Sports
Women’s Cricket receives a shot in the arm from the Mercantile Cricket Association
With the success the seven MCA men’s cricket tournaments have achieved, the Executive Committee of Mercantile Cricket Association (MCA) have decided to give Women’s Cricket in Sri Lanka a boost by introducing a hard ball Women’s Cricket Tournament for the corporate sector.
With the international recognition women’s cricket has gained at present, it is no secret that there still are many talented lasses aspiring to reach the zenith of the game.
Even with the measures Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) the game’s governing body through the Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) have taken to promote girls cricket in schools, a considerable number of talented players, specially in the provinces do not have an opportunity to be recognized.
It is the MCA’s belief that with the introduction of a MCA Women’s Cricket Tournament, the corporate sector will be encouraged to field teams, and in doing so will give a hand to talented lasses and school leavers by providing them with employment as well as the opportunity to realise their aspirations in the Women’s Cricket arena.
At present in addition to the seven major Men’s tournaments the MCA organise the
Mercantile Six-a-Side tournament, the Over-40 Sixes competition, the 20×20 league, and the esteemed MCA Inter Academy Invitational tournament,
As an initial step, the MCA will be conducting a Women’s six and side soft ball cricket tournament for the corporate sector teams on Saturday 23rd May 2026 at the Mercantile Cricket Association grounds.
For further information please contact Chamara on 0759592488 or Prasad 0759809777.
Sports
Fast bowlers to get more opportunities as new format introduced for Under-15 Division I tourney
The Inter-Schools Under-15 Division I cricket tournament will be conducted under a revamped format this year, with organisers shifting the focus back to limited-overs cricket while introducing new rules aimed at promoting fast bowling.
The tournament, organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA), will see only the top-tier Division I competition played in a 50-over format. Meanwhile, Division II and Division III matches will continue under the one-day, four-innings structure.
SLSCA Secretary Saman Hettiarachchi said the changes were made following consultations with experts from Sri Lanka Cricket, with a clear objective of providing greater opportunities for pace bowlers.
”We opted for the limited-overs format for Division I in consultation with Sri Lanka Cricket. The lower divisions will copete in the innings format as we have observed matches ending early without utilizing the full quota of overs,” Hettiarachchi told ‘The Island’.
A key feature of the revised rules is the compulsory allocation of overs for fast bowlers. In a full 50-over innings, a minimum of 20 overs must be bowled by pacemen. Additionally, during the first 10 overs, at least eight overs must be delivered by fast bowlers. If an innings is reduced to 30 overs or fewer, at least six of the first eight overs must be bowled by pace.
”It was made mandatory to give more opportunities to pacemen,” Hettiarachchi explained.
Meanwhile, the official draw for the Division I tournament has been released, featuring 70 teams divided into 16 groups from Group A to Group P for the preliminary round. Each team is guaranteed multiple matches during the opening stage.
Defending champions St. Joseph’s College headline Group A, where they will meet Nalanda College, Dharmapala College, St. John’s College, Lumbini College and De La Salle College.
With traditional cricketing powerhouses spread across the groups, it will be interesting to see how the first round pans out in the new-look tournament.
Under 15 Division I Tournament First Round Groups
GROUP A
St. Joseph’s College, Colombo
Nalanda College, Colombo
Dharmapala College, Pannipitiya
St. John’s College, Nugegoda
Lumbini College, Colombo
De La Salle College, Colombo
GROUP B
D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo
S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia
Presidents’ College, Kotte
Wesley College, Colombo
Carey College, Colombo
Sri Dharmaloka College, Kelaniya
GROUP C
St. Anthony’s College, Wattala
St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa
Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Kottawa
St. Peter’s College, Colombo
C.W.W. Kannangara MV, Colombo
Ashoka College, Colombo
GROUP D
St. Benedict’s College, Colombo
Royal College, Colombo
Gurukula College, Kelaniya
Lyceum International School, Wattala
Bandaranayake MMV, Gampaha
St. John’s College, Panadura
GROUP E
De Mazenod College, Kandana
Isipathana College, Colombo
Christ King College, Ja-Ela
Thurstan College, Colombo
Ananda Shastralaya NS, Kotte
St. Joseph Vaz College, Vennappuwa
GROUP F
Mahanama College, Colombo
Piliyandala MMV, Piliyandala
Ananda College, Colombo
Sri Jayawardenapura NS, Kotte
Presidents College, Maharagama
St. Thomas’ College, Kotte
GROUP G
Wadduwa MMV, Wadduwa
Sri Sumangala College, Panadura
Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa
Moratu Vidyalaya, Moratuwa
Revatha College, Balapitiya
Royal College, Panadura
GROUP H
Dharmaraja College, Kandy
St. Mary’s College, Kegalle
Kegalu Vidyalaya, Kegalle
Kingswood College, Kandy
Vidyartha College, Kandy
Ibbagamuwa MMV, Ibbagamuwa
GROUP J
Maris Stella College, Negombo
Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala
Harischandra College, Negombo
Maliyadeva Adarsha MV, Kurunegala
Galahitiyawa MMV, Ganemulla
Sandalankawa MMV, Sandalankawa
GROUP K
St. Anthony’s College, Kandy
St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy
Trinity College, Kandy
Royal College, Polonnaruwa
St. Thomas’ College, Matale
Jaffna Hindu College, Jaffna
GROUP L
Sri Pangnananda MMV, Raddoluwa
St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala
St. Mary’s College, Chilaw
Sri Sumangala NS, Wariyapola
St. Peter’s College, Negombo
St. Xavier’s College, Marawila
GROUP M
Devapathiraja College, Rathgama
St. Aloysius College, Galle
Holy Cross College, Kalutara
Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda
Kalutara Vidyalaya, Kalutara
Vidyaloka College, Galle
GROUP N
Mahinda College, Galle
Tissa MV, Kalutara
Rahula College, Matara
Debarawewa NS, Debarawewa
St. Thomas’ College, Matara
Meepawala Amarasuriya MV
GROUP P
St. Servatius’ College, Matara
Richmond College, Galle
Sri Devananda College, Ambalangoda
Karandeniya MMV, Karandeniya
P. De S. Kularathna MV, Ambalangoda
President’s College, Embilipitiya.
by Reemus Fernando
Pakistan Women 343/4 in 50 overs (Sadaf Shamas 101, Gull Feroza 100, Sidra Amin 59; Christina Mutasa 1-19, Lindokuhle Mabhero 1-52, Olinder Chare 1-40, Nomvelo Sibanda 1-61) beat Zimbabwe Women 137 in 39 overs (Runyararo Pasipanodya 33*; Fatima Sana 3-15, Diana Baig 1-23, Momina Riasat 2-39, Rameem Shamim 2-20, Syed Aroob Shah 2-18) by 206 runs
Catches win matches is probably one of the oldest and most overused clichés in cricket. But it couldn’t have been truer on Wednesday. Punjab Kings (PBKS) dropped three catches and missed a stumping; Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) dropped two but held onto most of the important ones. The final result? SRH, despite a maiden Cooper Connolly century, marched on to defeat PBKS by 33 runs and displace them at the top of the points table.
Travis Head (38 off 19) and Abhishek Sharma (35 off 13) got SRH off to a flying start. Heinrich Klaasen (69 off 43) and Ishan Kishan (55 off 32) made use of the missed chances, smashing quick fifties, while fit-again Nitish Kumar Reddy provided the finishing touch with 29 not out off 13 as SRH finished on 235 for 4.
SRH had never lost defending a 220-plus target in the IPL and that stat remained intact. Connolly – who had two lives – smashed his maiden century in any format, finishing unbeaten on 107 off 59 balls, but got little support from the rest as PBKS were handed a third straight defeat. With the win, SRH are now leading the table with 14 points, while PBKS remain on 13.
SRH came into the game with a powerplay run rate of 11.75. They went at 13.16 on Wednesday evening, amassing 79 in the first six overs. There is no shifting of gears with Travishek – they were at it almost from the get-go. Abhishek defended the first ball of the innings off Arshdeep Singh, and then effortlessly lofted the second ball over extra cover for a six. He then lay into Marco Jansen, who was given the new ball, going 6, 4, 6, 0, 4. Head, a silent spectator till then on 2 off 4, was at his pulling best, hitting back-to-back sixes off Arshdeep, peppering the deep-square-leg boundary before nudging a full toss down leg.
SRH raced past 50 in 3.2 overs but Lockie Ferguson got PBKS back, inducing a top edge of Abhishek’s blade that spooned straight up with Shreyas Iyer doing the rest coming in from mid-off. Head, though, rattled along as SRH ended the powerplay on a high.
“It’s been a bit of a virus for us” was how Ricky Ponting described PBKS’ catching during a mid-game chat. It became worse as the evening progressed. Yuzvendra Chahal struck in his first over, right after the powerplay, deceiving Head with a wrong’un that was miscued to long-off. He could have had at least two more if not for the fielding bug that hit PBKS. Kishan was given three chances – two drops and a missed stumping – on 9, 18 and 19. Klaasen should have had his first single-digit score of the season, but he was dropped on 9. They made PBKS pay.
Kishan was hardly at his fluent best; he had a control percentage of just 65.43 but hung on. After the early chances, he settled in, getting his timing back, stitching an 88-run stand with Klaasen in eight overs. He thumped Vijaykumar Vyshak for three straight sixes in the 14th over to raise a 28-ball fifty. By the time he fell, SRH’s run rate had gone past 11.50.
While the focus was on Klaasen, Reddy’s was phenomenal with his death-overs hitting. He started the 17th over with a scorching pull off Jansen before tonking Ferguson over deep midwicket as well. Klaasen reached his fifty off 32 balls and ended the innings on a high, dumping Vyshak for a six over extra cover and four to fine leg before falling off the last ball of the innings.
PBKS had never won in Hyderabad in their last eight attempts. To change that, their top order had to fire. They didn’t. Pat Cummins’ superb captaincy saw Priyansh Arya fall in the first over. He signalled mid-on to go back to the rope, telegraphing a full ball. Instead, he bowled a bouncer angling away from Arya, who was lulled into a pull, which he only mistimed to deep-backward square leg, where Eshan Malinga took a lovely catch running and diving forward.
Reddy struck with the first ball of his spell, getting Prabhsimran Singh to top-edge a fuller ball straight up with Cummins running back from mid-on and taking another good catch. Prabharya were gone in seven balls. Iyer punched Reddy through covers first ball but skewed a hard-length Malinga delivery to mid-off. Marcus Stoinis salvaged PBKS’ powerplay to an extent, taking them to 57 for 3 after six, but the damage had been done.
In his maiden IPL season, Connolly had already looked the part, and he shone again, even as the rest of the PBKS batters struggled. He hit Cummins for a four and six in the powerplay and went back-to-back fours against Malinga. Once Stoinis fell, caught behind off Shivang Kumar, Connolly ensured he batted through. He got support from Suryansh Shedge for a bit but once Shedge and Shashank Singh fell in quick succession, Connolly was left alone.
He reached his fifty off 34 balls. The required rate by then had crossed 16. The SRH bowlers also made life tough by bowling slower balls into the surface, while the two left-arm spinners, Harsh Dubey and Shivang, curbed the run flow with Jansen not finding his timing.
Connolly raced through the 70s with two sixes against Malinga and reached his century in the final over, with a falling sweep against Shivang over backward square leg. While Connolly finished unbeaten on 107, the second-best score of the PBKS innings was 28, and that proved to be the difference.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 235 for 4 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 35, Travis Head 38, Ishan Kishan 55, Heinrich Klaasen 69, Nitish Kumar Reddy 29*; Arshdeep Singh 1-43, Lockie Ferguson 1-41, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-32, Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-54) beat Punjab Kings 202 for 7 in 20 overs (Cooper Connolly 107*, Marcus Stoinis 28, Suryansh Shedge 25, Marco Jansen 19; Pat Cummins 2-34, Nitish Kumar Reddy 1-11, Eshan Malinga 1-36, Sakib Hussain 1-40, Shivang Kumar 2-45) by 33 runs
[Cricinfo]
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