Sports
Nadeesha, Kalinga return with a bang, Sarangi breaks 21 year old record
98th National Athletics Championship- Day 1
by Reemus Fernando
Sprinters Nadeesha Ramanayake and Kalinga Kumarage and long jumper Sarangi Silva commenced from where they left exactly a year ago as they produced outstanding feats on day one of the 98th National Athletics Championship at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Saturday.
Ramanayake, who missed the South Asian Games in Nepal after being diagnose with dengue fever on her arrival there, recorded her personal best in winning the women’s 200 metres. Aided by a 1.8 tail wind, Ramanayake clocked 24.15 seconds to better her previous personal best recorded in August last year. The 26 year old sprinter from Southern Province was part of the Asian Championship 4×400 metres relay team which established a new national record in Doha in early 2019 and was expected to win medals in Nepal last December before dengue derailed her plans. She is expected to come all guns blazing when her pet event, the 400 metres, is held on the final day.
Kalinga rises, Vinoj crashes
Equally impressive was Kalinga Kumarage’s dash to win the men’s 200 metres title as the defending champion and National record holder Suranjaya de Silva crashed to a disappointing sixth place finish. Kalinga who was cleared of doping charges by a disciplinary committee in December last year was taking part in a meet after more than two years. He was temporarily suspended by SLADA in January 2019.
From the time he set the pace in the heats, Kalinga (21.08 secs) looked the athlete in form and returned an impressive 20.79 seconds to claim the 200 metres title. For a while it looked as if he had shattered Prasanna Amarasekara’s long standing meet record (2004- 20.80 secs). The wind gauge showed that his impressive effort had been supported by a tail wind of +2.4 which prevented it from being called a record.
Sarangi shines
The women’s long jump gold and silver were shared by South Asian Games medallists Sarangi Silva and Anjani Pulwansa respectively. SA Games gold medallist Sarangi cleared 6.33 metres to break Indian Anju B Marcos’s record created at the 1999 Nationals. Pulwansa, who cleared 6.06 metres was the only other athlete to go beyond the six metres mark.
Olympian Sumeda Ranasinghe registered a 76.10 metres throw to win the javelin title while former national record holder Waruna Lakshan settled for silver with a throw of 71.86 metres. Others failed to clear the 70 metres.
Olympic hopeful Nilani Ratnayake was easily the best in the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase but gusty winds prevented her from reaching her best as she returned a time of 10:15.86 seconds to retain her title.
In the men’s 5000 metres R.M.S. Pushpakumara was the winner as he clocked an impressive 14:29.45 seconds. He was eight seconds behind the 25 year old meet record held by Saman Weerawardana.
Sri Lanka Athletics is conducting the 98th National Athletics Championships under trying conditions due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Absence of competitions due to the pandemic has prevented top athletes from improving their world rankings which is a must to realize their Olympic aspirations.
Day 1 Results
Women’s 200m: 1. Nadeesha Ramanayake (SL Army) 24.15 secs, 2. Fathima Shafiya Yamick (SL Army) 24.30 secs, 3. W.S.H. Fernando (SL Navy) 24.83 secs.
Women’s Long Jump:
1. S.L. Sarangi Silva (SL Army) 6.33m (NMR), 2. Anjani Pulwansa (Unattached) 6.06m, 3. E.M.S. Upeksha (SL Universities) 5.63m.
Women’s 3000m Steeplechase:
1. U.K.N. Rathnayake (SL Army) 10:15.86secs, 2. H.K.I.T. Udayakumari (SL Army) 11:13.35 secs, 3. W.H.N. Kumari (SL Navy) 11:36.02 secs.
Men’s 200m: 1. Kalinga Kumarage (SL Army) 20.79 secs, 2. A.S.M Safan (SL Army) 21.41 secs, 3. S. Aruna Darshana (SL Army) 21.49 secs.
Men’s 5000m:
1. R.M.S. Pushpakumara (SL Army) 14:29.45 secs, 2. A.K. Tharanga (SL Air Force) 14:36.39 secs, 3. S.M.D.M. Samarakoon (SL Air Force) 14:46.07 secs.
Men’s Long Jump:
1. L. Sreshan Dhananjaya (SL Army) 7.71m, 2. K.K.M.K. Karunasekara (SL Army) 7.59m, 3. J.H.G. Sampath (SL Army) 7.58m.
Men’s Shot Put:
1. W.S.M. Fernando (SL Army) 16.12m, 2. R. Samitha Jayawardene (SL Army) 15.07m, 3. A.M.M. Perera (SL Police) 14.07m.
Men’s Javelin 1. R.M. Sumeda Ranasinghe (SL Army) 76.10m, 2. R.P. Waruna Dayarathna (SL Army) 71.86m, 3. Ranjith Nuwan Kumara (SL Army) 69.43m.
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle scored their second outright victory of the season and the first in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ cricket tournament as Senuka Dangamuwa came up with his best bowling figures of the season to halt a fighting Moratu Vidyalaya outfit in Galle on Thursday.
After Arosha Udayanga anchored the tail with an unbeaten 41 runs for Mahinda to post 252 runs, the visitors resisted by posting their highest total of the tournament (200). Skipper Isuru Nidharshana was responsible for more than half of their score as he anchored the top order batting line up with a century. His knock of 105 runs came in 146 balls (12x4s, 1×6). Hasidu Gimsara came up with a 37-ball 46 runs which included four fours and three sixes.
However, their 67 overs of resistance could not prevent them from conceding defeat. Dangamuwa with a six wicket haul was the main wicket taker for Mahinda.
Mahinda only needed 45 runs to win and they reached the target for the loss of two wickets in seven overs.
It is the first outright victory for Mahinda in their group.
Meanwhile, Sri Sumngala, Panadura topped 300 runs against Wesley at Campbell Park. Neksha Iddamalgoda top scored with 119 runs, while Rusith Jayawardana (83) and Sandeep Wijerathne (92) made valuable half centuries.
Results
Mahinda beat Moratu Vidyalaya in Galle
Scores
Moratu Vidyalaya 96 all out in 45.2 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 31, Shehara Fernando 20; Arosha Udayanga 5/35) and 200 all out in 67.2 overs (Isuru Nidharshana 105, Sanjana Senavirathne 20, Hasindu Gimsara 46; Kaveen Rukshan 2/50, Senuka Dangamuwa 6/65)
Mahinda 213 for 9 overnight 252 all out in 61.5 overs (Dulsith Darshana 106, Senuka Dangamuwa 50, Arosha Udayanga 41n.o.; Isuru Nidharshana 2/72, Nishitha Fernando 5/60) and 48 for 2 in 6.3 overs (Dulsith Dharshana 24)
Sri Sumangala post 330 at Campbell Park
Scores
Sri Sumangala 330 for 7 decl. in 84.3 overs (Rusith Jayawardana 83, Neksha Iddamalgoda 119, Sandeep Wijerathne 92; Dinuja Samararathna 3/104)
Wesley 45 for 1 in 13 overs
Through Dane Paterson’s five-fer, Corbin Bosch’s four-wicket haul on debut and Aiden Markram’s gutsy 47*, South Africa ended Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan in a better position compared to the visitors. They finished at 82 for 3 at Stumps, trailing Pakistan’s 211 by 129 runs.
Despite Kagiso Rabada being the best bowler in terms of line and length for the hosts, he remained wicketless after testing the batters on both sides of the willow.
The hosts quickly managed to pick up the last wicket of Khurram Shahzad three balls into the final session bringing a strange Pakistan innings to an end who were aggressive despite losing regular clumps of wickets.
Markram then got South Africa’s innings underway with an elegant straight drive to the boundary but Shahzad accounted for his partner Tony de Zorzi as he rattled the stumps. With a peach of a delivery, Shahzad got one to seam inwards and had de Zorzi bowled for just two. Ryan Rickelton survived a review after he shouldered arms to a ball which came inwards but fortunately for him was missing the off-stump.
Markram punished two poor deliveries for four off Mohammad Abbas as he moved into double digits but Shahzad scalped his partner, getting him to nick behind to the ‘keeper. Markram and new batter Tristan Stubbs steadied the ship with a 44-run partnership which was dominated by the former. Markram played the ball with soft hands and guided testing deliveries to the fence along with pouncing on any width on offer.
Stubbs, who made only nine, was dismissed in an unfortunate manner with the ball keeping low and trapping him LBW. Skipper Temba Bavuma and Markram then played out the remaining overs to take South Africa to Stumps without any further wickets.
Earlier on, Pakistan survived the first hour of play unscathed but the introduction of Bosch changed the course of the game immediately. Shan Masood drove loosely away from his body, edging one to Marco Jansen at gully, off Bosch’s first ball in Test cricket before Paterson picked up Saim Ayub.
Babar Azam scored only four while Saud Shakeel played a strange six-ball 14 in a mindlessly aggressive innings as Pakistan had fallen to 56 for 4 before Lunch.
Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Rizwan resurrected the innings with an 81-run stand but the former threw his wicket almost immediately after reaching his milestone, as Paterson struck in the first over of his fresh spell. Ghulam had played a wild swipe to deep backward-square leg.
Salman Agha too raced off the blocks with a boundary but Rizwan fell soon after edging one to slips as Paterson picked up his fourth. Salman and Aamer Jamal attempted to resurrect the innings with a mini partnership of 47 runs in quick time before a mini collapse ensued as Jamal chopped one back on to his stumps before Salman and Naseem Shah departed within the next eight balls.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan 211 (Kamran Ghulam 54, Aamer Jamal 28; Dane Paterson 5-35, Corbin Bosch 4-24) lead South Africa 82/3 (Aiden Markram 47*, Tristan Stubbs 9; Khurram Shahzad 2-28, Mohammad Abbas 1-36) by 129 runs.
With his family and well-wishers watching along from the Queens Sports Club balcony, Zimbabwe’s veteran batter Sean Williams celebrated his fifth Test ton in Bulawayo to give the hosts the upper hand in the Boxing Day Test against Afghanistan, as they finished on 363 for 4.
Williams not only negated Afghanistan’s spin challenge comfortably but also dominated the other bowlers to finish unbeaten on 145. His control percentage of 90 on a surface that offered decent turn right from the start of play displayed just that, with the inexperienced Afghanistan bowling attack – the visitors were missing Rashid Khan for the Test owing to personal reasons – looking both deflated and bruised by the end of it.
Walking in at the start of the second session to face his first ball with Zimbabwe at 92 for 2, Williams relied on his footwork to get on top of the bowling. Usually a frequent sweeper, Williams, on this occasion, took to the cuts, drives and pulls to shepherd the Zimbabwe innings. With Afghanistan not offering anything too full knowing Williams’ love for the sweep, he countered the bowlers’ lengths by rocking back or going on to the front foot with equal ease.
When Williams charged down the track, he lifted sixes over long-on and long-off. When he hung back, he created the time to slap boundaries through the off side. Williams’ enterprising batting earned him a half-century off 58 balls, and a century off 115.
But Williams’ innings wasn’t the only one to help Zimbabwe finish the day on a high. Opener Ben Curran, one of three Zimbabwe debutants and one of six across the two XIs, set the tone early with 68 off 74 balls. He welcomed fellow debutant Azmatullah Omarzai into Test cricket with a boundary off the allrounder’s first ball in the format, before unleashing ten more boundaries.
Curran was the majority contributor in a 43-run opening partnership with Joylord Gumbie (9), and a 49-run second-wicket stand with Takudzwanashe Kaitano (46), but fell to teen debutant AM Ghanzafar in the last over before lunch after a wrong’un sneaked through his defence to knock his stumps back.
Kaitano and Dion Myers (27), batting at No. 5, could not make full use of their starts, but their time in the middle ensured Zimbabwe lost just one wicket apiece in the two sessions after lunch. With Williams, Kaitano added 78 for the third wicket, while Myers put on 50 for the fourth.
Myers’ dismissal in the 56th over, caught and bowled by Ghazanfar for his second strike, brought in Zimbabwe’s captain Craig Ervine at No. 6, and he made certain that Afghanistan finished the day with way more questions than answers. With Williams showing how to score freely, Ervine dug in and quietly brought up his sixth Test fifty with a leg-side dominant innings.
Ervine’s knock was chanceless, unlike Williams, who, when on 124, needed the aid of a no-ball from Zahir Khan to continue batting. However, Ervine’s 56 in an unbeaten partnership of 143 for the sixth wicket was equally crucial for Zimbabwe to stamp their dominance on the day.
Play was called off five overs before the scheduled stumps owing to bad light, with Zimbabwe ending the day with a run rate of 4.27.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 363 for 4 in 85 overs (Sean Williams 145*, Ben Curran 68, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 46, Craig Ervine 56*; AM Ghazanfar 2-83) vs Afghanistan
[Cricinfo]
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