Sports
Holder and Brathwaite leave Sri Lanka with mountain to climb

Brathwaite and Holder played contrasting innings in a stand of 87 for the fourth wicket
The second Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka is set for a thrilling finish with the tourists heading into day five with all 10 wickets in hand and a huge target in front of them.
Half-centuries from Kraigg Brathwaite (85), Jason Holder (71*) and Kyle Mayers (55) powered the West Indies to 280/4 when the declaration was called, setting Sri Lanka a target of 377 to win.
By stumps, Sri Lanka were 29/0, with Lahiru Thirimanne (17*) and Dimuth Karunaratne (11*) at the crease.
Sri Lanka’s first innings was wrapped up quickly on day four as Kemar Roach struck twice in an over to bowl them out for 258.
With a healthy lead of 96, the West Indies got off to a steady start in their second innings. The visitors, meanwhile, received a blow when their specialist spinner Lasith Embuldeniya was stretchered off when he injured his leg while fielding.
John Campbell, who had already survived a DRS review, was dismissed on 10 when he reviewed a caught behind decision unsuccessfully off Suranga Lakmal.
With Nkrumah Bonner battling a back injury, Jermaine Blackwood was promoted to first drop and scored an eventful 18.
On the first ball of his innings, he was struck on the pad by Lakmal with Sri Lanka calling for the review. He survived that review, but only just.
On five, he was involved in a major mix-up with Brathwaite that almost saw the skipper run out for seven after Blackwood turned down a second run. Only Karunaratne’s failure to gather the ball saved Brathwaite.
On seven, Blackwood was dropped by Thirimanne at first slip, with the Sri Lankan spilling a presentable chance off the bowling of Vishwa Fernando.
Eventually, he perished to Dushmantha Chameera , edging a short ball behind and making way for Mayers.
With the West Indies looking to set Sri Lanka a big target to chase and as quickly as possible, Mayers played his shots. The left-hander raced to his half-century in just 63 deliveries, hitting eight fours in his 55 before perishing lbw to Lakmal.
By that stage the West Indies’ lead had swelled to 236 with six wickets remaining and the dismissal did little to slow them down.
Holder got off the mark with a drive through the covers for four off Dhananjaya de Silva and hit three boundaries inside the first 20 deliveries he faced.
Having raised his half-century off 137 deliveries, Brathwaite freed his arms after the tea break, picking up boundaries in back-to-back overs and looked on course to notch twin centuries. With the landmark in sight, he had his timber rattled on 85 by Chameera. That brought Brathwaite’s match with the bat to an end – a Test in which he scored 211 runs and saw out 507 deliveries.
By the time Brathwaite fell, Holder had raced to 43 and he wasted little time getting to his fifty, reaching the milestone off just 69 balls.
With a declaration coming, he and Joshua Da Silva put the foot down, adding 53 runs in less than seven overs.
When Brathwaite called them in Holder (71*) had hit seven boundaries in his 88-ball stay, with Da Silva not out on 20 off 16.
Earlier, Sri Lanka came out to bat on Thursday at 250/8 with Pathum Nissanka and Embuldeniya at the crease.
Nissanka soon got to his half-century with a single off Shannon Gabriel, passing 50 for the second time in just his third Test innings. The duo, however, were not able to add too much more to Sri Lanka’s tail. Roach, bowling his second over of the day first removed Nissanka for 51, having him caught at deep square leg. In the same over, he dismissed No.11 Vishwa Fernando for a duck, ending Sri Lanka’s innings on 258. (ICC)
Sports
Second ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka abandoned

The second ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has been called off due to rain in Christchurch.
Sports
Lahiru takes five wickets as Joes take lead

Under 19 Cricket
Off-spinner Lahiru Amarasekara produced a five-wicket haul as St. Joseph’s restricted Mahinda to 127 runs on day one of the Under 19 traditional cricket encounter at Galle on Monday.
Amarasekara was ably supported by spinner Yenula Dewthusa and Muditha Dissanayake who shared the other five wickets.
With wickets falling at regular intervals, batting opener Ranmina Hettiarachchi anchored the top order with a knock of 33 runs. Chandupa de Silva with 29 runs, Tharusha Dilshan (15) and Hiruna Gallalge (17) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures.
In their essay St. Joseph’s were comfortably placed at 132 for two wickets but back-to-back wickets in the last two overs placed them at 132 for four wickets at stumps.
At Welisara, Dinuka Tennakoon took five wickets but Maris Stella managed to post 268 runs as Shean Adithya top-scored with 83 runs. In reply Trinity were nine without loss.
Vihanga Nimsara and Rasindu Ilukshana were the heroes for Moratu Vidyalaya as their half-centuries helped them score 249 runs against St. Sylvester’s at Boyagane.
Match Details
At Galle: Mahinda 127, St. Joseph’s 132/4
Scores:
Mahinda
127 all out in 57 overs (Ranmina Hettiarachchi 33, Chandupa de Silva 29; Lahiru Amarasekara 5/34, Muditha Dissanayaka 2/23, Yenula Dewtusa 3/32)
St. Joseph’s
132 for 4 in 42.1 overs (Sadeesh Jayawardena 53, Naren Muralidaran 41; Shehan Hasaranga 2/39)
At Welisara: Maris Stella 268, Trinity 9/0
Scores:
Maris Stella
268 all out in 93.5 overs (Kaveen Fernando 26, Shean Adithya 83, Anshen de Silva 28, Ramith Bandara 33, Nethum Basnayake 26, Levin Fernando 22; Jayavi Liyanagama 2/40, Dinuka Tennakoon 5/74)
Trinity 9 for no loss in 4 overs
At Boyagane: Moratu Vidyalaya 249, St. Sylvester’s 5/1
Scores:
Moratu Vidyalaya
249 all out in 93.1 overs (Vihanga Nimsara 82, Rasindu Ilukshana 54; Isuru Gunasekara 2/28, Pansilu Bandara 2/50, Akila Wickramasinghe 3/48, Khanka Wickramasinghe 2/31)
St. Sylvester’s
5 for 1 in 4 overs.
Sports
Sowmiya clinches a triple crown, Silvijan bags a double

Northern Badminton Championship 2023
T. Silvijan Dalima was crowned men’s singles champion while S. Sowmiya clinched a triple crown at the Northern Badminton Championship 2023 in Kilinochchi during the weekend.
At the Provincial Indoor Stadium in Kilinochchi, Silvijan met K Thusan in the final clash in which the latter retired in the second set with scores reading 21-14, 16-11 in favour of the champion. L Hentry and K Kajan were the losing semi-finalists.
Meanwhile, S. Sowmiya won all three of her open events, the women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles with respective partners.
Sowmiya clinched the women’s singles crown with a 21-15, 21-13 win over R. Ragavi in the final following her doubles title win with B. Oliviya. Sowmiya and Oliviya overcame Athmika and M. Kavinaya 21-9, 21-15 to seal the women’s doubles crown.
Earlier, Sowmiya and Silvijan, the best singles duo in the tournament, also won the mixed doubles title by defeating R. Sulacsan and S . Thanojana 21-12, 21-16 in the final.
The men’s doubles final was won by L. R. Reminsan and T. Thusyanthan who beat G. Thanukanth and R. Yuthakaran with a 21-13, 21-9 score line.
The tournament, organised by the Northern Province Badminton Association, was conducted under the guidance of Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB). SLB President Rohan de Silva and a host of top officials were among the special guests at the presentation ceremony.
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