Sports
Jaffna Stallions unbeaten after Perera onslaught
Thisara Perera smashed 97 runs off 44 balls to help Jaffna Stallions to a comprehensive 66 run win over Dambulla Viikings in the LPL yesterday.
You wouldn’t find a better hitter of the cricket ball than Thisara Perera and yesterday he once again proved what damage he can do with the bat as he smashed 97 off 44 balls to rescue Jaffna Stallions innings in an LPL encounter against Dambulla Viikings at Suriyawewa.
Jaffna were struggling at 64 for five when Thisara walked into bat and then he stitched some valuable partnerships with the tail to change the complexion of the game.
The Jaffna captain reached his half-century off 27 balls and after that cleared the boundary with little trouble. There were eight fours and seven sixes during his knock. He was particularly harsh on Lahiru Kumara who went for 30 runs in the 19th over of the innings. That’s the most expensive over in the competition so far.
Perera just missed a well deserved hundred but his 97 runs did the trick for his side. .
Jaffna’s 218 proved to be too much for Dambulla, who were bowled out for 152 to lose by 66 runs.
Samit Patel, who turned 36 yesterday top scored with 41 runs for Dambulla. Patel was striking the ball well having hit four sixes and it needed a special delivery to end his innings. Wanindu Hasaranga bowled a superb wrong’un that deceived the batsman and bowled him.
There was some superb fast bowling on display as well with Usman Shinwari and Duanne Olivier being the stand out performers. Ramesh Mendis copped a nasty one from Olivier on his helmet as he was given a taste of what it means to face international fast bowling,
Shinwari finished with three wickets. Perera had a great game of cricket overall picking up two wickets as well along with his 97 runs, his career best score in T-20s.
Jaffna are unbeaten in the competition.
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All-round Fatima Sana, spinners give Pakistan a winning start
Pakistan Women 116 in 20 overs (Fatima Sana 30, Nida Dar 23, Chamari Athapaththu 3-18, Sugandika Kumari 3-19, Udeshika Prabodhani 3-20, Kavisha Dilhari 1-16) beat Sri Lanka Women 85 for 9 in 20 overs (Vishmi Guneratne 20, Nilakshika Silva 22; Fatima Sana 2-10, Sadia Iqbal 3-17, Omaima Sohail 2-17, Nashra Sandhu 2-15) by 31 runs
Pakistan secured their first win in four meetings against Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka and opened their campaign with a win at T20 World Cup 2024. Sri Lanka had been riding a wave of success since the last T20 World Cup, winning three out of six bilateral T20I series and 22 out of 32 games, but Pakistan, who had lost four out of their last six series and 16 out of 27 games, had the measure of them on a slow, low Sharjah pitch.
Run-scoring was laboured on the opening day of the tournament and scoring rates did not get above six an over but Pakistan’s 116 still looked well below par. None of their top six scored more than 23, there were no partnerships in the top eight of over 25, and captain Fatima Sana, batting at No. 7, was the top scorer with 30. For Sri Lanka, left-armer Udeshika Prabofhani, left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari and captain Chamari Athapaththu with her offspin, picked up three wickets each.
Buoyed by their efforts in the field, Sri Lanka would have fancied their chances of pulling off victory but fared the worst of the four teams in action today with the bat. They were tied down by spin, particularly Pmaima Sohail’s offspin and lack of pace. With the ball moving slowly through the air and keeping low, the Sri Lanka batters were often far too early into their shots. They were reduced to 52 for 5 in the 13th over and there was no coming back from that.
It took until the third over of the second match before the World Cup saw its first six and it came from Pakistan’s only centurion in the format: Muneeba Ali. She advanced down the track against Sri Lanka’s only seamer, Prabodhani, and sent her 63 metres over midwicket boundary. On a day when boundaries were particularly scarce, there were two more sixes in the Pakistan innings to go with five fours. Sri Lanka’s innings featured only three fours. There were no sixes in the earlier game between Bangladesh and Scotland and just 15 fours across both innings.
After doing an excellent job in keeping pressure on Pakistan by taking the wicket of Sidra Amin and with her bowling changes, Athapaththu brought herself on for a second over in the 14th. Her second ball was full outside off stump and took Tuba Hassan’s outside edge as she camped on the back foot and was caught behind. That brought Pakistan’s last recognised batter, finisher Aliya Riaz, to the crease with plenty of time to cash in but she missed the line of the next ball and was hit on the front pad. Riaz was walking off as she reviewed and the ball-tracking revealed it was hitting middle and leg stump. Athapaththu was on a hat-trick and came oh-so-close to getting it when Diana Baig edged the next ball but wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani could not hold on. Athapaththu finished with 3 or 18 from her four overs.
It could be argued that Sana made a tactical blunder by batting herself at No. 7 but she scored 30 off 20 balls, which ended up changing the game, and then took great responsibility with the ball. Baig only bowled one ball before she pulled up with what looked like a calf injury and Sana decided to take over immediately. She finished Baig’s over and kept herself on for more, when she took out her opposite number. Athapaththu was leaden-footed when she drove Sana to extra cover where Sohail took a good catch to her left. Athapaththu understood the magnitude of the moment and punched her bat as she walked off the field. Her dismissal sent Sri Lanka into a shell, and they finished the powerplay on 26 for 2, with the required rate already up at 6.50.
It was game over, in theory, when Vishmi Guneratne hit Nashra Sandhu straight down the ground and into the hands of Amin to leave Sri Lanka 52 for 5. But this is not to put the blame on the 19-year-old. Instead, it’s an illustration of the kinds of shots that were being played in frustration as the Pakistan spinners became more and more difficult to get away. On a big outfield, Sri Lanka scored 47 singles but only nine twos and while Pakistan were only marginally better with 51 singles and 11 twos, it’s those tiny margins that make a difference.
Brief scores:
Pakistan Women 116 in 20 overs (Fatima Sana 30, Nida Dar 23, Chamari Athapaththu 3-18, Sugandika Kumari 3-19, Udeshika Prabodhani 3-20, Kavisha Dilhari 1-16) beat Sri Lanka Women 85 for 9 in 20 overs (Vishmi Guneratne 20, Nilakshika Silva 22; Fatima Sana 2-10, Sadia Iqbal 3-17, Omaima Sohail 2-17, Nashra Sandhu 2-15) by 31 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sports
Joseph Vaz, Lyceum clinch titles as Dilni, Sandun win best athlete awards
by Reemus Fernando
Standout performances of young prodigy Dilni Rajapaksha and hurdler Sandun Koshala earned them the best athlete titles as St. Joseph Vaz’s College, Wennappuwa and Lyceum International Wattala clinched the boys’ and girls’ overall championships respectively of the Sir John Tarbat Senior Championships at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Thursday.
The girls’ overall title changed hands from Ratnayaka Central, Walala for the first time in twelve years as Lyceum aggregated 189 points to win the trophy.
Ratnayaka Central had won 25 girls’ titles since 1998 and the only time they had been denied the top spot previously was in 2012. Lyceum rode on the strong performances of their sprinters and the power of their recruitment drive to dethrone the reigning champions who collected 157 points. Lyceum’s newest recruit Dulanjana Pradeepani (formerly of Wickramabahu Central Gampola) was on the money as she earned them as many as 30 points winning three individual events apart from running a vital leg in the Under 20 4×400 metres relay. In her third individual event yesterday she returned a time of 4:43.78 seconds to break the 2009 meet record in the Under 20 girls’ 1,500 metres.
Lyceum had the honour of bagging the best athlete titles in both the boys’ and girls’ categories. It was a rare achievement for 14-year-old Dilni Rajapaksha, who shattered nearly a three decades old Under 16 girls’ long jump meet record to beat senior athletes to the best athlete award. It was the first time an athlete in the under 16 age category had cleared the six metres mark.
South Asian Junior Championship gold medallist Sandun Koshala clocked 14.10 seconds to win the Under 20 110 metres hurdles event. That won him 1048 points, the highest in the boys category.
Incidentally, Koshala and Dilni are both trained by former national athlete Damitha Dahanayake.
Sprinting was the strong point of St. Joseph Vaz’s who collected 117 points to beat St. Benedict’s to clinch the boys’ overall award. The Bens aggregated 77 points, while Maris Stella, Negombo were a close third with 74 points.
Of the final day’s impressive performances Tharushi Abisheka’s dominant run in the Under 18 girls’ 1,500 metres was arguably the best. The South Asian Junior Championship gold medallist from Wickramabahu Central Gampola slashed nearly ten seconds off the meet record as she returned a time of 4:35.84 seconds to win.
Sports
Jayawickrama gets one-year ban for breaching anti-corruption code
The ICC has banned Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama from all cricket for one year, of which the last six months are suspended, after he admitted to breaching the global body’s anti-corruption code.
In August the ICC charged Jayawickrama with two breaches of the code. He has admitted to breaching article 2.4.7, which relates to: “Obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU [anti-corruption unit], including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code.”
The charges, according to an ICC release, relate to international cricket and the Lanka Premier League (LPL).
Having made his international debut in a Test against Bangladesh in April 2021, Jayawickrama has played five Tests, five ODIs and five T20Is. His last appearance for Sri Lanka was in a T20I series at home against Australia in 2022.
In LPL 2021, Jayawickrama was a part of the Jaffna Kings side that won its second title. He played one match that season, taking two wickets. In LPL 2024, he turned out for Dambulla Sixers.(Cricinfo)
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