Sports
Can Silverwood be the silver lining for Sri Lanka?
by Rex Clementine
When Chris Silverwood succeeded Paul Grayson as Essex’s Head Coach in 2016, the English county was in doldrums. They had been relegated to Division Two for a while and there was little hope for the Chelmsford club, half hour’s train journey from London King’s Cross Station. Silverwood with his hands on approach and close rapport with the players turned things around for Essex. A county that didn’t have many stars was promoted to Division One in his first year in charge having won the Division Two title. Twelve months later, things got even better. Essex were top of the table in Division One and went onto win their first County title in 25 years having last won the title under Graham Gooch in 1992. Sri Lanka will be hoping for a similar fairytale under their British coach; help them to come out of their current slide and become a strong force in the sport again.
At the moment, there’s little trust between Sri Lanka’s senior players and the management. Pay cuts, strenuous fitness standards and unclear selection policies have driven the two parties into extremes. In Silverwood, players will find someone whom they can trust. He will make lots of friends, helping players to be their best and his reviews will be honest. Not all coaches are the same. Dav Whatmore and Tom Moody didn’t mince any words and there were lots of shouting around during net sessions. That’s the typical Aussie way. With Silverwood, players will find an approach similar to that of Graham Ford, a father figure who will back them to the hilt.
Some observers of Sri Lankan cricket aren’t too happy with the Silverwood appointment for the obvious reason that he had been just sacked as England coach after their disastrous Ashes campaign down under. They say that being a selector is a thankless job. Being a coach is cut throat business. When you win, everyone wants part of the credit. When you lose, it’s simple, ‘sack the coach’. As John F. Kennedy rightly said, ‘Victory has a thousand fathers. Defeat is an orphan.’
Silverwood’s first task as Sri Lanka Head Coach is to oversee fitness tests of 18 players selected to tour Bangladesh. The test is scheduled for Monday. He’s expected to continue Mickey Arthur’s tough fitness regime. Then the players will leave for Bangladesh in the first week of May for a two match Test series. He’s got a tough seven month schedule as Sri Lanka will host Australia and Pakistan in all format series including four Test matches. There will be a brief break for Silverwood as players will be released for the Lanka Premier League. That will be followed by the Asia Cup at home and the World Cup in Australia followed by the tour of New Zealand.
The national cricket team has faced an uphill task trying to rebuild in the last seven months. Marvan Atapattu, Graham Ford and Chandika Hathurusinghe all had to leave before their term ended as the team failed to turn things around. There was a brief resurgence under Mickey Arthur as he helped a young team develop and unearthed several young talents. Silverwood’s task is to take the team to the next level after Arthur’s impressive rebuilding process. Several young players like Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pathum Nissanka, Praveen Jayawickrama and Ramesh Mendis have had superb starts to their careers. Some seniors like Dimuth Karunaratne, Dasun Shanaka and Dushmantha Chameera are performing at their peak. There are of course other talents like Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Bhanuka Rajapaksa who have not done justice to their immense talents. It remains to be seen how the new coach puts the pieces in places moving forward. It was said that during Arthur’s tenure, the language barrier was an issue. SLC has addressed that problem by placing Naveed Nawaz as Assistant Coach. We are going to see the best of Sri Lankan side in the next few months.
North Korea has held the Pyongyang International Marathon for the first time in six years, welcoming some 200 foreign runners to the streets of the reclusive country’s capital.
The marathon, which was launched in 1981, took place annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Before Sunday’s marathon, the race was last held in 2019, wherein 950 foreigners participated. North Korea sealed itself off the following year, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
North Korea has been slow to reopen since, allowing only Russian tourists into its capital since last year.
Runners have had to enter the country as part of an organised tour group, as was the case before the pandemic.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel agency listed as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six-day marathon tours at 2,195 euros ($2,406) including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
Sunday’s marathon route took participants past landmarks across the city, including the Kim Il Sung stadium, the Arch of Triumph built to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s role in resisting Japanese rule, and the Mirae Future Scientists’ Street said to be a residential district for scientists and engineers.
Pictures online show the stadium – where runners start and finish their race – filled with spectators, many of them cheering and waving gold-coloured paper flags.
Pak Kum Dong, a North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties whenever I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on race results.
North Korea had only statred to scale back Covid-19 restrictions in the middle of 2023.
In Feburary, it allowed some Western tourists into the remote, eastern city Rason, but suspended those tours just weeks after.
[BBC]
Noor Ahmad, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm wristspinner, continues to head the Purple Cap table with ten wickets from four games. His spell of 4 for 18 in CSK’s first game against MI, remains his best so far.
DC’s Mitchell Starc who picked up his maiden five-for in T20s, against SRH remains second on the list with nine wickets in three games.
GT’s Mohammed Siraj equalled Starc’s tally on Sunday night with his own IPL best, albeit he has played four games to Starc’s three. Siraj picked up 4 for 17 against SRH to hand them their four successive loss, and was named the Player of the Match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.
Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.
Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.
Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.
Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.
With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21
Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.
That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.
It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.
Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.
Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.
Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar 49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
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