Sports
BANNED

By Rex Clementine
Sri Lanka Cricket’s Disciplinary Committee has recommended lengthy suspensions for three players who breached a bio-secure bubble in England last month that resulted in them being sent home halfway through the tour. Accordingly, Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis with previous offences have been banned for two years while Niroshan Dickwella has been handed a suspension of 18 months. Each player also has been fined 25,000 USD for their offence.
The recommendation by the Disciplinary Committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Nimal Dissanayke is that they should be banned from all forms of cricket. However, The Island learns that SLC will allow them to take part in domestic cricket. SLC’s Executive Committee meets today to take a final decision.
There was anger and frustration in cricket circles after the three players were caught on camera on a night out while being in Durham ahead of the first ODI. Sri Lanka’s extended losing streak aggravated the frustration among fans and authorities. Players being on a night out and having a smoke is nothing new and even some of the greats of the game have been caught doing it. However, this turned out to be a pretty serious offence as the bio-secure bubble had been breached
England and Wales Cricket Board had spent millions of Sterling Pounds for maintaining the bubble and it was said that they were not too happy after the safety of all players and officials were put in danger. However, they did not make further comments after SLC promised to take stern action.
True to form, the board has put its foot down although on a couple of other occasions they had soft-peddled when Mendis and Gunathilaka had got into trouble.
Gunathilaka has been a serial offender and had been suspended for various offences since 2017 while Mendis was involved in a motor accident that killed a man in Panadura last year.
SLC officials said that they wanted to send a strong message that indiscipline will be strongly dealt with.
SLC had invested heavily on all three players. Dickwella was earmarked as a future captain while Mendis was the man destined to shoulder the batting burdens of the side. Gunathilaka had been prolific in white ball cricket in the last 12 months.
The Island
learns that the players lied to the Disciplinary Committee. When asked what time they returned to the hotel, they had said that they were back by 11pm. However, the Disciplinary Committee got down the footage from UK and it was evident that they had arrived past 12:30am.
The three players were present when the sentences were read out to them and they had pleaded guilty.
Local fans welcomed the ban.
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Spinners set up historic series win for India Women

After their 3-0 ODI series sweep in 2022, India Women achieved another milestone with their first T20I series victory on English soil. The result is especially significant, coming less than a year before they return to these shores in pursuit of their maiden T20 World Cup title.
Wednesday’s victory at Old Trafford was shaped by India’s spinners – Radha Yadav and Shree Charani – who picked up a combined 4 for 45 in eight overs to restrict England to 126 for 7 after they chose to bat for the second match in a row.
Four overs are all it took for India’s openers – Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana – to prove those runs were hardly adequate. Where England hit all of eight fours in their innings, they conceded nine in four overs alone. India’s openers put on 56 in seven overs to set the tone for a dominating win.
India applied early pressure with spin, removing both England openers inside the powerplay. After being struck for a four and a six by Sophia Dunkley in her first three deliveries, Charani hit back in the same over, as Danni Wyatt-Hodge miscued a slog to long-on.
Dunkley, looking in fine touch, fell in the sixth over as she was lured into an uppish drive by Deepti Sharma, who cleverly deceived her in flight with Radha completing a sharp diving catch at point. The wicket was a significant one, taking Deepti past Nida Dar’s tally to become the leading wicket-taker among spinners in Women’s T20Is. Overall, Deepti is now only six behind Megan Schutt’s tally of 151.
Tammy Beaumont showed glimpses of a revival, as she took the attack to Sneh Rana in hitting her for two well-placed cuts to split a packed off-side ring in the eighth over. But her counterattack was short-lived; she holed out to long-on attempting to go big off Radha. India soon had a double-strike five balls later when Alice Capsey was lbw attempting a reverse sweep off the hugely impressive Charani. England slumped from 68 for 2 to 93 for 5 by the 15th over.
The innings stagnated through the middle overs, with no boundaries coming off the bat from the middle of the 10th over until the end of the 19th, for 56 deliveries. Poor running between the wickets added to England’s struggles, including a costly mix-up that led to Charlie Dean’s run-out from backward point. India’s ground fielding, catching and cutting off angles was massively impressive. Arundhati Reddy proved pivotal in the deep, taking three well-judged catches at long-on during this dry spell.
Right towards the end, marking her 100th T20I in front of a home crowd, Sophie Ecclestone finally broke the boundary drought in the 19th over, shoveling Amanjot Kaur to the midwicket fence. She topped that off with two slog sweeps for sixes off Deepti, taking advantage of the wind, to give England a late surge. They closed on 126, the final over producing 16.
Shafali came out firing, matching England’s short-pitched attack with fearless aggression. Hard lengths and deliveries dug into the pitch posed no threat as she simply backed away to swing, shovel and slap her way to three fours and 14 runs in the second over off Lauren Filer, setting the tone for India’s chase. Coming off two low scores at the start of the series and left out of the ODI squad, this was a crucial knock for her confidence.
Not to be overshadowed, Mandhana joined the charge as she took the attack to Dean with a clean strike over mid-on. The pair raised the half-century of their partnership in the seventh over to keep the pressure on England. Ecclestone fell just short of catching Shafali on 29, running back from mid-off at the end of the powerplay. But England didn’t have to pay for it, as Shafali hacked one to deep square on 31.
India soon lost Mandhana too as she sliced a catch to short third, and the visitors went boundary-less for 40 balls from overs 7.2 to 13.6, Jemimah Rodrigues breaking the drought with a lofted hit off Lauren Bell. Harmanpreet Kaur too struggled for timing, and was nearly worked over on a number of occasions by Ecclestone, as she teased her in flight, loop and guide in a terrific exhibition of spin bowling – her figures reading 3-0-11-1 at one stage.
It wasn’t until India needed 27 off 34 that Harmanpreet managed a boundary, off her 20th delivery – a lofted hit over extra cover off Dean. The struggle was over as she put the next ball away to the deep square leg fence. Victory wasn’t far away from there on.
Harmanpreet and Rodrigues put on 48 off 42, along the way ensuring India didn’t slip up like they did earlier in the week. While Harmanpreet wasn’t around to see her team home, Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 24, bringing up the winning runs with a paddle as India cruised home with 18 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
India 127 for 4 in 17 overs (Smriti Mandhana 32, Shafali Verma 31,Jemimah Rodrigues 24*, Harmanpreet Kaur 26; Charlie Dean 1-29, Sophie Ecclestone 1-20, Issy Wong 1-18) beat England Women 126 for 7 in 20 overs (Sophia Dunkley 22, Alice Capsey 18, Tammy Beaumont 20, Paige Scholfield 16, Sophie Ecclestone 16*, Issy Wong 11*; Amanjot Kaur 1-20, Deepti Sharma 1-29, Radha Yadav 2-15, Shree Charani 2-30) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Sports
Sri Lanka eye T20 climb as Bangladesh series begins

Having turned the corner in One-Day Internationals with seven series wins out of nine since the Champions Trophy heartbreak, Sri Lanka now shift focus to the shortest format where their progress has been more of a stop-start affair.
Ranked seventh in T20 Internationals, Sri Lanka begin their three-match series against Bangladesh at Pallekele today aiming to tighten screws ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup, which they will co-host with India.
“We’ve made headway in ODIs, but T20s still remain a work in progress,” skipper Charith Asalanka told reporters on the eve of the game. “Our target is to get into the top five. The key is consistency and for that we need to get our combination right.”
Sri Lanka have done changes to the middle order. Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Chamindu Wickramasinghe were given a go, but both have been sidelined for the series. In their place return the seasoned campaigners: Chamika Karunaratne and former captain Dasun Shanaka.
Shanaka is expected to bat at number six, but may float up the order depending on the situation, while Karunaratne slots in at number seven.
“We’re trying to be flexible. Shanaka can be used as a floater if we need early acceleration,” Asalanka explained.
Sri Lanka have about 15 games left to fine-tune their plans before the World Cup and Asalanka stressed the need to back players with extended runs rather than short-term trials.
“With seven months to go, we have time on our side. Managing workloads and keeping players in form is vital,” he said. “If the LPL goes ahead before the World Cup, that will give us another window to assess options.”
Among the key tactical moves is a role change for Avishka Fernando, who has been moved down the order after years at the top.
“Avishka batted at number four for Jaffna in the LPL and did a good job. We’ve earmarked that role for him. He’s no longer just an opener,” Asalanka revealed.
Sri Lanka, however, have been dealt a blow with the absence of Wanindu Hasaranga. The talismanic leg-spinner suffered a hamstring injury in the final ODI and has been ruled out of the series.
“Wanindu is our white-ball superstar, so missing him is a big setback,” Asalanka admitted. “But Jeffrey Vandersay has been quietly effective in recent years, and this is his chance to step up.”
The three-match series will be played across three venues – Pallekele, Dambulla and RPS – which Asalanka believes is a good thing.
“World Cups don’t happen at one ground. Playing across three different venues helps us adapt. It’s good preparation,” he said.
Rex Clementine at Pallekele
Sports
Hasaranga ruled out of Bangladesh T20Is with hamstring injury

Sri Lanka legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga has been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against Bangladesh, scheduled to begin on today (July 10), with a hamstring injury.
Hasaranga sustained the hamstring injury on his right leg while batting during the final ODI against the visitors in the just concluded three-match series that the hosts won by a 2-1 margin.
Captain Charith Asalanka confirmed that Jeffrey Vandersay will replace Hasaranga in the squad for the three-match series. “He( Hasaranga) will be a huge loss for us. He is our superstar in white-ball cricket,” Asalanka said on Wednesday.
[Cricbuzz]
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