Sports

Clinical England top group with crushing win over New Zealand

Published

2 years ago

2022/08/6

An impressive all-round bowling display by England helped them register a comfortable seven-wicket win over New Zealand and finish on top of Group B with three successive wins at the Commonwealth Games. Katherine Brunt, Issy Wong and Sarah Glenn bagged a brace each as New Zealand were restricted to 71 for 9 after opting to bat on Thursday. The batters had little difficulty in overhauling the small total as they took merely 11.4 overs.

With both England and New Zealand having already secured their places in the semifinals of CWG 2022, the final group stage encounter had little significance apart from deciding their opponents for the last four – India or Australia.

Brunt triggered New Zealand’s collapse with two strikes in her first two overs – cleaning up Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr. From thereon, New Zealand could never take control of their innings as Maddy Green was bowled, Wong and Glenn picked two each, and errors in running cost them a couple of more wickets to be reduced to 57 for 9 in the 15th over.

A resolute last-wicket stand of 14 runs, the joint highest of the innings, between Hannah Rowe and Fran Jonas, helped New Zealand bat out their full quota of overs, even if it was to prove insignificant in the end.

England were in a slight spot of bother early on after losing opener Danni Wyatt in the first over, by Jonas. However, a counter-attacking start by the in-form Alice Capsey, which included five boundaries in 11 balls, put England firmly in control. Dunkley too picked up pace soon enough, cracking Kerr for two boundaries in the fifth over. However, the duo couldn’t continue their demolition job for too long. In successive overs, Kerr had both the batters sent back to the dugout. With only 26 runs needed from thereon, Amy Jones and Natalie Sciver wrapped up the formalities, setting up their semifinal date with India, while New Zealand will face favourites Australia.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 71/9 in 20 overs (Maddy Green 19; Katherine Brunt 2-4, Issy Wong 2-10) lost to England 72/3 in 11.4 overs (Alice Capsey 23; Amelia Kerr 2-27) by 7 wickets

(Cricbuzz)

All News Advertisement

Sports

Pant, Axar star in Delhi Capital’s nervy final-over win over Gujarat Titans

Published

6 hours ago

2024/04/25

Priyan

Rishabh Pant blasted a 43-ball 88 (Cricbuzz)

Delhi Capitals rode on their captain’s incredible knock of 88 from 43 balls to eke out a narrow four-run victory over Gujarat Titans, despite the best efforts of Sai Sudharsan, David Miller and Rashid Khan to stop the hosts from doing the double over them. Pant’s knock, along with Axar Patel’s essay (66 off 43) and Tristan Stubbs’s late cameo (26 off 7) turbo-charged DC’s innings well past the 200-run mark, and yet proved to be just about enough to pick the two points in the end.

Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88*, Axar Patel 66, Jake Fracer-McGurk 23, Tristan Stubbs 26*; Sandeep Warrier 3-15, Noor Ahmad 1-36) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55, Wriddhiman Saha 39, Rashid Khan 21*; Anrich Nortje 1-48, Rasikh Salam 3-44, Mukesh Kumar 1-41, Axar Patel 1-28, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29) by 4 runs

Sports

Akalanka, Abisheka qualify for finals

Published

13 hours ago

2024/04/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tharushi Abisheka and Ayomal Akalanka

Asian Junior Athletics Championships

by Reemus Fernando

Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Ayomal Akalanka who was included in the team at the eleventh hour qualified for the finals of the men’s 400 metres hurdles as he came almost close to matching his personal best time on day one of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Dubai on Wednesday.

Akalanka clocked 52.96 seconds to finish second in his heat and qualify for the finals.

Sri Lanka Athletics decided to drop him from the team after the Commonwealth Youth Game medallist failed to reach qualifying standards at the trials. He was included at the eleventh hour on the request of the Sports Minister who heeded an appeal. Akalanka will compete in the final on Friday.

Young Tharushi Abisheka provided the Sri Lankan team a morale boosting start as she qualified for the final of the women’s 800 metres in the morning.

Abisheka is the youngest member in the team and is eligible even to compete at the next edition of this Under 20 event in 2026. The Wickramabahu National School Gampola athlete finished third in her heat and will carry the third fastest time to the final which will be held on Friday.

In the men’s 100 metres, Merone Wijesinghe of Ananda College Colombo finished fourth in his heat.

When this edition went to press women’s team captain Madushani Herath of Nannapurawa MV Bibila was competing in the women’s triple jump.

Sri Lanka fielded a team of 17 athletes including four relay teams for the four-day regional event.

Sports

Saneshi wins three titles at Bandarawela

Published

13 hours ago

2024/04/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Saneshi Willoraarachchi

Saneshi Willoraarachchi won three titles at the Bandarawela Open Ranking Tennis Tournament.

The Musaeus College player won the women’s open singles, women’s open doubles and the Under 18 girls’ doubles.

She beat Inuki Jayaweera 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s open singles final and joined the latter to score a 4-2, 5-4 win in the doubles final against Lihini Jayakody and Diyana de Silva.

Saneshi and Inuki overcame a first set defeat to beat Gehansa Methnadi and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 0-4, 5-4, 10-6 for the Under 18 doubles title.