Sports
Cruse and Jayasinghe invited to carry World Cup trophy
Two prominent Sri Lankans who do lot of cricket related work in Australia – David Cruse and Johaan Jayasinghe were invited by the International Cricket Council to carry the World Cup trophy to the playing field ahead of the curtain-raiser of the tournament between Sri Lanka and Namibia in Geelong on Sunday. While Jayasinghe, a freelance journalist, has promoted the game among communities, Cruse is no stranger in cricket circles. Upali’s Restaurant that that he established in Colombo and Melbourne has often been a frequent meeting place for current and former cricketers. David and his wife Cathy have done lot of charity to help the Sri Lankan people.
(Pic by Chaminda Dissanayake)
Dunith Wellalage’s all-round brilliance against India helped him win the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for August 2024. The 21-year-old overcame competition from South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj and West Indies’ Jayden Seales to secure the award.
Wellalage, the former Sri Lanka U19 skipper, made big strides in his nascent international career in August 2024. With his help, Sri Lanka overcame India for the first time in a bilateral ODI series since 1997.
The Island nation had a significant challenge in the form of India, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup runner-up. The Men in Blue had already secured a 3-0 T20I series win against Sri Lanka and with the return of top stars like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India were easily the favourites to win the ODI series.
Wellalage with 108 runs and seven wickets helped Sri Lanka overcome the India challenge in the series, contributing at crucial stages of each game.
He scored a career-best 67* and followed it up with wickets of Rohit and Shubman Gill in the first ODI that ended in a thrilling tie.
He made another crucial contribution with a fighting 39 in the second ODI that helped Sri Lanka to a winning total. He didn’t click with the bat in the third game, but went on to achieve the career-best figures of 5/27, derailing the India innings before it could take off, getting the important wickets of Kohli, Rohit, and Shreyas Iyer on the way to his five-for.
Wellalage expressed his “immense satisfaction” upon receiving the award. “This recognition gives me further strength to continue doing the good work I do as a player and contribute to my team to reach excellence in the field. “I wish to thank my teammates, parents, friends, and relatives, as I am sure my achievement will provide them great satisfaction, as they have been supporting me all throughout. “Recognition such as this, coming from the International Cricket Council, is great news for young players like us and will certainly encourage young players in the game.”
It’s double delight for Sri Lanka this month, with compatriot Harshita Samarawickrama winning the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for August.
Wellalage joins teammate Kamindu Mendis as Sri Lankan men’s award winners in 2024, with Mendis claiming ICC Men’s Player of the Month for March.
[ICC]
Harshitha Madavi overcame competition from the Irish duo of Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis to win the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for August 2024. The talented left-handed top-order batter has gone from strength to strength in recent months, and continued her stirring form in August against Ireland.
Notably, three of the last four winners have been from Sri Lanka, including Chamari Athapaththu who secured the award in both May and July.
Madavi’s win makes it a double for Sri Lanka with Dunith Wellalage securing the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for August 2024. This is also the third woman’s award for the island nation in 2024, with Athapaththu having won the award in May and July.
The southpaw dominated Ireland in both ODI and T20I legs of the tour, securing some monster scores on the way.
Fresh from an unbeaten 69* against India in the Women’s Asia Cup final at the end of July, Madavi improved her output upon arriving in Dublin as she registered scores of 86*, a career-best effort from her end, and 65 from the two T20I matches to finish the two-match series as the leading run-scorer for both sides.
Madavi continued her prolific form in the longer white-ball format. In the three-match ODI series against the Irish as she poured in scores of 19, 105, and 48* to again finish as the leading run-scorer. Her century in the second ODI game made her just the third Sri Lanka woman’s player after Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne to score an ODI ton.
Madavi says receiving the award is a shining moment in her playing career to this point. “I am extremely happy with this recognition, which I consider a new high in my career. It certainly gives me a lot of confidence ahead of the big competition, the Women’s T20 World Cup.
“This achievement would not have been possible without the incredible support network around me—my teammates, coaches, parents, my sister, brother, friends, and mentors. I take this opportunity to thank them all. “I also wish to commend the players who were nominated alongside me for the Player of the Month award. They are immensely talented, and I loved competing with such quality.”
[ICC]
Top-order batter Oshada Fernando has returned to Sri Lanka’s Test fold following an 18-month absence, but this means there is no room for opening batter Nishan Madushka in Sri Lanka’s 16-man squad for this month’s two-Test series against New Zealand at home. Of those that toured England, fast-bowling allrounder Nisala Tharaka and seamer Kasun Rajitha are the other two to be left out.
Oshada’s return follows an impressive showing with the A team, who are currently touring South Africa.The 32-year-old batter, who has played 21 Tests, struck 122 and 80 on the way to a Player-of-the-Match showing, as Sri Lanka A won the first of two unofficial Tests in Kimberley. The performances were enough for the selectors to curtail his time in South Africa and shoehorn him into a Test squad for the first time since March 2023.
Madushka was unsurprisingly the odd man out, following a difficult tour of England where he accumulated scores of 4, 0, 7 and 13 over the first two Tests before being dropped for the third. His replacement at the top of the order, Pathum Nissanka struck a match-winning century in the final Teest, which now means there is no natural spot in the playing XI for the 25-year-old wicketkeeper.
Neither Tharaka nor Rajitha played a game in England, and with the seamers that did – Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando and Milan Rathnayake – impressing, Sri Lanka’s seam contingent was already overstocked considering the spin-friendly conditions expected in Galle.
Despite his recall, though, Oshada might find it difficult to secure a spot in what is a fairly settled batting order. Dimuth Karunaratne, Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis are all likely to retain their places in the XI, while Ramesh Mendis might slot in at No. 8 to bolster both the batting and spin-bowling ranks. There is also Sadeera Samarawickrama waiting in the wings.
With the remaining three slots going to lead spinner Prabath Jayasuriya and two others – likely two seamers, or possibly even an extra spinner in Jeffrey Vandersay – it’s hard to see where Oshada fits in unless one of the senior men in Mathews or Karunaratne makes way.
Both Tests will take place in Galle with the first Test beginning on September 18.
Sri Lanka Test squad against New Zealand
Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Oshada Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake
Jackson 5 singer Tito Jackson dead at 70
Dunith Wellalage wins the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for August 2024.
Harshitha Madavi named ICC Women’s Player of the Month for August 2024
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