Sports

Galle’s splendour charms everyone in cricket

Published

3 years ago

2023/02/3

by Rex Clementine

A mouth-watering contest began this week at the Galle International Stadium between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and England Lions and the future stars will have a feel of a venue where many a great like Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Babar Azam have had their moments, gave local fans brief pains but ended up stealing our hearts. How can you not fall in love with Chris Gayle smashing sixes to Galle bus stand and then upon reaching his triple hundred lying down on floor soaking it all in.

Everyone wants to play in Galle, everyone wants to watch cricket in Galle, most reporters rate it the best ground in the world. The press box provides you direct entry from the road like they have in Birmingham. And the view is stunning. The press conference room and the dining hall are next to each other, right behind the press box.

A survey conducted in UK with voting from cricket fans across the world saw Galle being rated the most picturesque ground in the world. Even 15 years after achieving full status of the ICC, Test cricket was secluded to Colombo and Kandy and there were attempts to take the sport to the other parts of the country.

Galle, Matara and Kurunegala were highlighted as key centers and regular four day fixtures were awarded to these venues when overseas teams visited Sri Lanka. These centers had a lot of political backing too with local politicians running the district associations.

Galle for a variety of reasons was given Test status in 1998. Matara wanted to be elevated for Test status as well. Thilanga Sumathipala declined saying only one Test venue for an outstation province. He angered a few men by the names of Mahinda Wijesekara, Dallas Allahaperuma and Mangala Samaraweera, staunch SLFPers of Matara district.

Galle’s gone through some remarkable changes over the years particularly after the tsunami when the ground was redone.

There were some challenges the authorities had to face as the archeological department argued that the new construction covered the view of the majestic Dutch Fort.

After much negotiations, a compromise has been reached between parties and cricket in Galle continues on the condition that there will be no new constructions.

As a result, Galle has been made to feel the pinch as there are no indoor nets here and a scoreboard.

Former captain Kumar Sangakkara suffered most due to the non-existence of a scoreboard. Playing against Pakistan, Sri Lanka were down to the last pair and Sanga was keen to complete a double hundred and celebrated the moment. But he had got the calculation wrong. The last man was dismissed without much resistance and Sanga was left stranded on 199. As a result, he was denied an opportunity to equal the record of Sir Don Bradman’s 12 double hundreds.

Despite winning the hearts of players and fans all over the world for its natural beauty, Galle has been also in the news for the wrong reasons. The ground’s popular curator who was loved and hailed by the players remains suspended for non-cooperation into a corruption investigation.

An assistant manager of the ground was caught on camera claiming the pitch can be doctored for the right price. Education has been done on the temptations in the game but the daily wage earners remain vulnerable.

Like all venues Galle has faced its challenges. At one point, angry politicians wanted to take away all traces of cricket from here on flimsy grounds. But the venue has survived it all. It still remains the go to place in cricket.

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Sports

WPBA Novices Team Badminton Championship from 13-21 June

Published

2 hours ago

2026/05/21

Sahan Weerasooriya

Brian Gomez (Director Sales Elite Shuttler) hands over the sponsorship to Mohan Wijesinghe (President WPBA, Vice President SLB) and Gamini de Silva ( Vice President WPBA and Chairman Tournament Committee). Also in the picture are (from left) Amanda Weerasinghe (Vice Patron WPBA), Niluka Karunarathna (Vice President WPBA, Chairman Sport Development and Funding, Former Olympic/National Player), Roshan Gunawardana (President SLB), Rajpal Salgado (Secretary WPBA), Lalith Perera (Vice President WPBA, Chairman Coaching and Development WPBA), Ajith Fernando (Tournament Secretary WPBA), Rakitha Jayathilaka (Gampaha District Coordinator WPBA)

The Western Province Badminton Association (WPBA) will conduct an all-island school age Novices (non top10 rank) Team Championship, for boys and girls in the under 13, under 15 and under 17 age categories at the St. Thomas Indoor Stadium, Mount Lavinia and Mercantile Badminton Trust Badminton Stadium at Malalasekera Mawatha from 13th to 21st June 2026.

The championship will be a great opportunity for new players forming teams who have yet to play beyond a quarter final match in a ranking tournament.

The championship is open to teams from other provinces as well and the entry fee per team is Rs. 10,000. All participants will receive certificates while the winners will receive cash awards, trophies and medals.

Sports

Twenty Four teams in the fray for ‘MCA Ladies Sixes’ on Saturday

Published

2 hours ago

2026/05/21

Sahan Weerasooriya

Twenty Four [24] ladies teams representing 22 affiliated firms of the Mercantile Cricket Association [MCA] have entered for the inaugural ladies softball six a side cricket tournament which will take place from 08.30AM onwards at the MCA grounds on Saturday [23 May].

The main objective of organizing the MCA Ladies Sixes 2026 is to promote and encourage ladies hard ball cricket within the Mercantile Sector, while identifying emerging talent and paving the pathway for players to reach national level representation through mercantile cricket.

The participating teams are Abans Group, Aitken Spence – A, Aitken Spence – B, CDB, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, David Pieris Group of Companies, DFCC Bank, Emeric Security Solutions, English Tea Shop (Amazon Trading (Pvt) Ltd), Future Life Holdings, Hatton National Bank (HNB), Hayleys Group, Hemas Hospitals (Pvt.) Ltd (Hemas Group), John Keells Holdings (JKH), Link Natural Products (Pvt) Ltd, Maliban Biscuits – A, Maliban Biscuits – B, SLT Mobitel, Gamma Pizzakrafts Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Sampath Bank PLC, Senija Fertilizer Pvt Ltd, Seylan Bank PLC, Singer Finance Lanka PLC Fusion Apparel (Pvt) Ltd

The 24 participating teams will be drawn into to eight [08] groups of three [03] teams each. Each team will play two matches within their respective groups and the top two teams from each group qualify for the Cup Championship while the eight third placed teams will compete in the Plate Championship. Both the Cup Championship and the Plate Championship will take place on a knock out basis.

The Winners of the MCA Ladies Sixes 2026 will receive Rupees 75,000/-, a trophy and replicas, the Runners-up will receive Rs 50,000/-, a trophy and replicas and the second runners-up will receive Rs 35,000/- a trophy and replicas.

Kem Care technologies (Pvt) Ltd have come in as the Gold Sponsor while Hayleys Consumer Products Ltd are the official Feminine Care Partner and Sampath Bank the Official Banking Partner.

Latest News

Taijul takes six as Bangladesh complete 2-0 sweep

Published

18 hours ago

2026/05/20

Priyan

Taijul Islam is pumped [Cricinfo]

Bangladesh overcame one hour of nerves on the fifth morning to beat Pakistan by 78 runs in the Sylhet Test and complete a consecutive 2-0 sweep over them. For the first time in their history, Bangladesh have won four successive Test series. Taijul Islam led the way with a six-wicket haul in the fourth innings, but the credit will also go to Litton Das for his 126, which resurrected Bangladesh from the dead on the first day.

It is a landmark moment for Bangladesh cricket. They played solid cricket across ten days in the Test series. While their pace attack got rave reviews, their spinners too stepped up as the experienced Taijul took two of the last three wickets on the final morning.

Before that, Mohammad Rizwan held Bangladesh at bay for nearly an hour, until Sajid Khan edged Taijul for 28. In the next over, Rizwan guided Shoriful Islam to Mehidy Hasan Miraz at gully for 94. Mehidy had earlier dropped a tough chance at gully when Rizwan had tried a similar shot in the day’s first over, while a Sajid top edge had dropped in front of wicketkeeper Litton.

Taijul took the final wicket when Khurram Shahzad swung him towards deep midwicket, where debutant Tanzid Hasan held a high catch.

Chasing 437, Pakistan started the day on 316 for 7. It was a spirited response from the under-fire visitors, who were bumped by two decent partnerships. Shan Masood and Babar Azam added 92 for the third wicket, which mitigated their early losses of openers Azan Awais and Abdullah Fazal. The partnership ended when Mehidy nabbed Babar down the leg side for 47. Masood scored 71 before Taijul had him caught at short leg.

Rizwan and Salman Agha staved off any further batting collapse with a 134-run partnership for the sixth wicket. The pair batted at a fair clip, frustrating the home side who, in their attacking mindset, hardly bowled a maiden over during that period.

With the second new ball, Taijul finally breached Agha’s defence with an arm-ball. The batter made 71. Rizwan kept the fight on but the task proved to be too monumental.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 278 in 77 overs (Litton Das 126; Mohammed Abbas 3-45, Khurram Shahzad 4-81) and 390 in 102.2 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 137, Litton Das 69; Khurram Shahzad 4-86, Sajid Khan 3-126) beat Pakistan 232 in 57.4 overs (Babar Azam 68; Nahid Rana 3-60, Taijul Islam 3-67) and 358 in 97.2 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 94, Shan Masood 71, Salman Agha 71; Taijul Islam 6-120) by 78 runs

[Cricinfo]