Sports
AUSTRALIA’S TOUR OF SRI LANKA, 2022 – Strife hit Sri Lanka banks hopes on Australia’s tour
The worsening economic and political situation in Sri Lanka has cast doubts over Australia’s tour to the country next month although both Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Cricket Australia (CA) are maintaining that the month-long series will go ahead.”At present the tour will go on as planned. We will be looking at the developments in the next couple of days and decide what to do,” Mohan de Silva, the secretary of SLC, told Cricbuzz on Wednesday (May 4).Australia are to play three T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests from June 7 to July 12.The uncertainty, which even the SLC official is conceding, is because of the situation at ground zero. There has been an acute shortage of essentials, fuel, food stocks; the people are having to experience long hours of power outage. There was a 12-hour power cut last month but the condition has seemingly improved with a fluctuating scenario of three hours, give or take. There was no power cut on May Day.In that backdrop, there were questions if the SLC should have the day-night games in the first place with a few stakeholders of the SLC of the view that the white-ball games could be converted into day games. De Silva said a call will be taken on that soon, but an SLC official said the board is not dependent on the national grid.
“We have our own generators and we don’t depend on the government’s power. It will be a different case if there is a fuel shortage,” said Charith Senanayake, a former manager of the Sri Lanka national team. “The political situation has no bearing on the game and the SLC is always apolitical.”
The SLC is also planning to start its full-fledged domestic season on May 22.
“Whether day or day-night game is up to the host nation,” said a spokesman of the CA confirming that the tour will take place. “There is no change to the status of the tour. Our head of security confirms that there are no concerns about the tour proceeding as scheduled from either side. The squad will arrive in Sri Lanka in June.”
The option of moving the series out of Sri Lanka was considered but UAE is not the right place for cricket in June-July because of extreme heat.The CA and SLC assurances notwithstanding, Cricbuzz can confirm that both boards have expressed apprehensions internally with their stakeholders saying a lot will depend on how the situation pans out going forward in the next 30 days.
“One month is too long a time to predict anything because we do know what will happen in the next week. Like in any civil unrest, life moves on and that is happening in Sri Lanka too. The country has gone bankrupt and the political situation is volatile and unclear. The political activists are agitating outside the president’s office but I don’t think he is anyway concerned.
“The law enforcing authorities, with their past experience, are accommodating and there is no unrest on the streets. The people are listening to music at home and they will watch cricket too. But it will take one insane person to disturb the quietness, so we can’t predict what will be the state of affairs when the series is scheduled to begin in a month ,” says Colombo-based Malinda Seneviratne, a political analyst.The series is important for the cash-strapped SLC. The overseas value of the tour is about USD 2 million. The internal media rights worth would be of about USD 300,000 and through ground advertisements and other sources of income, the Lanka Board can raise up to USD 3 million overall. But the production outlay would be just as high too. At the end of the series, the SLC could be left with USD 1 million revenue, substantial amount by all means considering that the country is left with only $50 million foreign exchange.
(Cricbuzz)
With scores of 74*, 135, 102 and 65* in his last four ODIs, Virat Kohli seemed to be telling the world he was no longer willing to be dismissed unless he had reached three figures. This sequence seemed to be stretching into the new year, with Kohli batting on 93 and taking full control of a chase of 301.
Then, a familiar nemesis appeared. Kyle Jamieson has caused Kohli and India numerous headaches in Test cricket, and now he burst this first ODI wide open in the space of seven balls with the wickets of Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer.
Having been cruising to victory minutes earlier, India suddenly needed 59 off 53 balls with five wickets in hand and two new batters at the crease. And with Washington Sundar held back, nursing a side strain, one of them was the lower-order batter Harshit Rana.
A match dominated by India moved now to an exciting finish, and both Rana – who made a 23-ball 29 – and the hobbling Washington played their part in it, before KL Rahul put the finishing touches, hitting debutant Kristian Clarke for 4, 4, 6 to seal victory with six balls to spare.
The first men’s international game at the Kotambi Stadium got the finish fans may have craved, but its tension had seemed inconceivable when Kohli was in the middle, putting on stands of 118 with Shubman Gill and 77 with Iyer.
Kohli’s innings was one of both vintage and new-age rhythms. He was all intent at the start, stepping out to the seamers, prepared to go over the top, hitting six fours in his first 20 balls. Thereafter, he knew he was in charge, and dictated the tempo like a deep-lying midfield playmaker.
There was, for instance, the shot he played to go from 75 to 79. Having hit just one boundary in 55 balls (and not being any worse off for it), he manufactured one off Clarke with his expert manipulation of the middle-overs field restrictions, with only four fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. He took stance outside leg stump, telling the bowler anything on the line of the stumps would go over the off side, with no one on the boundary at deep cover or mid-off. Clarke followed Kohli with a ball at his hip, and he wristed it expertly to the unguarded backward-square-leg boundary.
Within sight of a century, however, Kohli fell, charging Jamieson and failing to find the elevation needed to clear mid-off. Jamieson then took out Jadeja and a set Iyer, who had batted authoritatively until then upon his return from injury, taking a heavy toll of legspinner Adithya Ashok. Both were soft dismissals, though both came off cross-seam deliveries that misbehaved just enough off this black-soil Vadodara surface to punish shots lacking neither defensive nor attacking conviction.
Then Rana, surviving a dropped chance from Daryl Mitchell on the midwicket boundary, dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 37 with Rahul before falling with 22 needed off 22. With Washington only able to walk between wickets, India still managed a single nearly every ball, before Rahul applied that emphatic finish with nine needed off nine balls.
That India were in full control for much of their chase indicated two things: one, the lack of experience in New Zealand’s injury-ravaged attack, and two: the inadequacy of their total.
Their innings began promisingly, with Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls putting on 117 for the first wicket, but as well as they batted, India’s bowlers never let the scoring rate run away. Then Rana dismissed both openers, diddling out Nicholls with a wide slower yorker before bowling Conway off the inside edge with an inducker.
Thereafter, New Zealand’s innings was full of promising innings and promising partnerships that ended just when they were beginning to look threatening. India’s seamers did the bulk of the wicket-taking, while Kuldeep Yadav took out the dangerous Glenn Phillips with a cleverly looped-up wrong’un.
Amid all that, Mitchell ensured New Zealand wouldn’t fall short of a competitive total with an innings of industry – he only took 51 balls to get to his half-century despite only hitting four boundaries in that time – and well-timed spurts of aggression, including a sequence of 4, 6, 4 off Prasidh Krishna in the 48th over – the highlight a scooped four over short fine – before falling lbw next ball.
Brief scores:
India 306 for 6 in 49 overs (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56, Shreyas Iyer 49; Kyle Jamieson 4-41) beat New Zealand 300 for 8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62, Devon Conway 56; Mohammed Siraj 2-40, Prasidh Krishna 2-60, Harshit Rana 2-65) by four wickets
(Cricinfo)
Dasun Shanaka clobbered 34 off 9 balls, Kusal Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka and Janith Liyanage all chipped in with quick runs, and Sri Lanka raced to 160 for 6 in 12 overs, but Pakistan still made them sweat.
The match had been shortened to 12-overs-a-side after rain forced a delay of two hours and 20 minutes. A wet outfield also made bowling significantly more difficult, with both spinners and seamers struggling to grip the ball.
But in any conditions, this was a run-fest, Sri Lanka traveling at 13.3 an over across their innings, while Pakistan’s run rate was 12.25. In the end, Sri Lanka’s bowlers made frequent-enough incisions to slow the opposition. Wanindu Hasaranga was chief among the destroyers, taking 4 for 35 in his three overs.
Salman Agha layed the most daring innings in the chase, thumping 45 off 12 balls. Had he survived for two further overs, Pakistan might have had the momentum to get over the line. In the end, they fell 14 short.
Sri Lanka’s captain was under a little pressure to impose himself after recently reclaiming the leadership. To this match he brought his best big-hitting self, and transformed a good total into a daunting one. Shanaka came in with only 19 balls left in the innings, then smoked his second and third balls for six. Then, in the final over bowled by Mohammad Wasim, Shanaka thumped three sixes off the first three balls, depositing two of those over the deep cover boundary. He holed out off the third-to-last ball of the innings, but he had produced a gem.
The stage had been set for him by a top order that had already prospered, however. By he time Shanaka arrived, Sri Lanka were already 100 for 5 after 8.5 overs.
Although the ball was difficult to grip, this Dambulla surface still took decent turn. And Hasaranga can be devastating on such tracks, particularly when the opposition has no choice but to target him. Although often Hasaranga gets plenty of bowled and lbw dismissals with his googly, all four of his victims on Sunday were caught attempting big shots. His speed through the air and degree of turn created most of those dismissals.
Of the 12 he faced, the only ball Agha didn’t score off was the one he got out to. Agha hit three sixes, five fours, one three, and two twos in his innings. He took a particular liking to the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana, who went for 22 runs in the third over. His most spectacular shot was an over-the-shoulder scoop against Matheesha Pathirana in the fourth over, which sailed over the boundary. But then Pathirana wised up, bowled fuller, and Agha sent a catch to short fine leg to end his innings.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 160 for 6 in 12 overs (Kamil Mishara 20, Dasun Shanaka 34, Kusal Mendis 30, Dhananjaya de Silva 22, Charith Asalanka 21, Janith Liyanage 22*; Naseem Shah 1-35, Mohammad Wasim 3-54, Mohammad Nawaz 1-08, Faheem Ashraf 1-09) beat Pakistan 146 for 8 in 12 overs (Salman Agha 45, Mohammed Nawaz 28, Khawaja Nafay 26; Eshan Malinga 127, Matheesha Pathirana 2-34, Wanidu Hasaranga 4-35) by 14 runs
(Cricinfo)
Georgia Wareham towered over the rest with an impressive all-round show to lead Gujarat Giants to an impressive opening match win over UP Warriorz.
Wareham’s unbeaten 10-ball 27 gave Giants the finishing kick they needed to nudge past 200, after a half-century from Ashleigh Gardner had laid the perfect platform. Then Wareham picked up the massive wickets of Meg Lanning and Harleen Deol to scupper Warriorz’s chase.
Phoebe Litchfield’s 40-ball 78 kept Warriorz in the hunt, but her dismissal proved decisive. Warriorz, however, managed to stem some net-run-rate damage courtesy a neat cameo from Asha Sobhana.
Sophie Devine briefly wrested the initiative in the powerplay, taking down Deepti Sharma in the fourth over, but a double-strike kept Giants in check. Beth Mooney was undone by a Sophie Ecclestone arm-ball in the fifth over, while Devine holed out to deep midwicket off Shikha Pandey for a 20-ball 38 in the sixth.
She exhibited this best when she danced down the track and got leg-side of the ball before lofting Ecclestone inside-out between cover and point for four. Gardner, initially measured, shifted gears decisively in the 13th over, carving Kranti Gaud for three boundaries.
She turned up the heat further, launching three sixes, off Asha and Ecclestone, across the 14th and 15th overs. Giants plundered 49 runs from overs 13 to 15, a burst that carried Gardner to her half-century off just 30 balls.Wareham walked in halfway through the 17th over, and had stamped her mark on the innings by the end of Giants’ innings. The highlight was her onslaught against Deandra Dottin, the former Giants allrounder, hitting for three sixes in the 19th over.
Wareham could have been dismissed on 13, though, had Gaud held on to a simple chance at cover point in the same over. Bharti Fulmali then showcased her hitting prowess, muscling Deepti for two sixes in the final over to take Giants past 200.
Warriorz lost Kiran Navgire in the first over, to Renuka Singh, but Litchfield looked in sparkling form from the outset. Her exhilarating strokeplay somewhat consigned Mrg Lanning to the background for much of their 70-run second-wicket stand before the floodgates opened, with Warriorz losing three wickets in four deliveries to go into a full-blown collapse.
At 74 for 4, Warriorz held back Dottin and promoted their lone retention, Shweta Sehrawat. And she made everyone go wow first ball, launching Renuka down the ground for six. If that was audacious, two consecutive sixes off Gardner in the following over were truly exhilarating.
Litchfield’s progress to her half-century in 29 balls was no less entertaining. She swept, reverse-swept, paddled, and moved across the stumps to mow length deliveries into the leg side.
Warriorz’s hopes rose through the course of a fifth-wicket stand of 69, but Litchfield’s dismissal, coming soon after that of Sehrawat who was bowled missing a slog-sweep off Rajeshwari Gayakwad, proved to be the clincher.
Asha’s cameo from there on merely reduced the margin of defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Giants Women 207 for 4 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 13, Sophia Devine 38, Ashleigh Gardner 65, Anushka Sharma 44, Georgia Wareham 27*, Bharati Fulmali 14*; Shikha Pandey 1-29, Deandra Dottin 1-47, Sophie Ecclestone 2-32) beat UP Warriorz Women 197 for 8 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 30, Phoebe Litchfield 78, Shweta Sehrawat 25, Deandra Dottin 12, Sophie Ecclestone 11, Asha Sobhana 27*; Renuka Singh 2-25, Sophie Devine 2-55, Ashleigh Gardner 1-37, Georgia Wareham 2-30, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 1-07) by 10 runs
[Cricinfo]
India scrape home after Kohli, Gill hit half-centuries
Bride and groom killed by gas explosion day after Pakistan wedding
Shanaka, Mendis star in 12-over run-fest to square series for Sri Lanka
One person dead and 300 buildings destroyed in Australia bushfires
Iran warns it will retaliate if US attacks as protesters defy crackdown
GENERAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR NEXT 36 HOURS
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News23 hours agoSajith: Ashoka Chakra replaces Dharmachakra in Buddhism textbook
-
News6 days agoInterception of SL fishing craft by Seychelles: Trawler owners demand international investigation
-
Business23 hours agoDialog and UnionPay International Join Forces to Elevate Sri Lanka’s Digital Payment Landscape
-
Features23 hours agoThe Paradox of Trump Power: Contested Authoritarian at Home, Uncontested Bully Abroad
-
News6 days agoBroad support emerges for Faiszer’s sweeping proposals on long- delayed divorce and personal law reforms
-
Features23 hours agoSubject:Whatever happened to (my) three million dollars?
-
News23 hours ago65 withdrawn cases re-filed by Govt, PM tells Parliament
-
Opinion3 days agoThe minstrel monk and Rafiki, the old mandrill in The Lion King – II