Sports
Dickwella; brilliant with keeping, hopeless with batting
by Rex Clementine
One of the game’s modern day greats Ricky Ponting used to be a riot in his early days. Late night brawls at pubs left him with bloody nose and sanctions from Cricket Australia. It was Steve Waugh who took him to a side and told him to get his act together. Ponting went onto play a record 168 Test matches, won two World Cups as captain and today he is a successful cricket coach.
Similarly, with Virat Kohli there were lots of hope when he came onto the big stage having captained India to the ICC Under-19 World Cup title. But he was overweight and underperforming with India’s senior side. One Sachin Tendulkar mentored him and today Kohli is in a different league. It’s such a pity that none of our greats have done the same with Niroshan Dickwella.
When Sampath Perera, one of the country’s most successful school cricket coaches, took on a bigger responsibility we asked him which young player we should keep an eye for. He told this newspaper to watch out for Niroshan Dickwella. This was some talent that will take Sri Lankan cricket places, Perera suggested. But he also warned us. He feared that Dickwella will get into trouble due to his off the field antics.
After nearly a decade in Sri Lankan colours, Dickwella has rarely delivered. While wicketkeepers like Quinton de Kock and Rishab Pant have gone places winning games to their sides, Dickwella is struggling to hold onto his place. He has been just average. Anywhere else in the world if you had not scored a hundred after 50 Tests, you’d be kicked out. He’s been tolerated with the hope that the prodigal son will finally deliver.
There was proof of what Sampath Perera was trying to tell us during the fourth ODI at RPS. Dickwella pulled off a stunning stumping with David Warner on 99. Until that moment, the Aussies were on cruise mode to square the five match series. Dickwella turned the game and the series in Sri Lanka’s favour in a flash with the stumping of the year.
Sri Lanka have often backed batsmen who could do the job behind the stumps. In the process, they have turned a blind eye towards their best keeper who is Dickwella. Tuesday we saw why Dickwella should be backed as he is the team’s best keeper. Players of the caliber of Warner are going to give you just a half chance and you need to grab them like Dickwella did.
While Dickwella’s keeping is flawless, the problem is with his batting. There’s no consistency and worse, most of the time his ways of getting out are irritating.
Despite the excellent Warner stumping, the selectors have sent a strong message that unless he shows application with the bat, he is not going to be tolerated as he was dropped for the next game. They seem to want him to take more responsibility. At least this will bring the best out of him.
The other area that Dickwella has not made any improvement is his reviewing. True that the ultimate choice of reviews rests with the captain but the manner in which Dickwella urges the skipper leaves him with little choice. Dimuth Karunaratne, the Test captain, seem to be taking Dickwella’s inputs on reviews with a pinch of salt. White ball captain Dasun Shanaka seem to be still trusting his keeper but it’s only a matter of time before he too loses faith.
Reviews sum up Dickwella – impulsive, immature and even incorrigible. That’s seen in his overall cricket too. Fans will be hoping that the day comes where Dickwella is spoken of in the same breath as Pant and de Kock.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy will retire from all forms of cricket following the upcoming series against India.
The 35-year-old wicket-keeper has more than 7,000 runs and 275 dismissals to her name in all formats of the game and led Australia to a historic 16-0 whitewash of England 8n the Ashes in 2025.
She has won the World Cup twice, with the highest individual score of 170 in a World Cup final coming against England in 2022, and the T20 World Cup on six occasions.
Healy said: “I’m still passionate about playing for Australia, but I’ve somewhat lost that competitive edge that’s kept me driven since the start, so the time feels right to call it a day.
“I’ll genuinely miss my team-mates, singing the team song and walking out to open the batting for Australia. Representing my country has been an incredible honour and I’m grateful for one last series in the green and gold.”
Healy is married to Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc and is the niece of another Australian great in wicket keeper Ian Healy. She also already has a successful broadcasting career as a pundit and commentator.
Todd Greenberg, Cricket Australia CEO said: “Alyssa is one of the all-time greats of the game and has made an immeasurable contribution both on and off the field over her 15-year career.
“We look forward to celebrating her achievements throughout the series against India.”
Australia host India in a Test match, three one-day internationals and three T20 matches in February and March
(BBC Sports)
They began with a scrappy last-ball win to kick off WPL 2026, but there was nothing scrappy about Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) second win, over UP Warriorz, on Monday night.
Grace Harris tore into her former franchise with a breathtaking assault, sending the ball to all parts of the DY Patil Stadium. By the time she was out for a 40-ball 85, RCB needed just seven runs to win with 50 deliveries remaining.
In an effort similar to her opening-night honours, Lauren Bell swung the new ball and troubled Warriorz’s openers in her first two overs. In trying to break the stranglehold, Harleen Deol attempted to jailbreak in her third, but could only spoon a catch to Smriti Mandhana at mid-off for a 14-ball 11. And just like that, UP Warriorz had seen two different opening pairs come and go without giving them the start they were after.
She was denied a wicket in her first over – the sixth of the innings – when Meg Lanning’s swipe landed agonisingly short of Arundhati Reddy at backward square leg, but Shreyanka Patil had Lanning hack uncharacteristically to Radha Yadav at deep midwicket off her next.
In the same over, she also had a second wicket when Phoebe Litchfield flat-batted a short ball straight to Mandhana at mid-on, shortly after having reverse-swept her for six
Coming off a four-for and an unbeaten half-century against Mumbai Indians, de Klerk began with two wickets off her first two deliveries. Kiran Navgire fell first when she heaved a length ball to cow corner, while Shweta Sehrawat was brilliantly caught at backward point by Reddy. Warriorz were in all sorts of trouble at 50 for 5.
This was the perfect fire-and-ice combination on paper. But on Monday, they were both mellower and batted risk-free for much of their unbeaten 93-run partnership. Deandra Dottin signalled a change of intent when she went after Patil in her third over – the 15th – by muscling a length ball for six over long-on. That galvanised both batters to break free; Deepti Sharma gave the perfect finish by going after Patil in a 15-run final over that helped them finish with 143.
With two rookies in their top four, RCB could’ve chosen to play safe by having Gautami Naik partner Mandhana. But they took the aggressive route, and Harris justified that decision by muscling a 22-ball half-century as RCB wiped out 78 in the powerplay alone.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has opened an investigation and warned of possible disciplinary action for “unacceptable behaviour of players and officials” as they clashed on the pitch on Saturday at the end of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarterfinal between Algeria and Nigeria.
“CAF has referred the matters to the disciplinary board for investigation and has called for appropriate action to be taken if the identified persons were to be found guilty of any wrongdoing,” said African football’s governing body in a statement on Monday.
Tensions spilled over on the pitch at the end of the January 10 game in Marrakesh, Morocco, which Nigeria won 2-0 thanks to second-half goals by Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams.
Referee Issa Sy was shielded from irate Algeria team staff and was escorted off the field. Video clips showed Sy was still being pursued in the mixed zone for media and broadcasters as he made his way to his cabin.
Any disciplinary action could have an impact on the Super Eagles as they prepare for their semifinal showdown on Wednesday against Morocco.
“CAF strongly condemns any inappropriate behaviour which occurs during matches, especially those targeting the refereeing team or match organisers,” CAF said.
Video showed accredited media fighting in the mixed zone as they waited for players to pass through for interviews after the match.
Algeria’s federation also confirmed it had filed a complaint with CAF over Sy’s performance
“The Algerian Football Federation cannot ignore the refereeing performance observed during the last match, which raised numerous questions and caused considerable confusion,” it said in a statement.
“Certain decisions have damaged the credibility of African refereeing and do nothing to enhance the value of continental football on the international stage.”
CAF said it was also investigating incidents in Friday’s last-eight tie between the hosts and Cameroon.
Morocco won that game 2-0 in Rabat, Morocco, and the Indomitable Lions were notably unhappy at the officiating in particular the refusal to award them a penalty for a challenge on Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo in the second half.
(BBC Sports)
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