Sports
Green tops await Sri Lankans in South Africa
by Rex Clementine
The national cricket team landed in South Africa Friday night and soon will resume training lead up to the two match Test series against the Proteas. Compared to most places in the world, South Africa’s health guidelines are lot more flexible and all what a person needs is two negative PCR reports before being allowed to assume daily activities. For a cricketer, a day’s activities in these times of pandemic means practice, weight training and rest. They will be restricted to their hotel and the cricket ground and South Africa’s fantastic tourist destinations will be out of bounds.
Well, safari parks aren’t the only attractions in Johannesburg. There’s the Apartheid Museum, Gold Reef City, Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens and lots more. The team will be in a bio-bubble during their three week stay and their contact with the outside world will be limited.
Following their stunning series win in South Africa during the last tour, Dimuth Karunaratne’s side can expect green tops this time around. The last series was played in Durban and Port Elizabeth with both coastal towns proving to be to Sri Lankans liking. The wickets at both venues are not the quickest in the country.
This time, however, it’s been a complete contrast. The tourists have been given two of the quickest tracks in the country – Wanderers and Centurion. The technical adjustments the players have to make are too many when they go from the sub-continent and it doesn’t help that the tour doesn’t include any warm-up games.
When Sri Lanka won in 2018 they didn’t have any warm-up games as well but on that occasion, they had flown directly from Canberra, Australia having been involved in a Test series. So the technical adjustments aren’t much. This time, however, they are going into Tests after playing a T-20 competition.
The health measures that South Africa have been put in place will be under the spotlight as well. Although cricket centers like England, UAE, Australia and even Sri Lanka conducted events successfully having created bubbles, England’s tour to South Africa was abandoned midway through after positive cases emerged within the bubble.
Last week a First Class game in South Africa was called off after a player tested positive for COVID-19.
Sri Lanka sent their Head Coach Mickey Arthur and a doctor three days ahead to South Africa to monitor the situation.
Sri Lanka took a shade under 15 minutes to wrap up the Bamgladesh innings on the third morning in Galle, and then made a brisk start in running down the visitors’ total of 495. Sri Lanka did that by keeping a run rate of touch under four.
Pathum Nissanka (46) and Dinesh Chandimal (22) had put on unbeaten stand of 53 by the lunch break, while the deficit had been trimmed down to 395. The only blip for the hosts was the loss of Lahiru Udara for a 34-ball 29, after he had chipped a leading edge back to Taijul Islam. The 31-year-old had impressed on his debut up until that point, scoring six boundaries in his brief stay.
Sri Lanka set the tone for their innings from the off, with neither pacer safe in the early exchanges. Both Hasan Mahmud and express Nahid Rana – his pace was consistently in the low to mid 140s – being punished for any errors in line and length. Udara’s drives on the up were a particular highlight, and he will be kicking himself at not making more of this opportunity.
Nissanka, who had taken a back seat during the early exchanges, became more proactive following Udara’s dismissal, though Bangladesh will feel like they gave a few too many loose deliveries.
For instance, Nissanka’s three boundaries off Taijul all came against ones that had been dropped shorter. It served as a pressure release valve, one Sri Lanka would have been grateful for with Taijul otherwise doing well in varying his pace on a surface that had begun to show starting signs of assistance for spin.
The six-foot off spinner Nayeem Hasan, meanwhile, was the most expensive of the bowlers going for 16 in his three overs, though his extra height – and the bounce he derived from that – had caused some issues to the batters.
Off just his third delivery he got one to spit back past Nissanka’s inside edge on to his back pad, and then later on had Chandimal edging a drive past slip. But chances like that were few and far between, as Sri Lanka’s batters had it mostly their own way.
Earlier in the day, Asitha had got Rana to glove a loose ball down leg side as Bangladesh’s innings was brought to a swift close. The visitors had added 11 runs to their overnight total. Asitha finished with innings best figures of 4 for 86.
Brief scores: Day 3 Lunch
Sri Lanka 100 for 1 (Pathum Nissanka 46*, Lahiru Udra 29, Dinesh Chandimal 22*, Taijul Islam 1-34) trail Bangladesh 495 in 153.4 overs (Monimul Haque 29, Mushfiqur Rahim 163, Najmul Hossain Shanto 148, Litton Das 90, Asitha Fernando 4-86, Milan Rathnayake 3-39, Tharindu Rathnayake 3-196) by 395 runs
[Cricinfo]
Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto hammered authoritative centuries as Bangladesh piled on the runs in the first Test against Sri Lanka, finishing day two on a commanding 484 for nine, despite a few late breakthroughs by the hosts at the Galle International Stadium yesterday.
The tourists resumed on their overnight score of 292 for three and turned the screws on a wilting Sri Lankan attack on a docile surface tailor-made for batting, with their fourth-wicket pair grinding the bowlers into submission in a record stand.
Shanto, elegant and unflustered, reached a majestic 148 before falling against the run of play – deceived in the air and driving early, only to be spectacularly plucked out of thin air by Angelo Mathews diving full-stretch at mid-off. That dismissal broke a monumental 264-run partnership with Mushfiqur, a stand that turned the tide after Bangladesh had slumped to 45 for three in the opening session on Tuesday.
While Shanto drove fluently and pierced the infield with precision – his innings peppered with 15 boundaries and a six – Mushfiqur dropped anchor with a masterclass in attritional batting. Stonewalled for nearly nine hours, the veteran soaked up 350 balls for his 163, nudging and nurdling his way while keeping the scoreboard ticking and the bowlers gasping for breath.
His dismissal – adjudged leg-before to Asitha Fernando – was reviewed in vain, a marginal call that stayed with the on-field umpire. Asitha, who recovered after being down with viral fever just before the Test, was low on pace, but gave his best bowling his bouncers and yorkers with precision.
Wicketkeeper Litton Das added further gloss to the Bangladesh innings with a brisk 90 off 123 deliveries, cashing in on tired bowlers and some charitable fielding. He was particularly severe on the spinners, using his feet to good effect and lifting the ball cleanly over the infield.
But Das survived some anxious moments. On 14, Pathum Nissanka grassed a catch at short mid-wicket. Moments earlier, a mix-up left both batters stranded at the striker’s end – only for Sri Lanka to botch the run-out with the throw aimed at the wrong end and Kusal Mendis fumbling the take.
Das eventually perished attempting an audacious reverse sweep off debutant Tharindu Ratnayake, gloving it to Mendis behind the stumps.
With rain interrupting play shortly after lunch, only 61 overs were bowled on day two, as persistent drizzle forced an early tea and fading light ended proceedings prematurely. Play will resume 15 minutes early on Thursday to compensate for the lost time.
Rex Clementine in Galle
Hosts India will get their 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup campaign underway in Bengaluru against Sri Lanka on September 30.
Per the unveiled full schedule, Colombo – a neutral venue picked to host Pakistan’s league games – has been allotted 11 round-robin games, including four of Sri Lanka’s. All matches are slated to be day-night affairs with a 3 PM IST start.
Sri Lanka will have the opportunity to ‘host’ Australia (October 4), New Zealand (October 14), South Africa (October 17) and Bangladesh (October 20) besides Pakistan (October 24) in front of the home crowd. Colombo is also a floating option for semifinal 1 (October 29) and the final (November 2) should Pakistan qualify for the knockouts, the ICC had earlier revealed.
Defending champions Australia will be in action on the second day of the tournament when they take on the reigning T20 champions New Zealand at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on 1 October.
India’s league game against Pakistan is scheduled for Sunday (October 5) while the following Sunday (October 12) will witness the high-octane clash between India and Australia in Vizag. India will wind up their round-robin games in Bengaluru, against Bangladesh on Sunday (October 26). The last day of league-phase action will also simultaneously see 2022 runners-up England against New Zealand in Guwahati.
The top four sides from the round-robin stage will progress to the semifinals, with first-place playing fourth and second taking on third.
Full schedule:
Tuesday 30 September: India v Sri Lanka – Bengaluru
Wednesday 1 October: Australia v New Zealand – Indore
Thursday 2 October: Bangladesh v Pakistan – Colombo
Friday 3 October: England v South Africa – Bengaluru
Saturday 4 October: Australia v Sri Lanka – Colombo
Sunday 5 October: India v Pakistan – Colombo
Monday 6 October: New Zealand v South Africa – Indore
Tuesday 7 October: England v Bangladesh – Guwahati
Wednesday 8 October: Australia v Pakistan – Colombo
Thursday 9 October: India v South Africa – Vizag
Friday 10 October: New Zealand v Bangladesh – Vizag
Saturday 11 October: England v Sri Lanka – Guwahati
Sunday 12 October: India v Australia – Vizag
Monday 13 October: South Africa v Bangladesh – Vizag
Tuesday 14 October: New Zealand v Sri Lanka – Colombo
Wednesday 15 October: England v Pakistan – Colombo
Thursday 16 October: Australia v Bangladesh – Vizag
Friday 17 October: South Africa v Sri Lanka – Colombo
Saturday 18 October: New Zealand v Pakistan – Colombo
Sunday 19 October: India v England – Indore
Monday 20 October: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh – Colombo
Tuesday 21 October: South Africa v Pakistan – Colombo
Wednesday 22 October: Australia v England – Indore
Thursday 23 October: India v New Zealand – Guwahati
Friday 24 October: Pakistan v Sri Lanka – Colombo
Saturday 25 October: Australia v Sri Lanka – Indore
Sunday 26 October: England v New Zealand – Guwahati
Sunday 26 October: India v Bangladesh – Bengaluru
Wednesday 29 October: Semi-final 1 – Guwahati/Colombo
Thursday 30 October: Semi-final 2 – Bengaluru
Sunday 2 November: Final – Colombo/Bengaluru
(Cricbuzz)
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