MCA – ABANS PREMIER LEAGUE 2026

David Pieris Group of Companies and Golden Green Plantations will vie for the ‘Abans Challenge Trophy’ in the final of the MCA – Abans Premier League 2026 at the Thurstan College ground today.

In the league stage, David Peiris Group of Companies led by Manjula Gannile defeated DFCC Bank by 154 runs, Nawaloka Hospitals by 8 wickets and lost to Golden Green Plantations by one wicket to lead the league stage with a higher run rate. In qualifier one David Pieris Group of Companies defeated Golden Green Plantations by 55 runs to gain direct entry to the final.

Golden Green Plantations led by T M Sampath defeated Nawaloka Hospitals by 192 runs, David Pieris Group by one wicket and lost to DFCC Bank by 50 runs to take second spot in the league. Qualifier two between Golden Green Plantations and DFCC Bank which was to be played at the DHH Sports Complex was abandoned twice in succession due to rain and bad ground conditions.

David Pieris Group of Companies Team:

Manjula Gannile (C), Ron Chandraguptha, Santhush Gunathilake, Vinuka Rubasinghe, Mineth Premarathne, Asitha Wanninayake, Lahiru Samarakoon, Tharinda Nirmal, Mihiranga Nimsara. Silva, Lakshan De Silva, Dilanka Auwardt, Akila Elabodage, Mayura Dihan, Udara Bandara, Vihara Attanayake, Shehan Rathnayake

Golden Green Plantations Team:

TM Sampath ( c), Gimandu Malkam, Randika Mihiranga, Upul Hettiarachchi, Mohomad Shamaz (wk), Dhanuja Induwara, Heshan Madhushanka, Malith De silva, Vikum Sanjaya, Johan Pathirana, Kovindu Wickramasinghe, Nuwan Dineth, Liviru Senmith, Thivin Vshvika, Lineth Vithana

World-leading javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga underlined his status as the man to beat in world athletics with another sensational performance, winning the men’s javelin at the prestigious Weltklasse meeting in Zurich with a massive 92.07 metres.

‎Tharanga’s best effort came in the final round and left him just 21 centimetres short of the meeting record of 92.28m, which has stood for three decades

.‎The 23-year-old first overcame the first round challenge from two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada. Peters took the early lead with a first-round throw of 86.93m, but Tharanga responded in the second round with 88.23m to move ahead.

‎He then increased his advantage in the third round before producing his best effort of the night in the final round, sending the javelin soaring to 92.07m.

Peters had to settle for second with 86.93m, while Poland’s Dawid Wegner was third with 85.16m. Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott finished fourth with 83.02m, followed by Kenya’s Julius Yego (81.66m) and American Marc Anthony Minichello (80.38m).

‎The Zurich victory further strengthens Tharanga’s position at the top of the world javelin hierarchy at a crucial stage of the season. With the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels just a week away and the World Athletics Ultimate Championship looming, he has emerged as the athlete everyone will be watching.

‎Tharanga’s latest 92-metre-plus throw also provides a timely reminder of his extraordinary consistency at the highest level, as he continues his remarkable rise among the world’s elite javelin throwers. (RF)

Sometimes all you need is a little push.

The 2024 Asia Cup was a watershed for this young Sri Lanka outfit. Prior to that exhilarating climax in Dambulla , Sri Lanka’s flashes of international brilliance were almost exclusively engineered by Chamari Athapaththu. Sure, they could occasionally trade heavy blows with the world’s elite, but they lacked the collective capacity for a sustained fight. This was a queendom, one where removing Athapaththu early meant the game was as good as won.

That lopsided dynamic had been there ever since Athapaththu’s debut back in 2009. So it was impossible not to share her heartbreak when she bemoaned her team’s failure to make the T20 World Cup semi-finals earlier this year – “It’s a sadness beyond words… I could never get a chance to take my team into a semi-final of a World Cup… I think I’m a failure as a captain.”

The tragedy of that lament lay in the irony of its timing. For the first time in Athapaththu’s career, she wasn’t actually marooned by herself. The world had already been treated to a glorious glimpse of the team’s ceiling in 2024, when Harshitha Samarawickrema and Kavisha Dilhari struck the winning runs against a heavily favoured India side.

But keeping the progress going is rarely that straightforward – think less ladder and more hiking path with troughs and peaks. And it was a truth that Sri Lanka quickly learned. The euphoria of Dambulla was swept aside by a winless group stage exit at the T20 World Cup in 2024, followed by a barren 2025 devoid of series wins.

The year ended in structural upheaval as the team parted ways with head coach Rumesh Ratnayake, whose calming influence and fatherly reassurance had been foundational to their initial breakthrough.

So was it any surprise that in the last throes of an astonishing career, Athapaththu might have felt her time was up? At 36, with retirement on the not-so-distant-horizon, Athapaththu could be forgiven for thinking her last chance had come and gone.

But women’s cricket has shown in recent times that traditional career timelines, calibrated on the men’s game, might not necessarily make sense. Athapaththu has only grown stronger with age. After a quiet 2025 where she scored just 190 T20I runs at a strike rate of 113.77, she has struck 476 at 143.80 in 2026 – her best strike rate in a calendar year.

And if it was motivation that she needed, her younger colleagues are playing their part in keeping the queen locked in for as long as possible.

Imesha Dulani, 24, has had a breakthrough year, becoming the first Sri Lanka woman not named “Chamari Athapaththu” to score a T20I century, while centuries from Vishmi gunerathne, 21, and Samarawickrama, 28, led a successful chase of 275 – Sri Lanka’s third highest in ODIs – against Pakistan earlier this year, with Athapaththu watching on like the rest of us.

This was also the first year that Sri Lanka Cricket’s annual awards, had Athapaththu going without a nomination in the best women’s ODI batter category, as Samarawickrama won over the electric Nilakshika Silva. Athapaththu was still the big winner overall, though. In fact, there is now genuine competition for places at the top of the batting order, with the likes of Dulani, Gunaratne and Hasini Perera all vying for top-order berths.