Sports

Namibia’s South African connection poses some challenge for Sri Lanka

Published

4 years ago

2022/10/16

Rex Clementine in Geelong

Having cruised past world’s number one ranked and number two ranked teams on their way to win the Asia Cup, a team like Namibia should be of little concern for Sri Lanka. But the former champions would have spent considerable time discussing Namibia due to the fact that this is a side that’s rich with South African talents.South Africa is a nation with abundance of cricketing talents and due to their extreme quota policy, we have seen some of the finest players in the game shifting to places like England, Australia and New Zealand and in recent years to not so greener pastures like Namibia.

Namibia with a population of 2.5 million people shares borders with South Africa, from whom they gained independence in 1990 with apartheid about to collapse.David Wiese with a reputation of being one of the cleanest strikers of the ball provides the biggest challenge to opposition teams and the Sri Lankans would have done their home work against him. They have got decent momentum as well ahead of the World Cup having beaten Zimbabwe in a series and earlier this week overcame a strong Ireland side in a warm-up game.

Drawn up alongside Netherlands and UAE, the Sri Lankans would think that their biggest challenge comes from Namibia in the qualifying round.Dasun Shanaka’s side have most bases covered and they are likely to go with extra pace during the qualifying round. When they had to qualify in the last tournament, that’s a formula that stood in good stead for them so both Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara are certainties to play, with both touching 140kmph.

That kind of pace is rarely associated by associate nations although several Namibia players have received exposure having played in different leagues around the world. It remains to be seen whether Sri Lanka will persist with Charith Asalanka. The Richmondite was Sri Lanak’s star performer in the last World Cup but fell out of favour during the Asia Cup. His place was taken by Dhananjaya de Silva, who has done reasonably well. Sri Lanka will be based in Geelong for the qualifying round where all three of their games take place.

Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephan Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, Ben Shikongo, Karl Birkenstock, Lohan Louwrens, Helao Ya France.Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan.

Umpires: Joe Wilson (WI) and Rod Tucker (AUS).

Third Umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)

Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

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Colombo Kaps down Dambulla Sixers by 21 runs

Published

14 hours ago

2026/07/26

Priyan

Colombo Kaps defended 197 runs to win the 12th match of the Lanka Premier League by restricting Dambulla Sixers to 176/8 at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Saturday [25] night.

SCORES:
Colombo Kaps 197/5 in 20 overs [Rubin Hermann 39, Sadeera Samarawickrema 16, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 12, Kamindu Mendis 88*, Ben McDermott 14, Janith Liyanage 17; Fazalhaq Farooki 1-41, Dushmantha Chameera 1-41, Ramesh Mendis 1-05, Gulabdin Naib 1-15]
Dambulla Sixers 176/8 in 20 overs [Pavan Rathnayake 50, Marques Ackerman 40, Gulabdin Naib 28, Maheesh Thhekshana 13; Shahnawaz Dahani 2-20, Wanuja Sahan 1-34, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-33, Malsha Tharupathi 1-26, Milan Rathnayake 1-26]

Latest News

Kandy Royals win by 11 runs

Published

14 hours ago

2026/07/26

Priyan

Nuwan Thushara starred with three wickets

Kandy Royals’ bowlers led by Nuwan Thushara were able to defend their score of 165 to win the 11th match of the Lanka Premier League by defeating Galle Gallants by 11 runs at Dambulla on Saturday.

SCORES:
Kandy Royals 165/6 in 20 overs [Lahiru Udara 16, Dale Phillips 34, Wanidu Hasaranga 16, Moeen Ali 41, Angelo Mathews 28, Vijay Shankar 15; Pramod Madushan 2-41, Akif Javed 2-26, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 2-36]

Galle Gallants 154/8 in 20 overs [Sam Harper 14, Charith Asalanka 14, Chamika Karunarathne 52, Dasun Shanaka 57*; Nuwan Thushara 3-33, Asitha Fernando 2-33, Moeen Ali 1-11, Wanidu Hasaranga 1-26]

Sports

Jaffna Kings LPL side under SLC purview

Published

20 hours ago

2026/07/26

Thilina Walpola

Jaffna Kings former co-owner Manjot Kalra is in judicial custody until July 31

Innovative Production Group (IPG), the tournament rights holder of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), in consultation with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), has terminated the franchise agreement with Sports Commune, which was granted franchise rights of the Jaffna Kings.

The termination follows the franchisee’s inability to fulfil its financial obligations under the terms of the franchise agreement. As a result, all rights relating to the Jaffna Kings franchise have reverted to IPG, which, together with Sri Lanka Cricket, has assumed full operational control of the team.

IPG confirms that the 6th edition of the LPL will proceed as scheduled and Jaffna Kings will continue to participate in the tournament under the same nomenclature, with no changes to the squad, tournament format, or match schedule.

To ensure the uninterrupted operation of the franchise, IPG and Sri Lanka Cricket have taken complete responsibility for all player, coaching staff, and support staff contracts. The organizers also confirm that all logistical arrangements for the team have been secured, ensuring the squad is intact for the tournament.

Furthermore, approximately 90% of all player and staff payments have already been completed, with the remaining payments to be settled in accordance with contractual commitments.

IPG and Sri Lanka Cricket remain committed to delivering a successful sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League while upholding the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and transparency for players, teams, commercial partners, and fans.