Sports
Malsha troubles Royal with seven wickets
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Malsha Fernando produced his best bowling performance of the season, an impressive seven wicket haul with his off spin as Nalanda restricted Royal to 185 runs in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ tournament match at Campbell Place on Monday.
Malsha’s figures were the best bowling figures of the day in the Division I tournament matches as his (20-5-49-7) twenty overs yielded seven wickets for 49 runs.
In reply the home team were 124 for four wickets at stumps.
An unbeaten century by Ryan Dissanayake was the best batting performance of the day as his knock helped St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa take command in their traditional match against St. Sylvester’s at Moratuwa
In a Tier ‘A’ tournament match which ended at Uyanwatta, St. Servatius’ scored a first innings win over Prince of Wales as skipper Vishwa Supun top scored with 69 runs.
In a Tier ‘B’ match Mahinda forced Tissa Central to follow on as they skittled out the latter for 74 runs.
St. Servatius’ on first innings win at Matara
Scores
Prince of Wales
215 all out in 89.3 overs (Rivith Jayasooriya 20, Suwahas Fernando 54, Oshan de Silva 20, Rusanda Silva 28, Naveen Fernando 23; Chalana Indusha 3/35, Samiru Gimhan 3/48, Praveen Madusanka 3/85) and 114 for 4 in 35 overs (Matheesha Yehenith 39, Deneth Sithumina 22, Oshan de Silva 22n.o.;
St. Servatius’
25 for 2 overnight 225 all out in 76.2 overs (Vishwa Supun 69, Shalindu Madushan 47, Sanju Dilshan 37; Nethul Anuhas 2/57, Naveen Fernando 2/24)
Malsha troubles Royal at Campbell Place
Scores:
Royal
185 all out in 57.1 overs (Rehan Peiris 37, Shane Abeyratne 23, Isula Geeganage 47, Yasindu Dissanayake 25; Malsha Fernando 7/49, Methula Randul 2/40)
Nalanda
124 for 4 in 41 overs (Manupa Manmitha 53, Nemindu Akmeemana 20; Ranuka Malaviarachchi 2/43, Yenula Bandara 2/17)
Gurukula take first innings advantage at Panagoda
Scores:
Maris Stella
134 all out in 45.5 overs (Ranmith Bandara 51, Yohan Aloka 45; Tharusha Kodikara 3/33, Ohas Sadew 3/33)
Gurukula
167 for 4 in 54 overs (Kavindu Madusanka 24, Hiruna Nimsara 55, Poorna Kalhara 54n.o.; Oshada Gunasinghe 2/33)
Tier ‘B’
Mahinda force Tissa to follow on at Weeraketiya
Scores
Mahinda
255 all out in 64.1 overs (Thevindu Rashmika 69, Randul Mabarana 48, Sehas Ashinsa 49, Senuka Dangamuwa 47; Mindew Hansana 2/24, Hashen Imsara 6/66)
Tissa
74 all out in 23.5 overs (Sandew Nethmina 4/42, Senuka Dangamuwa 3/18, Arosha Udayanga 2/01) and 3 for 1 in 7 overs
Thurstan post 274 for 9 against Ananda at Kadirana
Scores
Thurstan
274 for 9 in 81 overs (Dinal Induwara 33, Sethru Fernando 81n.o., Pathum Dananjaya 45, Thanuga Palihawadana 30; Ashinsa Nainayaka 3/85, Sharada Jayaratne 5/59)
Traditional Matches
St. Sebastian’s dominate at Moratuwa
St. Sylvester’s
119 all out 35.5 overs (Piyumaka Karunaratne 33, Gagana Lankeshwara 30, Vidusara Ganegoda 22; Malintha Silva 3/23, Koshendra Fernando 6/23)
St.Sebastian’s
222 for 3 in 62 overs (Kaveesha Perera 48, Ryan Dissanayake 107n.o., Adesh Almeida 24, Navod Fernando 32)
[Cricbuzz]
Why did David Miller refuse a single off the penultimate delivery with Delhi Capitals needing 2 off 2? It’ll be spoken of for a while, but not inside the Gujarat Titans change room. Because Prasidh Krishna bowled a nerveless slower bouncer off the final delivery that Miller missed, and Jos Buttler then nailed a direct hit with an underarm throw from behind the stumps to run out Kuldeep Yadav, clinching a dramatic first win for GT in IPL 2026.
Despite being adjudged run out on the field, Miller wasn’t in the mood to concede defeat, and reviewed the final ball for a possible wide. But when replays confirmed what he had perhaps known, he was crestfallen. Equally distraught in the dugout was K L Rahul, whose 52-ball 92 set the game up for DC but for one run.
It was GT’s first win of the tournament and the first loss for DC after starting the campaign with two wins in a row.
Thirty-six needed off 12. A bruised finger that didn’t make it easy for him to grip the bat had forced Miller to retire hurt with DC needing 81 off 42. But when Tristan Stubbs was run-out in the 17th over, Miller returned hoping to play second fiddle to Rahul. Instead, he was now expected to deliver a box-office hit with Rahul nicking behind off a full Mohammed Siraj delivery two balls later.
Miller nearly delivered what was expected, as he went 6, 4, 6 off Siraj, repeatedly peppering the short leg-side boundary. At the other end, Vipraj Nigam also ramped four off a short delivery to bring the equation down to a manageable 13 off the final over.
Prasidh was tasked to bowl the final over. His three overs prior to that had been walloped for 41; Rahul, his state mate, had climbed into him earlier in the night. But all that would’ve been forgiven if Prasidh delivered a gun final over. That GT could only have four fielders out due to a slow over rate added to his challenge. And he nearly succumbed.
Nigam made room and swung cleanly to hit the first ball to the long-off fence, but a rush of blood had him swipe the second delivery to Shubman Gill at mid-off. With DC now needing nine off four, Kuldeep gently deflected his first ball to deep third to leave the chase in Miller’s hands.
With the equation down to 8 off 3, Prasidh bowled a slot-ball that Miller walloped over long-off. But with two needed, Miller inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. He couldn’t connect on the final ball, and Prasidh belted a roar. GT had pulled one from under DC’s rug in dramatic circumstances.
After scores of 1 and 0 in his first two games, Rahul announced himself with a 29-ball half-century that was as pleasing as they come for large parts. It was also one that didn’t have the baggage of him playing run-accumulator, like he has tended to in the past while opening the batting. This Rahul was fun, free and fearless and he helped DC overcome a few roadblocks along the way, like when they lost two wickets in two deliveries to Rashid Khan at the halfway mark.
Rahul was particularly menacing against the fast bowlers, and it began with a wristy flick that he sent way back over deep square off Kagiso Rabada. The early jitters out of the way – if he even had some inkling of them – he batted like a man possessed, fearlessly climbing into length balls from Prasidh over cover, and slapping disdainfully over point.
He is good, but where is the Rashid of old, they asked. Turns out he hadn’t gone anywhere. After he conceded just nine in his first two with DC rampant, he returned to dismiss Nitish Rana in his dramatic third over, the 10th of the innings. Having been given out lbw earlier, only for Rana to overturn the decision through DRS, he was out a few balls later when he miscued a googly to Sai Sudharsan at long-off. This was Rana’s third sub-20 score of the season.
This brought the in-form Sameer Rizvi to the middle, and he lasted all of one delivery as Rashid snuck through his inside-edge with a ripping googly to briefly elicit jitters in the DC camp. This is when Miller entered, before briefly exiting with seven overs left. But in the same over, when Rashid had Axar Patel slice one to Glenn Phillips running back from cover, GT started to have an opening.
On any other night, Rashid’s spell would have cracked open the game. The fact that DC were still in it despite these wickets was down to Rahul. It needed the skilful Siraj to dismiss him with DC needing 45 off three overs. By then, the pressure was telling.
That GT were eventually able to get over the line was down to their run cushion, made possible thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler, Gill and Washington Sundar. Buttler looked unshackled, hitting four sixes off his first 15 deliveries en route a bruising half-century, while Gill played himself in and then allayed fears of neck spasms during his takedown of Kuldeep with the slog sweep. Then Washington, promoted to No. 4, struck his maiden IPL fifty to shore up the innings.
Even so, GT managed just 49 off the last five. On another day, this may have proved to be costly. It didn’t on Wednesday, and for that, they have Rashid to thank.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 210 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 70, Jos Buttler 52, Washington Sundar 55, Glenn Phillips 14*; Mukesh Kumar 2-55, Lungi Ngidi 1-24, Kuldeep Yadav 1-42 ) beat Delhi Capitals 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 92, David Miller 41*, Vipraj Nigam 12; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Rashid Khan 3-17, Prasidh Krishna 2-52) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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Showers will occur at a few places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya and Mannar districts after 2.00 p.m.
Sun directly overhead Chilaw, Bingiriya, Halmillawewa, Panduwasnuwara, Gokarella, Kawudupelella, Koppaveli and Kirankulam about 12:12 noon. today (09)
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