Sports
Klaasen powers South Africa to ruthless victory
South Africa demolished Australia at Supersport Park, Centurion by 164 runs to make a stunning comeback into the series, equalising 2-2 after being 0-2 down after the first two matches. The win came on the back of Heinrich Klaasen’s brutal 174, featuring an equally fiery 82* by David Miller, both of whom were due a big knock in this series. The two put on a double-century stand, which came off just 87 balls, and essentially batted Australia out of the game by setting them a target of 417.
Chasing 417, Australia lost David Warner early trying to get going in a big chase, caught at cover point by David Miller off Lungi Ngidi. Mitchell Marsh followed soon after, caught in front by Lungi Ngidi, and reviewed unsuccessfully, which wasn’t a complete waste, given that it was only clipping leg stump. Travis Head, who had already been struck on the arm once, received another blow on his left hand trying to cut a Gerald Coetzee delivery, and retired hurt in agonising pain.
Carey, the next man in, wasn’t mucking around and got on with things, top-edging a fortuitous six off his third ball. However, while Carey kept the boundaries flowing on one end, Marnus Labuschagne soon nicked off to Marco Jansen, and as did Marcus Stoinis to Rabada, 26 runs later, leaving Australia’s chase in tatters. Tim David and Alex Carey gave Australia a glimmer of hope with a stand of 72 runs off 49 balls, and there was an air of panic when Tim David hit Gerald Coetzee for consecutive sixes. However, a stunning catch from Markram sent David on his way, after which the tail was exposed.
South Africa didn’t budge, bringing in the big guns to finish the job, as Rabada and Ngidi ran through the tail, aggregating seven wickets between them. Rabada got Carey nicking behind on 99, for what would be the last wicket of the match, given that Travis Head’s injury didn’t allow him to bat again.
Earlier, South Africa were asked to bat first and started the innings sedately, before a fifty-run stand was ended by Nathan Ellis who knocked over Reeza Hendricks for 28. de Kock followed soon after, trying to up the ante, and the wicket of Markram caused alarms in the South African camp. However, a fifty from Rassie van der Dussen, managed to rescue South Africa from a hole. This was followed by a historic double-hundred partnership between Heinrich Klaasen (174) and David Miller (82*), off just 87 deliveries, including a jaw-dropping 173 runs in the final 10 overs, resulting in a total of 416-5 in 50 overs – a total that proved more than enough for Australia.
This result brings South Africa back into the series, as they equalized 2-2 after being 0-2 down, taking it to the finale at the Wanderers – the very venue where another tie-breaker was played between the two sides over 17 years ago.
Brief Scores:
South Africa 416-5 in 50 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 174, David Miller 82*, Josh Hazlewood 2-79) beat Australia 252 all-out in 34.5 overs (Alex Carey 99, Lungi Ngidi 4-51, Kagiso Rabada 3-41) by 164 runs
(Cricbuzz)
B Sai Sudarshan and Prasidh Krishna once again stood up for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Ahmedabad. This was GT’s fourth successive win in IPL 2025 and it took them to the top of the points table.
After RR opted to bowl on a red-soil pitch, Sai Sudharsan’s 82 off 53 balls, his third half-century of the season, steered GT to 217 for 6. With no dew in the second innings, it proved way too steep for RR to chase down. Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan struck in the powerplay before Prasidh picked up 3 for 24 in the middle overs to keep RR on the back foot. Despite Shimron Hetmyer’s fighting fifty, RR were all out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Joffra Archer didn’t have a great start to IPL 2025. In his first two games, he conceded 109 from 6.3 wicketless overs. But he boucned back in his next two with a combined 4 for 38 from seven overs. He breathed fire tonight as well. In his first over, he rushed Sai Sudharsan with a 152.3kph bouncer. In his second, he got one to move in at 147.7kph and pegged back Shubman Gill’s off stump. His match-up against Gill in T20 cricket now reads: 15 balls, ten runs, three dismissals.
For his former captain Jos Buttler, Archer had two slips, a short leg and a catching square leg, and welcomed him with a menacing bouncer that Buttler did well to evade. Buttler inside-edged the next ball just wide of short leg, and then pushed Archer through the covers for four.
Sai Sudharsan generally takes time to get going. Here, he attacked right from the start. He ramped, scooped, drove and cut, and took his side to 50 in 5.1 overs. By the end of the powerplay, he had 39 against his name, off 22 balls. Only Wriddhiman Saha (54 vs Lucknow Super Giants in 2023) has scored more runs in an innings for GT in that phase.
Buttler was on 12 off 13 at one point but hit four fours in his next six balls to move to 31 off 19. He and Sai Sudharsan added 80 off 46 balls before Maheesh Theekshana trapped Buttler lbw. After a brief dip in the scoring rate, M Shahrukh Khan opened up and smashed 36 off 20 to re-inject momentum.
Sudharsan was dropped on 81 by Shubham Dubey off Archer in the 18th over, but he only added one more to his tally. Then Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ransacked 30 in the last two overs to take GT past 200.
RR did not have a great start. Yashasvi Jaiswal slashed Arshad to deep third in the second over of the chase and Nitish Rana did the same against Siraj in the next. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag counterattacked and added 48 off 26 balls for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya had Parag caught behind in the seventh over. Parag immediately reviewed the decision, confident that his bat had only hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, with Ultra Edge also bringing up a second spike when the ball passed the bat.
Coming into this game, Rashid had picked up just one wicket in four outings. Tonight, he struck in his first over. It was a shortish ball that didn’t bounce as much as Dhruv Jurel expected, and Sai Sudharsan at deep midwicket gobbled up the mistimed pull.
Rashid enjoys a favourable match-up against Hetmyer, having dismissed him six times in 63 balls for 79 runs before this game. He almost had Hetmyer lbw for a first-ball duck but the ball had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. From there on, Hetmyer dominated Rashid and hit him for 26 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. However, Rashid was too good for RR’s Impact Sub Shubham Dubey and had him lbw for 1.
In his final over, the 16th over of the innings, Prasidh had Archer caught at mid-off and Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg, both off short balls. With RR 145 for 8 after 16 overs, the result was sealed. They dragged their innings into the final over but that did little to reduce the margin of their defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 217 for 6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Jos Buttler 36, M Shahrukh Khan 36, Rahul Tewatia 24*, Rashid Khan 12; Joffra Archer 1-30, Tushar Deshpande 2-53, Sandeep Sharma 1-41, Maheesh Theekshana 2-54) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 (Shimron Hetmyer 52, Sanju Samson 41, Riyan Parag 26; Mohammed Siraj 1-30, Arshad Khan 1-19, Prasidh Krishna 3-24, Kulwant Khejroliya 1-29, Sai Kishore 2-20, Rashid Khan 2-37) by 58 runs
[Cricinfo]
Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Tournament
Speedster Manasa Madubashana celebrated his 19th birthday sharing four wickets each with spinner Yenula Dewthusa as St.Joseph’s sealed a comfortable 71 runs victory over Trinity in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs tournament final at Surrey Village ground on Wednesday.
Chasing 205 runs to win Trinity’s top order batsmen were rattled by Madubashana who took four wickets in a decisive seven over spell. He took wickets in consecutive balls in his second over to trigger a collapse from which Trinity never recovered.
The four wicket hauls by Madubashana and Dewthusa restricted Trinity to 133 runs. In their chase, Trinity lost wickets at reguler intervals and a laboured 48 runs from Sweath Anurajeewa only managed to delay the outcome till the 48th over. His innings came to an end when Madubashana held on to a regulation catch off the bowling of Aveesha Samash.
Earlier put to bat, St. Joseph’s too lost wickets at reguler intervals, but mini partnerships between Abishek Jayaweera and Senuja Wakunegoda (52 for the second wicket), and Jayaweera and Nimthaka Gunewardena (45 for the 3rd wicket) enabled them to stay aloft.
Gunawardena top scored with 47 runs, while skipper Kenath Liyanage played a vital role anchoring the tail with an unbeaten 29 runs.
The title victory capped a remarkable end to the Joes limited overs tournament campaign after having reached the knockout stage with only two victories under their belt.
by Reemus Fernando
Schools Relay Carnival commenced at Diyagama on Wednesday. Here are some pictures from day one of the three-day championship.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
Lyceum International Wattala were the winners of the Under 20 distance medley
relay. (From left) Himansi Pradeepani, Shalomi Rashni, Rashini Karunarathne
and Jithma Wijethunga.
.Under 20 boys medley relay winners, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena. (From
left) Andrew Akash, Kalana Jayamanna, Kavindu Jayamanna and Denuth Nimesh.
Under 12 boys’ 4x100m relay winners, Maris Stella College. Negombo (From left) Tanujitha Weerasekara, Senith Ranasinghe, Milan Fernando and Denuth Thenujan.
Girls’ Under 12 4×50 metres relay winners, St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo. (From left) Jenuli Perera, Sanah Fernando, Glesha Nanayakkara and Dehara Alwis.
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Enforcing the law against bribery and corruption is not an act of political revenge but a profound human responsibility – President
Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
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