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Hope, Lewis blitz power West Indies to consolation win in 219-run chase

A stunning display of ball-striking from openers Shai Hope and Evin Lewis led West Indies to a record-breaking consolation win in their penultimate T20I against England.
The pair staged a 136-run partnership off just 55 balls to mow down a large chunk of their 219 target, scoring 10 sixes and 11 fours between them, before Rovman Powell’s 23-ball 38 made further inroads and Sheraine Rutherford saw them home in the highest successful run-chase in T20Is at Darren Sammy Stadium, and their second-highest in all T20Is.
Half-centuries from Jacob Bethell and Phil Salt took England to the joint-highest first-innings score at the venue, matching West Indies’ 218 for 5 against Afghanistan at this year’s T20 World Cup. That was after Salt and Will Jacks had made a quickfire start on an excellent pitch to take England past fifty inside the first five overs of the match. But on this occasion, West Indies had the firepower to match them and salvage something from a series already sealed by England, who won the first three games.
Hope springs, Lewis launches
John Turner. making his T20I debut after his first two appearances for England during the ODI leg of this tour, opened the bowling and conceded just five off his first over. Saqib Mahmood followed up with a maiden, but Turner’s second went for an eye-watering 25, starting with Lewis’s six over deep backward square and ending with 4, 4, 6, 4 from Hope as West Indies signalled they were up for the fight. Hope stayed sublime with back-to-back fours off Mahmood, who had caused the hosts no end of trouble this series, followed by a gorgeous drive off Sam Curran.
Hope brought up his fifth T20I fifty – and third this year – in just 23 balls with a cracking four in front of square off Rehan Ahmed, three balls after hitting him over deep midwicket for six. Lewis sprung into action with a six over long-on as Liam Livingstone entered the attack, followed by a four to bring up West Indies’ hundred off 7.3 overs. Lewis’s next six, measured at 105 metres, was truly jaw-dropping as he latched onto Livingstone’s leg-break and deposited it firmly over long on, and he rounded out a 30-run over with one more, evading Bethell as he launched himself in vain just inside the rope at deep midwicket. Lewis brought up his fifty in 26 balls with four off Curran and he reached 68 from just 31 balls before holing out to Dan Mousley, running in from the cover boundary off Rehan.
Powell beats crazy collapse
Hope was run out next ball when Nicholas Pooran nudged a Rehan delivery to mid-on then sent Hope back as Livingstone fired the ball in to the bowler with Hope still backing up. Then Pooran edged Rehan’s next ball, a googly, onto his off stump. After 10 overs, West Indies were 138 for 3, their highest score at the halfway point of a T20I innings, needing 81 runs in 60 balls and with two fresh batters at the crease. It suggested more twists to come.
Livingstone took an excellent catch over his shoulder running back from mid-on to remove Shimron Hetmyer but left the field after appearing to have jarred his knee in his exertion. Of equal concern to England at the time was the fact that West Indies captain Powell was looking all business, having raced to 27 in 14 balls. He became Turner’s maiden T20I wicket, pinned on the back thigh in line with off stump, leaving his side with 23 runs to get from 21 balls.
Rutherford skied Curran high over the bowler’s head and when it dropped in the middle of four converging fielders it felt like being West Indies’ night, if any more evidence was needed. Rutherford and Roston Chase held firm, Rutherford’s six down the ground off Mousley taking his side to within one boundary of victory with seven balls remaining. He took just one, slamming the very next over deep midwicket for another maximum, and victory.
An expensive opening over from Obed McCoy included four leg byes, thanks to some questionable fielding, bookended by two fours off Salt’s bat, clipped in front of square and launched over mid-off. Akeal Hosein didn’t fare any better upon his introduction in the third over, two short balls in succession dispatched by Salt for four through the covers and a thumping six over midwicket before Jacks chimed in with a straight six to make it 18 runs off the over.
Jacks maintained his onslaught against McCoy and Alzarri Joseph, crashing the latter for an 89-metre six over long-on as England’s openers took their team past fifty in 4.2 overs. Joseph’s celebration was non-existent when he accounted for Jacks with a short ball, top-edged behind square leg, Pooran running round to gather comfortably as Joseph simply frowned, put his head down and stalked away to take his place in the outfield. But Salt carried on, raising his fifty with back-to-back fours off Powell, clubbed straight down the ground and cut deftly through backward point. It was his third half-century of this tour to go with his unbeaten 103 in the first T20I.
Salt held his breath moments later when he miscued off Hosein towards McCoy, who did well running in from long off to meet it as it dropped a fraction short of his dive. He was out a short time later though, attempting a pull shot off Chase, the ball brushing his glove and sailing down the leg side to a waiting Pooran for a 35-ball 55.
Jos Buttler looked set to continue England’s impressive gambit as he picked off boundaries from Chase and Gudakesh Motie, but the pair combined to end his innings on 38 as Buttler reverse-swept Motie to Chase at backward point. Motie then removed Livingstone cheaply, caught by Hetmyer at deep midwicket. However, while Bethell’s half-century in the first match of this series had come in a supporting role to Salt, here he took the lead with Salt already back in the changeroom. Three sixes in succession off Chase took Barbados-born Bethell to a 22-ball fifty, his third of the tour, and he remained not out on 62 off just 32 balls after clearing the boundary five times in all and striking four fours.
Brief scores:
West Indies 221 for 5 in 19 overs (Evin Lewis 68, Shai Hope 54, Rovman Powell 38, Sherfane Rutherford 29*; John Turner 1-42, Rehan Ahmed 3-43) beat England 218 for 5 in 20 overs (Jacob Bethell 62*, Phil Salt 55, Will Jacks 25, Jos Buttler 38, Sam Curran 24; Alzarri Joseph 1-33, Gudakesh Motie 2-40, Roston Chase 1-47) by five wickets
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Ireland surge ahead despite Muzarabani’s heroics

Ireland and Zimbabwe continued to zigzag with the flow yet again in Bulawayo but it was the visitors who were better placed at the end of the day. barry McCarthy’s toil and versatility combined with Andy McBrine’s consistency provided them with the hope of capturing a substantial lead.
Blessing Muzarabani thought otherwise. His inspired 67-run stand for the tenth wicket with Trevor Gwandu took Zimbabwe from a position of danger into the comforts of a slender lead. But it was a sign of the pitch easing out, something Ireland’s top order didn’t waste.
Peter Moor dispatched Muzarabani, who didn’t bowl consistent lines, as Ireland raced to 42 for 0 in seven overs. Richard Ngarava got one to angle away to ensure Moor’s 33 didn’t grow to become a good score, but his partner, Andy Balbirnie, joined Curtis Campher to ensure Ireland went to stumps unscathed.
Brief scores:
Ireland 260 and 83 for 1 in 21 overs (Andy Balbirnie 32*, Peter Moor 30; Richard Ngarava 1-25) lead Zimbabwe 267 in 86.1 overs (Nick Welch 90, Blessing Muzarabani 47; Barry McCarthy 4-75, Andy McBrine 3-59) by 76 runs
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Malintha bags ten wickets as St. Sebastian’s book semi-final ticket

A painstaking knock of 49 runs by Kaveesha Perera and a valuable half century by Navod Fernando helped St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa pull of exciting four wickets victory over St. Anthony’s College Katugastota in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket quarter-final at Gajaba Regiment Ground Saliyapura, Anuradhapura on Friday.
It was a huge turnaround for the Sebs after conceding a first innings deficit of 51 runs. Tournament’s highest wicket taker, Malintha Silva’s six wicket haul in the second innings was the turning point as Sebs dismissed St. Anthony’s for 103 runs. Malintha collected a match bag of ten wickets.
Chasing 149 runs for victory St. Sebastian’s lost three wickets for 40 runs but Navod Fernando’s 58 runs and Kaveesha’s 131-ball 49 helped them ease nerves and reach the target with a session to spare.
Now St. Sebastian’s will meet the winners of the match between St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s in the semi-final on 12, 13 and 14 at Samadi Ground Anuradhapura.
In the other quarter-final, first innings points were enough for Royal to advance to the semi-final.
Despite having a huge first innings lead, Royal decided not to enforce the follow-on. They posted 248 runs thanks to an unbeaten 122 runs by Vimath Dinsara. In their second essay S. Thomas’ were 186 for three wickets at close.
Now, Royal will wait for a decision by a SLSCA committee to see who would be their semi-final opponents from the Mahanama-Trinity match. The quarter-final between Mahanama and Trinity did not last the full distance after Mahanama disputed a move by the ground staff to roll the wicket earlier than the scheduled time and pulled out. Trinity were ahead in the first innings. The committee were scheduled to meet in the morning on Saturday (8) to take a decision.
Match Details
At Gajaba Regiment Ground Saliyapura, Anuradhapura
Scores
St. Anthony’s 204 all out in 70 overs (Sanuka Kalpana 41, Charuka Ekanayake 24, Kevan Fernando 89n.o.; Risinu Prabesh 2/21, Malintha Silva 4/60) and 103 all out in 35.4 overs (Okitha Fernando 29, Charuka Ekanayake 21, Kevan Fernando 28; Malintha Silva 6/54, Shenas Hashein 3/23)
St. Sebastian’s 159 all out in 67 overs (Ushen Silva 33, Ryan Dissanayake 33, Navod Fernando 34; Charuka Ekanayake 3/66, Dinura Ganegoda 3/20, Kevan Fernando 2/09) and 00 for 1 overnight 149 for 6 in 51.1 overs (Kaveesha Perera 49, Navod Fernando 58; Charuka Ekanayake 2/33, Ryan Gregory 2/24, Sadew Amarakoon 2/22)
At Samadi Ground Anuradhapura
Scores
Royal 301 all out in 102.4 overs (Hirun Liyanarachchi 22, Rehan Peiris 82, Ramiru Perera 81, Yasindu Dissanayake 58; Kavindu Dias 2/69, Abheeth Paranawidana 2/66, Minon Warnasuriya 2/37) and 50 for 2 overnight 248 all out in 63.5 overs (Isula Geeganage 47, Vimath Dinsara 122n.o, Ramiru Perera 25; Abheeth Paranawidana 3/63, Aaron de Silva 3/48)
S. Thomas’ 120 all out in 58.2 overs (Dineth Goonewardene 28, Sachitha Gunasinghe 33; Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi 5/31, Ranuka Malaviarachchi 2/39) and 186 for 3 in 39 overs (Sadew Soysa 57, Jaden Amaraweera 46, Dineth Gunawardana 44n.o., Mithila Charles 34n.o.)
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President and representatives of IMF discuss progress of EFF

A comprehensive discussion regarding the progress of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took place on Thursday (06) at the Presidential Secretariat, between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and the IMF delegation.
The current government has already reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF on the third review regarding the extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of USD3 billion.
The details of this review are expected to be presented to the International Monetary Fund’s Board of Directors by the end of this month. In this regard, discussions were held regarding the progress and the government’s involvement in continuing the program moving forward.
Once the approval is granted by the IMF Executive Board, Sri Lanka is expected to release the fourth tranche of the extended loan, amounting to 333 million dollars.
The discussion was also attended by IMF Executive Director Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Alternate Executive Director Dr. P. K. G. Harischandra, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando, Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwadana, and Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe.
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