Sports
Sudarshana brought in as Batting Coach
Sri Lanka Under-19 coach Dhammika Sudarshana will take charge as the Batting Coach of the national cricket team with Grant Flower in isolation after testing positive for Covid.
by Rex Clementine
Sri Lanka Cricket has brought in their Under-19 coach to fill in for Grant Flower, the Batting Coach of the national cricket team.
Flower tested positive for COVID and currently is in isolation.
SLC had other senior coaches to look after batting like former Test cricketer Roy Dias, former captain Hashan Tillekeratne, Ruvin Peiris or Malintha Warnapura, but the board opted for Sudarshana, who joined SLC this year.
Sudarshana is a highly rated coach who made Richmond College, Galle the most successful cricket playing school in the island in the last decade. Many current Sri Lanka players have passed out from Richmond while Sudarshana was in charge. Some of those players are Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya Lakshan.
SLC sources said that Sudarshana was preferred for a variety of reasons. He had been apparently in a bubble and this will be a short stint.
Board sources indicated that they were looking at Flower’s role with the team after continuous batting failures. After the India series, he is likely to be retained with the High Performance Center at RPS. The new batting coach could be a Sri Lankan.
With Head Coach Mickey Arthur and the coaching staff, closest contacts of Flower still in isolation, yesterday’s training session was conducted by spin bowling coach Piyal Wijetunga, another committed, respected cricket coach.
Arthur and rest of the coaching staff will be tested today morning and if their PCRs are negative, they will be attending training from today onwards.
The six match limited overs series was pushed back by five days after two positive cases were identified within the bubble. The players were tested on Sunday and all turned negative.
Although India’s leading players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are not part of the squad, this is still a strong Indian side with captain Shikhar Dhawan and deputy Bhubaneswar Kumar having represented India in over 100 ODIs. Kuldeep Yasav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya have played over 50 ODIs. With Danushka Gunatilleke, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella suspended, Sri Lanka are really thin on experience. Kusal Janith Perera with 107 games is the most experienced followed by Dhananjaya de Silva with exactly 50 games.
The first ODI will take place on Sunday. All games will be played at RPS.
Delhi Capitals’ (DC) signing of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizure Rahman for the remainder of IPL 2025 has hit a snag, with the BCB stating that it hasn’t been approached for a no-objection certificate (NOC).
Usually, the IPL only announces signings after a player has received an NOC from his home board. According to its CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, however, the BCB had yet to receive a request for one.
“Mustafizur is supposed to go with the team to the UAE according to the schedule,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday. “We have not received any communication from IPL officials. I have also not received any such official communication from Mustafizur either.”
Mustafizur is part of the Bangladesh T20I squad that is due to play back-to-back away T20I series against UAE and Pakistan, both of which clash with the IPL. On Wednesday, hours after the IPL announced his signing as a replacement for Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mustafizur flew out to Dubai with the rest of Bangladesh’s squad.
Bangladesh are due to play two T20Is in the UAE on May 17 and 19, followed by five in Pakistan on May 25, 27 and 30, and June 1 and 3. Those two series are in conflict with the IPL; DC are set to play their last three league matches on May 18, 21 and 24, followed by the playoffs should they get there.
ESPNcricinfo has sought a response from DC on this development.
[Cricinfo]
Sprinter Aruna Dharshana who is undergoing treatments for an injury he sustained during the World Relays, is racing against time to recover for the Asian Athletics Championships which will be held in South Korea later this month.
The 400 metres specialist is one of the two sprinters slated to compete in the one lap race. He is also a key member of the men’s 4×400 metres and 4×400 metres mixed relays alongside Kalinga Kumarage.
“Currently Dharshana is undergoing treatments. We are hopeful that he will recover in time for the Asian Championships,” Dharshana’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna told ‘The Island’.
“Sri Lanka Athletics will conduct a fitness test before the Asian Championships. Hopefully he will be ready by that time,” said Rajakaruna.
Sri Lanka Athletics earlier said that a fitness test will be held to assess the strength of the 20 strong team selected for the biennial event.
Sri Lanka fielded only a mixed relay team for the recently held World Relays in Guangzhou, China where an injury to Dharshana cost them a chance to achieve a top performance and a probable ticket to the World Championships in Tokyo later this year.
Sri Lanka won a historic gold medal in the men’s 4×400 metres at the last edition of the Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok Thailand where the team inclusive of Dharshana beat India to the second place with a new championship record time of 03:01.56 seconds.
Kalinga Kumarage who did the anchor leg and Dharshana are the only members from that gold winning team selected for the upcoming event.
Dharshana is the only Sri Lankan athlete to have clocked sub 45 seconds in the 400 metres after legendary Sugath Thilakaratne.
Dharshana and Kumarage hold the second and third places respectively in the list of fastest times achieved in the 400 metres by Sri Lankan athletes. Dharshana has a personal best of 44.99 seconds achieved during the last Olympic games.
by Reemus Fernando
110th Colombo Championships
Dinara de Silva bagged her second title of the Colombo Championships as she partnered Inuki Jayaweera to record straight sets victory in the women’s doubles final played at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts on Wednesday.
Dinara and Inuki beat Venuli Jayasinghe and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles final.
Incidentally, it was the second title of the tournament for both Dinara and Inuki.
While Dinara won the women’s singles and doubles titles, Inuki was the winner of the mixed doubles and the women’s doubles.
Women’s doubles results
Semi-finals
Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera beat Dulkini Ranasinghe and Tania Doloswala 6-3, 6-2
Venuli Jayasinghe and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi beat Bovindee Imihamy and Siyara Devappriya 6-3, 6-0.
Quarter-finals
Venuli Jayasinghe and S. Usgodaarachchi beat Tuvini de Alwis and Hasali Gajaba 6-4, 5-7, 10-3.
Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera beat Nimasha Shehara and Arushi Thomas 6-1, 6-3.
Dulkini Ranasinghe and Tania Doloswala beat Diyansa de Silva and Lihini Jayakody 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.
Bovindee Imihamy and Siyara Devappriya received a walkover from Gehansa Methnadi and Akeesha Silva.
Second lot of luxury and decommissioned vehicles owned by the Presidential Secretariat sold
President approves establishment of Anti-Corruption Investigation Units in Provincial Councils and LG Institutions
Seven new envoys to Sri Lanka present credentials to the President
-
Features5 days agoSAITM Graduates Overcome Adversity, Excel Despite Challenges
-
News5 days agoDestined to be pope:Brother says Leo XIV always wanted to be a priest
-
Sports5 days agoASBC Asian U22 and Youth Boxing Championships from Monday
-
Opinion5 days agoDrs. Navaratnam’s consultation fee three rupees NOT Rs. 300
-
Foreign News6 days agoMexico sues Google over ‘Gulf of America’ name change
-
Features4 days agoChampioning Geckos, Conservation, and Cross-Disciplinary Research in Sri Lanka
-
Business5 days agoDilmah – HSBC future writers festival attracts 150+ entries
-
Business5 days agoBloom Hills Holdings wins Gold for Edexcel and Cambridge Education