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Trinity oust arch rivals in thriller to book final berth

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Trinity knocked out their arch rivals St. Anthony’s in the semi-final.

Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ semi-final

By Reemus Fernando

Trinity advanced to the final of the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket tournament as they pulled off exciting two wickets victory over their arch rivals St. Anthony’s in the semi-final played at the Thurstan College ground on Monday.

In a contest that went to the wire, Trinity reached a target of 203 runs with four balls to spare as the ninth wicket pair of Vibhavith Ehelepola and Tharana Wimaladharma kept their cool to secure the final berth against Richmond.

Theeraka Ranatunga was the key to Trinity’s success as he held their batting together with a valuable half century.

Chasing 203 runs to win Trinity openers kept their wickets intact till the 15th over before Sri Lanka Under 19 spinner Treveen Mathew struck twice in the same over to trigger a collapse. From being 47 for no wickets at one stage Trinity collapsed to 70 for five within ten overs.

Then it fell on the shoulders of Theeraka Ranatunga and Dinusha Peiris to repair the damage.

While Peiris scored 29 runs, Wathila Udara with a 26-ball 37 runs and Ehelepola with an unbeaten 18 runs got the team closer to victory.

Earlier, put to bat St. Anthony’s lost their first two wickets with just nine runs on the board as Vibhavith Ehelepola struck in consecutive balls to remove Mohamed Aaqil, the hero of their quarter-final victory and Januka Rathnayake. Kavindu Shehan then dropped anchor with a 141-ball 74 runs.

Shehan added 61 runs for the third wicket with Thisara Ekanayake (35) before Traveen Mathew and Janith Rathnasiri played little cameos to reach their eventual total.

Scores:

St. Anthony’s

202 for 6 in 50 overs (Kavindu Shehan 74, Thisara Ekanayake 35, Traveen Mathew 25, Janith Rathnasiri 27; Vibhavith Ehelepola 2/27, Theeraka Ranathunga 2/31)

Trinity

204 for 8 in 49.2 overs (Janith Ravishka 17, Rahal Amarasinghe 23, Theeraka Ranathunga 57, Dinusha Peiris 29, Wathila Uara 37, Vibhavith Ehelepola 18n.o.; Traveen Mathew 3/40)



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Hasaranga returns to Test squad; set to miss part of IPL

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Hasaranga has returned to Test cricket (Cricbuzz)

Sri Lanka leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has come out of Test retirement and has been named in the 17-man squad for the two-match series in Bangladesh. Hasaranga had announced his Test retirement in August 2023 in a bid to prolong his white-ball career. Less than a year from the T20 World Cup, he was named the captain of the national side in the shortest format.

However, he has now been included in the Test series that will run from March 22 to April 3, and affect his participation in the Indian Premier League. Should the second Test go on for all five days, Sunrisers Hyderabad – who bagged him for his base price of INR 1.5 Crore – will be without his services for their first three games of the season – on March 23, 27 and 31. Their fourth game – and the last of the first phase of the season – will also be touch and go for the Sri Lankan as it is on April 5.

Hasaranga’s inclusion is one of the two changes that Sri Lanka have made to the squad that played Afghanistan in the one-off Test last month. While Hasaranga and off-spinner Nishan Peiris have been drafted in, there was no place for Asitha Fernando and Milan Priyanth Rathnayake.

The first Test of the series begins on March 22 in Sylhet while the second game will be played in Chattogram from March 30.

Sri Lanka Test squad: Dhananjaya De Silva, Kusal Mendis,Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Lahiru Udara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Nishan Peiris, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Chamika Gunasekara

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Sri Lanka lose series after another batting flop

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Janith Liyanage’s maiden ODI hundred was in vain as Sri Lanka suffered a four wicket defeat in the third ODI and lost the series 2-1.

Sri Lanka’s batting lacked intent or purpose needed for a series decider as they crashed to a four-wicket loss with 58 ball to spare in the third ODI against Bangladesh in Chittagong yesterday. The series was levelled at 1-1 and with the final game being a day match and dew not affecting teams, the tourists had a fine opportunity but their batting was a huge letdown.

The in form Pathum Nissanka was given out leg before wicket in the second over but didn’t review the decision. Had he done so, the decision would have been overturned.

Avishka Fernando’s horror tour continued as he was dismissed for four. In six innings on this tour, he has crossed double figures only once.

Sadeera Samarawickrama had been dismissed for four single digit scores in his past four games and although he went on to make 14, the team needed much more from him.

Many had expected Kamindu Mendis to replace either Sadeera or Avishka but the selectors opted for the same batting unit.

Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage all threw away their wickets and at 154 for seven, Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel.

If not for Janith Liyanage’s maiden ODI hundred, Sri Lanka would have fared much worse. He shared a 60-run stand for the eighth wicket with Maheesh Theekshana, who was making a comeback to the team.

A total of 235 was way below expectations, especially in a series decider. Although Bangladesh chased it inside 41overs, the scoreboard pressure would have tested the hosts.

Bangladesh bowlers were on the money. Their quicks didn’t send down too many loose balls while the spinners toyed with the Sri Lankans’ patience and were richly rewarded.

Lahiru Kumara kept Sri Lanka interested with career best figures of four for 48 but there was not much support for him.

Maheesh Theekshana once again failed to pick up a wicket. This is the fourth game in a row he had gone without a wicket.

At one point Bangladesh needed 58 with four wickets in hand and Sri Lanka could have still made a game out of it. But Man of the Match Rishad Hossain turned the game on its head with some clean hits smashing 48 off 18 balls. He hit the first ball of his innings for six off Hasaranga and scored 16 runs off the over.

The Bangladeshi leg-spinner sealed the game in his side’s favour when Hasaranga came on to bowl the 40th over of the innings when he scored 24 runs in the first five balls as Sri Lanka suffered an embarrassing defeat.

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Centuries galore as the 119th Lovers Quarrel ends in draw

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dinura Kalupahana became the sixth batsman from Mahinda to score a century at the annual big Match

by Reemus Fernando

The Livers Quarrel Big Match has not witnessed many centuries. According to Big Match suvenier details, there had been only 16 centuries from both Richmond and Mahinda in its history of more than hundred years. This year when the arch rivals met in the 119th edition at the Galle International Stadium there were three centuries as the match ended in a draw.

In reply to Mahinda’s 169 runs, Richmond reached 270 for six wickets declared as open batsman Chehan Subasinghe and Malsha Tharupathi scored centuries. Subasinghe was trying to anchor the innings when three of their top order batsmen failed to reach double figures. Subasinghe put on a fifth wicket stand of 149 runs with skipper Tharupathi. Subasinghe’s knock (in 206 balls) included just five fours. Tharupathi’s knock was a complete contrast as he hammered nine fours and four sixes in his 111 runs. The Sri Lanka Under 19 player’s knock came in 74 balls.

Mahinda had a deficit of 101 runs when they commenced the second innings. Stage was ideally set for someone to produce a match saving innings. It came from none other than their skipper Dinura Kalupahana who was the top scorer for Sri Lanka Under 19s at the recently held ICC Youth World Cup. Kalupahana top scored with 124 runs inclusive of 16 fours. He used 145 balls. He was involved in a huge first wicket stand of 172 runs with Tharusha Dilshan who made 63.

Kalupahana’s 124 runs is the third highest individual score by a Mahinda batsman behind P.H.K.H Ranasinghe’s 162 (1972) and Sirisena Hettige’s 155 in 1939. According to Mahinda statistics Kalupahana is the sixth batsman from his school to score a century in the Big Match in the 119 year old history.

For Richmond it was the century number 12 and 13 as they ended more than six-year wait for a century.

Tharupathi won the Man of the Match award, While Subasinghe walked away with the Best Batsman award, off spinner Kaveesha Induwara was given away the Best Bowler award. Mahinda wicket keeper Hareen Achintha won the Best Fielder award.

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