Sports

SLC confident England tour will go ahead

Published

5 years ago

2020/10/12

Sri Lanka Cricket is confident that international cricket will resume in the country by January next year with SLC set to host England for two Test matches. The two Tests, part of the World Test Championship, were set to be played in March this year but the tour had to be postponed after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. England had been in Sri Lanka for around ten days when they were forced to return home ahead of the opening Test match in Galle.

It was expected that international cricket will return to the island this month as Bangladesh were set to play three Tests. However, there was dispute about the days the tourists would do quarantine and the series was once again postponed.

There is a two week mandatory quarantine period for those who come into the country. While England and Wales Cricket Board is unlikely to agree to this measure, SLC is confident of getting a shorter quarantine period.

“Ideally, what we are looking at is one week’s quarantine and then get the players and support staff into a bubble and let them resume training. I am pretty sure we would be able to work out something like that,’ an official privy to negotiations told The Island.

“We will discuss the matter with Health Ministry when the time is right. This is not the time to approach them for obvious reasons,” he added.

Originally, England were set to play the two Tests in Galle and Colombo but now Dambulla has been earmarked as the venue for both Tests.

SLC will book an entire hotel and accommodate both teams, match officials and others involved in the series putting everyone in a bubble.

This means Dambulla will become Sri Lanka’s latest Test cricket venue. The popular cricket ground has only hosted one-dayers since it was built in in 2001. Incidentally, England played the first game at this venue.

What this also means is that there will be no international cricket played in Sri Lanka in 2020. This year SLC was set to host India, South Africa and Bangladesh apart from England. They were also set to host the Asia Cup. All those tours have now been postponed.

Sri Lanka are set to tour South Africa in December but officials said that it is unlikely this tour will take place.

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Dimantha anchors Trinity after Royal post 439/9

Published

1 hour ago

2026/04/10

Thilina Walpola

UNDER 19 DIVISION 1 TIER A

Trinity reached 223 for five wickets at stumps on the second day as Dimantha Mahavithana anchored the innings with an unbeaten century after Royal poated a a mammoth 493 for nine wickets declared in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ semi-final at Surrey ground on Thursday.

‎‎Scores

‎Royal 328 for 4 overnight 493 for 9 dec in 119.3 overs (Hirun Liyanarachchi 78, Dushen Udawela 105, Vimath Dinsara 68, Ramiru Perera 57, Udantha Gangewatta 98, Himaru Deshan 29; Sethmika Senevirathne 4/111)

‎Trinity 223 for 5 in 53 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 125, Puleesha Thilakarathne 32, Chaniru Senarathne 20, Malika Vithanage 22n.o.;Himaru Deshan 2/63, Ramiru Perera 2/68) (RF)

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Mukul Choudhary stuns Kolkata Knight Riders to seal last-ball thriller for Lucknow Super Giants

Published

2 hours ago

2026/04/10

Priyan

Mukul Choudhary celebrates victory after his stunning knock [BCCI]

In the lead-up to IPL 2026, Lucknow Super Giants coach Justin Langer believed that rookie <ukul Choudhary had the potential to become the “scariest” finisher in India. The 21-year-old showcased his potential and power in only his third IPL game, bashing a 25-ball half-century, which snatched victory for LSG from Kolkata Knight Riders’ grasp.

When Choudhary came into bat, LSG were 104 for 5 in the 13th over in pursuit of 182. Choudhary watched them slump further to 125 for 6 and then 128 for 7. He was on 2 off eight balls at one point. But with LSG needing 54 off 24 balls, he single-handedly won it for them. Only one other batter – Kieron Pollard in 2013 – has scored more than 50 runs in the last four overs of a successful IPL chase.

It was anybody’s game when LSG required 14 off the final over, with three wickets in hand. After Avesh Khan got a single off the first ball, Choudhary monstered Arora over square leg for six. Arora then responded with two dots, but a barely believable six off the next ball – a near wide yorker – brought the equation to one off one.

Choudhary swung and missed the slower bouncer, but he scampered across for a leg-bye and completed a stunning turnaround for LSG. A new star was born in the IPL.

At the halfway stage of the game, Rovman Powell said this wasn’t a typical Eden Gardens pitch. As the game wore on, the deliveries dug into the surface, especially the slower ones, were difficult to put away. Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant were all done in by steepling bounce.

Arora had bounced out Markram and Marsh with the new ball, but when he tried something similar against Choudhary with the older one, Choudhary muscled him over square leg. When Arora tried to york him next ball, Choudhary helicoptered the seamer over long-on. Of the seven sixes Choudhary hit in 27 balls, this was the pick of the lot. “MS Dhoni, eat your heart out! The helicopter shot is back,” Faf du Plessis said on commentary

But still KKR were favourites with 42 to defend off 18 balls. Until Choudhary intervened again. He tonked Kartik Tyagi for a brace of sixes and reduced the equation to 30 needed off 12 balls.

Cameron Green, who had earlier bested Pant with a slower bouncer, bowled that variation to Choudhary and drew a mis-hit, but it fell into no-man’s land. Choudhary missed another slower bouncer next ball, but struck back to hit Green for 6,4,6 in his next four balls.

Choudhary then whacked another slower short ball from Arora for six in the final over. Arora responded by switching his angle to around the wicket and nailed two wide yorkers. He marginally missed his mark the next ball, but Choudhary scythed it flat and hard over cover with his fast hands to stun KKR.

Earlier Ayush Badoni had laid the platform, from which Choudhary launched, for LSG with a contrasting 54. Coming in at No.4, Badoni helped LSG overcome an early wobble with his calculative approach. He was particularly circumspect against Sunil Narine, who had recovered from an illness that had put him out of KKR’s previous game, scoring only eight off ten balls from him. In all, Narine conceded just 13 runs in his four overs for the wicket of Mohammed Shami.

Badoni found runs from elsewhere. He took 26 off 12 balls from Tyagi and Navdeep Saini, the weaker links in the KKR attack. He brought up his half-century, off 33 balls, when he carted left-arm spinner Anukul Roy over midwicket for six. Next ball, however, Roy hid the ball away from Badoni’s reach and had him holing out to wide long-off.

Prince Yadav had struck in his first over when he had Finn Allen caught at deep third by Digvesh Rathi in controversial circumstances. After a few replays, Allen was given out for 9 off 8, but later another replay suggested that Rathi’s foot was touching the boundary when he was holding the ball with both hands.

KKR captain Ajikya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvansh, who was promoted to No.3 ahead of Green, then countered the early blow with an 84-run partnership off 52 balls. Rahane manufactured swinging room and pumped both Rathi and M Siddharth for fours over cover.

Raghuvanshi was slow to start: he was on 6 off 12 balls at one point, but shifted gears when he lined up Avesh Khan for 4,6,4 in the last over of the powerplay.

LSG’s spinners Rathi and Siddharth then loosened KKR’s grip on the game by taking out Rahane and Raghuvanshi in successive overs.

Green needed 14 balls to find the boundary and in all managed only three fours and a six in the 24 balls he faced. Rovman Powell, who retained his place in KKR’s XI, was more fluent, finishing with an unbeaten 39 off 24 balls.

KKR went 31 balls without a boundary until Powell charged at Siddharth and cracked him over his head for six. Then when Prince missed his yorker, his drilled drive down the ground left both the bowler and the umpire in the firing line.

KKR were firm favourites – they had an 86% chance of beating LSG after 36 overs in the game – but Choudhary flipped the script and overpowered the hosts.

Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 182 for 7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 15, Aiden Markram 22, Rishbah Pant 10, Ayush Badoni 54, Nicholas Pooran 13, Mukul Choudhary 54*; Anukul Roy 2-32, Vaibhav Arora 2-38, Sunil Narine 1-13, Kartik Tyagi 1-31, Cameron Green 1-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 181 for 4 in 20 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 45, Ajinkya Rahane 41, Cameron Green 32*, Rovman Powell 39*; Prince Yadav 1-47, Manimaran Siddharth 1-34, Digvesh Rathi 1-25, AveshKhan 1-44) by three wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Transgender women banned from women’s PDC darts

Published

2 hours ago

2026/04/10

Priyan

Noa-Lynn van Leuven became the first transgender woman to compete in the PDC World Championship in 2024 (BBC)

The Darts Regulation Authority has banned transgender women from competing in its women’s events with immediate effect.

The DRA, which governs the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), said “only biological females should be eligible to compete in women’s tournaments regulated by DRA Rules”.

It comes after the DRA completed a review of its Trans and Gender Diverse Policy, which began in 2025.

Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who in 2024 became the first transgender woman to compete in the PDC World Championship, said the decision had “effectively retired her”.

She remains eligible to play in open tournaments for men and women.

“I just got an email and apparently I just got retired, not by choice but because I am no longer allowed to compete,” Van Leuven said in a video posted on Instagram.

“The DRA just decided that trans women are no longer allowed in women’s events which basically means I am out.

“Everyday it is getting harder for trans people to exist, to compete. If you think this stops with me, it doesn’t. We just want to be.”

Sex-based rights charity Sex Matters said “men’s physical advantages in darts may be small but they all add up”.

“Darts is a male-dominated world, played in pubs and clubs, and the top darts players are all men. That’s why women need their own tournaments.

“The Darts Regulation Authority followed the lead of the old, unfair IOC [International Olympic Committee] policy, so it’s great to see this rapid return to fairness for women players.”

The DRA said it “seeks to be inclusive” and it encouraged “all players – irrespective of their biological sex, legal sex, and/or gender identity” to continue competing in open tournaments.

It said its decision is based on legal advice and a commissioned report by Dr Emma Hilton – an academic developmental biologist who has published several papers on sex and categories in sport.

Dr Hilton’s report concluded “that multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts”.

Last year, the World Darts Federation (WDF) banned transgender women from competing in its women’s tournaments.

Last month, the president of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, announced a blanket ban on transgender women, as well as athletes with differences in sex development (DSD) from the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

(BBC)