Sports
Dharshana’s false start dampen an otherwise remarkable day
by Reemus Fernando
Sprinter Aruna Dharshana gave athletics fans both joy and heartache on an otherwise remarkable day as the Junior and Senior Track and Field trials concluded with a number of athletes achieving their personal bests at Diyagama yesterday.
Athletics analysts were waiting for Dharshana to reach his personal best in the men’s 400 metres final after the Army athlete produced the best performance in the heats where as many as five athletes clocked sub 47 seconds. When Dharshana followed up his 200 metres winning time of 21.12 seconds with a feat of 46.43 seconds in the 400 metres many expected him to produce a sub 46 seconds performance in the final.
But the shocking foul start meant that he will have to wait for more than a month to test his true potential. Incidentally, Kalinga Kumarage, who was off-colour in the heats (47.51 secs – second in heat 3) won the final with a feat of 46.27 seconds. However, 100 metres sprinter Medhani Jayamanne who was disqualified for a foul start in the women’s 100 metres heats was not so unlucky, as athletics officials gave her an opportunity to compete in the women’s 100 metres final, though her place was (2nd) not recognised. She clocked 12.16 seconds in the final.
Chamod Yodasinghe reached his personal best to win the men’s 100 metres.
In Dharshana’s absence four others, namely, Kumarage, R.N. Rajakaruna, Dinuka Deshan and Pabasara Niku clocked sub 47 seconds.
In the corresponding women’s 400 metres, schoolgirl Tharushi Karunaratne continued to shock her senior counterparts. Having won the women’s 800 metres on day one, the Ratnayake Central prodigy also bagged the 400 metres victory as she clocked 53.41 seconds to beat Asian Championship participant Nadeesha Ramanayake.
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- Aruna Dharshana, who produced the fastest time in the heats was disqualified in the final for a foul start. Dharshana is disappointed after official Rohan Stanley showed him the red card. (Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
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- Rumeshika Ratnayake won the women’s 100 metres.
In the men’s 100 metres Chamod Yodasinghe reached his personal best as he clocked 10.37 seconds to win the final.
In the women’s 100 metres final, Rumeshika Ratnayake clocked 12.01 seconds to win running against the wind (-2.9). In the heats, she clocked sub 12 seconds.
In the morning, Gayanthika Abeyratne finished the women’s 1500 metres just three seconds shy of her national record mark as she clocked 4:12.53 seconds to win closely followed by steeplechase national record holder Nilani Ratnayake. Abeyratne’s national record established last year stands at 4:09.12 seconds.
In the Under 20 age category events Malith Yasiru produced the second-best performance of the Asian region in the Under 20 boys’ triple jump this year when he cleared a distance of 15.43 metres to win the event.
A quick glance at the head to head record is enough to show the gulf between India and Sri Lanka in women’s T20Is. Despite that, the manner in which India have swept Sri Lanka aside two games in a row would have surprised watchers and the hosts alike. The story in the second T20I followed a similar script to the first. Once again, India’s spinners squeezed Sri Lanka’s middle order before one of their top-order batters made easy work of the chase.
Left-arm spinners Vaishnavi Sharma and N Shree Charani picked up two wickets apiece after Sneh Rana, in the XI in place of the indisposed Deepti Sharma, sucked out the momentum from Sri Lanka’s batting. If it was Jemimah Rodrigues’ half-century in the first game, Shafali Verma was at her brutal best in the second, finishing on an unbeaten 69 in just 34 balls, to help India get to the 129-run target at a run-rate close to 11 an over with 49 balls to spare.
India went 2-0 up at the end of the Visakhapatnam leg, with the next three games to be played in Thiruvananthapuram.
Sri Lanka were jolted in the opening over after being asked to bat. Vishmi Gunaratne’s uppish drive was caught by Kranti Gaud in her follow-through. Chamari Athapaththu then started the charge. After the defeat in the first game, she asked her batters to step up and find ways of scoring. She was intent on leading from the front. She used her feet against Gaud to slash her in front of point. Two balls later, Gaud almost got back at the Sri Lanka captain.
Charani, who dropped two simple catches on Sunday, misjudged Athapaththu’s slash and conceded a six. She charged in from the boundary line and then ran back, missed the ball completely despite a leap. Athapaththu blazed away with the field restrictions on, scoring 31 off 24 balls out of Sri Lanka’s 38 in 5.3 overs at that stage.
After her dismissal, Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama continued to bat with high intent. They primarily scored square of the wicket and added 28 in the three-and-a-half overs. And then came the squeeze from India.
On a day she was newly crowned the No. 1 T20I bowler in the ICC rankings, Deepti missed a T20I for the first time since 2019 – after 92 straight games – because of a mild fever. Harmanpreet Kaur has often turned to her when in search of control, but on Tuesday, Rana fit into the role with ease.
Playing her first T20I in India since 2016 – she played 15 away from home in between – Rana’s first task was to stop a belligerent Athapaththu, and she delivered. She kept the Sri Lanka captain guessing with flight and dip before dismissing her. With Athapaththu itching to cut loose, Rana generously flighted one. It landed slightly shorter than Athapaththu expected because of the dip, and she ended up miscuing it to long-off.
Rana then returned with Perera and Samarawickrama scoring at a good tempo, bowled a maiden and that turned the tide. It allowed left-arm spinner Charani to slip in a few quiet overs, which resulted in Perera’s dismissal. Vaishnavi also returned to pick up her first international wicket, with Charani, who denied her in the first T20I by dropping a dolly at short fine leg, taking a simple catch at the same spot after Nilakshika Silva top-edged a sweep.
Sri Lanka hit 11 boundaries in the first nine overs, but could hit only two fours in the rest of their innings. They lost six for 24 to be restricted to a below-par total for the second game in a row, which was never going to challenge the hosts. Three run-outs for a second game in a row did not help matters either.
If Sunday was an opportunity missed by Shafali, she more than made up for it on Tuesday. She was happy to bide her time at the start, with Smriti Mandhana being the aggressor. Once Mandhana fell, caught at point in a bid to hit Kavisha Dilhari’s offspin inside out over the off side, Shafali took centrestage. Inoka Ranaweera’s left-arm spin with the field restrictions in place was just the tonic she needed.
Shafali hit Ranaweera for successive fours in the penultimate over of the powerplay – both by dancing down the track and lofting her over cover. She then took apart Athapaththu’s offspin, hitting here for 4, 6, 4 in the sixth over of the chase: first sweeping a short ball through backward square leg, then thumping a full ball straight into the sight-screen and then lifting one over extra cover.
With the in-form Rodrigues for company, there was no respite for Sri Lanka’s bowlers. Rodrigues also tore into Ranaweera, hitting her for two fours and a six as the left-arm spinner was taken for 31 in her two overs.
In an attempt to maintain the high tempo, Rodrigues holed out to long-on. Shafali soon completed her fifty from just 27 balls. She picked Shashini Gimhani’s left-arm wristspin from the hand and thumped her for back-to-back boundaries in a 12-run over that put India on the brink.
Sri Lanka earned a consolation when Malki Madara’s dipping yorker deceived Harmanpreet. But they knew, as Athapaththu conceded after the game, that the batters failed to make the helpful conditions count in successive games.
Brief scores:
India Women 129 for 3 in 11.5 overs (Smriti Mandhana 14, Shafali Verma 69*, Jemimah Rodrigues 26, Harmanpreet Kaur 10; Malki Madara 1-22, Kavya Kavindi 1-3, Kavisha Dilhari 1-15) beat Sri Lanka Women 128 for 9 in 20 overs ( Chamari Athapaththu 31, Hasini Perera 22,Harshitha Samarawickrama 33, Kavisha Dilhari 14, Kaushini Nuthyangana 11; Kranti Goud 1-31, Sneh Rana 1-11, Shree Charani 2-23, Vaishnavi Sharma 2-32) by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
Stripped of the captaincy on the eve of a World Cup, Charith Asalanka finds himself skating on thin ice. Suddenly, runs are not just runs; they are legal tender. In a game that is brutally transactional, weight of runs is the only currency that guarantees a seat on the flight. The soft will curse their luck and sulk in the corner. The tough roll up their sleeves, take guard, and play the long innings.
History, as ever, offers a handy cue card. Take Arjuna Ranatunga. Axed as captain after the controversial 1991 tour of New Zealand, he was reduced to a mere batter for the 1992 World Cup. What followed was one of the great redemption arcs. A backs-to-the-wall knock at the Basin Reserve against South Africa, with Allan Donald huffing and puffing fire and then that audacious chase against Zimbabwe that rewrote the laws of possibility with the game’s first successful 300-plus pursuit. By the time the confetti settled, Ranatunga was back at the helm, having dragged Sri Lanka to glory almost single-handedly. Asalanka, a fellow left-hander, could do worse than study that script.
When Asalanka took charge of the white-ball sides last year, the sense was that destiny had tapped him on the shoulder. This was a leader in the making, groomed patiently by Sri Lanka Cricket for over a decade. An Under-19 captain, exposed through development squads and domestic leadership roles, he appeared primed to become an all-format captain in due course.
With the bat, particularly in ODIs, he often played the role of the fireman, dousing flames after collapses or steering run chases with a cool head. As a leader, he spoke well, kept the dressing room together and was generous with praise. But just as the talk turned to a long reign, the wheels began to wobble and then, slowly but surely, came off.
Asalanka began treating First-Class cricket like a contagious disease, scarcely turning out for SSC. That absence hurt. The country’s premier club slipped into Division Two, losing First-Class status for the first time in its storied history and his name was firmly in the dock.
Then came murmurs of a clique, largely made up of his Richmond College schoolmates, a charge that rarely ends well in any dressing room. The Asia Cup only deepened the scrutiny. His bowling changes were pedestrian, with holding Dunith Wellalage back for the final over against Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi standing out as a tactical misread. The feeling grew that he wasn’t squeezing the most out of his resources.
Pakistan was worse. He looked out of shape, which is never a good look for a captain and the runs dried up in T20 internationals.
When Dasun Shanaka, the man he had replaced, was installed as his deputy, the writing was on the wall in bold capitals. Asalanka, though, failed to read the signs. His brinkmanship in Pakistan, including threats to pull out of the tour, proved to be the final straw.
At 28, Asalanka is still young and this episode may yet prove a necessary dressing down. He is no villain. By all accounts, he is a humble bloke who has momentarily lost his bearings. It happens, particularly to young athletes thrust into leadership before they fully understand the traps that come with it. Right now, he needs support, a steady arm around the shoulder and the chance to rediscover his game.
There is little doubt about his value. Asalanka remains the country’s best finisher, not the sort who clears the ropes four times an over, but the kind who finds gaps, runs hard, rotates strike and before the opposition realises it, has them gasping for air. These are not the fireworks merchants who hog the highlights, but they are the players who win you matches quietly and consistently.
If he is to reclaim his place and perhaps the T20 armband again, the path is simple and unforgiving. Bat first, talk later. In cricket, as in life, nothing silences critics quite like runs on the board.
by Rex Clementine
The Kelaniya Dharmaloka Central College swimming team won the Overall Championship at the swimming meet organised by the Biyagama Swimming, Diving and Life Saving Association and held at the Kiribathgoda Vihara Maha Devi Balika Vidyalaya Swimming pool recently.
The boys school championship was won by Mahara President College while the girls championship was won by Kadawatha Mahamaya Balika Vidyalaya. The mixed school championship was won by Kelaniya Dharmaloka Central College. The Club championship was won by Yakkala Wave Runners Swimming Academy.
Text and pics by DELGODA W.D.VITHANA
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