Sports
New champions add spice to tennis singles events
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Tennis star Sharmal Dissanayake (26) made a comeback to the racquet game in Sri Lanka when he won the Men’s Singles event at the First Capital SSC Open Championships worked off in Colombo recently.
The annual SSC Open tournament gave a great start to the tennis scene in the island for the New Year. It was also a new start for champion player Dissanayake after being away from playing on Sri Lankan courts at local tournaments for a while. He overcame stiff resistance from Chaturya Nilaweera in the finals, which went for four sets. Dissanayake won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and 7-6 in the pulsating final which was scheduled to go for five sets if required. This is the first time five-set tennis was introduced at a local tournament in the island.
Dissanayake has played at peak condition in past tournaments. Fitness was not a cause for Dissanayake at this tournament, but he can reach top playing condition as the months roll away this season. The talk doing the rounds in the tennis circles is that Dissanayake wants to raise his game and fitness and make himself available for the country at overseas assignments too. Meanwhile, Nilaweera, an up-and-coming player with much promise, had to sweat his way into the final with a tough semi-final fixture against Kiran Vairawanathan. It was good to see seasoned players like Guyanga Weerasekare contesting the SSC Open Men’s event. The men’s open tennis event overall in the country has just got the needed boost with the competition that’s raised by so many talented players entering and wanting a share of the pie.
Dissanayake won the Arjun Fernando Challenge Trophy for his efforts at the tournament which was witnessed by an appreciative crowd.
Schoolgirl Sajida Razick made a giant kill in the women’s open singles by beating seasoned player Neyara Weerawansa (6-3, 6-4). Despite taking the first set with her power play Razick saw the experienced Weerawansa breathing down her back in a well-contested second set. Both players made their share of unforced errors, but that didn’t take the punch away from the game Razick looked so confident throughout the game and brilliantly negotiated Weerawansa’s spirited late rally during the second set before winning her first major title in senior tennis. Razick overcame Vishmi Serasinghe in the semis while Weerawansa got the better of Dinara de Silva. Razick won the Sriya Munasinghe Challenge Trophy for her efforts.
Razick has raised her game tremendously and plays some powerful shots and also uses the full court. It would have been interesting to see how she would have fared against Anjalika Kurera had the latter taken part in this tournament. Incidentally, Kurera was not available for the SSC Open this season because she was busy preparing for a vital examination.
The tournament not only attracted its title sponsor in First Capital, but also saw Perera & Sons and Dimo coming in as co-sponsors. It’s one of the most looked forward-to events in the local tennis events calendar; having recorded its start in the 1980s. The SSC Open also serves as a category 1 ranking tournament.
The tournament was organized by the SSC Tennis Home Committee and held under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
One time is a shock. Two times, and the second to beat hosts Sri Lanka at their own game, is Zimbabwe. Led by their canny bowling, Zimbabwe pulled Sri Lanka back from a flying start to keep them to 178 on a sluggish Premadasa track. Their opener Brian Benett, quickest scorer in their history, dropped anchor, stayed unbeaten like his team, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani did all the damage from the other end to seal their second-highest successful T20I chase.
Sri Lanka’s innings had three neat divisions: first 29 balls for 54 for 0, next 72 for 82 for 4 and then a finishing kick of 42 for 3 off the last 19 balls. Zimbabwe went Bennett and non-Bennett. Bennett scored 63 off 48; the other three combined for 102 off 64 balls. Raza was the decisive hand: 45 off 26 after the asking rate had gone past 11.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 182 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Brian Bennett 63*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 34, Ryan Burl 23, Sikandar Raza 45; Dasun Shanaka 1-26, Dushan Hemantha 2-36, Dunith Wellalage 1-27) beat Sri Lanka 178 for 7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 62, Kusal Perera 22, Kusal Mendis 14, Pavan Rathnayake 44, Dunith Wellalage 15*; Blessing Muzarabani 2-38, Graeme Cremer 2-27, Brad Evans 2-35) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
West Indies headed into the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup unbeaten after successfully defending 165 against Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. Spinners Chrishan Kalugamage and Ben Manenti impressed with the ball, and were backed up by some sharp fielding, but the batters couldn’t get the Italian job done.
While Italy exited their maiden World Cup with a win against Nepal and many memories to cherish, West Indies sealed their fourth successive win at the venue where they will face India in their final Super Eight fixture on March 1.
Italy may have sensed an opportunity for another win when they stifled West Indies’ power-packed middle order, but Marrhew Forde’s twin strikes in the powerplay decisively tilted the game in West Indies’ favour. Bowling three overs on the bounce, Forde dismissed both Justin Mosca and No. 3 Syed Naqvi, helping West Indies restrict Italy to 37 for 3 in six overs. Shamar Joseph then bagged four wickets to go with his four catches as Italy were bowled out for 123.
The win was set up by Shai Hope, who hit back-to-back half-centuries and dominated the early exchanges with an array of off-side drives. West Indies lost steam after Hope departed for 75 off 46 balls, but they regained it through their bowlers.
After West Indies were asked to bat first, they hit seven boundaries in the powerplay, and Hope was responsible for all of those. By the eighth over, the West Indies captain had zoomed to a 28-ball half-century. The first boundary by a West Indies player not named “Shai Hope” came in the tenth over when Roston Chase backed away and lifted left-arm spinner JJ Smuts over extra-cover.
Hope peppered the off side, scoring 46 of his 75 runs in that region. Anything that was remotely full and outside off was crashed in the arc between mid-off and point. When Italy dragged their lengths back, Hope was ready for it as well. Like when left-arm seamer Ali Hasan banged one into his upper body, Hope swatted him away over square leg for six in the fourth over. Hope was particularly severe on right-arm fast bowler Thomas Draca, taking him for 20 off nine balls.
Italy finally stopped him in the 16th over when legspinner Kalugagame bowled him with a tossed-up wrong’un.
Brief scores:
West Indies 165 for 6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 75, Roston Chase 24, Sherfane Rutherford 24*, Matthew Forde 16*; Ali Hasan 1-24, Thomas Draca 1-22, Chrishan Kalugamage 2-25, Ben Manenti 2-37) beat Italy 123 in 18 overs (Anthony Mosca 19, JJ Smuts 24, Ben Manenti 26, Grant Stewart 12; Akeal Hosein 1-25, Shamar Joseph 4-30, Matthew Forde 3-19, Gudakesh Motie 2-24) by 42 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka won the toss at the party at Premadasa and decided to bat first. Both, the hosts and Zimbabwe, are through to the Super Eight already, but for Sri Lanka it was important to get in their injury replacements.
The big one, of course, was Matheesha Pathirana, whose tournament ended with a calf injury sustained during the match against Australia. His replacement in the squad, Dilshan Madushanka, came straight into the XI. Also given a look-in was Pramod Madushan, the fast bowler who was already in the squad. In order to organise this virtual bowl-off between Madushan and Madushanka, Sri Lanka rested their lead fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera.
Zimbabwe made no change to the XI that shocked Australia in this World Cup. They were looking to bowl first anyway because of the forecast for some drizzle later on, and hoping to bat in better batting conditions once the lights came on.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
[Cricinfo]
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