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)
Is it 2023 again ? Mumbai Indians [MI] and Delhi Capitals [DC], two consistently good teams with all-star line-ups, meet again in the WPL final. While DC have breezed into the final this season, MI are coming in battle-hardened, having had to take the circuitous route by playing three matches in four days to get there.
DC have been strong in most departments, and have got their selection calls right throughout the season. Their captain Meg Lanning hit form late in the tournament, Shafali Verma has continued to churn out the runs at the top of the other, and the move to promote Jess Jonassen to No. 3 has paid off. But for DC to look more threatening, they’d want their middle order to step up further. Their middle order (Nos. 4 to 7) collectively averages 17.50, the lowest this season, and have struck at 116.66, which is the second-lowest among all teams.
MI’s line-up also drips with power and strength. Powerplay bowling has been one of DC’s strongest suits, but only MI have bettered that. DC’s bowlers have taken 50 wickets at 23.84 in this phase, while MI have 61 wickets at 22.68.
For MI,Nat Sciver-Brunt has been at her brutal best, Hayley Matthews has delivered with both bat and ball, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur has hit high tempo. The rest of the line-up, though, has blown hot and cold.
But MI will be playing at their home ground – a venue where they’ve lost just once in seven games – and that tilts the scales in their favour. DC, though, have had a good seven days break, and will be coming in without the pressure of having had to scramble for a place in the final. Two heartbreaking finals later, will third time be the charm for them?
MI had promoted Amelia Kerr to the opening slot, and pushed Yastika Bhatia down the order for a couple of games. While Yastika was able to make quick runs from her new position, Kerr, who hasn’t been in the best of form with the bat, wasn’t able to capitalise on her starts. The order went back to what it was in the Eliminator against Gujarat Giants (GG), but neither player made an impact. Will MI switch their positions again to get the best out of Yastika?
MI had also brought in left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque in place of Parunika Sisodia for the Eliminator. Will they pick Ishaque again for the final after she bowled just one over against GG?
DC, who were last in action on March 7, are unlikely to make any changes to their line-up.
Mumbai Indians (probable): Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amanjot Kaur, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Sajana, G Kamalini, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque
Delhi Capitals (probable): Meg Lanning (capt), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Annabel Sutherland, Marizanne Kapp, Jess Jonassen, Sarah Bryce (wk), Niki Prasad, Minnu Mani, Shikha Pandey, Titas Sadhu
[Cricinfo]
Dinara de Silva secured a place in the singles semi-final and also booked a spot in the doubles final at the ITF Junior Circuit J30 Week 1 tournament continued at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts on Friday.
Dinara de Silva overcame a first set defeat to beat Gwen Emily Kurniawan of Indonesia 2-1 (4-6, 6-0, 6-1) in the quarter-final.
Dinara is set to meet Shivali Gurung of Nepal in the semi-final.
In the doubles semi-final Dinara joined China’s Yijia Zhao to beat Japan’s Sakino Miyazawa and Eyuyo Shida 6-4, 4-6, 10-5.
Debutant Malki Madara’s three-for combined with two-fors from Kavisha Dilhari and Inoshi Priyadharshani set up a comfortable victory for Sri Lanka in the T20I series opener in Christchurch. Chamari Athapaththu’s unbeaten 64 off 48 balls then took the visitors home with seven wickets in hand. This was Sri Lanka’s first T20I win in New Zealand and second win overall against New Zealand in the format.
Emma McLeod (44) was New Zealand’s highest scorer but only two of her team-mates got into double figures, and there was only one partnership that stretched past 20 balls.
Despite Priyadharshani dismissing Georgia Plimmer early, the hosts got off to a decent start thanks to captain Suzie Bates’ 14-ball 21. Madara, Sri Lanka’s fourth bowling option, brought on in the fifth over, got the big wicket of Bates which dried up the scoring. The next two overs went for just five runs.
Dilhari, the seventh bowler, struck twice upon being introduced in the ninth over as New Zealand slipped from 39 for 1 to 52 for 4. Maddy Green being run out cheaply had New Zealand play with caution as illustrated by the next two partnerships which produced a combined 29 runs off 41 balls.
McLeod, who had three fours in her first five balls, finished without adding to that tally across her 46-ball innings. She was the last New Zealand batter to fall as Madara ended the innings in the penultimate over.
Athapaththu then hit seven fours and took Sri Lanka to 46 for 0 at the end of the powerplay. Jess Kerr removed Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama in successive overs while Dilhari’s innings was cut short by a run out. Sri Lanka slipped to 66 for 3 but that didn’t stop their captain from attacking.
She hit Eden Carson for four immediately after Dilhari’s exit and smacked two sixes and a four off Bree Illing, the first of the sixes brought up her fifty off 43 balls. It left the hosts no room to make an unlikely comeback as Sri Lanka romped to a victory with 35 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women
102 for 3 in 14.1 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 64*, Kavisha Dilhari 12, Nilakshika Silva 12*; Jess Kerr 2-18) beat New Zealand 101 in 18.5 overs (Suzie Bates 21, Emma McLeod 44, Jess Kerr 10; Sugandika Kumari 1-18, Malki Madara 3-14, Kavisha Dilhari 2-18, Inoshi Priyadharshani 2-25, Chamari Athapaththu 1-10) by seven wickets
(Cricinfo)
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