Sports
India quicks lead demolition of Ireland on fizzing pitch
New York’s second match as a T20I venue was a lot like its first: low-scoring and brutal. Two days after South Africa bowled Sri Lanka out for 77 here, India bowled Ireland out for 96. A different strip was used for this game, but the bounce was just as inconsistent, and batting just as difficult, if not outright dangerous.
India’s selection was spot-on – they picked four fast bowlers including Hardik Pandya, and two spin-bowling allrounders to lengthen their batting, which meant they left Kuldeep Yadav on the bench. They didn’t need all that batting in the end, as Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant helped them cross the line with 46 balls remaining, but the packed pace attack proved extremely useful. Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik picked up 8 for 81 between them, extracting seam movement and up-and-down bounce right through an Ireland innings that lasted just 16 overs.
As good as those performances were, though, this match will be remembered for the conditions. Batters from both teams took body blows – Rohit retired hurt on 52, soon after being struck on the arm – and by the time India wrapped up their win, their thoughts may have gone ahead to June 9 at the same venue, and what kind of pitch they may have to play Pakistan on.
The first two overs gave enough of a clue of how this pitch would behave, with both Arshdeep and Siraj extracting inconsistent bounce. One ball from Arshdeep – seam-up rather than a slower ball or cutter – bounced a second time before reaching wicketkeeper Pant, but most of the inconsistency was up rather than down, with one ball forcing Pant into a leaping, overhead, goalkeeper-style save.
Extra bounce brought India their first wicket, Paul Stirling top-edging a heave across the line at the start of the third over.
By the end of that over, Arshdeep had taken out both openers. He was finding ways to mix up his stock inswinger to the right-hander with balls that kept going with the left-armer’s angle across them, and one of these away-slanters bowled Andy Balbirnie, as he stayed leg-side of the ball and tried to steer one down to third.
By the end of the powerplay, Ireland were still only two down, but Harry Tector had already been hit
By then they had also lost Lorcan Tucker, bowled trying to drive a nip-backer from Hardik.
India kept getting the length ball to nip around and the short-of-length ball to climb, and Ireland kept losing wickets. Even the introduction of spin didn’t stem the collapse, as Barry McCarthy was caught and bowled by an Axar Patel ball that stuck in the pitch. At 50 for 8, Ireland were in danger of falling short of their lowest T20I total – 68 against West Indies during the 2010 edition of this tournament.
They eventually crossed that mark, with Gareth Delany’s risk-taking coming off – where that of his team-mates’ mostly didn’t – in a 14-ball 26 that carried Ireland to 96.
Rohit and Virat Kohli came out swinging – perhaps they reckoned that the new ball and powerplay field restrictions gave them the best chance of quick runs – and came away with contrasting outcomes.
Kohli fell early, caught on the deep-third boundary while charging at Mark Adair and looking to slap him over the covers.
Rohit enjoyed two slices of early luck – Balbirnie put down a tough chance at second slip in the first over, off Adair, and an inside-edge in the second over, off Josh Little, ran away for four past the stumps – and carried on to score his 30th T20I fifty. The pitch remained treacherous, and Rohit’s control percentage hovered in the 40s for most of his innings, before climbing to 51 by the time he retired hurt. But he hit some telling blows too, most notably two trademark pulls off successive balls from Little that brought up his 599th and 600th sixes in international cricket. Before that, he also went past 4000 runs in T20Is.
Pant looked more fluent than Rohit, indeed as fluent as anyone could have looked on this pitch
onthe glove and the thigh pad and was batting on 1 off 10. That became 4 off 15 before a nasty short ball from Bumrah hurried him, and he ended up gloving the attempted pull into his helmet and then to the fielder at short extra-cover.
, and hit three sixes and two fours while scoring an unbeaten 36 off 26. He took a hit to the elbow and one to the shoulder, and his response to the latter blow summed him up as a cricketer and character: he finished the match off the next ball, reverse-scooping McCarthy for six over the wicketkeeper.
Brief scores:
India
97 for 2 in 12.2 overs (Rohit Sharma 52, Riishabh Pant 36*; Mark Adair 1-27, Ben White 1-06) beat Ireland 96 in 16 overs (Gareth Delany 26; Hardik Pandya 3-27, Jasprit Bumrah 2-06, Arshdeep Singh 2-35, Mohammed Siraj 1-13, Axar Patel 1-03) by eight wickets
The third edition of the World Test Championship kicks off in the sweltering south with Galle set to host the curtain-raiser as Sri Lanka lock horns with Bangladesh on Tuesday. This time around, the Sri Lankans have the luxury of playing India and South Africa at home in addition to Bangladesh, while away tours to West Indies, New Zealand and Pakistan lie ahead. Its not a bad schedule at all.
In the last cycle which came to a climax at Lords this week with Australia squaring off against South Africa in the final Sri Lanka flirted with a spot in the big dance but ultimately fell short. Four straight losses two in the Rainbow Nation and two in their own backyard left them stumped. Most fans remember the defeats in Durban, Port Elizabeth and Galle, but few rewind to where it all unraveled.
It began with a home series against Pakistan in 2023, where Sri Lanka were caught napping and lost both Tests. From then on, they were playing catch-up cricket, chasing shadows instead of dictating terms.
This time, they can ill afford to hit the snooze button. In a competition where momentum is everything, its not just about starting well its about staying in the hunt and finishing like a freight train.
After the opener in Galle, the action shifts to Colombo, with the second Test scheduled at SSC. Sri Lanka will walk in as favourites.
This series also marks a changing of the guard. Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lankas most prolific opening bat, has called time on a storied career spanning for 15 years. A rock at the top, he leaves big boots to fill. And after the first Test, Angelo Mathews another old warhorse will bid adieu, bringing down the curtain on a career that began in 2009.
The selection conundrum now is who slots in where. Lahiru Udara has been knocking on the door with truckloads of runs in domestic cricket, but will the selectors hand him the key or stick with Oshada Fernando, whos been warming the bench as backup opener?
Then comes the Mathews question. Who takes over the No. 4 slot, the spine of any Test side? Pasindu Sooriyabandara and Sonal Dinusha have put their hands up with strong performances for the A team, and Pawan Ratnayake is now in the mix too. Of the trio, only one will get the nod but who has the temperament to wear that cap?
Another twist in the tale: will the replacement bat at four, or will the selectors reshuffle the deck? Kamindu Mendis, the elegant left-hander with a golden 2024 behind him, has steadily climbed the order and seems the frontrunner for that prime real estate.
Meanwhile, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva is under the pump. Hes clung onto the captaincy largely due to the absence of viable alternatives, but his leadership has lacked bite. With four straight Test losses under his belt and a batting slump thats seen him go ten games without a century, his place is under the scanner. Waiting for things to happen wont cut it anymore its time he grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.
Sri Lanka s spin department has its own selection headache. Prabath Jayasuriya is a shoo-in, but who will partner him? Offies Nishan Peiris and Ramesh Mendis have both been given the ball and the benefit of the doubt but neither has nailed it. Peiris, with just three caps, still has room to grow. Mendis, on the other hand, after 16 Tests, is still struggling to bowl six balls in the same postcode.
by Rex Clementine ✍️
Records Asia’s fastest time in U20 category
With a week to go for the Thailand Open Athletics Championship, Ambagamuwa Central athlete Ayomal Akalanka flexed his muscles with a new Sri Lanka National Junior record time in the 400 metres hurdles at the Junior National Athletics Championship at Diyagama on Friday.
One of the brightest prospects to emerge from the schools set up in recent years, Akalanka clocked 50.20 seconds to win the Under 20 400 metres hurdles. The athlete trained by veteran coach Anura Bandara broke his own National Junior record.
Akalanka is the youngest athlete picked in the Sri Lanka team for the Thailand Open Athletics Championship which will be held from June 22.
Shavindu Avishka won the Under 18 boys’ 800 metres
The record breaking feat is the fourth fastest time in the world this year in his age category and the fastest time in Asia.
His 51.33 seconds time clocked in March this year was the sixth fastest time in Asia untill he reached his personal best on Friday to take the top spot in the region this year.
Akalanka became the senior national champion in the 400 metres hurdles last year and has maintained his supremacy beating veterans at senior level this year as well.
Sri Lanka will field eight athletes at the Thailand Open and it will be a big opportunity for Akalanka to brush shoulders against seniors. It is an opportunity his former training partner Dhanuka Dharsana did not get when he accomplished similar achievements turning tables on seniors while competing at junior level.
by Reemus Fernando ✍️
At 12.45pm on a sunny Saturday at Lord’s, South Africa secured the most significant moment in their cricket history with the World Test Championship title. It was not without nerves – how could it be? – but this time there was no agony at the end. Aiden Markram took them to the brink with an epic 136, an innings that will go down as the country’s most important in Tests, before the winning runs were driven through the covers by Kyle Verreynne to spark the celebrations.
No longer was the 1998 ICC Knockout, with its various names and caveats, the only reference point for South Africa’s global success. After so many near misses, they had a crowning moment. It will be a hugely popular victory, too, as the underdog story so often is, and as part of the wider narrative around the health of Test cricket outside of the Big Three.
For all the success Australia have gathered over the years, this will be a bruising experience given they had managed to take a 74-run first-innings which had been extended into three figures before collapsing to 73 for 7 on the second evening. The lower order repaired some of the damage, and the bowlers gave it their all, but for once they finished second.
Resuming on 213 for 2 needing 69 more for victory and eight wickets in hand would not normally be a scene for great uncertainty, but this was no ordinary occasion. The first run of the day, a push into the covers by Temba Bavuma, was cheered loudly by a crowd heavily in favour of South Africa – as it had been throughout the game.
Bavuma had fought through the pain of a hamstring strain he picked up early in his innings, and left the team management contemplating retiring him hurt at tea yesterday, but instead he went on to forge the match-defining stand of 147 with Markram.
There was no fairytale ending of Bavuma being there when the winning run were scored as he edged an excellent lifting delivery from Pat Cummins that just opened the door for Australia. The celebrations certainly suggested they still believed – while no one needed reminding of South Africa’s history – and the tension was palpable with runs hard to come by.
Markram was able to relieve the pressure with occasional boundaries, including a square drive off Cummins the ball after being beaten on the drive and an even more authoritative pull.
However, Australia made them earn every run. Mitchell Starc continued his outstanding match with a superb delivery to remove Tristan Stubbs with 41 still needed, which probably felt like 141 to anyone of a South African persuasion.
Australia’s desperation led to them burning their three reviews – two for lbws that weren’t especially close and another for a glove down the leg side against Stubbs the ball before he fell to Starc – and ironically, with scores level, Verreynne would glove an attempted scoop off Starc that wasn’t given out.
An on-drive by David Bedingham off Cummins brought the requirement down to under 20 and the chants from the crowd grew again.
Australia managed to stretch the game out to give them a brief burst with the second new ball but Josh Hazelwood’s first delivery with it was pinged off his pads by Markram with the next being worked away for three to bring the countdown to single figures.
Markram was aiming leg side again when he picked out midwicket, but this time nothing was going to stop South Africa. As he started to walk off, a number of the Australians congratulated him. They knew they had been beaten by one of the great innings.
Brief scores:
South Africa 138 in 57.1 over (David Bedingham 45, Temba Bavuma 36; Pat Cummins 6-28) and 282 for 5 in 83.4 overs (Aiden Markram 146, Temba Bavuma 66, David Bedingham 21*; Mitchell Starc 3-66) beat Australia 212 in 56.4 overs (Brau Webster 72, Steven Smith 66; Kagiso Rabada 5-51, Marco Jansen 3-49) and 207 in 65 overs (Mitchell Starc 58, Alex Carey 43 Kagiso Rabada 4-59, Lungi Ngidi 3-38) by five wickets
[Cricinfo]
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