Sports
Little known World Cup snippets
by Rex Clementine
The Cricket World Cup is just around the corner and the national cricket team has enjoyed both unprecedented success and unexpected lows over the previous 12 editions of the competition. One-time champions, Sri Lanka were also runners-up on two occasions and semi-finalists on one other time.
Their campaigns in 1999, where as defending champions they were knocked out in the first round and the 1987 tournament where they failed to win a single game remain disappointments.
Some records like the Upul Tharanga – T.M. Dilshan partnership for the first wicket worth 282 runs still stands and so do the ten-wicket drubbing that Sri Lanka handed England in the 2011 quarter-final, Chaminda Vaas’ hat-trick in the first three balls in Pietermaritzburg and Kumar Sangakkara’s feat for most dismissals.
These are well documented stories but today we will take a look at some narratives that have hardly received the attention of the public.
The 2015 World Cup schedule was so tough that on one day Sri Lanka were playing in New Zealand and the next day they were in Australia before flying back to New Zealand and then back to Australia again.
Having won their game against Bangladesh at MCG, the team was rushing back to the team hotel to pack their bags to catch an early morning flight to Wellington across the Tasman sea.
Man of the Match T.M. Dilshan attended the press briefing and he was asked how tough it was for his team to constantly travel between the countries while some other teams didn’t have such demanding schedules. The task was made tougher given the strict quarantine laws in both countries.
As Dilshan was about to answer, team manager Michael de Zoysa (bless him), interrupted and said, “I know it’s tough, but we don’t care because we play England next. England is a bye.’
When England batted first and made 309, it looked as if Michael had to eat his words, but his boys made a mockery of the run chase reaching the target with nine wickets and plenty of balls to spare.
During the 1996 World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya had ended the career of a few bowlers – Manoj Prabhakar of India and England’s Richard Illingworth and Dermot Reeve never played again.
India were so obsessed with Jayasuriya that their entire team meeting ahead of the semi-final was how to stop Jayasuriya. In the end, Jayasuriya was dismissed in the third ball, but Aravinda de Silva counterattacked to take the game away from India.
In the finals of that tournament, as Asanka Gurusinghe and Aravinda de Silva were building a nice partnership, a drinks break was coming along and coach Dav Whatmore called up 12th man Ravindra Pushpakumara and wanted some vital information passed onto the two batters. As if Whatmore’s advice weren’t enough, all the senior players too chipped in urging the 12th man to say various things to the two batters.
Pushpa listened attentively but as he walked onto the field he thought for himself the run chase is going so smooth and why would he interrupt it. So, the only thing he said to the batters was, ‘well played aiya’ and returned to the dressing room without passing on any message.
Sir Garry Sobers was Sri Lanka’s coach during the 1983 campaign. The team was training at Headingley and Ashantha de Mel was swinging the ball to deadly effect and not many were able to put bat to ball.
Amused by the batters’ struggle, Sir Garry, who was nearly 50 at that point, asked for a single pad, a pair of gloves and started smashing de Mel all over. He wasn’t even using a bat. He had taken out a stump! The players were marvelling his skills even at that age.
Another West Indies genius Brian Lara was caught behind in the 2003 World Cup encounter in Cape Town, but umpire David Shepherd turned the appeal down. The umpires then told the Sri Lankan fielders that it is Lara and they should know better that he walks if he nicks it.
During the drinks break when the Sri Lankans told Lara what Shepherd had said, he explained how it works. ‘I do walk yes, but I don’t walk when I am the captain maan.’
Sidath Wettimuny in his international career hit only one six. It came in a World Cup fixture against England in 1983 at Taunton. His girlfriend was coming to see the game. Sidath had told her that the moment he spotted her, he will be hitting a six towards her. Ian Botham was bowling and Sidath took a chance and for once the man who put a lot of emphasis on batting with a straight bat didn’t mind taking a chance with a cross batted heave towards mid-wicket. Things people do for love!
The inaugural World Cup in 1975 was a baptism by fire for the new kids on the block. They had been hammered by West Indies by nine wickets and Pakistan by 192 runs but against Australia they put up a far better show.
Chasing 329 to win in 60 overs, Sri Lanka were well placed with Duleep Mendis and Sunil Wettimuny being involved in a decent partnership. Ian Chappell, the Australian captain then called up his main weapon Jeff Thomson and both batters had to retire hurt after being hit by the quickest bowler at that time.
As Mendis was recovering from the nasty blow to his head in a London hospital, a policeman visited him in the ward and asked, ‘Excuse me sir. Do you want to press charges against this Thomson.’
From fighting hemoglobin defdeficiency to creating national records
Kelaniya University undergraduate Rasara Wijesuriya is set to become the first Sri Lankan female athlete to compete in the two longest track events at the Asian Athletics Championship outside Sri Lanka. The athlete trained by veteran coach Sajith Jayalal established a new national record in the 10,000 metres in February this year prompting track and field authorities to shortlist her for the May 27-31 event taking place in Gumi, South Korea. Incidentally, it will be her first competition outside the country after the postponement of the South Asian Athletics Championship for which she was first selected.
“It is an exciting prospect as I have not competed outside Sri Lanka,” Rasara told The Sunday Island.
Hailing from Ampara, Rasara first reached national level when she won the 800m and 1500m at the Eastern Province Schools Athletics championships following which she received a sports scholorship at Ratnayake Central Walala for her A/L studies. However, at Walala she was diagnosed with a hemoglobin deficiency and had to stop training on medical advice.
“I did not train from February to August that year. I think the hemoglobin deficiency was due to lack of nutrition. I started training under Sajith Sir in 2023,” replied the 22 year old.
It is remarkable to note an athlete who had to stop training for low hemoglobin counts improving in a short time to shatter national records in gruelling long distance events.
In February, Rasara broke US based athlete Hiruni Wijayaratne’s 10,000m national record (33:55.04 secs) with a feat of 33:39.60 seconds.
From the early 90s the Sri Lanka National record of the 10,000m had remained with Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena until Hiruni erased it in the last decade. The record breaking feat in February has firmly established Rasara as the athlete to beat in every distance from 5000m to Cross Country races in Sri Lanka. At the Asian level she will have a tough ask with seasoned runners of the region and African born distance runners competing for Middle Eastern country joining the frey.
Some of Sri Lanka’s legendary athletes have been associated with the 5000m and the 10,000m success at Asian level. In his day S.L.B Rosa turned tables on Japanese favourites to win a gold double in these events at the Asian Games. But at the Asian Championships, the flagship event organised by the regional federation no male athlete has won a medal in any of these events. Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena became the first athlete to win a medal for Sri Lanka in these events when she clocked 34 minutes and 47 seconds to finish second in the 10,000 m at the 2003 edition in Manila.
Not many Sri Lakan female athletes pursuing long distance events have succeeded outside Sri Lanka. In fact Sri Lanka had not fielded female athletes for the gruelling events at the Asian Championships untill the country hosted the biennial event in 2002.
As the host country, Sri Lanka had the luxury of fielding three athletes each for every discipline. While D.A. Inoka competed in both the 5000m and the 10,000m, Sujeewa Nilmini made her Championship debut in the 10,000m in Colombo. According to Sri Lanka Athletics statistics H.M.W.K. Herath (5,000m), Kanchanamala Udagedara (5,000m) and M.A. Chandrawathie (10,000m) were the others to have competed for the hosts.
That was the only occation when more than one female athlete competed for Sri Lanka in these disciplnes. That was also the only occation one female athlete (D.A. Inoka) competed in both events. With Sri Lanka Athletics opting for medal winning standards to send athletes for overseas events in recent times not many athletes got opportunities to compete at Asian level in the longest track events. Rasara will be aiming to make her overseas debut a memmorable one.
by Reemus Fernando
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IPL 2025: Dayal trumps Chennai Super Kings in last over again to take Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the top
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) outgunned Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chinnaswamy yet again, defending 213 on a flat pitch in a wildly see-sawing classic.
It came down to Yash Dayal vs MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja once again. In 2024, the left-arm seamer had bested Dhoni and put RCB in the playoffs. A year on, he denied Dhoni and CSK once again, defending 14 off the last over with a dew-slicked ball. Dayal this time put RCB on top of the IPL 2025 points table, with 16 points and a step closer to the playoffs.
CSK were left needing 35 off the last three overs with Jadeja, who was batting with attacking intent that was missing earlier in the season, and Dhoni in the middle. It was anybody’s game, but Suvash Sharma tipped it RCB’s way with an 18th over that went for only six runs.
It then swung CSK’s way when Virat Kohli dropped a regular catch – of Jadeja – at long-on and saw the first ball of the 19th over go through him to the boundary. Dhoni soon scythed a legcutter from Bhuvneshwar Kumar over cover for six, and followed with a single to make it 15 required off the last over.
Dayal’s plan in the final over was to shut Dhoni and Jadeja down with yorkers. With dew around, he was not able to nail his yorkers, but his low full tosses were still hard to put away, leading two singles and Dhoni’s wicket off the third ball. His fourth full toss in a row ended up going over Shivam Dube’s waist and well beyond the midwicket boundary for six, but Dayal didn’t veer away from his original plan when CSK needed six off three with a free hit in hand. With five needed off two, Dayal bowled a near yorker and Jadeja could only inside-edge it onto his pad for a single. Dube couldn’t get the last ball away to the boundary as Dayal pulled off another heist at the Chinnaswamy, sending the crowd into raptures.
Jacob Bethell and Kohli had laid the base for RCB’s win by adding 71 for 0, their highest powerplay score at home this season. Romairo Shephed then launched from there, muscling a 14-ball half-century, the joint second fastest in IPL history.
Bethell might not have even played had Phil Salt recovered from his illness, which had kept him out of RCB’s previous game as well. Bethell dashed out of the blocks on Saturday, picking off Khaleel Ahmed for three successive fours in the opening over. He went on to score three more fours and two sixes in the powerplay.
He was the first to bring up his fifty, off 28 balls, in his second IPL innings after getting a life on 27 when Matheesha Pathirana collided with Jadeja, grassing the catch. After having recovered from that blow, Pathirana had Bethell holing out for 55, with Dewald Brevis pulling off a screamer at deep square leg.
As for Kohli, he went onto raise his own fifty off 29 balls. It was his seventh half-century in 11 innings this season. He looked good for a whole lot more until Sam Curran had him popping a catch to point with a slower bouncer for 62 off 33 balls.
Shepherd walked out to bat when RCB were 157 for 5 with 14 balls left in the innings. After the big opening stand, they ran out of gas in the middle – between overs 11 and 18 they had managed only 45 runs for four wickets.
Shepherd then helped RCB plunder 54 off the last two overs, the most scored off the 19th and 20th overs in an IPL innings. In the 19th over, he smoked Khaleel for four sixes and two fours which cost CSK 33 runs. In the next over, he took Pathirana for two fours and two sixes to give RCB a blockbuster finish.
Fittingly, Shepherd stormed to his fifty by launching a six into the top tier off the final ball of the innings.
The joy, however, was short-lived for RCB as Ayush Mhatre dominated the powerplay in the chase. He claimed 39 of the 58 runs CSK scored in the first six, including a sequence of 4, 4, 4, 6,4, 4 in a 26-run over bowled by Bhuvneshwar. The pick of the sequence was a dabbed four between point and short third.
Krunal Pandya snared Shaik Rasheed for 14 and Lungi Ngidi, who got a game in place of Josh Hazlewood, dragged CSK back further when he had No. 3 Sam Curran top-edging a catch to the keeper for a run-a-ball 5.
Mhatre, 17, CSK’s youngest-ever player, then combined with Jadeja for a rollicking 114-run partnership off 64 balls. The stand ended when Ngidi tricked Mhatre with a slower ball, denying him the chance to become the second-youngest centurion in the IPL after his Under-19 opening partner Vaibhav Suryavanshi. He was dismissed for 94 off 48 balls.
Jadeja, though, continued to bat with a refreshingly positive approach, especially against spin. He faced only one dot ball out of 16 balls from Krunal and Suyash.
Brevis, though, was dismissed in a slightly contentious fashion. He was given out lbw but the ball was projected to slide down the leg side. The umpire’s finger had gone up midway through Brevis and Jadeja crossing over for an attempted leg-bye. The two batters then decided to talk it out and by the time Brevis had called for a review, the 15-second time limit had elapsed. In the end, CSK were left with another case of what might have been.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 213 for 5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 62, Jacob Bethell 55, Romairo Shepherd 53*, Devdutt Padikkal 17, Rajat Patidar 11; Noor Ahmad 1-26, Sam Curran Matheesha Pathirana 3-36) beat Chennai Super Kings 211 for 5 in 20 overs (Ayush Mhatre 94, Ravindra Jadeja 77*, Shaik Rasheed 14, MS Dhoni 12; Krunal Pandya 1-24, Lungi Ngidi 3-30) by two runs
Matheesha Pathirana struck thrice in his first three overs [Cricinfo]
[Cricinfo]
Kagiso Rabada has admitted to testing positive for recreational drug use and serving a provisional suspension, which led to his departure from IPL 2025 on April 3. At the time, Rabada’s team Gujarat Titans said he had returned home to deal with a “significant personal matter,” and did not indicate if or when he would return to India.”
ESPNcricinfo understands that Rabada’s transgression took place during the SA20 in January-February this year. He represented MI Cape Town in that tournament. While the exact length of his sanction has not been confirmed, he has since traveled back to India and his return to play is imminent. Rabada has not played a match since March 29.
In statement issued by Rabada through the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA), Rabada apologised for his actions and recommitted himself to the game.
“As has been reported, I recently returned to South Africa from participating in the IPL for personal reasons,” Rabada said in his statement. “This was due to my returning an adverse analytical finding for the use of a recreational drug. “I am deeply sorry to all those that I have let down. I will never take the privilege of playing cricket for granted. This privilege is much larger than me. It goes beyond my personal aspirations.
“I am serving a provisional suspension and I am looking forward to returning to the game I love playing.
“I couldn’t have gone through this alone. I’d like to thank my agent, CSA, and Gujarat Titans for their support. I’d also like to thank SACA and my legal team for their guidance and counsel. Most importantly I’d like to thank my friends and family for their understanding and love.
“Moving forward, this moment will not define me. I will keep doing what I have always done, continuously working hard and playing with passion and devotion to my craft.”
SACA have declined to answer questions relating to the matter while the South African Agency for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) is expected to release a statement early next week explaining the situation. SAIDS is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which means that any sanction SAIDS oversees would need to be ratified by WADA.
In the last four years, there has only been one instance of an athlete receiving a one-month ban from SAIDS: powerlifter Matt Bekker, who was banned in April 2021 for testing positive for THC, which is found in cannabis. In November last year, New Zealand cricketer Doug Bracewell was effectively banned for a month for cocaine use – a sanction that was reduced from three months after Bracewell satisfactorily completed a treatment program. ESPNcricinfo has established that Rabada’s case is expected to be similar.
There are no concerns from sources close to CSA over Rabada missing any more cricket, including the World Test Championship final against Australia in June.
[Cricinfo]
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