Sports

Schools cricket to recommence in November

Published

6 years ago

2020/08/29

by Reemus Fernando

The Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) will commence schools cricket tournaments in November for the Under-19 and Under-14 age categories under a new format to suit newly stipulated conditions by the Ministry of Education and health authorities. With the Ministry of Education expected to give the ‘green light’ to commence schools sports soon the Executive Committee of the SLSCA finalised new formats for the two tournaments on Friday.

“We will commence an Under-19 and an Under-14 tournament under new formats. We made the request and expect that the Ministry of Education to give us the green light soon rather than later to commence schools cricket in November,” J.A.K.S. Indrajith, the secretary of the SLSCA told The Island.

Accordingly the limited overs format will be used for the Under-19 tournament where both the Division I and Division II teams will play in two tiers ‘A’ and ‘B’. The teams will be categorized in to tier ‘A’ and ‘B’ according to their standings of the last league tournament. The first 18 teams will be playing in tier ‘A’ and the last 18 in tier ‘B’.

Teams in both tier ‘A’ and ‘B’ will be divided in to two groups where they will play eight league matches. The winners and the runners up of each group will play a knockout stage in February 2021.

There are 64 teams in Division III. They will be divided in to eight groups.

All matches of the Under-19 and Under-14 tournaments will be played over the weekends.

“With the Ministry of Education giving priority to education during the last two terms we have been compelled to conduct matches only on Saturdays and Sundays. There will be no matches on Poya days and on Religious Holidays,” Indrajith said.

“Although the new format will be only for this season, the results of this Under-19 limited overs tournament will be considered in promoting and demoting teams in the year 2021. For this year there will be no demotions and promotions,” Indrajith detailed.

The first four matches of the Under-19 tournament have to be completed before December 31.

The SLSCA is also considering allowing schools to conduct several of their traditional matches of innings format. A final decision regarding this will be taken after the Fixture Meeting.

The Executive Committee has also decided to conduct an Under-14 tournament also during weekends from mid November.

The usual innings format will be used but these matches will be limited to six hours (three sessions of two hour duration) with the first innings limited to a maximum of 50 overs for both teams. There too teams will be divided into groups of eight and each team will play seven matches.

“There will be no knockout stage. The group champions will be awarded certificates to encourage them,” Indrajith said.

The Ministry of Education canceled all schools sports tournaments and competitions which were halted in March and directed Sports Associations not to recommence them. A circular to that effect was issued early this month.

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Sports

All-round Athapaththu helps Sri Lanka level series against Bangladesh

Published

1 hour ago

2026/04/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Chamari Athapaththu bagged 3 for 36 • BCB

Chamari Athapaththu’s all-round show helped Sri Lanka level the ODI series against Bangladesh in Rajshahi. The visitors won by four wickets after chasing down the home side’s sub-par 165 all out in 45.5 overs.

Athapaththu, who had missed the first match due to a finger injury, roared back into action with three wickets. She started off with Sarmin Sultana’s wicket in the 16th over, although the batter expressed her disbelief at the umpire’s lbw decision against her. Athapaththu then removed Sobhana Mostary in her next over by having her caught at square leg.

Nilakshika Silva then took a brilliant catch at mid-off to help Athapaththu take her third wicket when Ritu Moni had mistimed a cover drive in the 31st over. Sharmin Akhter, Bangladesh’s top-scorer from the first ODI, fell for a duck to Malki Madara in the fifth over.

Captain Nigar Sultana top-scored on Wednesday with 58 off 101 balls with four boundaries. She had little support at the other end, before Nimesha Meepage had her caught behind in the 41st over.

Madara, Meepage and Inoka Ranaweera took two wickets each while Kavisha Dilhari picked up one.

During the chase, Athapaththu dominated the Bangladesh attack despite little support from her top order. She made 40 off 39 balls with eight fours, before falling to left-arm spinner Nahida Akhter in the 17th over. Nahida gave her a send-off, with Athapaththu staring back at her for several seconds before walking off.

Harshitha Samarawickrema and Hansima Karunaratne then added 79 runs for the fourth wicket to get Sri Lanka close to the 166-run target. Samarawickrama made 50 off 76 balls with seven fours, while Karunaratne struck six fours in her 40 off 64 balls.

Nahida removed both batters, before getting Kaushini Nuthyangana to complete her four-wicket haul. Sultana Khatun and Moni, meanwhile, took one wicket each.

The third and final ODI of the three-match series will also be held in Rajshahi, on April 25.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka Women

166 for 6 in 38.2 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 40, Harshitha Samarawickrama 50, Hansima Karunaratne 40; Sultana Khatun 1-36, Ritu Moni 1-27, Nahida Akter 4-21) beat Bangladesh Women 165 in 45.5 overs (Sarmin Sultana 25, Nigar Sultana 58, Nahider Akter 20; Malki Madara 2-30, Nimesha Meepage 2-29, Inoka Ranaweera 2-28, Chamari Athapaththu 3-36, ) by four wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Dates set for LPL 2026

Published

1 hour ago

2026/04/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2026 will be held from 10th July to 5 August 2026.

The sixth edition of the much-anticipated T20 league will be played across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RPICS, Colombo; PICS, Pallekele; and RDICS, Dambulla.

The online portal for foreign player registration will open on 4th May 2026.

The tournament will be conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder of the tournament.

The Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka’s premier domestic T20 tournament with an international flavor, was launched in 2020.

Samantha Dodanwela, who is an Executive Committee Member of the SLC, will continue to function as the Tournament Director.

Sports

Seventeen Air Force athletes to represent Sri Lanka at Asian Beach Games

Published

2 hours ago

2026/04/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Seventeen athletes from the SLAF are set to represent Sri Lanka at the 6th Asian Beach Games, scheduled to be held in China from 22 to 30 April 2026. ‎The SLAF contingent will compete across multiple disciplines, namely athletics, handball, volleyball, wrestling and kabaddi. ‎In team leadership roles, the Sri Lankan Women’s Handball team will be captained by Corporal Erandi WP of the SLAF, while the Sri Lankan Men’s Kabaddi team will be led by Leading Aircraftman Samarakoon SMCR. ‎The Air Force athletes are seen pictured with Air Force officials after the received best wishes from Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe.