Sports
Darsha expresses shock as budding athletes denied medals
Western Province Schools Athletics Championships
by Reemus Fernando
Asian Games medallist and Olympian Damayanthi Darsha, who witnessed the ongoing Western Province Schools Athletics Championships, expressed shock over the highly disorganized manner in which the four-day event is being conducted at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The Department of Education, Western Province, the organisers of the event, which began on Sunday, were failing in their duty to conduct events on schedule and, in a shocking turn of events, the budding school athletes, who win podium places, are made to return home without medals as the Department of Education of Western Province is doing away with the aged-old custom, in a bid to cut costs.
“Certificates and medals are a huge motivation for young athletes. Medals will keep them engaged in this sport. I am really shocked to see these athletes being denied the opportunity to take home what they deserve,” Darsha who had her first medal success at these championships, told The Island yesterday.
“It is not an easy task to win a medal at the Western Province Schools Athletics Championships.
“This is a major championship in a young athlete’s career. They deserve appreciation for what they achieve. It is disappointing to see athletes getting down from the podium without medals,” Darsha, who is also a coach, said.

Damayanthi Darsha
“It is not only the medals, the way they conduct the event itself is appalling. I have not seen such a disorganized event during my entire career. How long have the athletes have to wait, after warming up, before they come under starters orders. And the way they had scheduled events without giving the athletes some rest in between is also harmful for young athletes,” said Darsha who is also a vice president of Sri Lanka Athletics, the governing body for track and field in the country.
With the organisers opting for fewer qualified judges (from Sri Lanka Athletics) to save funds they had left room for major errors.
On Sunday, athletes competing in a lower age category sprint event had to run 65 metres instead of 60 metres due to erroneous measuring.
In some middle distance events (800m) the heats and the final were conducted without adequate rest.
On Monday, the organisers advanced the Under 18 boys’ 400 metres final which was to be held on Tuesday only to postpone it after the athletes had warmed up.
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USA allrounder Isani Vaghela suspended from bowling
USA allrounder Isani Vaghela has been suspended from bowling in international cricket after the ICC found her action to be illegal.
The ICC made the decision after match officials reported her bowling in USA Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier match against Ireland.
The ICC’s Event Panel reviewed footage of Vaghela’s bowling in USA’s next game, a win against Papua New Guinea, and concluded that her action was illegal.
Her suspension will remain until she corrects her bowling action and appears for a reassessment.
Vaghela, a 20-year old medium pacer, had made her T20I debut in 2021 and played her first ODI in 2024. She has played 39 T20Is and taken 31 wickets, and has four wickets in six ODIs so far.
USA finished the Super Six stage of the qualifying tournament with one win, and failed to make the cut, with Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands qualifying for the women’s T20 World Cup in June-July in England and Wales.
(Cricinfo)
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India qualify for Under-19 World Cup semi-finals, Pakistan knocked out
Pakistan Under 19 neither succeeded in qualifying for the semi-under 1final nor managed a win against India Under 19 in the last Super Sixes match of the Under 19 World Cup. Two absolute points and significant net-run-rate points behind India, Pakistan needed to chase down the target of 253 in 33.3 overs, but they never quite went for that outrageous chase on a difficult surface with variable bounce. However, as the game got deeper, the pitch got more and more difficult to bat on, scuttling even the regulation chase, which looked good till 33.3 overs.
India needed a win to end as their group leaders and thus get Afghanistan in the semi-final in Harare while a defeat after 33.3 overs would have pitted them against Australia on the same tired square in the semi-final in Bulawayo. In the end, the depth in India’s line-up trumped Pakistan, who had looked dominant in the early goings in both the innings.
Pakistan had India down at 47 for 3 and 200 for 7, but just couldn’t restrict them to a manageable chase. Vedant Trivedi shored India up with 68 off 98, and then the lower order all contributed: No. 8 Kanishk Chouhan scored 35, No. 7 RS Ambrish hung around for 29, and even No. 9 Khilan Patel hit 21 off 15. It didn’t help that Pakistan were slow in the field, and had to bowl the last four overs with an extra fielder inside the 30-yard circle: 39 runs came off these overs even though India didn’t have wickets in hand.
With the bat, Pakistan got off to a sprightly start, but the dip in quality of batting was quite steep after No. 4. That’s possibly why they didn’t go all out for the qualification. India, on the other hand, had plenty of defensive spin options, which proved to be valuable on a pitch that offered them a lot of turn in the afternoon.
India will look back at a game in which they were tactically superior even though the opposition dominated the early goings. They read the conditions better, deciding to bat first, but it never came to pass as Pakistan won the toss and decided to chase anyway. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went after the new ball during his 30 off 22, but when they lost three wickets for the score of 47, Trivedi and Vihaan Malhotra dug in, knowing any score over 200 would make it extremely difficult for any outrageous chase. Even with the ball, they bowled defensively to first make sure they qualified and just burst through the narrow opening provided when Pakistan captain Farhan Yousaf was caught at long-on to make it 151 for 3 in 29.4 overs.
The collapse after that was spectacular – 8 for 43 – with the ball turning square and India using their part-time spinners against a left-hand dominated batting order. While Chouhan, who started early, ended with figures of 10-1-30-1, captain Ayush Mhatre picked up three wickets to go with one for Malhotra. Khilan, whose hitting pushed India past 250 earlier, took three bonus wickets.
Pakistan will rue their indiscipline with the ball and in the field, and indecision with the bat. The intent against the new ball wasn’t absolute. One Henil Patel got Sameer Minhas out early, they understandably needed to be a little circumspect, but you would have expected them to turn this into a T20. At 13.3 overs, they needed 174 in 20 overs with nine wickets in hand if they were to qualify, but they never put India under pressure. They took only what was on offer, and Chouhan didn’t offer much.
However, during the 63-run third-wicket stand between Usman Khan and Yousaf, Pakistan looked like they were the favourites for a regulation win. Yousaf picked a slower ball from Ambrish, tried to hit his third six, but couldn’t clear long-on. That is when India started to tighten the noose, and choked Pakistan out of the game.
Brief scores:
India Under-19 252 in 49.5 overs (Vedant Trivedi 68, Kanishk Chouhan 35; Abdul Subhan 3-33) beat Pakistan Under-19 194 in 46.2 overs (Usman Khan 66, Hamza Zahoor 42; Ayush Mhatre 3-21, Khilan Patel 3-35)by 58 runs
(Cricinfo)
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Tom Banton fifty steers DLS chase to seal series for England
Tom Banton’s clinical half-century and a breathless Harry Brook cameo gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead over Sri Lanka, and left them with a problem of plenty ahead of the start of the T20 World Cup next weekend.
England’s solid start in an attempt to chase 190 was interrupted for more than an hour by unexpected rain in Pallekelle, and they were set a stiff DLS-adjusted equation of 111 more runs off the last 9.4 overs when the weather cleared. But Banton’s 54 not out off 29 balls – his first England fifty in four years – and Brook’s 36 off 12 saw them home with two balls unused.
Banton, an opener by trade, has been fashioned into a finisher since returning to the England side last summer and looked like a placeholder for the injured Ben Duckett when picked at No. 4 for this series. But he has been a cut above his England team-mates when facing Sri Lanka’s spinners and will be hard to leave out even when Duckett’s bruised finger has recovered.
For all the doom and gloom in English cricket after another Ashes debacle in Australia, England have now won nine of their last 10 completed T20Is since Brook took over as captain last summer and will head into their opening match against Nepal next week confident that they can mount a genuine challenge for the World Cup title that they surrendered two years ago.
England owed plenty to their three-man spin attack, who returned combined figures of 3 for 81 from 12 overs; their seamers, by contrast, leaked 103 runs from eight overs. It was a familiar story for Sri Lanka, whose innings faded after a bright start. With a platform of 102 for 1 off 10 overs, they should have managed more than 189 for 5 – not least with three dropped catches.
Sri Lanka may also rue their luck, given the unexpected change in conditions. Dasun Shanaka, their captain, was happy to bat first on a used pitch but his bowlers struggled for control with a wet ball after the rain break, and lost Eshan Malinga to a shoulder injury sustained off the first ball of the resumption. “That’s the reason we lost,” Shanaka said.
Banton was a dominant leg-side player when he burst into international cricket as a precocious 20-year-old back in 2019 but expanded his game significantly after dropping out of the England set-up in his early 20s and proved as much when taking on Sri Lanka’s spinners through the middle overs.
He reverse-swept Wanindu Hasaranga and launched Dunith Wellalage over extra cover for sixes, and brought up a 29-ball half-century by drilling Shanaka’s medium pace through wide long-on. “Most of my career I’ve been opening, and I’ve got a new role with England which has been really exciting,” Banton said. “It was a great night. Great to get a series win.”
England lost two early wickets: Phil Salt sliced Matheesha Pathirana’s slower ball to short third, and Jacob Bethell edged behind looking to uppercut Shanaka’s short ball. Joss Buttler looked ominous early on, pinging consecutive boundaries off Pathirana, but fell to an excellent diving catch at deep point by Pavan Rathnayake, looking to hit Wellalage for six.
But the required rate never spiralled out of control thanks to both Banton and Brook, who hit four of the 12 balls he faced for six in an outrageous cameo. He hit four consecutive legal balls from Pathirana for four, six, six and six – with an over’s gap in the middle – as he repeatedly gave himself room and blazed over extra cover, before he was caught trying to lap-pull over fine leg.
It left Banton to see England home, with Sam Curran delivering the winning blow by hoisting Janith Liyanage’s medium pace over wide long-on for six.
Pathum Nissanka got Sri Lanka off to a lively start, hitting Curran for three consecutive boundaries in the first over before flicking Jofra Archer for six. He continued to attack when Brook threw the ball to his spinners, slog-sweeping Will Jacks for six, before chopping Archer onto his own stumps for a 22-ball 34.
Sri Lanka managed 58 for 1 in the Powerplay and Kusal Mendis took over from Nissanka, dragging Adil Rashid through midwicket for back-to-back fours and using his paddle-sweep to get Liam Dawson away. But Kamil Mishara could not score as freely, and picked out long-on on 36 when he tried to launch Jacks for six.
It was thanks to Rathanayake that Sri Lanka’s innings did not completely fade away. Picked on the back of his sparkling century in the third ODI earlier in the week, his 40 off 22 balls featured several slices of luck – a top-edged pull for six, a bottom-edged sweep for four, and a reprieve on 12 thanks to Banton – but may have earned him a spot in their T20 World Cup squad, which is yet to be announced.
But Mendis fell top-edging a sweep, Shanaka was pinned lbw by a googly, and Charith Asalanka never got going despite two reprieves of his own: one tough chance, which Salt parried over the rope, and a much easier drop by Banton at deep square leg. But Banton made amends, and left Sri Lanka with more questions than answers.
Brief scores:
England 173 for 4 in 16.4 overs (Tom Banton 54*, Joss Buttler 39, Jacob Bethell 13, Harry Brook 36, Sam Curran 20*; Matheesha Pathirana 2-47, Dasun Shanaka 1-24, Dunith Wellalage 1-30) beat Sri Lanka 189 for 5 in 20 overs (Pavan Rathnayake 40, Kamil Mishara 36, Pathum Nissanka 34, Kusal Mendis 32, Charith Asalanka 28* ; Jofra Archer 2-42, Will Jacks 1-24, Liam Dawson 1-32, Adil Rashid 1-25 ) by six wickets (DLS method)
(Cricinfo)
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