Sports
Mitchell Swepson, Lance Morris, Peter Handscomb? Who will get on the India flight?

Regardless of having their spot booked before heading to India that tour will be one of the series that defines their year and against their likely opponents in the WTC final, albeit in vastly different conditions. It will, therefore, be intriguing to see which players fill the fringe places in the squad that will be announced shortly after the Sydney Test is finished.
Some of the names called up for the final match against South Africa have given a clear indication of the way the selectors will go. Ashton Agar can be locked in with Matt Renshaw highly likely to be included given the versatility he provides while Peter Handscomb, added late to the Sydney squad, is another expected to travel as a spare batter. Marcus Harris, having travelled all summer as a reserve, may end up unlucky again.
Alongside those who are certain selections it does not leave many gaps to fill, although the injury concerns with Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green may mean a slightly larger group travels. Green has conceded they are both in a race against time for the opening Test in Nagpur.
There will be at least one more frontline spinner alongside Agar and Nathan Lyon, and there could yet be two. Legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will be in the frame as will the uncapped offspinner Todd Murphy who is very highly regarded. The chances of a surprise call-up for Adam Zampa appear to have receded.
“Todd’s putting his hand up with the performances he’s put on the board,” coach Andrew McDonald said after the MCG Test. “Mitch Swepson performed well in the subcontinent previously.
“Matt Renshaw coming in again in Test cricket has had some success there before. Pete Handscomb, no doubt, would probably consider himself unlucky not to be in that conversation for Sydney, but there’s another one coming back into the Test fold in conversation. We’ve got Marcus Harris also. So feel we’ve got Test experience within that depth.”
While Australia may only play two frontline quicks during some of the series, supplemented by Green when he is fit, they will likely have plenty of options at their disposal. Scott Boland’s wicket-to-wicket skills, and ability to find reverse swing, could yet be valuable if pitches are uneven while the uncapped Lance Morris would provide a 150-kph point of difference.
As has been made clear in Sydney, there is no like-for-like cover for Green given Mitchell Marsh is sidelined after an ankle surgery and fellow Western Australia allrounder Aaron Hardie is understood to be considered not quite ready for the elevation.
The other question will be whether they take a specialist backup to Alex Carey or believe that Handscomb could step in with the gloves if required. Given the relatively condensed nature of the tour, Josh Inglis will likely be included.
Australia will arrive in India about seven days before the opening Test in Nagpur on February 9 with McDonald comfortable with the lack of a warm-up match. There are plans for a pre-tour camp in Sydney where they can control the conditions they practice in as happened in Melbourne before they went to Pakistan last year.
“We would prefer a centre wicket in India to go through some scenario training, and we feel as though with this experienced group also that have been there before, that they won’t need as long to adapt to the conditions,” McDonald said.
“We can be creative in our own conditions. We’ve done it before with the Pakistan build-up in Melbourne. Dusting up wickets, working with the local groundsmen who really help us in and around the country. We feel as though we can get as close to that as possible without necessarily having a practice game.”
Possible Australia squad for India tour:
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Ashton Agar, Lance Morris, Mitchell Swepson, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Todd Murphy.
(Cricinfo)
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Shafali Verma, Niki Prasad star as Delhi Capitals seal last-ball thriller

Barely 24 hours after 202 was chased down easily on the opening night of WPL 2025, a target of 165 proved to be tricky on the same pitch for Delhi Capitals, who got over the line on the last ball against Mumbai Indians for a two-wicket win. It came down to 30 from 18, 10 from six, two off the last ball and eventually a matter of centimetres as Arundhati Reddy put in a dive to make her ground that turned out to be the winning runs.
Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Niki Prasad will remember her WPL debut for taking DC within touching distance. She held the chase together in the end with her 35 off 33 and started the last over with a four when they needed 10 to win but holed out when the equation was two off two.
The game otherwise saw collapses in both innings after blazing knocks from the frontline batters. Nat Sciver Brunt led MI to a respectable total with her unbeaten 80 off 59 and Harmanpreet Kaur blasted 42 off 22, but they soon lost 7 for 35. Shafali Verma’s 43 off 18 set the tone for the chase to hammer away 60 runs for DC in the powerplay, but they soon lost four wickets for 16 runs that made the equation far more tense and took it down to the last ball.
As the match got closer and closer with DC losing wickets, there were three run out decisions that all went to the third umpire Gayathri Venugopalan, and those decided the game. The first came in the 18th over when Shikha Pandey was given not out on her first ball, which resulted in DC getting a bye. No part of Pandey’s bat seemed inside the crease when the LED wicket lit up, but the third umpire gave it not out, basing her decision on a later television frame in which the bail was visibly dislodged.
The second came in the next over when DC needed 16 from eight. Radha Yadav was given not out when she ended up bouncing her bat off the ground while diving in; the bat was in the air when the wicket lit up but the umpire, again, was heard going by when the stumps were visibly broken. Radha then smashed the next ball for a six and brought the equation down to 10 off the last over.
The last instance was on the last ball of the game, when DC needed two off two. Reddy put in a dive while trying to complete the second run and the stumps lit up when the bat seemed to be on the crease line but the third umpire gave it not out again and it sparked off celebrations for DC.
Shafali came out all guns blazing even as Shabnim Ismail made Meg Lanning look clueless against her outswingers and beat her six times in 12 balls before eventually knocking over her off stump. Shafali, at the other end, tore into Saika Ishaque with a belligerent hit for a 22-run over. She followed a big six over the covers with four consecutive fours, three of which raced to the off-side boundary and one straight back over Ishaque’s head. Shafali then took Hayley Matthews for 15 runs in the last powerplay over with two fours and a six although she mis-timed one in the same over to midwicket.
Two balls later Lanning fell when Ismail got a fourth straight over and it soon became four wickets in four overs when Jemimah Rodrigues was dismissed by Amelia Kerr and Annabel Sutherland missed a shooter from Sciver-Brunt. When DC thought the partnership between Alice Capsey and Prasad of 33 was bringing them back on track, Capsey found Ismail at long-on and DC were in trouble, still needing 56 off 31 with five wickets down.
The match turned again when another WPL debutant,Sarah Bryce, also punished Ishaque and then followed an edged four off Sciver-Brunt with a six on the leg side. Bryce soon fell though, for 21 off 10, but Prasad held her nerve to chaperone the lower order into the last over before it went down to the last ball.
Pandey made a stellar start to her WPL campaign with some delicious inswing into both right and left-hand batters. She struck twice in her first spell; first in the first over when she made Matthews edge to slip for a duck and four overs later she knocked over Yastika Bhatia’s leg stump in a frugal spell of 3-0-8-2.
The other bowlers were not spared so much though. Capsey leaked 19 runs in an over, with Sciver-Brunt showing her dexterity by placing the ball perfectly in the gaps for boundaries. She dabbed one late off Capsey on off, she scooped Reddy on leg, and she unleashed powerful pulls to help MI to 41 for 2 in the powerplay.
Harmanpreet often starts slow and then suddenly flicks her switch on in T20s, and on Saturday this happened in the eighth over. Once she carved Radha over cover-point for four off a no-ball, Harmanpreet launched the free hit for a six over long-off to make it an 18-run over. Next over, she picked Reddy for a six over long-on in a 15-run over but the assault didn’t last too long.
After back-to-back fours off Sutherland on the off side, Harmanpreet smoked a six over the midwicket rope to reach 8000 T20 runs and followed it with another four over point. But when she went for another slash outside off, she handed a catch to Prasad; nobody else would hit a six in the remainder of the MI innings.
Sciver-Brunt had also struck eight fours by then to lead MI past 100 with Sutherland’s 20-run over. Sciver-Brunt reached fifty off 36 balls to keep MI in touching distance of 10 an over with seven overs to go and seven wickets in hand.
MI, however, slipped and didn’t even last all 20 overs; they lost wickets in nearly every over from thereon. Kerr was run-out at the non-striker’s end when Minnu Mani deflected a ball off her own bowling, S Sajana edged a slower one to the keeper, Amanjot Kaur yorked herself against Capsey to lose her stumps, and there were two more run-outs as the tailenders tried to give the strike to Sciver-Brunt at the death. When she did get strike, she used her power to despatch the older ball and finished with her highest WPL score.
Delhi Capitals Women 165 for 8 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 43, Niki Prasad 35, sarah Bryce 21; Amelia Kerr 2-22, Hayley Matthews 2-31, Shabnim Ismail 1-18, Nat Sciver Brunt 1-38, Sajeevan Sajana 1-10) beat Mumbai Indians Women 164 in 19.1 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 80*, Harmanpreet Kaur 42; Annabel Sutherland 3-34, Shikha Pandey 2-14, Alice Capsey 1-25, Minnu Mani 1-23 ) by two wickets
Sports
Remarkable turnaround for Sri Lanka’s ODI team

by Rex Clementine
A year ago, Sri Lanka found themselves languishing at eighth in the ODI rankings, a far cry from their glory days when they rewrote the rules of one-day cricket. Fast forward 12 months, and they’ve leapfrogged three places to settle at number five. Their recent emphatic series win over Australia is the latest sign that this team is on an upward trajectory, clawing their way back to where they rightfully belong.
One of the biggest shifts has been in the fielding department. The team has placed a premium on agility, reflexes, and sharpness in the field, turning half-chances into game-changing moments. Gone are the days of butterfingers; Sri Lanka is now making the opposition work hard for every run.
With the bat, the team has found the right tempo – setting daunting totals and successfully chasing down stiff targets. Pathum Nissanka has been firing on all cylinders at the top, providing solidity. Kusal Mendis, meanwhile, has delivered clutch performances, his latest being a superb century against Australia – his fifth in ODIs and his first against the five-time world champions.
Captain Charith Asalanka has been a revelation, leading from the front. His back-to-the-wall hundred in the first ODI, battling alongside the tail, was the stuff of grit and determination. Then, in the second game, with a solid platform already set, he cut loose in the death overs, propelling Sri Lanka to an imposing 281. His aggressive approach in the final ten overs – where Sri Lanka plundered 97 runs – was a masterclass in finishing an innings with authority.
The bowling unit has been just as impressive. Asitha Fernando has been breathing fire with the new ball, rattling the Aussies early and putting them on the back foot. His three-wicket burst in the second ODI set the stage for Sri Lanka’s spin attack to weave their magic. Dunith Wellalage and Wanindu Hasaranga ran riot, sharing seven wickets between them and leaving the Australians in a spin. Maheesh Theekshana, too, had his moments, ensuring that Australia never found any breathing space in the first game.
Friday’s performance was nothing short of clinical. Sri Lanka didn’t just beat Australia – they steamrolled them. The 107 all-out humiliation was Australia’s lowest in Asia, marking their heaviest defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankans.
Last year, Sri Lanka snapped a 27-year drought by winning an ODI series against India. Now, they’ve humbled the reigning world champions. Yet, despite their rise to number five, they’ll miss out on a Champions Trophy berth – a cruel blow resulting from their disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign, where they finished ninth and failed to make the top-eight cutoff.
This is a young team with time on their side. The average age of the squad is just 26, meaning that most of these players will still be in their prime when the next ODI World Cup rolls around in 2027 in South Africa. Before that, Sri Lanka will co-host the T20 World Cup with India next year. It’s been a while since a Sri Lankan team walked into an ICC event with genuine title aspirations – but with the way this side is shaping up, that might just change.
Sports
Gateway boys and girls triumph at Under-19 basketball

Gateway College, Colombo once again proved its basketball supremacy, securing championship titles in both the Under-19 Girls’ and Boys’ categories at the International Schools Under-19 Basketball Tournament 2024.
The Under-19 Girls’ team of Gateway College was a force to be reckoned with, displaying remarkable precision and power throughout the tournament. The final was competed against Horizon College International and Gateway prevailed 74–54.
The Under-19 Boys’ team mirrored the girls’ success, delivering a stellar performance. In the final Gateway overcame Colombo International School 85-78 in a hard fought game.
Sarini Mallikarachchi was named the Most Valuable Player for her leadership and all-around contributions while Mayumi Liyanage earned the Best Defensive Player award. Hasandi Peiris of Horizon College International was named Best Offensive Player.
In the Under-19 Boys’ category, Dulain Thewarapperuma of Gateway College was named Most Valuable Player, showcasing his dynamic contributions on both ends of the court. Ashain Thewarapperuma was honoured with the Best Defensive Player award for his ability to shut down opposing offenses. Moosa Mohamed of Colombo International School received the Best Offensive Player award.
Gateway’s Head Coach, Tharindu Fernando, along with his team of coaches and sports coordinators, have played a pivotal role in developing the exceptional skill and teamwork of Gateway College’s athletes, cementing their legacy as a powerhouse in the sport.
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