This week, Sri Lanka returned to Test cricket in the Caribbean after an absence of exactly one year. To think that the national team has gone a full 12 months without playing a single Test is staggering. The administrators who run the game have let down both the players and the fans.

It is equally disturbing to think that players like Dinesh Chandimal and Kasun Rajitha, who are specialists in the longest format, have effectively been left without work for an entire year. Let us hope the new administration gives Test cricket the respect it so richly deserves.

Cricket boards such as Sri Lanka’s and even South Africa’s seem content to play only the bare minimum required for the World Test Championship – 12 Tests in a two-year cycle. To make matters worse, there appears to be little appetite to organise matches outside the championship. Three-Test home series have become a distant memory, while a five-Test series is little more than a fantasy. At this rate, it is unlikely to happen in our lifetime.

For a nation that fought so hard to gain Test status, the way we now treat the format is deeply disappointing. Gentlemen like Gamini Dissanayake must surely be spinning in their graves.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s stock response is that Test cricket does not make money. Someone needs to remind them that SLC is not a business enterprise but a sporting body. Had they shown the same enthusiasm for nurturing the game’s foundations as they did for building cricket grounds to satisfy the whims and fancies of politicians, Sri Lankan cricket would be in a far healthier place today.

The authorities argue that, unlike the last 12 months, the next year looks promising, with the team scheduled to play 10 Tests. That may well be true, but it does not erase the fact that their attitude towards Test cricket has been woefully lackadaisical.

Cricket officials cling to statistics like a drunkard clings to a lamp post – for support rather than illumination.

We play so little Test cricket these days that we may never again produce a player who reaches 100 Tests or a bowler who claims 300 wickets. Great careers are built on opportunity, and opportunity is becoming increasingly scarce.

India, despite reserving more than two months of the calendar for the IPL, still manages to play a healthy number of Test matches each year. The number of nations playing Test cricket has grown in recent times, so logic dictates that the number of Tests Sri Lanka plays should also increase. Sadly, the opposite has happened, with the fixture list shrinking year after year.

One small ray of hope is the assurance given by Sidath Wettimuny that the issue will be addressed. As Chairman of the Cricket Committee, he is in a position to push the board’s executives to find ways and means of ensuring Sri Lanka plays more Test cricket.

by Rex Clementine ✍️

Tiny Cape Verde have become the history makers of World Cup 2026 by defying all odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the knockout stages of the competition.

Their improbable run through the group stage, with a third straight World Cup draw, was completed with a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday night to advance in the tournament.

Keeping goal for Cape Verde throughout has been Vozinha, 40, who has embodied the grit of his nation. “We are small, but we have big hearts and we are fighters,” said the goalkeeper, who last season played for Chaves in Portugal’s second tier.

The island nation off the western coast of Africa, which is making its debut on football’s grandest stage, already held 2010 champion Spain to a 0-0 draw – a shock in itself to begin their campaign.

They then came from behind to get a 2-2 result against Uruguay – the winners of the inaugural World Cup in 1930.

“The team was very eager to show this to the whole world,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said while draped in his country’s flag after the Saudi Arabia game.

“We are proud of having arrived at this stage. We have shown that we are a small country, but that we fight for the things that we want to achieve.”

Cape Verde’s three points put the team in second place behind Spain, which beat Uruguay on Friday night and won the group.

Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in Miami on July 3.

[Aljazeera]

India suffered a potential injury scare ahead of the Test series in Sri Lanka, with their No.3 B Sai Sudarshan retiring hurt on 7 while playing for India A against Sri Lanka A during the third day of the first four-dayer in Galle.  After scoring a century in the first innings, Sai Sudharsan retired hurt in the fourth over of India A’s second innings. By the end of the day’s play, however, India A had stretched their lead to 170.

Chhattisgarh opener Aayush Pandey and Devdutt Padikkal were unbeaten on 20 each at stumps.

India A had claimed a first-innings lead of 122 after dismissing Sri Lanka A for 330 in their first innings. Resuming from an overnight 113 for 2, they were guided by half-centuries from captain Sahan Arachchige (72) and Ashen Bandara (70). Nuwandi Fernando, who had passed his own fifty on day two, had his innings cut short on 84 on day three.

For India A, Auqib Nabi, who was the top wicket taker in the previous Ranji Trophy season and was a net bowler during India’s one-off Test against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, was the pick of the bowlers, returning 4 for 58 in 19.4 overs. Sri Lanka A lost their last five wickets for 30 runs, with Nabi taking four of those.

Left-arm fingerspin-bowling allrounder Harsh Dubey and Vidarbha fast bowler Yash Thakur picked up two wickets apiece. India A then closed out the day on 48 for 0.

Scores:
India A 48 for 0 in 17 overs  (Devdutt Padikkal 20*, Ayush Pandey 20*) and 452 for 6 dec in 111.4 overs  [Sai Sudarshan 132, Dhruv Jurel 141, Shaik Rasheed 63; Chamika Gunasekera 3-64, Dilum Sudeera 2-143] lead  Sri Lanka A 330 in 101.4 overs  (Nuwanidu Fernando 84, Ashen Bandara 70, Sahan Arachchige 72; Aaqib Nabi 4-58, YashThakur 2-51, Harsh Dubey  2-84) by 170 runs

[Cricinfo]