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Maliyadeva Balika win big in Table Tennis

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The All Island Schools Table Tennis Championship was worked off recently and Maliyadeva Balika, Kurunegala put up a grand show at the event.

Maliyadeva Balika won the Under-16 ‘E’ Division while securing the third spot in the ‘D’ Division in the same age group category. They also secured the third place in the Under-10 ‘D’ Division.The school team is coached by Kanishka Pandula while Mallika Irangani is the Teacher-in-Charge.



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New Zealand breeze past Sri Lanka despite Theekshana hat-trick

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Jacob Duffy struck early blows to destabilise Sri Lanka's chase

New Zealand strode to 255 for 9 in their 37 overs, with a 112-run second wicket stand between Rachin Ravindra and Mark Chapman the bedrock of that innings. And then Sri Lanka’s top order crashed and burned again. They were 4 for 22 inside the first five overs, their hopes of levelling the series almost completely dashed.

Kamindu Mendis attempted to revive the innings, but his 64 was not nearly enough to revive this innings. Sri Lanka slipped to a 113-run defeat, having also lost heavily to New Zealand in the first ODI. New Zealand take the series despite being significantly depleted by absences and injuries. Sri Lanka are essentially at full strength, but the failure of their top five continues to dog them, even in a rain-reduced match such as this.

New Zealand had some stutters too. They were modest at the death, as Maheesh Theekshana in particular was effective, taking a hat-trick across his last two overs, as New Zealand mustered no more than 63 in the last 10 overs, losing five wickets in that period. But they did not stumble so spectacularly as to undo the work of the Ravindra-Chapman stand. They had contributions through the middle, with Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchell Santner chipping in.

And then they had their confident seam bowlers, who imposed themselves even with the older ball. Will O’Rourke took 3 for 31, Jacob Duffy 2 for 30, while Matt Henry and Nathan Smith claimed a wicket apiece. The only semblance of a partnership had been between Kamindu and Janith Liyanage, as the pair put on 57 together for the fifth wicket. Outside of that, New Zealand were picking their way through the batting order, and ultimately had them all out inside 31 overs.

Sri Lanka’s required rate was 6.92 right from the beginning. Although this seems a monumental challenge, the pitch was good to bat on, and with rain having delayed the start of play by two-and-a-half hours, a damp ball was also proving a challenge for some bowlers. But Sri Lanka needed a strong start to put some wind in the sails of this chase, and what they got instead was a collapse.

Pathum Nissanka holed out to mid-off in the second over, badly miscuing a lofted drive against Duffy. Kusal Mendis then edged behind in Duffy’s next over, before Avishka Fernando slapped a ball from Henry straight to point immediately after. Captain Charith Asalanka’s horrendous judging of a run extended Sri Lanka’s nosedive. He’d blocked one towards Mitchell Santner at mid-off and called his partner through. Santner swooped in the ball, hit the stumps with an under-arm throw, and caught Asalanka metres short. Kamindu had been out in very similar fashion, taking on the same fielder, only on Sunday.

At Asalanka’s dismissal, Sri Lanka still had 234 runs to get off 194 deliveries, and only two specialist batters and two allrounders left to do it with. They didn’t get especially far.

Contrast this to New Zealand’s top order, who put their team in a powerful position inside the first 22 overs, with Ravindra stroking 79 off 63 and Chapman hitting 62 off 52.

Maheesh Theekshana became the seventh Sri Lanka bowler to bag an ODI hat-trick

What was most impressive about their stand was how comfortable both batters made brisk run-scoring appear. Ravindra was strong through the offside as usual, but found plenty of runs to leg, using the sweep and the pick-up shot off the pads to especially good effect.

Chapman meanwhile, was decidedly stronger on the legside, scoring 46 off his 63 runs in that direction. He hit two sixes – one top edged over the keeper, and another over midwicket off a short ball from Eshan Malinga to bring up his fifty off 44 balls as well as the century partnership. Ravindra had also got to his half-century with a six – down the ground off Hasaranga. He took 43 balls to get there.

Earlier, Asitha Fernando had bowled Will Young with an outstanding jagging delivery, but neither Ravindra or Chapman were tested for long by Sri Lanka’s seamers. In fact, it was the spinners that introduced even a little discomfort – between them, Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga took six wickets.

Sri Lanka fielded well, and induced errors at a greater rate in the back half of the innings. Asalanka pulled off an excellent diving catch at short cover to get rid of Ravindra, and Theekshana’s hat-trick featured some tumbling catches in the deep from Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Kamindu.

But even in the field, New Zealand outdid them. Their ground fielding was spectacular again, and the catch of the day belonged to Nathan Smith, who bounded along the deep-third boundary, threw himself off his feet and got his outstretched right arm to a ball that might otherwise have landed over the boundary to dismiss Malinga.

Brief scores:

New Zealand

255 for 9 in 37 overs (Rachin Ravindra 79, Mark Chapman 62, Daryl Mitchell 38, Mitchell Santner 20; Maheesh Theekshana 4-44, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-39) beat Sri Lanka 142 in 30.2 overs (Kamindu Mendis 64, Janith Liyanage 22; Will O’Rouke 3-31, Jacob Duffu 2-30) by 113 runs

[Cricinfo]

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St. Thomas’ record ‘historic victory’ against Ananda

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Pesandu Sanjan

by Reemus Fernando

St. Thomas’ College, Matara achieved a ‘historic first’ as they beat Ananda College, Colombo by five wickets to retain their top position in the points table in the Under 19 Division I tier ‘B’ tournament yesterday.

St. Thomas’ are not a traditional rival of the schools cricket powerhouse of Colombo. Despite playing cricket for more than hundred years, they only meet Ananda in tournament matches. According to officials of St. Thomas’ it is the first time they have beaten the Anandians. The home team achieved the feat well before lunch on the final day as the tournament’s highest run scorer Pesandu Sanjan scored an unbeaten 23 runs to seal the five wickets win in the low scoring affair. Sanjan led from the front in the bowling attack as well taking six wickets in the second innings to bundle out Ananda for 49 runs. It is the third outright victory of the tournament for the team captained by Sajan.

At Galle, Mahinda beat St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya by an innings and 46 runs as Senuka Dangamuwa rattled the visitors for 72 runs with a five wicket haul in the second innings. Mahinda are the second placed team in the points table behind St. Thomas’.

Results

St. Thomas’ beat Ananda by five wickets at Uyanwatta

Scores

Ananda

95 all out 44.2 overs (Kenul de Zoysa 26, Lithma Perera 22; Vihanga Sankalana 2/14, Pesandu Sanjan 3/14, Manuga Guruge 3/26) and 49 all out in 20 overs (Pesandu Sanjan 6/22, Manuga Guruge 4/19)

St. Thomas’ Matara

85 all out in 25.2 overs (Manuga Guruge 18; Ashinsa Nainayaka 2/21, Kaveesha Mendis 2/04, Dasith Batugahage 4/30) and 64 for 5 in 18.2 overs (Kumesh Nawanjana 17n.o., Pesandu Sanjan 23n.o.; Sharada Jayaratne 4/31)

Mahinda beat St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya by an innings and 46 runs at Galle

Scores

St. Sebastian’s

83 all out in 32.3 overs and 72 all out in 38.1 overs (Arosha Udayanga 3/26, Senuka Dangamuwa 5/38, Kaveen Rukshan 2/04)

Mahinda

201 all out in 52.4 overs (Dulsith Dharshana 106, Sehas Ashinsa 22, Arosha Udayanga 25; Maheesha Sithum 3/73, Vihanga Theekshana 3/26, Damsith Subashana 2/44)

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Boland, Bumrah, Bavuma and Babar make gains in ICC rankings

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Scott Boland receives his Player-of-the-Match award for the SCG Test from Allan Border [Cricinfo]

Scott Boland has entered the top ten of the ICC’s Test bowling rankings for the first time after taking 21 wickets in three Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests.

Averaging 13.19 in the series, Boland broke into the top ten after a match haul of 10 for 86 at the SCG, which sealed the series 3-1 in Australia’s favour and earned him a Player-of-the-Match award. He has moved up to joint-ninth after climbing 29 positions.

Jasprit Bumrah,  who topped the wicket-takers’ chart at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 32 wickets at 13.06, remains the No. 1 Test bowler, adding one rating point and going up to 908, improving on the record for Indian bowlers.

Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada have moved up to No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, while Josh Hazlewood has fallen just out of the top three. Marco Jansen rounds up the top five for Test bowlers.

South Africa’s big batting performance in the second Test against Pakistan, where they scored 615 in the first innings, has seen their key batters move up the Test batting charts.

Temba Bavuma’s 106 has taken him three places up to a career-best No. 6 Ryan Rickelton’s 259 has lifted him 48 positions to 55th, while Kyle Yerrevnne’s 100 has seen him move up four spots to No. 24.

For Pakistan, Babar Azam (No. 12) inched closer to the top ten after scores of 58 and 81.

Rishabh Pant meanwhile, has regained his place in the top ten among Test batters, after hitting 40 and 61 in India’s defeat in Sydney. He moved up three places to No. 9 while his team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal remained at No. 3 behind world No. 1 Joe Root and second-placed Harry Brook.

[Cricinfo]

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