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)
Sri Lanka survived an early onslaught to qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup Super Eights, leaving Australia right at the exit door and hoping for a miracle.
The returning captain Mitchell Marsh and the returning-to-runs Travis Head were brutal in taking Australia to 104 in the first 50 legal deliveries, but some spectacular fielding and spin bowling helped Sri Lanka take 10 for 77 off the last 70 balls.
In front of a partying full house in Pallekele, Sri Lanka’s two most prolific batters, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis, brought out both the axe and paper cuts to slice through the chase. Nissanka, who had earlier dropped Glenn Maxwell and then dismissed him with a stunner, went on to score an unbeaten hundred and take Sri Lanka home with two overs to spare.
In the absence of Matheesha Pathirana, who walked off with a calf injury in his first over, their spinners contributed six wickets to go with excellent closing from Dushmantha Chameera. Australia’s lead spinner Adam Zampa, among the best T20 spinners of all time, took no wicket and was lucky to go for only 41 in his four overs.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 184/2 in 18 overs [Pathum Nissanka 100*, Kusal Mendis 51, Pavan Rathnayake 2*; Marcus Stoinis 2-41] beat Australia 181/10 in 20 overs [Mitchell Marsh 54, Travis Head 56, Josh Inglis 27, Glenn Maxwell 22; Dushmantha Chameera 2-56, Maheesh Theekshana 1-37, Dushan Hemantha 3-37, Dunith Wellalage 1-33, Kamindu Mendis 1-19] by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
A win against Canada in their first T20I against them on Tuesday will firm up New Zealand’s spot in the Super Eight. This result will also knock out Canada; South Africa have already qualified for the next round from Group D with three wins in as many games.
New Zealand have faced Canada just three times in international cricket so far – each time in ODI World Cups. Their most recent meeting coming in the 2011 edition in Mumbai. They have won all three games and are poised to make it 4-0 against Canada in World Cups, despite the absence of Lockie Ferguson. The fast bowler has returned home for the birth of his first child and is expected to link up with the side ahead of the Super Eight. In Ferguson’s absence, Kyle Jamieson, who wasn’t even in the main squad in the first place, is set to make his T20 World Cup bow.
As for Canada, they had their moments against South Africa and UAE but they have failed to convert those into wins. On Friday in Delhi, they had UAE at 66 for 4 in the 13th over in a chase of 151, but they left the door ajar for Aryansh Sharma and Sohaib Khan to sneak home. Canada can’t afford such slip-ups against New Zealand – and then Afghanistan – if they are to notch up a win in this World Cup.
Kyle Jamieson doesn’t quite have Ferguson’s express pace, but can bang it away on a hard length and stifle the opposition batters. He also has some slower variations in his repertoire and his high-arm release could pose a big threat, especially to batters who are facing him for the first time.
Once known as “Vettori” in Canada’s club cricket circuit, Saad Bin Zafar will run into the team that was once captained by one of his heroes. The Canada left-arm spinner often attacks the stumps and keeps it tight, as his economy rate of 6.02 across 67 T20Is suggests. At 39, Saad knows he won’t be playing the game for long and will be eager to cause a few upsets on the big stage.
Jamieson is set to slot in for Ferguson unless New Zealand want to give veteran legspinner Ish Sodhi a game.
New Zealand (probable): Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner (capt), Jimmy Neesham, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy
Canada are likely to play the same XI that lost to South Africa and UAE.
Canada (probable): Dilpreet Bajwa (capt), Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana left the field four balls into his first over, after collapsing to the ground clutching his left calf, and did not return to the field during Sri Lanka’s bowling innings against Australia. Having briefly received treatment from the Sri Lanka physiotherapist immediately after sustaining the injury, Pathirana hobbled off the field with assistance from support staff.
He then spent the majority of the innings being treated in the dressing room. Sri Lanka will likely send him off for scans as soon as the match finishes.
“Matheesha Pathirana experienced discomfort in his left leg calf while bowling during the match and was unable to continue,” a statement read. “He will not bowl further in this game. A scan will be conducted tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury.”
Pathirana had begun well against Australia, bowling two dot balls and giving away three runs (including a wide) in those first four deliveries. The last two balls of the over were delivered by Dasun Shanaka, who gave away a four and bowled a dot.
Pathirana is the quickest bowler in Sri Lanka’s attack, and a key part of their death-bowling plans for the tournament in particular. He is also the second Sri Lanka bowler to come under an injury cloud, with Wanindu Hasaranga already having been ruled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury of his own.
After this game against Australa, Sri Lanka have another group match to play, against Zimbabwe. They have not earned qualification for the Super Eights yet.
(Cricinfo)
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