Sports
Mahela to boost Sri Lanka U19s’ Youth World Cup campaign
by Reemus Fernando
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is set to join Sri Lanka Under 19 team for the ICC Youth World Cup in West Indies. A Sri Lanka Cricket official confirmed that the consultant coach will leave the island on January 9th to join the team which has already left for the Youth World Cup.
“Mahela will be with the Sri Lanka Under 19 team during the entire tournament. He will leave the island on January 9th and will remain with the team during the entire competition,” Ashely de Silva, the Sri Lanka Cricket CEO said in reply to a query by The Island yesterday.
Sri Lanka Cricket appointed Jayawardene as the ‘Consultant Coach’ for the National Teams with effect from January 1, 2022. He was already providing his expertise for the youth team when he was appointed.
At the time of his appointment Jayawardene was quoted as having said that he would be helping in terms of team’s preparation and strategic-thinking during tournaments.
The ICC Youth World Cup will commence on January 14 with two Group ‘D’ matches. Sri Lanka drawn in Group ‘D’ will commence the campaign with their match against Scotland on the same day. The Youth World Cup will run till February 5.
Sri Lanka Under 19s are coached by Avishka Gunawardena, who was appointed to the post in September last year. The team did well during home series under Gunawardena’s tutelage during the last few months before leaving for two overseas assignments.
The team captained by St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road spinner Dunith Wellalage were the runners up to India Under 19s at last week’s Asian Cricket Council Under 19 Asia Cup in UAE, from where they left for the West Indies. The defeat at the hands of India was the only blemish in that tournament.
They commenced preparations with a 5-0 victory against Bangladesh Under 19s in a series played in Dambulla before winning a five-match series against their England counterparts in Colombo last month.
Having lost more wickets (4) than they hit boundaries (3) in the powerplay, Mumbai Indians were always going to struggle. Four of the first six overs cost a run a ball or less. Two of the last four suffered the same fate. A total of 144 did not look like it would be enough and so it proved as Lucknow Super Giants secured victory with four wickets to spare and moved into third place on the points table. Really, the only thing that didn’t go according to plan for KL Rahul was Mayank Yadav leaving the field early on the very night he returned from injury.
Rohit Sharma spooned a ball that he saw as hittable straight into the hands of short cover. The MI batter threw his head back in utter disappointment. He was still thinking that should have gone for four. But instead he was the one gone for 4, on his birthday. Nehal Wadhera had cleared his front leg looking to go big. Except he was met with a searing yorker, dipping beneath his bat before he was ready for it and crashing into his stumps.
Marcus Stoinis has a hundred in this tournament, batting at No. 3. He also occasionally opens the bowling for LSG. Imagine what India would do to have a player like that in their T20 squad?
Someone who can bat up the order and give them two or three overs every game. Stoinis knows his limitations. He knows he doesn’t have a lot of pace, but that actually worked in his favour when was bowling to Suryakumar Yadav. The attempt to flick a boundary to fine leg ended up as a feather through to the keeper. It was brave of LSG, keeping Stoinis on for a second over, long after the swing from the new ball had disappeared, against one of the most dangerous batters in the world. But that was probably the plan – deny SKY the pace he likes – and it worked.
They lost Rohit and Suryakumar in back-to-back overs. They lost Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya in back-to-back balls. MI were a sinking ship after just 5.2 overs. They could hit only three boundaries in the powerplay, the fewest this season. It was the perfect situation for Ravi Bishnoi to come in and dictate terms. He bowled four overs on the trot, giving away 28 runs and picking up Ishan Kishan’s wicket with a gorgeous googly, deceiving the left-hander as he went for a slog across the line and having him caught at short third. Wadhera tried his best from the other end, progressing from 9 off 15 to 13 off 20 to finally 46 off 41. Most of his runs came off Mayank (21 off 12, 2x4s, 2x6s)
Batting average almost 40, strike rate above 150, four wickets from 12 overs bowled, LSG have a cheat code and his name is Stoinis. This chase really got in gear when he pulled Gerald Coetzee for back-to-back boundaries in the third over. Until then the new ball was doing a fair bit and LSG’s focus was seeing that spell of play out. Rahul had dropped anchor (5 off 13, before finishing with 28 off 22). He was looking to his partner to make the play and he did. Big time.
Stoinis came into this game with an average of 19 and strike rate of 128 against spin in IPL 2024. But he found Piyush Chawla and Mohammad Nabi just to his liking, taking them for a combined 29 off just 16 balls with four fours and a six. That ended up as necessary insurance because after the fall of his wicket, LSG needed 27 balls to score the remaining 30 runs, losing two wickets as well.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 144/7 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 32, Nehal Wadhera 46, Tim David 35*; Marcus Stoinis 1-19, Mohsin Khan 2-36, Naveen-ul-Haq 1-15, Mayank Yadav 1-31, Ravi Bishnoi 1-28) lost to Lucknow Super Giants 145/6 in 19.2 overs (Marcus Stoinis 62, KL Rahul 28; Nuwan Thushara 1-30, Gerald Coetze 1-29, Hardik Pandya 2-26, Mohammad Nabi 1-16) by 4 wickets
(Cricinfo)
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Lanka will not be able to field their formidable men’s 4×400 metres relay quartet inclusive of the two fastest men in Asia in the 400 metres this season at the upcoming World Relays in Bahamas due to visa issues. The team inclusive of Aruna Dharshana, who has clocked the fastest time in Asia (45.30 secs) so far this year and Kalinga Kumarage (45.35 secs, second fastest time in Asia) are currently ranked 16th in the world in the men’s 4×400 metres relay by vertue of their record breaking feat at the Asian Athletics Championship last year. Sri Lanka Athletics was expecting to field this team for the World Relays 2024 to be held in Bahamas from May 4-5.
The competition holds extra significance, as it is the main qualifying event for relay events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
However with the US embassy in Colombo not granting visa interviews for the transit visas untill late May the team will not be able to compete at the World Athletics event in the Bahamas, where 14 out of the final 16 men’s 4×400 metres teams for the Paris Olympics will be selected.
Yesterday, Sri Lanka’s track and field governing body informed the members of the relay team that they will not be able to take wings to Bahamas due to visa issues.
“No sooner we received the invitation for the World Relays (on April 8, 2024) from World Athletics, we applied for transit visas. But the embassy has provided appointments for interviews late in May. The Sports Minister too intervened but the embassy has not changed its stance,” a senior official of Sri Lanka Athletics said in reply to The Island quarries yesterday.
World Athletics had listed Sri Lanka among 32 men’s teams for the 4×400 metres relay starting on May 4 but had not intervened to solve visa issues.
Sri Lanka had not fielded a team for the World Relays since its inception in 2014 but the sports governing body decided to field teams this time as it provides a valuable opportunity to qualify for the Olympics Games.
The country’s men’s 4×400 metres, women’s 4×400 metres and the 4×400 metres mixed relay teams were ranked among the top 25 teams in the world after their impressive performances at both the Asian Athletics Championships and the Asian Games last year.
With the huge costs involved in air tickets and visas, Sri lanka Athletics decided to field only the men’s 4×400 metres team which is the closest to achieving qualifying standards.
The missed opportunity will be a huge blow for the Olympic aspirations of Aruna Dharshana and Kalinga Kumarage, the two fastest 400 metres runners in Asia this season. They had forgone other competition opportunities to concentrate on the World Relays.
Sri Lanka has several athletes who are close to achieving qualifying standards for Olympics. Of them Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon, Asian Games medallist Tharushi Karunaratne, top ranked middle distance runner Gayanthika Abeyratne and Asian Championship medallist Nadeesha Ramanayake are expected to compete at the Dubai Grand Prix later this week.
The President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Shammi Silva, accompanied by Acting Secretary Chryshantha Kapuwatte, enhanced Sri Lanka Cricket’s existing ties with the Japan Cricket Association during a visit to Japan.
During the visit, which took place following an invitation made by the Japan Cricket Association, both the President and Acting Secretary met with the key stakeholders and support groups in Japan’s cricket fraternity.
The duo held discussions with the CEO of the Japan Cricket Association, Naoki Alex Miyaji, and assured Sri Lanka’s continuous support for popularizing and enhancing cricket in Japan, a nation traditionally enthralled by baseball.
The meetings took place at the Sano International Cricket Grounds in Tochigi in the presence of the honorable mayor of Sano City, Excellency Yutaka Kaneko, who thanked Sri Lanka Cricket for its commitment to Japanese cricket.
The SLC President and the Acting Secretary also met the Parliamentarian League for Cricket Promotion of Japan in Tokyo, which comprises luminaries such as Secretary General Motegi Toshimitsu, MP Kajiyama Hiroshi, and MP Inoue Shinji.
The Deputy Ambassador of Japan in Sri Lanka His Excellency Katsuki Kotaro and Goodwill
Ambassador of the Japan Cricket Association, Priyantha Kariyapperuma, were also present at the meetings.
Japanese authorities lauded Sri Lanka’s gracious hospitality and generous support in nurturing cricket’s roots in Japan.
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