Left arm spinner Sharada Jayaratne took bowling honours of the day’s Under 19 cricket encounters as he took six wickets for Ananda to restrict Richmond to 168 runs in the traditional match at Ananda Mawatha.

‎Richmond were strongly placed at one stage with Risinu Rupasinghe (40) and Senuk Dulneth adding 91 runs for the first wicket. But when skipper Kithma Widanapathirana broke the stand, Richmond collapsed. Kithma and Sharada shared all ten wickets to fall.

‎In response the home team were 37 for three wickets at stumps with Vihanga Mihiranga inflicting early dammage.

‎At Darley Road, Wesley had a promising start with openers Shamma Fernando and Rasheed Nahyan putting on 58 runs for the first wicket before Nushan Perera and Sri Lanka Under 19 spinner Vigneswaran Akash shared seven wickets between them to restrict the Campbell Park team to 161 runs.

‎In reply St. Joseph’s reached 74 for no loss at stumps. The Joes amassed those runs in just 12.1 overs with Aveesha Samash hammering an unbeaten 53 in 38 balls (6x4s, 4x6s).

‎At De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa, Mahanama posted 350 for nine wickets declared against Prince of Wales as Dulnith Sigera (74), Eshan Withanage (71n.o.) and Sineth Veerarathne (59) made half centuries.

‎For the Cambrians Nethul Anuhas took five wickets.

by Reemus Fernando

Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews believes the islanders have unearthed a gem in Pavan Rathnayake, backing the 23-year-old middle-order batter to scale the game’s highest peaks.

Drafted into the World Cup squad at the eleventh hour, Rathnayake has wasted little time in justifying the selectors’ leap of faith. While much of the spotlight has rightly fallen on Pathum Nissanka’s match-winning heroics, the youngster has quietly gone about his business, compiling runs with poise and a range of strokes that suggest he belongs on this stage.

Rathnayake’s inclusion was no shot in the dark. Sri Lanka’s struggles against spin had been laid bare in the lead-up to the tournament and the think tank sought a batter who could milk the tweakers rather than get tied in knots. Rathnayake ticked that box emphatically, earning praise from batting coach Vikram Rathour for the way he used his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and employed soft hands to manoeuvre the field.

Mathews, who has long advocated fast-tracking the youngster into the senior set-up, said the signs were unmistakable.

“We are seeing someone special in Pavan Rathnayake,” Mathews told Telecom Asia Sport.

“I have seen him in close quarters and what impressed me most is his temperament. If he gets a start, he will go on to get a big hundred. I rate him very highly. The manner in which he plays spin is remarkable. He can both use his feet and rock back as well. He is a huge find for Sri Lanka and the world will start talking about him as we move on,” he added.

Mathews reserved special praise for the youngster’s mental steel, a trait he believes separates the run-of-the-mill from the truly elite.

“Pavan has a cool head and is so good to watch when he is on song. He is a man of few words, but mentally a very tough bloke and that’s what separates good players from great ones. I have no doubt he can go on to become a great,” Mathews said.

Sri Lanka became the first side to book their ticket to the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup after a stirring win over Australia, a result that sent fans into raptures and put the former champions back in the reckoning.

They begin their Super Eight campaign on Sunday against England, returning to a contest that promises high voltage and little margin for error.

On paper, Sri Lanka appear to have most bases covered. But the injury list has thrown a spanner in the works. Eshan Malinga, Wanindu Hasaranga and Matheesha Pathirana have all been ruled out, forcing the selectors into three replacements and leaving the bowling attack short on experience at the business end.

chttps://www.telecomasia.net/

41: That’s the number of times New Zealand and Pakistan faced each other across formats in a 30-month period between October 2022 and April 2025. Twenty four of those meetings came in T20Is, with the sides compensating for a tour which New Zealand abandoned in 2021, citing security concerns by piling on as many bilateral engagements as is it was possible to fit in a calendar.

Aside from a T20 World Cup semi-final in Sydney in 2022, none of those games mattered as much as the one in Colombo on February 21. Both sides have much convincing to do as credible title-contenders after a group stage which saw them ease past lower-ranked teams while getting thumped by the one powerhouse they played. In New Zealand’s case, it was South Africa who gave them a battering, while Pakistan were left similarly bruised by an Indian side that has otherwise not quite hit its straps.

For New Zealand, the biggest challenge is the switch of venue. They played all of their games in Chennai and Ahmedabad, and relied on a balance between seam and spin that leaned towards the former, with Mitchell Santner the only frontline spinner and Rachin Ravindra or Glenn Phillips chipping in with the odd over. In Colombo, that balance is likely to reverse as the slower bowlers take centre stage, something Pakistan have deployed so effectively in most of their matches.

Santner’s men have not tinkered much with the batting order, which has held up remarkably well for the most part. Against weaker oppositions, some combination of openers Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, or top order batters Ravindra and Phillips, have showcased enough firepower to ease home. Opposition attacks have also struggled to puncture their way through, with New Zealand losing just 14 wickets in four games, the second fewest for any side in this tournament.

Unlike New Zealand, Pakistan know this city intimately well by now. Three of their four games may have been played at the SSC – the other Colombo ground – but their match against India here at the RPS was, like Saturday’s contest, also an evening game, giving them a valuable read into the pitch and conditions. It is the venue they used more spin on than any other, with captain Salman Ali Agha suggesting that would only continue in the Super Eight.