Sports
St. Joseph’s, Trinity book final berths
Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ tournament
by Reemus Fernando
St. Joseph’s and Trinity will meet in the final to decide the champions of the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ tournament as they edged out their opponents in contrasting fashion in the semi-finals ended on Tuesday.
St. Joseph’s edged out St. Benedict’s through points after their match ended in a no decision at Mount Lavinia. Trinity scored an outright victory over Maliyadeva as Tharana Wimaladharma bagged eight wickets in the match played at Kirimandala Mawatha.
In reply to Maliyadeva’s 139, Trinity posted 199 runs thanks to vital contributions made by Rahal Amarasinghe (34), Dinusha Peiris (45) and Dinuka Tennakoon (36).
In their second essay Maliyadeva were dismissed for 99 runs. While Jayavi Liyanagama took three wickets, off-spinner Tharana Wimaladharma picked up his second four wicket haul of the match.
With that match bag of eight wickets Wimaladharma has now taken over 80 wickets in both limited overs matches and two-day matches.
Trinity were left with a target of 40 runs to chase for an outright victory and they achieved it for the loss of three wickets with many overs to spare.
At Mount Lavinia, St. Joseph’s continuing on their overnight total went on to amass 439 for seven wickets declared. Avintha de Alwis went on to score a century while Muditha Dissanayaka (78) and Lahiru Amarasekara (46n.o.) helped boost the score.
In their essay St. Benedict’s were 90 for six wickets at close. St. Joseph’s had accumulated enough points to secure their place in the final. Incidentally, St. Joseph’s are in their third consecutive final after having won back to back titles prior to the tournament was halted by covid 19 pandemic.
The finals of the Tier ‘A’ tournament will be played over the weekend. However both teams have expressed their concern over the scheduling of the final which coincides with Easter Sunday.
Match Details
Trinity beat Maliyadeva by seven wickets at Kirimandala Mawatha
Scores:
Maliyadeva
139 all out in 56.5 overs (Gayana Weerasinghe 65; Tharana Wimaladharma 4/34, Dinuka Tennakoon 3/37, Kaveen Gamage 2/23) and 99 all out in 42.4 overs (Gayana Weerasinghe 20; Jayavi Liyanagama 3/06, Tharana Wimaladarma 4/36)
Trinity
106 for 2 overnight 199 all out in 53.5 overs (Rahal Amarasinghe 34, Dinusha Peiris 45, Dinuka Tennakoon 36; Charuka Herath 4/43, Dimath Abeysinghe 3/61) and 41 for 3 in 10 overs (Dinusha Peiris 17n.o., Vathila Udara 17)
St. Joseph’s edge out St. Benedict’s on points at Mount Lavinia
Scores:
St. Joseph’s
294 for 3 overnight 439 for 7decl. in 148.5 overs (Sadeesh Jayawardana 44, Sahan Dabare 41, Naren Muralidaran 102, Avintha de Alwis 101, Muditha Dissanayaka 78, Lahiru Amarasekara 46n.o.; Mevan Dissanayake 4/137)
St. Benedict’s
90 for 6 in (Sharujan Shanmuganathan 33n.o., Shenel Samarathunga 21; Lahiru Amarasekara 2/26, Yenula Dewthusa 2/08)
Virat Kohli has communicated his desire to retire from Test cricket to the BCCI ahead of the big five-match series in England starting June 20, for which he is expected to be a part of the squad. ESPNcricinfo understands that Kohli has been having these conversations with officials of the BCCI for the past month or so.
If Kohli doesn’t change his mind, he will bring the curtain down on a glorious career that has spanned 14 years and included 123 Tests – 68 of them as captain – in which he has 9230 runs at an average of 46.85.
But it hasn’t been a particularly fruitful time in the format for Kohli of late. When he scored 100 not out in the Perth Test in November 2024, it was his first century in Tests since July 2023 (against West Indies in Port of Spain), and his average, 55.10 at its peak after he scored his career best of 254 not out vs South Africa in Pune in 2019, has been 32.56 over the last 24 months.
(Cricinfo)
The remainder of PSL 2025 has been postponed indefinitely. The PCB cited the “worsening of the situation” at the Pakistan-India border as the reason, saying the board had acted on advice from the Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The board said it had “sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home” and that was considered when making the decision.
The development came less than 24 hours after the PCB had announced that the remaining eight games of the PSL would be played in the UAE, without specifying the dates or the venues, with the expectation that it would take about a week to resume.
Overseas players as well as Pakistani players who currently hold visas to the UAE were scheduled to leave on Friday night, with the remaining visas being applied for over the weekend. That, however, has changed, and the teams have begun disbanding with immediate effect, with travel back home being arranged for foreign players.
There is no word yet on when, or if, the remaining games will be played. The postponement came hours after the IPL was temporarily suspended owing to the tensions between the two countries.
The PSL held an emergency meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, and involved the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi meeting with foreign players, who overwhelmingly expressed a desire to relocate the league to the UAE.
“The PCB recognises the efforts and support of its partners, franchises, participating players, broadcasters, sponsors, and organisers in having ensured the smooth conduct of the tournament thus far, however; cricket while being a unifying force and a source of joy, must take a respectful pause…” the PCB statement said.
[Cricinfo]
World Relays 2025
A ‘full strength Sri Lanka 4×400 metres mixed relay team’ will compete against formidable European powerhouses when they take part in the first heat of the relay on day one of the World Relays in Guangzhou, China on Saturday.
“We will field our best four for the heats,” said W.M.G. Thushara, the mamager cum coach of the Sri Lanka team in an interview with The Island after reaching Guangzhou yesterday.
There is one junior athlete in the six member team but Sri Lankan authorities have decided to field the full strength team in the heats.
“It will be Nadeesha Ramanayake, Nishendra Fernando, Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana as we are planning to produce our best performace,” Thushara said.
Ramanayake, Kumarage and Dharshana were part of the team that established a new national record in the mixed relay at the Asian Athletics Championship in 2023. Only missing member from that team is Tharushi Karunaratne.
Sri Lanka team will compete in the first heat where Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and hosts China are the others. The first two from the heats will directly qualify for the World Relays and also the World Championships to be held in Tokyo.
Sri Lanka fielded only the mixed relay team for the World Relays despite the men’s 4×400 team qualifying for the event. The World Relays starting today is the main qualifying competition for relay events at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
by Reemus Fernando
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