Sports

Sri Sumangala take day one honours as Mevindu takes five wickets

Published

1 year ago

2025/03/29

Sri Sumangala College, Panadura took day one honours as spinner Mevindu Kumarasiri led the the bowling attack with a five wicket haul to restrict Moratu Vidyalaya toa scanty 87 runs in the 73rd Battle of the Golds Big Match at Moratuwa on Friday.

In reply, Sri Sumangala were 51 for three wickets at stumps with Sandeep Wijerathne unbeaten on 17.

Put to bat, the cautious approach of Moratu Vidyalaya made them score at a snail’s pace as their batsmen perished against spin. They lost their first five wickets for 43 runs with Sadew Senanayake and Kumarasiri sharing the spoils between them.

Kumarasiri later mopped up the tail taking two late order wickets to complete a five wicket haul. The left arm spinner’s valuable haul included the prized wicket of skipper Isuru Nidarshana who is among the most productive batsmen of this season.

Bowling to crowded close in fielders Kumarasiri got Nidharshana edge one to first slip to trigger a collapse from which Moratu MV never recovered.

Shehara Fernando who consumed 76 balls for 27 runs and Sithum Silva who faced 101 balls for 20 runs were the top scorers for Moratu MV.

Kumarasiri bowled the bulk of overs for Sri Sumangala. His 26 overs included ten maidnes.

Sadew Senanayake took three wickets in his 15 overs.

For Sri Sumangala, Sandeep Wijerathne was unbeaten on 17 runs for which he consumed 97 balls.

Sanjana Senavirathna took two of the three wickets to fall in the Sri Sumangala innings.

At the end of day one a result looked a possibility as the Big Match is played as a three-day encounter for the first time.

Scores

Moratu Vidyalaya 87

all out in 57 overs (Shehara Fernando 27, Sithum Silva 20; Sadew Senanayake 3/33, Mevindu Kumarasiri 5/28)

Sri Sumangala 51

for 3 in 33 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 2/19)

by Reemus Fernando

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Edgbaston takes center stage as England, Sri Lanka kick off T20 World Cup

Published

2 hours ago

2026/06/11

Priyan

Chamari Athapaththu will once again be key to SL's success [Cricinfo]

Hosts England will take on Sri Lanka at Edgbaston. The match is set to begin at 6.30pm local time (5.30pm GMT).

England hold an advantage in this contest, having won 10 out of the 12 T20Is between the sides. Sri Lanka though will draw confidence from recent history, having won the last two T20Is against England in 2023. This will be just the fourth time these two sides meet in the T20 World Cup.

England arrive at the tournament having won four out of the six matches since the start of the year, while Sri Lanka come in with momentum on their side, riding on five consecutive T20I wins that include series wins against West Indies and Bangladesh.

England (probable): Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), Alice Capsey, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Dani Gibson, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell

Sri Lanka (probable): Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hansima Karunaratne, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika de Silva, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), Malki Madara, Sugandika Kumari, Kawya Kavindi/Chetana Vimukthi

Lauren Bell has been in spectacular form all year, starting with the WPL where she finished with 12 wickets in nine games and was often a handful with the new ball. After picking three wickets in two games against New Zealand, she bagged seven wickets in three matches in the T20I series win against India. She’s bowled at an economy of 7.4 this year, and the home conditions are likely to suit her perfectly.

All eyes will once again be on Chamari Athapaththu for Sri Lanka. In what will be her 10th T20 World Cup the 36-year old will be expected to do the heavy lifting for her side. She heads into the tournament in excellent touch, highlighted by a blistering 94 off 58 balls in the warm up against Pakistan. Her contributions with the ball could prove just as important – she picked up four wickets in three matches in the series against Bangladesh in May.

Weather and conditions

The forecast points to clear skies in Birmingham on Friday evening. There was however some rain in the area on the eve of the match.

[Cricinfo]

Features

Samarawickrama’s rise gives Sri Lanka a second pillar

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/11

Priyan

Harshitha Samarawickrama's advance as a T20 batter has opened up a new frontier in Sri Lanka's batting performance [Cricinfo]

Harshitha Samarawickrema was 14 when Sri Lankan women’s cricket first pricked the national consciousness. She had already been playing cricket for her school, Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, but had largely pursued cricket merely for the sake of playing a sport, and also because she had enjoyed watching the men’s team play. But watching Sri Lanka defeat England in a thriller at the 2013 World Cup stirred up a deeper yearning.

“I’d watched all of the matches at that World Cup actually – that was the first time those kind of matches were telecast,” Samarawickrama said once. “That’s when I decided I was going to play and win matches for Sri Lanka one day.”

That victory against England was a new dawn for Sri Lanka’s women for two reasons. First up it was the highest-profile victory on their ledger until then, marking an unexpected high point in a World Cup in which little was generally expected of the team. But it also marked the rocket-powered arrival of Chamari Athapaththu, who top-scored with 62 to help set up the chase.

Thirteen years later, Samarawickrama has not only fulfilled her promise to herself, she has also helped Sri Lanka bring to life the promise of that 2013 campaign. Athapaththu, who has since has become the superstar around which Sri Lanka’s cricket orbits, has never known a more consistent batting collaborator than Samarawickrama. In T20Is, the pair have put on 1,202 runs together – easily the best for Sri Lanka. Though both are lefties who revel in pressure, that’s about where the similarities end – Athapaththu having grown up idolising the big-hitting of Sanath Jayasuriya, while Samarawickrama had been a disciple of the Kumar Sangakkara school of left-handed batting. (Samarawickrama still tries to replicate that famous bent-kneed cover drive, though she invariably sprinkles a little of of her own flair to the endeavour.) Oppositions have found this combination difficult to contend with, Athapaththu commanding through the legside and brutal on errors of length, while Samarawickrama flits around the crease and carves boundaries through cover and point.

It has been clear for years now that Sri Lanka’s chances in pretty much any match depend primarily on Athapaththu runs. But Samarawickrama’s advance as a T20 batter has now opened up a new frontier in the team’s batting performance. Ideally, what Sri Lanka want is not merely big runs from their captain, but a strong partnership between Athapaththu and Samarawickrama. In victories, the Athapaththu-Samarawickrama stand averages 41.38.

More tellingly, a good Samarawickrama innings has become as reliable a predictor of a strong Sri Lanka showing as a good Athapaththu innings. In T20I wins, Athapaththu averages 40.18 and strikes at 131, in comparison to 17.94 and a strike rate of 94 in losses. Samarawickrama’s corresponding numbers are even more stark. In Sri Lanka victories, Samarawickrama averages 44.08 with a strike rate of 109. In losses those numbers are 16.94 and 87. Other Sri Lanka batters have leveled up in recent years too – Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva and Hasini Perera having become more frequent contributors, while 20-year-old Vishmi Gunaratne has also showed promise. But 11 years into her international career, Samarawickrama now has a serious body of work.

Samarawickrama had been modest in the shortest format in 2025, but she arrives at the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 having had a good six months. Against Bangladesh in April, Samarawickrama had cracked 61 off 35, then 49 off 29, in back-to-back matches that Sri Lanka won (Samarawickrama was top-scorer on both occasions). This was in addition to having put up good numbers in the ODI series that preceded the T20Is. Her 36 not out off 34 in a comfortable warm-up win against Netherlands suggests she is still riding on that form.

This is the first T20 World Cup in which serious runs are expected of Samarawickrama, and if history is much to go by, she is not the sort to be daunted by occasion. Samarawickrama’s finest moments as a Sri Lanka cricketer had come in their most-celebrated win of all, in the Asia Cup final of 2024, against India. Typically, that chase of 166 in Dambulla had been propelled by an 87-run Athapaththu-Samarawickrama stand, but when Athapaththu was dismissed, Samarawickrama ensured she remained at the crease until the winning moments, hitting 69 not out off 51, ultimately collecting the Player-of-the-Match award.

If 2013 was a new dawn inspiring a fresh generation of Sri Lanka cricketers, 2024 was the year in which the team hammered its stake into the ground, breaking through into an entirely new galaxy of recognition and acclaim at home. Frequently batting in the shadow of Athapaththu, but always charting her own path, Samarawickrama has grown into a leader.

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Prabhsimran, Gaikwad, Tilak score fifties in DLS loss to Afghanistan A

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/11

Priyan

Prabhsimran Singh made 84 off 69 balls [SLC]

After a close-fought win against Sri Lanka A, India A continued their tri-series campaign with a defeat to Afghanistan A in a rain hit match in Dambulla. Prabhsimran Singh, Rutraj Gaikwad and Captain Tilak Varma all hit half-centuries to take India A to a big total, but Afghanistan A’s batters did enough to help them edge the game on DLS. Here are the key talking points from the game.

After showing glimpses of his talent in the tri-series opener against Sri Lanka A, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi put on a more impactful display against Afghanistan A. He lay down the marker early, cutting the first two balls he faced through cover point for fours.

He predominantly targeted the off side, driving or slashing anything offering width, finding the cover and point boundaries with ease, helping India A reach 50 in 4.5 overs.

He didn’t hit a six, but hit nine fours before a nick to the keeper off Abdollah Ahmadzai sent him back for 44 off 22 balls.

At the other end, Prabhsimran also started well, even if he wasn’t quite as explosive as his 15-year-old opening partner. He drove fuller balls through the covers and when the bowlers pulled their lengths back, he was happy to walk down the track and put away some punchy square drives.

He brought up a 39-ball half-century in the 14th over, driving left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan straight of mid-off to get to the milestone. He finished that over with a deft touch to beat short third.

Prabhsimran picked up three more boundaries through and over the mid-off region across the next two overs, taking India A to 140 for 2 at the first drinks break, and also bringing up a half-century stand with Gaikwad off just 38 balls.

His first 12 boundaries all came through the off side, before he drove two Zahir full-tosses past mid-on to take India A to 150 in the 18th over. He eventually got out on 84 while trying to paddle-scoop Afghanistan A captain Imran Mir, and only managed a feather touch to the keeper.

Gaikwad, fresh off a century against Sri Lanka A, started off from where he left off, meeting his first ball with a glorious back-foot cover drive. That was his only boundary during his partnership with Prabhsimran, and he was happy to go at around a run a ball while Prabhsimran did the heavy lifting.

Once Prabhsimran fell, Gaikwad was joined by Tilak, and the two kept the scoreboard ticking mainly through singles and doubles, in the effort to ensure India A had the platform for a big finish. They shared a 78-run stand, during which Gaikwad brought up his half-century.

Gaikwad eventually got out trying to up the tempo, lobbing a top-edged slog off medium-pacer Farmanullah to midwicket.

Tilak also brought up a second consecutive half-century, before Suryansh Shedge and Anukul Roy applied the finish to take India A to 349 for 9 in their allotted 49 overs.

After a short delay during the first innings, more rain followed during the innings break, delaying the restart. Afghanistan A began their chase needing 294 from 38 overs. With the light likely to start fading, and with floodlights not in action, the match was most probably going to be decided by DLS.

Afghanistan A openers Hassan Eisakhil and Imran started off quickly, with Eisakhil the initial aggressor. India A’s new-ball bowlers Anshul Kamboj and Arshad Khan failed to threaten, until Arshad drew a top edge from Eisakhil with a bouncer in the eighth over, and later in the same over had the Afghanistan opener pulling another short ball to deep square leg.

Among the spinners, Roy looked the most dangerous, trapping Khalid Taniwal lbw with an arm ball, but Vipraj Nigam and Ayush Badoni were mostly ineffectual.

This allowed Imran and Bahir Shah to keep the scoring rate ahead of the DLS par score without losing wickets. Imran made 75 not out off 70 deliveries while Shah was on 51 off 52 after Eisakhil’s 29-ball 34.

Rain and bad light eventually stopped play at 5.28pm, with Afghanistan A four runs ahead on DLS.

SCORES:
Afghanistan A 177 for 2 in 25.5 overs (Imran 75*, Bahir Shah 51*; Anbukul Roy 1-24) beat India A 349 for 9 in 49 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 84, Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi 44, Rutraj Gaikwad 66, Tilak Varma 66, Suryansh Shedge 40; Abdollah Ahmadzai 5-68, Farmanullah 3-85)by 4 runs (DLS method)

[Cricinfo]