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.

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.

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]