Sports
Pathum Nissanka; the ace up Sri Lanka’s sleeve
Rex Clementine at Dambulla
This year has been nothing short of a joyride for Sri Lanka’s top-order dynamo, Pathum Nissanka. He’s been the man with the Midas touch, transforming matches into memorable wins and notching up milestones as if they were entries on a to-do list. In all formats, Pathum’s consistency has become the backbone of Sri Lanka’s resurgence. Sure, Kamindu Mendis has stolen some of the spotlight, equalling Sir Don Bradman himself—no small feat. But Pathum has quietly carved his own legend, both at home and abroad.
At a recent media briefing, white-ball captain Charith Asalanka confessed that he loves nothing more than watching Pathum bat from the non-striker’s end. “It’s the best seat in the house!” he chuckled, while the rest of us mere mortals have had to settle for the thrill of his strokes from afar. Charith gets the live show, but for everyone else, Pathum’s artistry at the crease has been a masterpiece to behold. Simply put, he’s been phenomenal.
Last year’s World Cup might’ve been a bleak chapter for Sri Lanka, but Pathum was the silver lining, stringing together four half-centuries in a row. This year, he had a rocky start, missing the ODIs against Zimbabwe due to illness. But as soon as he returned, he made his presence felt with a bang against Afghanistan at Pallekele, rewriting the record books. Pathum broke Sanath Jayasuriya’s long-standing record for the highest score by a Sri Lankan in an ODI—a record that had stood tall for nearly 25 years. Not content with merely breaking records, he went ahead and became the first Sri Lankan to hit a double hundred in the 50-over format.
What makes Pathum’s double ton all the more remarkable is his approach. Unlike power hitters like Rohit Sharma, Fakhar Zaman, Chris Gayle, and Virender Sehwag—guys who aim to smash the leather off the ball—Pathum is more a poet than a pugilist. He relies on timing over brute force, threading the ball through fielders like a seamstress working her needle through silk. His innings was a masterclass in finesse, a beautiful blend of elegance and precision.
And Pathum hasn’t confined his magic to ODIs alone. In T20s, he’s been rock solid, but his crowning achievement this year came in the most traditional format—Test cricket. His knock in London marked Sri Lanka’s first Test victory in England in a decade, and Pathum was front and center.
Test cricket is where Pathum first announced his arrival, scoring a century on debut in the Caribbean. But a pesky back injury held him back, limiting his chances. He returned to the Test side this year at Lord’s after a two-year hiatus. By the time they went to the other side of River Thames and reached The Oval, he was unstoppable. He backed up his first-innings fifty with a century in the second, showcasing a performance that felt as timeless as the venue itself.
That century was pure class, a symphony of strokes that left everyone spellbound. In conditions that played right into England’s hands, with a seaming track tailored for their fearsome pace attack, Pathum started cautiously, playing straight and true in the first hour. Then, as if flipping a switch, the drives began flowing. With victory in sight, he even hooked a few short balls, asserting himself and sealing a memorable, come-from-behind triumph for Sri Lanka.
It’s no wonder English counties have already come knocking, eager to bring him on board for a season of County Cricket. And if he keeps going at this rate, it’s only a matter of time before the IPL scouts start scribbling his name onto their lists too.
In recent years, we’ve seen many promising young talents blaze onto the scene only to fizzle out as quickly as they arrived. But Pathum is a different breed. He stays grounded, always flashing that humble smile and quietly determined to be the best he can be. You can’t help but root for him to go places, and with the path he’s on, he certainly will.
Currently, Pathum is leading the pack as the highest run-scorer in ODIs this year. He’s also the highest-ranked Sri Lankan batsman in ODIs, sitting pretty at number seven, and eighth in T20Is. That’s a pretty exclusive club he’s in, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Travis Head, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jos Buttler. This has truly been Pathum’s year, and something tells us this is just the beginning of his grand adventure.
The winners of FIFA’s first 32-team Club World Cup in the United States could earn a football record $125m as details of a $1bn prize money fund were finally published.
FIFA said it allocated $525m in guaranteed fees for teams taking part in the June 14 to July 13 tournament, ranging from $38.19m to the top-ranked European team – likely Real Madrid – to $3.58m for the Oceania representative Auckland City.
A further $475m is to be earned by results in the 63 games, with $2m paid for winning group stage games, $7.5m for playing in the round of 16 and $40m to the team that wins the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.
The golden trophy has been sitting in the Oval Office at the White House this month after FIFA President Gianni Infantino delivered it to President Donald Trump.
The prize fund was delayed until a global broadcast deal was belatedly agreed in December with streaming service DAZN, which then got a major investment from a state-backed sports agency in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia was also confirmed in December by FIFA as host of the men’s 2034 World Cup.
Each of the 12 European teams in the Club World Cup lineup will be paid at least $12.81m as an entry fee. Payments will be decided by “a ranking based on sporting and commercial criteria”, FIFA said without providing details.
Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea also qualified by either winning a Champions League title from 2021 to 2024 or having consistent results in the competition over those four seasons.
Countries were capped at two entries unless they had three Champions League winners. Salzburg of Austria qualified as the final European team, despite never advancing beyond the round of 16, because higher-ranked clubs like Liverpool and Barcelona were blocked by the country cap.
The six South American teams each will get a $15.21m entry fee.
Teams from Africa, Asia and the CONCACAF region of North America — including Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, despite not winning the MLS Cup title last season — each will get $9.55m for playing.
Leon of Mexico is currently contesting its removal from the competition by FIFA because it is in shared ownership with Pachuca, which also qualified.
FIFA aims to pay $250m to clubs worldwide who did not qualify for the tournament. It is unclear how many clubs will be paid, or how much they will get.
The overall prize pool for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar amounted to $440m.
[Aljazerra]
No Sunil Narine, no problem for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). KKR’s new recruit Moeen Ali, who took the unwell Narine’s place, dovetailed beautifully with old face Varun Chakravarthy on a dry, sluggish Guwahati surface to limit Rajasthan Royals (RR) to 151 for 9. The two spinners were so good – they claimed combined figures of 8-0-40-4 – that KKR didn’t even need Andre Russell with the ball.
Then another new recruit, Quinton de Kock came good at the top, and KKR didn’t need Russell with the ball either. De Kock’s unbeaten 97 off 61 balls got KKR on the points table and handed RR their second successive defeat this season.
Sanju Samson fell for 13 off 11 balls when he stepped out a bit too early and yorked himself against Vaibhav Arora, but Guwahati’s very own Riyan Parag, who was captaining RR, brought the crowd alive when he crashed the third ball he faced, from Harshit Rana, for a one-handed six. His next six, a lofted checked-drive off Arora over his head in the last over of the powerplay, was even better.
Parag even launched Varun for a six over midwicket when the mystery spinner erred too short. However, Varun remedied his length two balls later, having Parag sky a catch to de Kock, the keeper, with a 113kph dart that veered away from him.
Parag also did his bit with the ball later in the evening, coming away with 4-0-25-0 later and running Moeen out, but his homecoming wasn’t a happy one.
Moeen might not even played had Narine been available. After having received his maiden KKR cap from team mentor Dwayne Bravo, Moeen struck in his second over when he had an advancing Jaiswal holing out to long-on for 29 off 24 balls. It was only Jaiswal’s second dismissal against spin in the IPL since 2023 across 197 balls while scoring 289 runs.
RR tried to use Hasaranga the way they did R Ashwin in the past. They promoted Hasaranga up to No. 5 as a pinch-blocker or pinch-hitter, but the experiment didn’t work. He faced just one ball from Moeen, the offspinner, and ended up miscuing Varun to mid-off for a run-a-ball 4.
The slide triggered by the spinners – RR went from 67 for 1 to 82 for 5 – messed with the hosts’ plans. Shubham Dubey, who wasn’t originally in RR’s bat-first XI, had to brought in at No. 7, which denied them the option of bringing in a frontline bowler in the form of Kumar Kartikeya or Akash Madhwal during their defence.
Varun and Moeen conceded just one six and a four between them. In contrast, RR’s spinners, including part-timers Parag and Nitish Rana, leaked 11 boundaries among them.
That RR crossed 150 was down to late blows from Dhruv Jurel, who top-scored for them with 33 off 28 balls, and Jofra Archer.
Moeen was going nowhere with the bat in the chase. He was on five off 11 balls, having been discomfited by Archer’s high pace and bounce. Then, when he tried to steal a double off Parag, he had a mix-up with de Kock and was run out for five off 12.
This might have been a match-losing innings on another day, but on this day Moeen’s own effort with the ball earlier and de Kock’s big hits at the other end meant KKR could offset it. The dew that set in later in the evening made KKR’s job much easier.
De Kock had attacked the hard, new ball, claiming 34 of the 40 runs KKR scored in the powerplay. After bashing Archer for a brace of boundaries in the third over, he went after Maheesh Theekshana and Parag.
When Hasaranga, who was picked in place of Fazalhaq Farooqi, removed Rahane for 18 off 15 balls, RR might have felt that they had an opening. But de Kock and 20-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi slammed the doors on them with an unbroken 83-run partnership off 44 balls.
De Kock brought up his half-century off 36 balls when he hoicked Hasaranga for six over wide long-on. He then celebrated the landmark with a six of Parag in the following over. De Kock could’ve ticked off a century had RR set KKR a bigger target.
RR’s 151 for 9, the lowest total this season, stuck out like a sore thumb amid the big hitting from various other teams in this IPL.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 153 for 2 in 17.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 97*, Ajinkya Rahane 18, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 22*; Wanidu Hasaranga 1-34, ) beat Rajasthan Royals 151 for 9 in 20 oves (Yashasvi Jaiswal 29, Sanju Samson 13, Riyan Parag 25, Dhruv Jurel 33, Joffra Archer 16; Spencer Johnson 1-42, Vaibhav Arora 2-33, Harshit Rana 2-36, Varun Chakravarthi 2-17, Moeen Ali 2-23) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
The 91st edition of the grand old clash between Sri Lanka’s two premier Catholic institutions – St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College – is set to bring the house down, with excitement hitting fever pitch. This year’s Battle of the Saints is no ordinary affair – it’s a three-day spectacle, stretching from the 3rd to the 5th of April, mirroring the format of the game’s longer version and promising to be anything but a tame draw.
Thanks to the proactive backing of Sri Lanka Cricket, this season’s big matches have all gone the distance – three days apiece – in a bid to add some real bite to the contests. No more settling for boring dead rubbers. In fact, the numbers don’t lie – of the 90 previous encounters, a whopping 67 have ended in draws. But this year, with an extra day in the bank, the chances of a result are looking as bright as a sunny day at the SSC.
Both St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s were established by the French Oblate Missionaries, and they now lock horns annually for the much-coveted Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc Trophy – a symbol of glory and tradition passed down through generations.
Who Was Fr. Le Goc?
Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc, a man of letters and a true renaissance soul, was Rector of St. Joseph’s and a giant in the field of education. He wore many hats – scientist, botanist, astronomer, architect – a genuine all-rounder in every sense of the word. After a successful innings at St. Joseph’s, he was handed the task of planting a Josephian branch south of Colombo. That seed blossomed into what we now know as St. Peter’s College.
But the action doesn’t end with the longer format. Once the whites are packed away, the two schools will square off in the limited-over game – a white-ball thriller for the Rev. Fr. Peter A. Pillai Trophy – named after yet another educational heavyweight.
This year, Kenath Liyanage dons the skipper’s cap for the Josephians, while Oween Salgado leads the charge for the Peterites. Both captains will be looking to etch their names into history with bat and ball.
When it comes to bragging rights, St. Joseph’s have their noses in front with 12 wins to St. Peter’s ten. The Joes last tasted victory in 2008 under the astute leadership of Ruwantha Fernandopulle, while the Peterites had their moment in the sun in 2016, thanks to the calm and composed Vinu Mohotty.
Both schools have served as fertile nurseries for cricketing excellence. The Josephians have rolled out stars such as Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Chaminda Vaas, Dunith Wellalage, Shevon Daniel, Thisara Perera, Ashley de Silva, Roshen Silva and Sadeera Samarawickrama – all of whom have worn the lion crest with pride.
Meanwhile, the Peterite dressing room has seen legends like Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake, Vinodhan John, Amal Silva, Russel Arnold, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Malinda Warnapura, Angelo Perera, Janith Liyanage and Dushan Hemantha rise through its ranks. These two schools have not just produced players – they’ve produced match-winners.
Fans can catch all the action ball by ball via ThePapare TV on Dialog Television Channel 126, or stream it live on ThePapare.com and Dialog ViU app – perfect for those who prefer to follow the match from the comfort of their crease.
ThePapare’s stellar live coverage will shine a spotlight on over 40 school games across the island this season, bringing every six, wicket, and near-miss right to your fingertips.
FIFA announces record prize money for winners of upcoming Club World Cup
New education reforms are not only to align education with job market demands but also to cultivate skilled youth who can contribute to the economy and provide leadership to society -Prime Minister
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