Sports
Seifert, Phillips and Chapman counter Bairstow’s fireworks to seal New Zealand win
New Zealand squared the four-match T20I series by chasing down 176 with relative ease at Trent Bridge. They got ahead of the game by belting 73 runs in the Powerplay, with Tim Seifert nailing 48 in his 50th T20I, then stayed there thanks to Glenn Phillips and Mark Chapman.
England had started brightly themselves, with Jonny Bairstow crunching six sixes in his 73 off 41. But their innings fell away after his dismissal, as New Zealand’s three spinners squeezed in the middle overs; England’s total looked a little light at a venue with notoriously short boundaries, and so it proved.
This was due to be a five-match series before three ODIs, but the fifth T20I was quietly converted into a 50-over game last year with an eye on the World Cup. As a result, this was not quite a decider – and it felt decidedly low-key, with Jos Buttler opting to rest himself ahead of greater tests to come.
Yet it served as more valuable preparation for New Zealand, who recovered from an abject start to the series to share the trophy. Friday’s first ODI in Cardiff marks the start of the more relevant part of their tour, but this was a clinical victory under the Nottingham floodlights all the same.
Finn Allen played in the only way he knows how, smoking three of his first four balls for four before losing his off stump when attempting to smear Luke Wood across the line. His six-ball 16 was only a cameo, but ensured that New Zealand were ahead of the required rate throughout the chase.
Promoted to open, Seifert was brutish. He camped on the back foot, lofting England’s seamers back down the ground with mid-off inside the ring, and crunched Adil Rashid for two fours and a six in the fifth over. Daryl Mitchell was run out shortly after the Powerplay, taking on Wood in the deep, but New Zealand were in control.
Rehan Ahmed, playing his first international game at home – and in the city he grew up in – bowled tidily for his 2 for 27, having Seifert caught-and-bowled and Phillips caught in the deep, but Phillips had crunched Moeen Ali, Rashid and Brydon Carse in between times for his 42 off 25.
The rate was down to a run a ball by the time Phillips holed out, and Chapman finished the job in style, cruising to 40 not out off 25 balls. Rachin Ravindra cut the winning boundary through the infield, with Wood misfielding at cover to sum up England’s disappointing night.
After four quiet games for Welsh Fire in the Hundred, Bairstow has roared back to form in this series. He top-scored in England’s win in Manchester, batting through the innings for 86, and raced to 47 off 22 after five overs after Moeen chose to bat.
This was Bairstow’s first innings at Trent Bridge since his 136 off 92 in a Test against the same opposition last year, the knock that secured his status as Bazball’s standard-bearer. His first two boundaries – short-arm jabs for four and six off Matt Henry – were reminiscent of that century, and he swiped 17 runs off Kyle Jamieson’s first over as England raced to 63 for 0 after six.
Bairstow was the only England batter to score freely against spin through the middle, crunching both left-arm spinners – Ravindra and Mitchell Santer – for six, though holed out to long-on immediately after the second. He was due to keep wicket in the run chase, though handed over to Buttler after experiencing shoulder pain while batting; he later played down the severity of the injury.
Bairstow apart, England’s batting line-up floundered against spin for the second game running. Ish Sodhi was not at his best but Will Jacks edged him behind after a fourth consecutive unconverted cameo, before Harry Brook hoicked his drag-down to deep backward square leg for 4 off 8 balls.
Neither Dawid Malan nor Liam Livingstone looked at their best in making 26 apiece, and Santner claimed two wickets in his fourth over – Malan and Moeen caught in the deep on the leg side – to finish with 3 for 30. Ravindra, playing ahead of the rested Devon Conway, had Sam Curran caught at wide long-on, and the three spinners finished with combined figures of 6 for 68 in 10 overs.
When Henry closed things out with a superb final over, which culminated in Livingstone drilling his wide yorker straight to extra cover, England had fallen some way short of the total they had lined up. It did not take long for New Zealand’s top order to underline that their 175 was under-par.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 179 for 4 (Seifert 48, Phillips 42, Chapman 40*) beat England 175 for 8 (Bairstow 73, Santner 3-30) by six wickets
(Cricinfo)
Under 17 Division I Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
A combined bowling effort helped St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya beat Prince of Wales College Moratuwa by 55 runs and reach the pre-quarter finals of the Under 17 Division I cricket tournament on Friday.
Of all the knockout stage matches played on Friday, the encounter between the Petes and the Cambrians was the match that lasted the longest distance as the home team found batting resistance from number nine batsman.
The Cambrians foughtback after slipping to 59 for seven, on the back of a fighting 64 from Kaveesha Kithmina to bow down gracefully.
Batting first, St. Peter’s posted 230 for nine thanks to 76 off 113 balls by Sashidu Silva and a brisk 61 from 49 deliveries by Menura Dissanayake.Sandeepa Dananjaya was the pick of the Prince of Wales bowlers with an impressive five-wicket haul for 33 runs.
Most of the other knockout matches were one sided contests.
Royal College Colombo bundled out Wariyapola Sri Sumangala College, Kandy for a mere 44 runs to record a crushing 269 runs win and secure a pre-quarter final berth against St. Joseph’s College Darley Road.
Gagan Gamage (7-1-16-5) and Mahiru Kodituwakku (7-2-18-4) used the home advantage to good effect as they shared nine wickets between them to rattle the opposition within 18 overs. Batting first the Reid Avenue team amassed 313 runs for five wickets with Savain Gamage (53), Dushen Udawela (50) and Manuth Dasanayake (76) scoring half centuries.
Maris Stella College, Negombo, Galahitiyawa Central and St. Aloysius’ College, Galle were the other teams to enter the pre-quarter final stage on Friday.
St. Aloysius’ College, Galle booked a pre-quarter final berth against St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa with a crushing seven-wicket victory over Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte.
Ananda Sastralaya struggled throughout their innings and were bundled out for 65 runs. Chenuka Dodangoda with a run a ball 27 was the only batsman to make a notable contribution.
St. Aloysius’ bowlers shared honours bowling tight spells. Hasitha Dasun produced the standout performance taking four wickets for two runs, while Manindu Pabasara supported well picking up two for seven. Yenul Nethsuka, Chethana Kularathna and Sanuda Imaya picked up a wicket each.
In reply, St. Aloysius made light work of the modest target, reaching 67 for 3 in just 9.4 overs. Gimhan Hansaka struck an aggressive 33 off 25 balls with seven fours to lay the foundation for victory.
Kavinga Dabare claimed all three wickets for Ananda Sastralaya, finishing with 3 for 9, but his effort could not prevent St. Aloysius’ from sealing the pre-quarter final berth.
In the other matches, Maris Stella College, Negombo beat Royal Central Polonnaruwa by five wickets and Galahitiyawa Central beat Taxila Central by six wickets.
Galle Gallants got back to the winning track after their first loss against Dambulla Sixers on 22 July to make it three wins out of four games as they outclassed Jaffna Kings by 60 runs on Thursday at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla.
After all the five teams have played four games each, Galle Gallants sit atop with six points, while Kaps, Sixers and Kings have four points each. Royals have two points only.
After being asked to bat first, Gallants lost Sam Harper and Charith Asalanka early with 16 runs on the board in three overs. At this point, Chris Lynn and Chamika Karunaratne put on 48 runs with the former dominating the stand as he ended up with a 22-ball 46 before departing.
Gallants slipped to 110-6 in 14.2 overs before their top-scorer Sahan Arachchige and Mohammad Nawaz arrested the collapse with a game-changing 68-run stand off 30 balls. Arachchige hit four fours and three sixes in his 36-ball 63, while Nawaz hit two sixes and as many fours in his 27 off 16 balls.
Vijayakanth Viyaskanth hit a six off the two balls he faced as Gallants posted a strong 193-8 in 20 overs. Dilshan Madushanka and Lizaad Williams picked up two wickets each. Shakib Al Hasan, Dunith Wellalage and Mohammad Shiraz had one wicket each to their name.
In reply, Jaffna Kings’ chase never got going as they were rocked by three wickets each from Tharindu Ratnayake and Eshan Malinga. They slipped to 33-4 with Akif Javed and Dasun Shanaka also sharing a wicket each.
Only Wellalage managed to put up some fight with the bat and it was because of his 39-ball 56 that Jaffna Kings managed to salvage some pride and closed in on the loss margin. Wellalage hit four fours and as many sixes in the lost battle that he waged as Kings went from 99-8 in 12.3 overs to 133 all out with Williams unable to walk out to bat due to injury.
David Wiese was the only other batter to cross the 20-run mark as he scored 22 with the help of three fours. Ratnayake finished with three for 19 in four, Malinga with three for 13 in three, while Viyaskanth also picked up a wicket.
Brief Scores
Galle Gallants won by 60 runs
Galle Gallants: 193/8 in 20 overs
]Sahan Arachchige 63 (36), Chris Lynn 46 (22), Mohammad Nawaz 27 (16); Dilshan Madushanka 2/35 (4), Lizaad Williams 2/37 (4)
Jaffna Kings: 133/9 in 17.5 overs
[Dunith Wellalage 56 (39), David Wiese 22 (20); Eshan Malinga 3/13 (3), Tharindu Ratnayake 3/19 (4)]
A 36 ball 63 by Sahan Arachchige and three wickets each by Eshan Malinga [3-13] and Tharindu Rathnayake [3-19] helped Galle Gallants defeat Jaffna Kings by 60 runs in the 10th match of the Lanka Premier League 2026. Galle Gallants lead the points table with three wins from four outings.
Scores:
Galle Gallants 193/8 in 20 overs [Chris Lynn 46, Sahan Arachchige 63, Dasun Shanaka 12, Dinura Kalupahana 10, Mohammad Nawaz 27; Mohamed Shiraz 1-23, Dunith Wellalage 1-13, Shakib Al Hasan 1-27, Dilshan Madushanaka 2-35, Lizaad Williams 2-37]
Jaffna Kings 133 in 17.5 overs [Kamil Mishara 15, Ibrahim Zadran 11, David Weise 22, Dunith Wellalage 56; Dasun Shanaka 1-21, Tharindu Rathnayake 3-19, Akif Javed 1-22, Eshan Malinga 3-13, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 1-32]
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