustafizur – so what has changed? How can we be convinced that they can protect our players, journalists and supporters?

“The ICC has made no effort to convince us. They ignored the real incident and only talked about their standard security procedures. They did not take a proper position on the actual grievance.

“Even the Indian government made no effort to convince us by saying the incident involving Mustafizur was isolated, or that they were sorry, or that they were taking steps. They made no effort to contact us, no effort to reassure us about the safety of our journalists, spectators and players. Therefore, there is no scope for changing our decision.

Aminul Islam, the president of BCB, added, “A world organisation cannot impose a 24-hour ultimatum. We will keep fighting.

“Bangladesh is a cricket-loving nation. If a country of nearly 200 million people misses the World Cup, ICC will lose a huge audience. Cricket is entering the Olympics in 2028, Brisbane in 2032, India bidding for 2036. Excluding a major cricket-loving country like Bangladesh would be a failure. We are still fighting. Our only demand is to play the World Cup – but not in India. We want to play in Sri Lanka or another neutral venue. Our team is ready.”

[Cricbuzz]

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Jacks out with illness as Sri Lanka bat against England

Published

6 hours ago

2026/01/22

Priyan

Charith Asalanka and Harry Brook with the series trophy

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first in the opening ODI in Colombo, a venue that has historically been difficult for chasing teams. England captain Harry Brook said his team would have batted first as well.

England made one change to the XI they had named on the eve of the match, with allrounder Will Jacks having taken ill overnight. Jacks, an offspin-bowling allrounder, has been replaced in the XI by legspinning allrounder Rehan Ahmed.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have opted for a young attack, perhaps with a view to resting the more experienced bowlers for the T20Is coming up. There is no Wanindu Hasaranga or Maheesh Theekshana in the XI. Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage and legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay will lead the spin attack instead, with the likes of Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka also able to bowl.

Asitha Fernando and Pramod Madushan are the frontline seamers.

Although conditions were warm and fair at the toss, there is a chance showers could roll through later.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt.), Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Rehan Ahmed, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Ratnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando

[Cricinfo]