Sports
St. Joseph’s, Royal cruise to final
Under-19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Semi Finals
by Reemus Fernando
St. Joseph’s beat the daylights out of Trinity with a clinical ten wicket win and Royal disappointed century maker Pavan Ratnayake with a six wickets win over Mahanama in the Under-19 Division I Tier ‘A’ semi-finals played on Wednesday.
St. Joseph’s continued their remarkable rise during the knockout stage as their batting openers Sadeesh Jayawardena and Sheran Fonseka knocked off the win need without being parted after bowlers contained Trinity to 160 runs at the Surrey Village ground.
Fonseka was unbeaten on 93 (116 balls, 10x4s) and Jayawardena was not out on 62 (98 balls, 5x4s) when they reached the target with 14 overs to spare. The stage for victory was however set by their bowlers, paceman Mithira Thenura, captain Dunith Wellalage and Shenuka de Silva.
Thenura dealt a severe blow to Trinity’s aspirations when he took two wickets in his second over. When Deshan Senaviratne and Shenuka de Silva accounted for the next two wickets Trinity had only 21 runs on the board. While Shenuka de Silva took two wickets, Wellalage and Thenura took three wickets each. Trinity had a fruitful 100 run partnership for the fifth wicket between Pawan Pathiraja and Akram Muthalib but some accurate bowling by Wellalage and Thenura prevented acceleration of the run rate during the final overs. While Wellalage grabbed two wickets in the final over, Thenura took a remarkable diving catch off his own bowling in his final over.
In the other semi-final, a century by Pavan Rathnayake (114 in 150 balls, 3x4s, 4x6s) was in vain for Mahanama as Royal reached a target of 210 runs for the loss of four wickets with three overs to spare. Sadisha Rajapaksha scored an unbeaten 85 runs and put on a third wicket stand of 116 runs with opener Sehan Herath who scored 62 runs. Sonal Amarasekara with three wickets was the pick of the bowlers.
Now Royal will meet St. Joseph’s in the Division I Tier ‘A’ final at the NCC Ground on Saturday.
Results
Royal beat Mahanama by six wickets at Moratuwa
Mahanama
209 for 8 in 50 overs (Pavan Rathnayake 114, Vinuka Rubasinghe 33; Sonal Amarasekara 3/29)
Royal
210 for 4 in 47 overs (Sehan Herath 62, Sadisha Rajapaksha 85n.o., Ahan Wickramasinghe 27)
St. Joseph’s beat Trinity by ten wickets at Maggona
Trinity
160 all out in 49.4 overs (Pawan Pathiraja 61, Akram Muthalib 49; Mithira Thenura 3/26, Shenuka de Silva 2/30, Dunith Wellalage 3/32)
St. Joseph’s
161 for no loss in 35.4 overs (Sadeesh Jayawardana 62n.o., Sheran Fonseka 93n.o.)
St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road player Nuren Wevita and Sayuri Mututhanthiri of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo clinched the lowest age category titles of the 110th Colombo Championships concluded at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts on Friday.
Wevita won the Under 12 boys’ title with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kashya Seneviratne in the final. Sayuri registered 6-1, 6-3 win over Rehansa Ranasinghe in the girls’ title fight.
Sayuri Mututhanthiri
Roston Chase has been appointed West Indies’ new Test captain. The allrounder’s first Test as captain will be his 50th; his 49th, against South Africa in Johannesburg, came more than two years ago. West Indies have played 13 Tests since then.
Chase has previously led West Indies in one ODI and one T20I. His first assignment in the longest format will be the three-Test home series against Australia, which begins on his home ground in Bridgetown on June 25. Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican will be Chase’s vice-captain.
The series will be the first of the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle for both teams.
CWI said that Chase had been appointed from a shortlist of six after a “detailed assessment process that included psychometric testing to evaluate leadership style, behaviour, and overall suitability for the role”. The other candidates interviewed were John Campbell, Tevin Imlach, Joshua Da Silva, Justin Greaves, and Warrican.
Shai Hope, West Indies captain in the white-ball formats, asked not to be considered in order to focus on his exciting leadership roles.
“This selection process is one of the most comprehensive and forward-thinking we have undertaken,” CWI president, Kishore Shallow, said. “I am deeply impressed by the professionalism, objectivity, and strategic thinking that shaped the final decision. It sets a new benchmark for leadership appointments in West Indies cricket.”
West Indies head coach, Daren Sammy, said: “I fully endorse this appointment. Our new captain has earned the respect of his peers, understands the responsibility that comes with the role, and has shown the leadership qualities we need to take this team forward. I urge fans across the region to rally behind him–we’re building something special.”
The 33-year-old Chase takes over from Kraigg Brathwaite, who resigned in March after 39 matches in charge of the Test team. West Indies won 10 of those Tests, lost 22 and drew seven.
At the time of Brathwaite’s resignation, CWI had handed Hope – already West Indies’ ODI captain – the T20I reins, but had held back on naming a new Test captain, announcing that they would do so “in the coming weeks”.
Brathwaite’s tenure was notable for a young West Indies team beginning to find ways of winning in different conditions with a growing pool of fast and spin bowlers. Notable performances included a 1-0 home series win over England in 2022, the Gabba Test win of January 2024, and a 1-1 draw in Pakistan in Brathwaite’s last series in charge, in January 2025.
Chase has scored 2265 runs at an average of 26.33, with five hundreds, and taken 85 wickets with his offspin at 46.00. One of his first tasks as captain will be to repair his batting numbers, which have fallen steadily following a promising start. He made a century in just his second Test, to help save the Jamaica Test against India in 2016, and scored two more over his first 10 Tests, across which he averaged 48.53. Since then, however, his numbers have declined significantly.
CWI announced Chase’s appointment via X, formerly Twitter, and said it had been “unanimously approved by the CWI Board of Directors” during a meeting on Friday.
[Cricinfo]
The winners of the Woorld Test Championship [WTC] final, to be played between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s starting June 11, will secure a prize money of USD 3.6 million, more than double of the winners in the last two cycles. The runners-up, meanwhile, will bag more than USD 2.1 million, while the prize for the same in the previous editions was USD 800,000.
The winners in the last two cycles — New Zealand and Australia — had earned USD 1.6 million each.
“The increase in prize money exhibits the ICC’s efforts to prioritize Test cricket as it looks to build on the momentum of the first three cycles of the nine-team competition,” the ICC said in its release.
India, who finished third on the table, will receive over USD 1.4 million, while fourth-placed New Zealand get USD 1.2 million. Even the prize money for teams finishing fifth (USD 960000) and sixth (USD 840000) — England and Sri Lanka — is more than what it was for the runners-up in the previous editions.
South Africa topped the table in the 2023-25 edition with eight wins from 12 games, and were the first team to seal a final spot with a dramatic two-wicket win over Pakistan. Defending champions Australia got through by pipping India to the second spot after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 at home.
Both teams have named their squads for the final. The focus for South Africa will be on their pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada after his one-month ban for failing a drug test, while Cameron Green makes his return to Australia’s Test side after undergoing a lower spine surgery last year.
-
Features7 days agoSAITM Graduates Overcome Adversity, Excel Despite Challenges
-
Opinion7 days agoDrs. Navaratnam’s consultation fee three rupees NOT Rs. 300
-
News6 days agoDestined to be pope:Brother says Leo XIV always wanted to be a priest
-
Sports7 days agoASBC Asian U22 and Youth Boxing Championships from Monday
-
Features6 days agoChampioning Geckos, Conservation, and Cross-Disciplinary Research in Sri Lanka
-
Business7 days agoDilmah – HSBC future writers festival attracts 150+ entries
-
Midweek Review3 days agoBronze statue for P’karan, NPP defeat in the North and 16th anniversary of triumph over terrorism
-
News1 day agoChikungunya spreading rapidly in Colombo and suburbs