Sports
Clay Court National Tennis Championship
Thehan, Oneli, Hasali, Dinara win age group titles
Royal College player Thehan Wijemanne, Asian International’s Oneli Perera, Visakha’s Hasali Gajaba and St. Bridget’s Dinara de Silva clinched respective age group titles of the ongoing Clay Court National Tennis Championship 2020 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts on Tuesday.
Wijemanne beat his Royal College counterpart Dhilvan Herath in a closely contested Under-18 boys’ final. Wijemanne scored 7-6(4), 6-2 in the final.
In the Under-18 girls final, the Open Women’s singles runner up Savini Jayasuriya had to once again settle for the runner up title as Oneli Perera edged her out in a closely contested encounter. Perera won the last two sets 6-0, 10-8 after conceding 3-6 defeat in the first.
Gajaba and De Silva dominated the Under-14 and Under-12 girls category finals. The Visakha Vidyalaya student beat Ruvi Lewkebandara 6-2, 6-0 to win the Under-14 girls title.
In the Under-12 girls final the Bridgetian scored 6-0, 6-0 against Onali de Silva to clinch the title.
India claimed a 2-1 series victory over Australia in an anti-climax after the fifth and final T20I was abandoned due to heavy rain and thunderstorms in Brisbane.
After being sent in to bat, there had been intrigue over how India’s top-order would fare on a Gabba surface with plenty of bounce and carry. But with their nemesis Josh Hazlewood in Ashes prep mode and again not in the line-up, Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill plundered 52 runs before play came to a halt after 4.5 overs.
Abhishek did have luck having been dropped twice, but Gill was in sweet touch as he smacked 29 off 16 balls.
The series ended the same way it began after rain ruined the opening T20I in Canberra. Australia dominated game two in front of 82,000 fans at the MCG, largely thanks to a rampant Hazlewood but India ultimately prevailed in the series after their spinners gained a stranglehold on slower surfaces in Hobart and the Gold Coast.
India will head home well pleased ahead of their T20 World Cup title defence on home soil.
“The way everyone chipped in every game, it was a complete team effort with the bat, ball and in the field,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said.
“I saw what happened with the women’s team winning the World Cup in India, having unbelievable support. When you play at home there is pressure but at the same there is a lot of excitement.”
In their final hit-out in the format before the T20 World Cup, Australia’s aggressive batting approach against high-quality spin attacks has come under scrutiny although recriminations are unlikely amid Ashes hysteria.
“I don’t think I can remember the last time we had so many rain interruptions,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. “I think there are a lot of learnings to take forward, a lot of positives. The flexibility of our group and the squad that we’re trying to build in a World Cup year has been amazing.”
Earlier, a grinning Marsh once again won the toss but his mood soon soured after the start India’s openers got.
There was no settling in for left-arm quick Ben Dwarshuis as Abhishek bludgeoned a trademark boundary over mid-off on the fourth delivery of the match.
He tried to repeat the dose on the next ball only to miscue high into the air where Glenn Maxwell nestled under having trudged back from mid-off. A resigned Abhishek had already begun walking off only for the unthinkable to happen, with Maxwell spilling a straightforward catch.
While Abhishek lived dangerously, Gill was in sublime touch as he stroked four boundaries off Dwarshuis’ second over with the best being a gorgeous cover drive. Gill was in the type of commanding form that had eluded him during a tough tour – which started with an ODI series defeat in his captaincy debut in the format – and he looked determined to finish on a high.
Abhishek, on 11, received another life when he was dropped by Dwarshuis who ran in from fine-leg before compounding Nathan Ellis’ misery by smashing him over midwicket for six.
Typical for Brisbane this time for year, bad weather loomed large and the players went off due to lightning before heavy rain cascaded onto the ground in a major disappointment for the sold-out crowd.
Scores: No result
India 52 for 0 in 4.5 overs (Shubman Gill 29*, Abhishek Sharma 23*) vs Australia
[Cricinfo]
The controversial trial which saw the Kookaburra ball used for some rounds of the County Championship season has been scrapped after three seasons.
The ECB first proposed the trial as part of Andrew Strauss’ high-performance review three years ago in the hope that using the Kookaburra ball – rather than the Dukes – would encourage the development of spinners and bowlers with “extreme skills”. The pilot initially lasted two rounds of games in the 2023 season, and was criticised by county coaches.
Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, was a strong advocate for the Kookaburra ball and convinced the counties to expand the trial to four rounds for the 2024 season. Surrey’s Alec Stewart described that as ‘the worst decision ever’ but Key doubled down, saying it had produced “some bloody good cricket” after 17 of the first 18 fixtures ended in draws.
The Kookaburra was used for four further rounds in 2025 but again produced a high proportion of draws, epitomised by Surrey piling on a club-record 820 for 9 declared against Durham at The Oval.
It led directors of cricket from the 18 counties to make clear their wish to scrap the trial at a meeting last month, and the decision to revert to using the Dukes ball throughout the 2026 season was confirmed at a meeting of the Cricket Advisory Group – a sub-committee of the ECB Professional Game Committee – earlier this week.
Key and the ECB have taken a more hands-off approach to county cricket in recent years, and made a point of leaving discussion over proposed fixture restructures to the clubs earlier this summer. The counties failed to come to an agreement over the future of the Championship, but did agree to a small cut in the number of T20 Blast fixtures for 2026.
(Cricinfo)
The ICC has finalised Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai as the venues in India for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka as well. It is understood the ICC has shortlisted two venues in Colombo and Kandy as the three venues in Sri Lanka.
The T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7 and will conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8. According to PTI, the ICC is likely to release the schedule next week, with just about three months to go for the start of the tournament. It is understood that the majority of the participating countries have been waiting for the ICC to inform them about the grouping of teams as well as the schedule. The ICC is also yet to release ticketing information for the tournament.
Pakistan will play all their games in Sri Lanka as per the agreement reached between the BCCI and PCB for India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues during multi-nation tournaments hosted by the other country. If Pakistan make the final, the fixture will be held in Sri Lanka.
The 2026 T20 World Cup will have the same format as the previous edition – 20 teams split into four groups of five each, with every team playing the others once. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super-eight stage, where they will be placed into two groups of four. The top two sides from each Super-eight group will then qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-final will meet in the final.
Apart from hosts India and Sri Lanka, the other teams with automatic qualification to the tournament were the top seven teams from the 2024 T20 World Cup – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, United States of America and West Indies. The three teams that qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings were New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.
Canada took the lone spot from the Americas Qualifier. Italy, first time T20 World Cup participants, and Netherlands, qualified from the five-team tournament in Europe. Namibia and Zimbabwe grabbed the two spots from the eight-team African qualifier before Nepal, Oman and UAE made it from the Asian -EAP round.
India are the defending champions, having beaten South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.
[Cricinfo]
Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh meets PM
Trump gives Hungary one-year exemption from Russian energy sanctions
UPS and FedEx ground some cargo planes after Kentucky air disaster
Honorary Chair of The Nippon Foundation, pays courtesy call on PM
India seal T20I series 2-1 after Brisbane washout
Counties confirm decision to bin Kookaburra ball trial
‘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
-
Features3 days agoFavourites for the title of Miss Universe 2025
-
Features7 days agoRolls – Royce in Ceylon
-
News7 days agoTeachers threaten strike against education reforms and ‘bid to shut down more than 1,500 schools’
-
News7 days agoSri Lanka: Fewer births, rapid ageing mark a new demographic era
-
Business6 days agoRajaputhra Foundation, Nawaloka Hospitals partner for free breast cancer awareness and screening
-
News5 days agoJSC removes 20 officials including judges
-
Opinion7 days agoA Royal tribute to a true Royalist — Lorenz Pereira
-
Editorial7 days agoEstablishing courts, closing schools