Sports

Springboks lift rugby World Cup for underprivileged folks at home

Published

2 years ago

2023/10/31

South Africa celebrate winning the Rugby World Cup by beating New Zealand 12-11 in the final played at Stade de France on Saturday (October 28).

By A Special Sports Correspondent

South Africa capped off a hard and rugged path to the World Cup final in France with a smashing 12-11 win over reigning champions New Zealand at the Stade de France on Sunday (October 29).

It was South Africa’s fourth rugby world cup win and probably the hardest because the ‘Springboks’ pulled through in all three knockout stage games against their opponents by a single point. In the quarter finals Siya Kolisi’s men beat France and in the semi-finals they got the better of England, a team which had to be satisfied with a Bronze medal finish after seven weeks of intense mind-boggling rugby played for the William Web Ellis Trophy. England beat Argentina 26-23 in the third-place play-off.

New Zealand have only themselves to blame; giving away a crucial red card in the first half. The offense came from their captain Sam Cane with the game just 27 minutes old. But still the All Blacks hung on and stepped up the pressure to stay close within South Africa’s score and not make it a hopeless final. One man down in a rugby world cup final can be terrible and New Zealand made amends for that slip with a power packed display of committed rugby in the middle. The other only setback was giving away four crucial penalties which South Africa capitalized on and turned into points through the boot of Handre Pollard.

This rugby win for South Africa means so much for them back at home. In South Africa the majority of people are still unemployed. But we got to hear that the people of South Africa were fully backing this team in France to lift the world cup for the fourth time. South Africans wore green to office on Fridays and those who could wore anything green on the last working day of the week to show solidarity with the rugby team doing national duty in France. This vibe in South Africa was picked up by skipper Kolisi and his men and that helped them stay motivated. “What the people of South Africa were doing back at home was a constant motivation for us. Some of our people don’t even have homes. For me giving up and not giving everything would be cheating,” skipper Kolisi was quoted saying in www.worldrugby.com, the official website of World Rugby; the controlling body for rugby union in the world.

In the extreme hard trek to the final South Africa played against top rated teams like Ireland, France, England, Tonga, Scotland and finally New Zealand. Their only defeat came at the hands of Ireland in the pool stages of the World Cup. South Africa also had a moment of brotherhood and spirituality when after their game against Tonga (Which the former won 49-18) members of both sides were seen huddling together, kneeling down and praying while on the ground. Later some of the players exchanged their playing shirts; underscoring that the spirit of camaraderie in the game will eventually take over the minds of the players after a battle is won or lost in the middle. Tonga’s captain was quoted in saying “It was really a beautiful moment in the game”.

New Zealand made everyone cry at the finals. No doubt the instant favourite with the crowd and the majority of the rugby world, the All Blacks, did pretty well to stay in the game despite the early setback of giving away a red card. Still with 14 men on the field New Zealand earned the respect of the Springboks for their gallant effort in the 90-minute showpiece of rugby union. It was touch and go in the middle of the field and just one point stood between the two teams wanting to lay their hands on the glittering ‘Webb Ellis’. South Africa prevailed in the end, but the Springboks skipper had loads of praise for New Zealand for the show they put up. “They took us to the end. They took us to a dark place. It shows what kind of a team they’re to fight with a man down from early in the game. They put us under so much pressure,” said Kolisi.

New Zealand still didn’t let down their fans and kept fighting in this once in four years rugby carnival. Their head coach Ian Foster had this to say: “To get down to that red card so early and fight our way back and give ourselves a chance is pretty special. To get within a whisker of pulling it off is heartbreaking”. The All Blacks are the most fancied and most feared side in the world rugby scene and only a few would contest that; even if performance statistics suggest otherwise. The All Blacks are going to return home with many lessons from this world cup defeat which would serve them well for the future. Looking on the bright side of things, their number eight Ardie Savea was named as Rugby’s 15-a-side player of the year by World Rugby at a gala awards ceremony held on Sunday.

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Related Topics:Rugby World Cup 2023 South Africa Rugby Team

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Damsith’s 13-wicket match haul powers Sri Sumangala to emphatic title win

Published

1 hour ago

2026/04/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya, Hikkaduwa Under 19 Team with officials

Marylebone Cricket Club’s generous support not in vain

Spinner Tharun Damsith delivered a match-winning all-round performance, claiming 13 wickets after scoring a crucial half-century, as Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya, Hikkaduwa crushed Christ King College, Ja-Ela by ten wickets with a day to spare in the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘B’ tournament final at Ananda Mawatha on Tuesday.

‎The comprehensive victory capped a remarkable campaign for the Hikkaduwa outfit, who sealed no fewer than nine outright wins since November. Their only setback of the season came earlier in the tournament, when they suffered a narrow two-wicket defeat to the same opponents during the group stage.

‎Opting to bat first, Sri Sumangala posted a solid 226 in 60.4 overs, built around three valuable contributions. Damsith led from the front with 52, while Shanuka Denuwan stroked a fluent 61 and P. Nirukshan added a steady 43. Despite a fine bowling effort from Lahiru Lakmal, who claimed six for 83, Sri Sumangala had laid a strong platform.

‎The match turned decisively in the very next innings as Christ King were skittled out for just 61 in 22.4 overs. Damsith ripped through the batting lineup with outstanding figures of five for eight, well supported by Latheendra Akash and Sanjana Nethupul, who shared the remaining wickets.

‎Asked to follow on, Christ King showed greater resistance, thanks to a spirited counterattack led by Lahiru Lakmal and Avishka Nirmal. Lakmal played a dazzling innings of 93 off 86 balls, smashing five fours and seven sixes, while Nirmal contributed a quickfire 51 off 37 deliveries with five fours and three sixes. Their efforts helped the side avoid an innings defeat.

‎However, Damsith once again proved unstoppable, returning to claim a sensational eight for 52 in 12.4 overs to complete a match haul of 13 wickets and effectively seal the contest.

‎Set a token target of 12 runs, Sri Sumangala reached 15 without loss in just 1.5 overs to secure a dominant ten-wicket victory and clinch the Division II Tier ‘B’ title in style.

‎Both finalists are set to compete in the Tier A category of the Division II tournament from next season.

Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya, Hikkaduwa has been supported by the charity run by cricket icon Muttiah Muralitharan. The Foundation of Goodness, run by former cricketer and philanthropist Kushil Gunasekara at Seenigama, has now for close to three decades generously supported sports activities in the Seenigama area. Their support has gone beyond cricket and young athletes of the area have now started completing at the global stage having succeeded at national level.

Sri Sumangala’s cricket ground was developed by Marylebone Cricket Club, who continue to support the school. Kushil Gunasekara is an Honorary Life Member of MCC.

The school’s success in cricket is a Cinderella story as they have risen from the lowest ranks. Given the way they are progressing, there’s little doubt that in their ranks they could be having the next Jayasuriya or Muralitharan.

‎Scores:

‎Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya Hikkaduwa – 226 all out in 60.4 overs (P. Nirukshan 43, Tharun Damsith 52, Shanuka Denuwan 61; Lahiru Lakmal 6/83, Pramodh Chamika 3/23) & 15/0 in 1.5 overs

‎Christ King College Ja Ela – 61 all out in 22.4 overs

(Vihanga Dilum 16; Tharun Damsith 5/08, Latheendra Akash 3/17, Sanjana Nethupul 2/19) & 176 all out in 42.4 overs (Lahiru Lakmal 93, Avishka Nirmal 51; Tharun Damsith 8/52)

Latest News

Tilak ends Mumbai Indian’s losing streak with 45-ball century

Published

23 hours ago

2026/04/21

Priyan

Tilak Varma went from 19 off 22 to 101* off 45 [Cricinfo]

Mumbai Indians (MI) needed something dramatic to scrape themselves off the bottom of the table, and Tilak Varma provided that with a record-breaking hundred to lift them from 103 for 4 in 14 overs. The momentum MI built at the end of their innings was so irresistible it carried into a first-ball wicket for Jasprit Bumrah after he had gone six IPL games wicketless, and the Gujarat Titans (GT) wickets just kept tumbling, ending MI’s four-match losing streak. It was so dramatic in the end that GT ended one short of Tilak’s 101, losing by 99 runs.

The 82 runs that Tilak scored in the last six overs is the most anyone has scored in that period of an IPL innings, resulting in the joint-quickest century for MI, level with Sanath Jayasuriya’s effort in 45 balls in the inaugural IPL season. Sensationally, Tilak did so after not having hit a boundary in his first 20 balls, making this the highest IPL score after such a start.

Without taking anything away from Tilak, Naman Dhir arguably scored the tougher runs when the GT bowlers were red-hot: 45 off 32 from No. 3, when MI had slipped to 44 for 3. Tilak was offered some gifts by bowlers failing to stick to their plans, but his response to the errors was intimidating and likely resulted in further errors.

GT take the fewest risks among IPL teams when they bat. They can afford to do so because their bowlers regularly give them low scores to chase. For the second match in a row, they had their Test bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada bowl like they would in a Test match, running through the powerplay with three overs each.

Siraj was excellent with three overs for 15 runs, but the wickets went to Rabada, who was direct with his attack, bowling full, straight and fast. He ripped out Danish Malewar, Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav in this spell, the latter two with balls timed at 150 and 152kmph.

Led by Rashid Khan, GT kept the batters honest in the middle overs. Encouraged by the turn on offer for Rashid, Shubman Gill went to Washington Sundar in the 11th over. Tilak, still struggling for fluency, turned the strike over to Dhir, who took down Washington like a medium-pacer. And Washington did bowl like a medium-pacer, firing the ball at upwards of 100kmph and getting step-hit for six and four.

However, Prasidh Krishna soon got the wicket of Dhir with yet another short ball, making it 23 IPL wickets for him with short or short-of-a-length balls since the start of the 2025 season. That’s nine more than anyone. He also has the third-best economy rate off those lengths (minimum 30 balls bowled).

Which is what makes what followed all the more inexplicable. When he started the 15th over, Prasidh had the field set for the short ball, but proceeded to bowl one full ball after another. One can be a bluff, two can be errors, but four in a row is hard to explain. Tilak was ruthless, taking 16 off these balls.

Rabada came back to bring some order to proceedings, ending with figures of 4 for 33. Rashid, though, didn’t enjoy a similar end. He overpitched and underpitched the first two balls of the 17th over, and Tilak was now in an irresistible flow, hitting him for four and six.

The biggest over was the 18th, when Tilak outdid Ashok Sharma, who actually followed his plans. The first ball was a wide slower bouncer with the bigger boundary on the off side, but he still upper-cut it for a six. The second ball was hard length outside off, but he still managed to ramp it just over short fine. Now the young fast bowler begun to falter, and Varma demolished the rest of the over for 4, 4 and 6.

Siraj bowled a good 19th, getting the wicket of Hardik Pandya and ending up with figures of 4-0-25-1, but Prasidh again started the 20th over with a full ball. When he eventually went short, Tilak pulled him for a six, but only just cleared the sweeper. A high full-toss flew over long leg for a huge six, and the last ball was pulled away for four to bring up the hundred.

The last time Bumrah took a wicket in the IPL was in the Eliminator last year, incidentally against GT. He had gone six IPL matches without a wicket since then without bowling badly at all. He took the brand-new ball for the first time this season, and had a wicket first up with an unremarkable full ball, which B Sai Sudharsan sliced to cover point.

That MI’s luck was turning was evident in how Pandya got Jos Buttler lbw on umpire’s call with the ball projected to just clip the top of leg stump. Gill then played a nothing pull, neither rolling his wrists over nor trying to hit a six, to make it the first time in 21 matches that GT had lost all of their big three in the powerplay.

The powerplays cancelled each other out with GT scoring 45 for 3 to MI’s 46 for 3. Any hopes of a similar fightback to MI were dashed when Mitchell Santner took out Washington and Glenn Phillips in the same over, Washington to an excellent boundary catch by Dhir.

Ashwani Kumar was then at the receiving end of pressure-induced gifts on three occasions as GT continued to slide. Mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar wrapped up the tail with the wickets of Siraj and Rabada in the same over, making it the first time that an MI batter had outscored the entire opposition.

Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 199 for 5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 13, Tilak Varma 101*, Naman Dhir 45, Suryakumar Yadav 15, Hardik Pandya 15; Mohammed Siraj 1-25, Kagiso Rabada 3-33, Prasidh Krishna 1-54) beat Gujarat Titans 100 in 15.5 overs (Shubman Gill 14, Washington Sundar 26, M Sharukh Khan 17, Kagiso Rabada 12; Jasprit Bumrah 1-15, Hardik Pandya 1-18, Ashwani Kumar 4-24, Mitchell Santner 2-16, AM Ghazanfar 2-17) by 99 runs

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Lyceum celebrate historic promotion with dominant title triumph‎

Published

1 day ago

2026/04/21

Thilina Walpola

Lyceum International Wattala became the first international school in the country to earn a place in the Under 19 Division I tournament

Lyceum International School, Wattala etched their name into schools cricket history with a commanding first innings victory over Taxila College, Horana to clinch the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘A’ title at Kosgama on Sunday.‎The victory was the icing on the cake after they secured a landmark promotion to the top Division of the country’s premier schools cricket tournament by virtue of their semi final win.

‎The triumph was built on a disciplined all-round performance, with Ravindu Vikasitha spearheading an incisive bowling effort after a solid collective showing with the bat in the first innings.

‎Having elected to bat first, Lyceum’s top and middle order combined effectively to post a competitive 244 in 74.2 overs. Contributions flowed throughout the lineup, with Dinosh Jelon leading the way with a fluent 51, while Gagan Enosh (42), Tharusha Ranasinghe (24), Mihisara Osan (31), Thisanga Semith (27), and Shaleela Prabashshara (21) all played valuable supporting roles. Taxila’s response with the ball was steady, with Janiru Athulathmudali claiming 3 for 33, while Yasith Weththasinghe and Thilin Kumara picked up two wickets apiece.

‎However, the game turned decisively in Lyceum’s favour when their bowlers dismantled the Taxila batting lineup for just 92 runs in 34.3 overs. Vikasitha was the chief destroyer with an outstanding five-wicket haul, while Sadil Dias and Jelon chipped in with two wickets each to ensure a massive first innings lead.

‎Lyceum continued their dominance in the second innings, scoring 276 runs in 95 overs. Mihisara Osan came agonizingly close to a century, falling for 99, while Thisanga Semith (68) and Shaleela Prabashshara (56) produced impressive half-centuries to further underline the team’s batting depth. Despite Yasiru Kalhara’s excellent effort of 6 for 59 and Rashan Nawanjana’s 3 for 58, Taxila were unable to claw their way back into the contest.

‎Set an improbable task, Taxila showed some resistance in their second innings, reaching 121 for 3 in 49 overs at the close. Sandith Ranaweera top-scored with 40, while Raniru Athulathmudali added 38 in a steady rebuilding effort.

‎Despite the defeat, Taxila have much to celebrate, as both finalists earned promotion to the top Division—marking a historic breakthrough for the Horana school, which, like Lyceum, had never previously competed at that level.

‎For Lyceum International, this victory carries even greater significance, as they become the first international school in Sri Lanka to qualify for the top Division of the Under 19 schools cricket tournament—an achievement that signals a new chapter in the island’s school cricket landscape.

‎Brief Scores:

‎Lyceum International, Wattala – 244 all out in 74.2 overs (Gagan Enosh 42, Dinosh Jelon 51, Mihisara Osan 31; Janiru Athulathmudali 3/33) and 276 all out in 95 overs (Mihisara Osan 99, Thisanga Semith 68, Shaleela Prabashshara 56; Yasiru Kalhara 6/59)

‎Taxila College, Horana – 92 all out in 34.3 overs (Sandith Ranaweera 23; Ravindu Vikasitha 5/18) and 121 for 3 in 49 overs (Sandith Ranaweera 40, Raniru Athulathmudali 38)

(RF)‎