Sports

Kandy-CR&FC clash in Colombo should be a rugby thriller

Published

10 months ago

2025/02/6

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tharinda Ratwatte (Kandy SC Captain) (L) / Gemunu Chethiya (CR Captain) (R)

By A Special Sports Correspondent

The Inter-club league rugby tournament will culminate with the all important clash between Kandy SC and CR&FC (Scheduled for this weekend in Colombo) regardless of who is leading the points table at the end of eight weeks of high-octane rugby.

CR suffered a morale denting defeat against Havies last week before this all important game, which will eventually decide who finishes on top of the points table after the first round of matches. Interestingly Havelocks Sports Club, which is heading the points table with seven bonus points, would wish Kandy SC loses which would then secure their position as leaders of the points table. The players from Havelocks would be passive observers during the week which schedules the Kandy-CR game because the Park Club gets a week ‘off’ from rugby. Havelocks Sports Club exploded with a telling performance on the field last week and downed CR 53-42; this crunch game ending CR’s unbeaten run this season.

Kandy SC led by full back Srinath Sooriyabandara have lifted their game from where they finished last season. After a somewhat disappointing second place finish in the league tournament last year, Kandy SC has improved by leaps and bounds, with the larger share of progress seen in their scrums and line outs. The Kandy SC pack has gone from strength to strength this season with the inclusion of players in the like of Dilshan Fareed, Wewala Panditha, Thilina Bandara, Chathura Soysa and Dahan Wickremaarachchi. Former Isipatana College third row forward Wickremaarachchi showed what a devastating player he can be last week in the game against Police. The side from Nittawela rattled their opponents scoring seven tries at will. At present Kandy SC are placed second in the points table ahead of CR, who are placed third.

CR will have to do everything to stop the try-hungry back division of Kandy SC which comprises players in the likes of Nigel Ratwatte, Tharinda Ratwatte, Dhanushka Ranjan, Kavindu Perera, Dinal Ekanayake, skipper Srinath Sooriyabandara and new entrant to the side Shahid Zumri who has shown so much promise already in the club rugby circuit. Last season CR beat Kandy SC twice in the league tournament; 38-26 in the first round and 33-25 in the super round.

The Red Shirts have had a great season this year under centre three quarter Gemunu Chethiya despite suffering one defeat. Some of the talented players in the side to watch this season are Venura Kodagoda, Shenal Adikaram, Adeesha Weerathunga, Raveen de Silva, Omalka Guneratne, Viduna Amneth, Thenuka Nanayakkara, Aaron Corea, Silva brothers Randy and Rinesh and dazzling full back and place kicker Musheed Doray. CR was on a high till they met Havies last week and saw the floor cracking under them in that game. That high scoring game last week underscored one thing and that was that CR’s defence was pretty bad. CR must take note that the moment Kandy gets a sniff that a team’s defence is thin, the latter has the men and technique to open the flood gates. If CR is to make this game count they must revolve their game around defence and take maximum advantage of playing on home turf.

The match schedule for week nine in the domestic league rugby tournament are: CH vs Navy at Race Course, Army vs Air Force SC at Panagoda (both matches on February 8), Police vs Sri Lions at Police Park, CR&FC vs Kandy SC at Longden Place (both matches on February 9)

The teams:

CR&FC

from: J.Dilshan, Venura Kodagoda, T.Jayaweera, Navin Marasinghe, Shenal Adhikaram, Adeesha Weerathunga, Raveen de Silva, L.Karunathilake, R. Bandaranayake, Thenuka Nanayakkara, C. Muthunayake, Manilka Ruberu, Gemunu Chethiya (Captain), A. Corea, Musheed Doray, S. Perera, A.Akram, J.Weerabangsa, Omalka Guneratne, Suhiru Anthony, Viduna Amneth, I. Ariyapala, Randy Silva, Rinesh Silva

Kandy SC

: M.Wijesundara, Dilshan Fareed, M.Weerasinghe, Chathura Soysa, N. Premanath, Wewala Panditha, C. Kudalige, Thilina Bandara, Dahan Wickremaarachchi, H.Jansen, Nigel Ratwatte, Dinal Ekanayake, Tharinda Ratwatte, Dhanushka Ranjan, Kavindu Perera, Srinath Sooriyabandara (Captain), Schneider Loos Ethan, N.Athukorala, V. Kolombaarachchi, F.Wajid, Shahid Zumri, A.Senewirathne, D.Dange.

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Henry, Santner, Nathan Smith ruled out of rest of West Indies Test series

Published

12 hours ago

2025/12/8

Priyan

Matt Henry is nursing a calf injury [Cricinfo]

New Zealand’s bowling spearhead Matt Henry (calf strain), seam-bowling allrounder Nathan Smith (side strain) and spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner (groin injury) have all been ruled out of the rest of the home Test series against West Indies.

Glenn Phillips, who joined the squad in Christchurch early as a substitute fielder, has officially been added to the Test squad for the remainder of the series, New Zealand Cricket confirmed. This after he proved his match fitness in the Plunket Shield before joining the squad for the first Test, and he could be in contention to be selected in the XI for the second Test.

In another bit of good news for New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell, who put in a long shift as a substitute fielder in the first Test, is set to be available for the second and slot back in as their middle-order mainstay.

Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell had already been sidelined from the second Test in Wellington after suffering a hamstring injury while batting on day one in Christchurch. Mitchell Hay has been added to the squad and could make his Test debut.

Also, a day after uncapped seamer Michael Rae was called up to the Test squad, Kristan Clarke, a seam-bowling allrounder from Northern Districts, was added to it. With Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke managing “return to play” protocols, New Zealand were left scrambling for last-minute replacements, with the Wellington Test set to begin on November 10.

Both Rae and Clarke were pulled out of the third round of the Plunket Shield. Clarke didn’t bowl for ND in the final innings against Otago in Hamilton, with rookie James Naylor stepping in as his replacement.

Clarke, 24, is uncapped in Test cricket, but was recently part of the ODI series against England as a replacement player after Henry had suffered a separate calf injury. He has now earned his maiden Test call-up as a like-for-like replacement for Smith.

“On the cricket field, I’m a bowling allrounder, you know, and I pride myself on trying to offer as much as I can in the game,” Clarke said in October after breaking into the ODI side. “I just want to be a good person around the group also and just offer as much as I can.”

Clarke has played 27 first-class games so far, taking 77 wickets at an average of 33 and scoring 893 runs at an average of 23.50. He was also part of a New Zealand A tour to Bangladesh during the winter. Though bowling is his primary skill, Kristian is also a capable batter and had notched up his maiden century in senior cricket, against Central Districts in the one-day Ford Trophy, in October.

Clarke hails from Te Awamutu, a small town in the Waikato region and played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup before rising up the ranks in New Zealand cricket. His brother Matti Clarke has also played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup.

“Yeah, so [I was] born and raised in Te Awamutu, [and I] still live in Te Awamutu, still at home,” Clarke said. “I hold Te Amuru very dear to my heart – it’s a cool little town and yeah, quiet little place. Just sort of grew up through the cricket system there and then yeah, sort of just went from there.”

While Blair Tickner, who was the reserve seamer at Hagley Oval, comes into the selection frame for Wellington, there might be a toss-up between Rae and Clarke for a potential Test debut at Basin Reserve.

The first Test was drawn after West Indies, faced with a 530-run deficit in the fourth innings, held on for 163.3 overs to pull off a draw, with Justin Greaves (202 not out) and Shai Hope (140) their main men with the bat

New Zealand squad for second Test vs West Indies :
Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner, Michael Rae, Kristian Clarke

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Van Niekerk cameo, Tunnicliffe fifty give South Africa series win

Published

22 hours ago

2025/12/8

Priyan

Dane Van Niekerk’s late blitz on the back of a sedate half-century from Faye Tunnicliffe helped South Africa beat Ireland by 65 runs in the second T20I in Paarl and take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Opting to bat, South Africa racked up 201 for 5 in their 20 overs. In reply, allrounder Orla Prendegast scored an unbeaten 43-ball 51 while Leah Paul hit 40 off 29 balls, but Ireland could only manage 136 for 3, falling well short.

In her comeback series, van Niekerk thrashed a 19-ball 41 in the back half of the first innings, taking South Africa past their second consecutive 200-plus total of the series. She struck three fours and three sixes in her knock. By the time van Niekerk fell to Arlene Kelly, South Africa’s run rate had jumped past ten an over. Chloe Tryon’s unbeaten seven-ball 16 in the final overs took them to 201, as she also broke Lizelle Lee’s record for most sixes by a South Africa batter in women’s T20Is (49).

Van Niekerk’s cameo complemented a slower – but equally crucial – knock by Tunnicliffe at the top of the order. She reached her maiden T20I half-century off 40 balls: the majority of her innings was played alongside fellow opener, Sune Luus, as the two put up a 78-run opening partnership to lay the foundation.

Aimee Maguire dismissed both of them, as well as captain Laura Wolvaardt, returning 3 for 43 in her four overs.

Ireland’s batters were slow in their response, scoring 33 runs in the powerplay despite losing no wickets. Tryon sent back both openers – Amy Hunter and Gaby Lewis – as Ireland were reduced to 35 for 2 in the seventh over.

Their run-rate never picked up, but Prendergast and Paul stayed solid in the middle to share a 76-run partnership for the third wicket. Paul finally fell for 40, but Prendergast stayed around till the end to bring up her half-century in the final over, off 39 balls. By then, the result of the match was a foregone conclusion.

Brief scores:
South Africa Women 201 for 5 in 20 overs (Faye Tunnicliffe 51, Sune Luus 37, Laura Wolvaardt 22, Dane van Niekerk 41, Marizanne Kapp 16, Chloe Tryon 16*; Orla Prendergast 1-29, Arlene Kelly 1-40, Aimee Maguire 3-43) beat Ireland Women 136 for 3 in 20 overs (Amy Hunter 14, Gaby Lewis 19, Orla Prendergast 51*, Leah Paul 40*; Nonkululeko Mlaba 1-25, Chloe Tryon 2-24) by 65 runs

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Nissanka, Vince continue Gulf Giants’ unbeaten start

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/8

Thilina Walpola

Pathum Nissanka (ILT20

Pathum Nissanka continued his good form in the ILT20 with 67 off 31 balls, to give the Gulf Giants their second win in as many games in the competition as they beat the Dubai Capitals. James Vince anchored the innings with a composed 45-ball 50* as the Giants chased down the target of 161 with four wickets to spare.

‎‎With the Capitals having been put in to bat, they began with a boundary in each over but Azmatullah Omarzai got Shayan Jahangir to chop one back onto his stumps. After four quiet overs, David Willey and Sediqullah Atal slammed a six each off the Afghan fast-bowler to bring some oomph into the innings. The duo put on a 61-run stand in seven overs before Atal miscued a pull off Moeen Ali to deep mid-wicket.

‎‎The wicket ensured Moeen and Liam Dawson could fire in a couple of quiet overs before the latter picked up the set David Willey. Ayaan Khan scalped Gulbadin Naib in the next over as the Capitals fell to 93/4 in 14 overs. Jordan Cox slammed two sixes and two fours in a quick 17-ball 31 and found success against fellow Englishman Moeen to get the Capitals’ innings moving. But the brakes were once again applied, when Cox and Rovman Powell fell to Omarzai in the 18th over.

‎‎Looking for a strong finish, Dasun Shanaka pulled Omarzai over fine-leg for four before smashing two sixes on the offside, in an 18-run final over, to take the Capitals to 160 for 6 in their allotted overs.

‎‎In reply, Rahmanullah Gurbaz survived a review in the first over and then slammed David Willey over mid-wicket for six before falling to a stunning catch by Cox. Nissanka, who had scored 81 in his last game, took a liking to Mustafizur Rahman with a boundary down-the-ground and a six over mid-wicket to get his innings moving.

‎‎The Sri Lankan then smashed James Neesham for 22 runs in the fifth over flat-batting two sixes and a four along with a maximum down the ground. Vince hit two boundaries off Mustafizur as they raced to 60 for 1 at the end of the PowerPlay. He was also dropped by Willey as the Capitals began to look poor on the field.

‎‎Nissanka hit consecutive boundaries in the 10th over to bring up his 50 of just 23 balls. He then slammed Waqar Salamkheil for two fours and a six in a 15-run 11th over as the Giants continued to cruise to victory. He was finally dismissed by Mustafizur after failing to hit one over Cox’s head at long-on.

‎‎Towards the end, there was a flurry of wickets but Vince stood firm at the other end bringing up his 11th fifty of the competition and taking his team home.

‎Brief Scores:

‎Dubai Capitals

160/6 in 20 overs (Sediqullah Atal 35, Jordan Cox 31; Azmatullah Omarzai 3-46)

‎Gulf Giants

161/6 in 18.5 overs (Pathum Nissanka 67, James Vince 50*; Dasun Shanaka 2-16) (cricbuzz)

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