Sports

Look after your Test cricketers

Published

3 years ago

2022/02/4

by Rex Clementine

Less than 24 hours after Suranga Lakmal announced his international retirement, English county Derbyshire declared a two year deal with the fast bowler. Lakmal has been the leader of the Test attack for a considerable period of time and the county’s younger players will enjoy his presence. Their coach Mickey Arthur surely knows what this man with a great character can offer Derbyshire.

Ideally, Sri Lanka would have wanted Lakmal to see through the current cycle of the ICC Test Championship. There were efforts to convince him to stay on at least till the home Tests against Australia, but Lakmal has put financial security over national commitment. Not many would fault him for he has a family to look after.

Lakmal’s annual SLC’s retainer was USD 80,000 in 2020. But the following year, it was cut to US$ 24,000. Well, all of it was not administrator’s fault. He had been offered something in the range of US$ 55,000 but with seniors up in arms, he too chose not to sign contracts. The authorities maintained status quo and after seven months of deadlock, eventually the seniors agreed to sign contracts. They were paid only for the remaining five months which was US$ 24,000.

This year’s contracts are not yet to be announced. Lakmal may have got something in the range of US$ 65,000. However, there’s no seniority payment or so that was scrapped last year. Lakmal eventually chose County Cricket over Test cricket.

The Cricket Committee that drew up the contracts has some of the finest brains in the game. They have argued that the seniors needed a wake up call. They have also added that with the national cricket team ranked so low, the players have little bargaining power. It is also true that the players have not covered themselves in glory in the last couple of years.

But, the other side of the coin is that some of these legends in the Cricket Committee fought for the pound of flesh when they were players. Well, when they threatened the board, Kumar Sangakkara was world’s number one ranked batsman while Muttiah Muralitharan was world’s number one ranked bowler. So they were within their rights you may say. However, they did go overboard on certain instances. Like when they used underarm tactics to scrap a tour of England to play the full IPL.

That’s all beside the point. The burning issue here is that we need to protect our Test cricketers. This year’s annual contracts are yet to be announced. If they are not attractive for those who play Test match cricket only, we are set to lose more players. It will be a shame that if we lose someone like Dimuth Karunaratne who was world’s third highest run getter last year. Then there is Angelo Mathews closing in on 100 Test matches. They have certainly got much more to offer and it should be a fair playing field for everyone.

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NOC issue, fixture clash put Mustafizur’s IPL participation in doubt

Published

17 hours ago

2025/05/15

Priyan

Mustafizur Rahman (left) flew out to Dubai with the rest of Bangladesh's squad on Wednesday [BCB]

Delhi Capitals’ (DC) signing of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizure Rahman for the remainder of IPL 2025 has hit a snag, with the BCB stating that it hasn’t been approached for a no-objection certificate (NOC).

Usually, the IPL only announces signings after a player has received an NOC from his home board. According to its CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, however, the BCB had yet to receive a request for one.

“Mustafizur is supposed to go with the team to the UAE according to the schedule,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday. “We have not received any communication from IPL officials. I have also not received any such official communication from Mustafizur either.”

Mustafizur is part of the Bangladesh T20I squad that is due to play back-to-back away T20I series against UAE and Pakistan, both of which clash with the IPL. On Wednesday, hours after the IPL announced his signing as a replacement for Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mustafizur flew out to Dubai with the rest of Bangladesh’s squad.

Bangladesh are due to play two T20Is in the UAE on May 17 and 19, followed by five in Pakistan on May 25, 27 and 30, and June 1 and 3. Those two series are in conflict with the IPL; DC are set to play their last three league matches on May 18, 21 and 24, followed by the playoffs should they get there.

ESPNcricinfo has sought a response from DC on this development.

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Aruna in race to recover before Asian Championships

Published

20 hours ago

2025/05/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Aruna Dharshana

Sprinter Aruna Dharshana who is undergoing treatments for an injury he sustained during the World Relays, is racing against time to recover for the Asian Athletics Championships which will be held in South Korea later this month.

The 400 metres specialist is one of the two sprinters slated to compete in the one lap race. He is also a key member of the men’s 4×400 metres and 4×400 metres mixed relays alongside Kalinga Kumarage.

“Currently Dharshana is undergoing treatments. We are hopeful that he will recover in time for the Asian Championships,” Dharshana’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna told ‘The Island’.

“Sri Lanka Athletics will conduct a fitness test before the Asian Championships. Hopefully he will be ready by that time,” said Rajakaruna.

Sri Lanka Athletics earlier said that a fitness test will be held to assess the strength of the 20 strong team selected for the biennial event.

Sri Lanka fielded only a mixed relay team for the recently held World Relays in Guangzhou, China where an injury to Dharshana cost them a chance to achieve a top performance and a probable ticket to the World Championships in Tokyo later this year.

Sri Lanka won a historic gold medal in the men’s 4×400 metres at the last edition of the Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok Thailand where the team inclusive of Dharshana beat India to the second place with a new championship record time of 03:01.56 seconds.

Kalinga Kumarage who did the anchor leg and Dharshana are the only members from that gold winning team selected for the upcoming event.

Dharshana is the only Sri Lankan athlete to have clocked sub 45 seconds in the 400 metres after legendary Sugath Thilakaratne.

Dharshana and Kumarage hold the second and third places respectively in the list of fastest times achieved in the 400 metres by Sri Lankan athletes. Dharshana has a personal best of 44.99 seconds achieved during the last Olympic games.

by Reemus Fernando

Sports

Dinara bags second title

Published

20 hours ago

2025/05/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera (Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)

110th Colombo Championships

Dinara de Silva bagged her second title of the Colombo Championships as she partnered Inuki Jayaweera to record straight sets victory in the women’s doubles final played at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts on Wednesday.

Dinara and Inuki beat Venuli Jayasinghe and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles final.

Incidentally, it was the second title of the tournament for both Dinara and Inuki.

While Dinara won the women’s singles and doubles titles, Inuki was the winner of the mixed doubles and the women’s doubles.

Women’s doubles results

Semi-finals

Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera beat Dulkini Ranasinghe and Tania Doloswala 6-3, 6-2

Venuli Jayasinghe and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi beat Bovindee Imihamy and Siyara Devappriya 6-3, 6-0.

Quarter-finals

Venuli Jayasinghe and S. Usgodaarachchi beat Tuvini de Alwis and Hasali Gajaba 6-4, 5-7, 10-3.

Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera beat Nimasha Shehara and Arushi Thomas 6-1, 6-3.

Dulkini Ranasinghe and Tania Doloswala beat Diyansa de Silva and Lihini Jayakody 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Bovindee Imihamy and Siyara Devappriya received a walkover from Gehansa Methnadi and Akeesha Silva.