If you are late for work and fancy beating every red light on Galle Road to clock in on time, you are chasing a mirage. Try the same stunt on Baseline Road and you will learn soon enough that Colombo traffic plays by its own rules. Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign was much the same. When you are ranked eighth in the world and expect to waltz into the semi-finals, that is wishful thinking. And as the old saying goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Reaching the Super Eight was no mean feat. Heavyweights like Australia were bundled out in the first round, while Afghanistan, tipped as dark horse, never quite got out of the paddock. On paper, Sri Lanka did what was expected of them. So why the hue and cry?

Because this was a home World Cup. England and New Zealand were served up on a silver platter in familiar conditions and Sri Lanka dropped the ball at the business end. Those were games there for the taking, matches where one nerveless knock could have turned the tide. Instead, they blinked. The final Super Eight clash against Pakistan, however, offered a glimpse of what this side can do when the pitch suits their armoury. On helpful tracks, they have begun to punch above their weight, trading blows with sides ranked well above them.

Yet the turbulence off the field continues to undo the good work on it. Perhaps it is time to think outside the box and appoint captains specifically for World Cups, leaders given a fixed tenure for the tournament cycle, empowered to plan without looking over their shoulders. Sri Lankan cricket has witnessed enough bloodless coups over the past 15 years to fill a political thriller.

In the past, it was established players, permanent fixtures in the XI, who engineered these power shifts when a younger man was handed the reins. Now the worrying trend is different. Even those unsure of their own places in the side are sharpening knives behind closed doors. That is a slippery slope and a dangerous precedent for a team trying to build a culture of accountability.

Not everything about this campaign was doom and gloom. Far from it. The fielding, for one, was razor sharp. Half-chances stuck, direct hits flew in like guided missiles and the athleticism in the ring saved crucial runs. For years this was Sri Lanka’s Achilles’ heel. Now it is fast becoming a strength, the result of sustained emphasis and hard graft behind the scenes.

Then there was young Pavan Rathnayake. Drafted into the squad barely a week before the tournament, the 23-year-old was expected to soak in the atmosphere and learn the ropes. Instead, he walked in at the deep end and swam like a seasoned pro. Rathnayake not only held the middle order together but finished as Sri Lanka’s second highest run-getter behind Pathum Nissanka, striking at over 150. He counter-punched spinners, found gaps with soft hands and cleared the ropes with fearless intent. It was a breakout campaign that left many wondering why he had been warming the benches for so long.

True, his domestic T20 numbers were hardly headline-grabbing. But selectors are paid to look beyond spreadsheets and see temperament, technique and ticker. Thank God Sri Lanka once had a man like Duleep Mendis backing a young Sanath Jayasuriya when the numbers did not stack up. Duleep saw the bigger picture and refused to lose faith.

by Rex Clementine

Former Nannapurawa MV athlete Madushani Herath established a new Sri Lanka record in the women’s triple jump on the final day of the selection trial held at Diyagama on Sunday.

‎Currently, a management student of University of Kelaniya, Madushani cleared 13.68 metres to erase the record held by Vidusha Lakshani. Lakshani’s 13.66 metres record remained unshaken since 2019.

‎Madushani’s coach Krishantha Kumara said that the record breaking performance was a result of hardwork and combined coaching effort.

Sanju Samson was not India’s first-choice opener in the lead-up to the tournament. India changed that opening combination at the last moment, but Samson still wasn’t their first-choice opener for the first five matches of this World Cup. Brought in as an unlikely Plan B as India faced four must-win matches, Samson powered India’s highest successful chase at the T20 World Cups in the second of those.

It was good defensive bowling from India that restricted West Indies to 195 in this virtual quarter-final, a neat callback to the 2016 semi-final between these two sides when West Indies restricted India to 193. Like India were that night, West Indies were left ruing their opener’s slow innings, a 33-ball 32 from their captain Shai Hope. Outside that, the six-hitting pack scored 163 in 14.3 overs, more than the par for the conditions than their powerplay of 45 for 0.

Lacking extreme pace or mystery in their bowling, West Indies desperately needed asking-rate pressure or errors from batters who haven’t been in too many ICC must-win games. Those mistakes did come from Abhishek Dharma and Ishan Kishan, but Samson batted regally for his 97 not out off 50, taking few low-percentage options, reaching his first fifty in 13 innings in just 26 balls. This was the first time in the IPL and T20Is that Samson opened and stayed unbeaten in a successful chase, at the end of which he collapsed to his knees, looked at the heavens and crossed his heart.