Sports
Playing five specialist batters, dangerous ploy
Rex Clementine at Pallekele
Successful Sri Lankan teams of 1990s and 2000s had a straightforward formula for ODI cricket; they played seven batsmen. That was the case even when we had terrific match winners like Aravinda de Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya in the 90s and a decade later in 2000s when we had the luxury of T.M. Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the batting order. Sri Lanka are heading into the three match ODI series against Zimbabwe that gets underway today (Sunday) at Pallekele with just five specialist batters. That means, we will have two all-rounders – Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne at number six and seven respectively.
This is a dangerous ploy that could backfire after Avishka Fernando and Dhananjaya de Silva two of the team’s premier batsmen had to pull out from the series.
Shanaka told the media that he is ready to accept the challenge at number six. While Shanaka is an excellent leader and should be given the long rope to establish himself, entrusting him to occupy the number six slot is placing too much on his plate. The selectors would have been better off to beef up the batting department especially as batting has been their Achilles’ heel unable to bat out the quota of 50 overs. The team is also thin on experience and a struggling Dinesh Chandimal is their most experienced batter.
People can brush aside our concerns saying that after all it is Zimbabwe. Well, mind you that an unfancied Zimbabwe side humbled Sri Lanka five years ago and Angelo Mathews stepped down as skipper as the tourists recorded a come from behind win at Suriyawewa.
In modern day cricket, there are no dead rubbers and weak teams. Every game matters as qualification for ICC events are based on your performances in every game and if you are not in the safety zone, you will have to play qualifying rounds for premier events. Having already played a qualifying round last year, Sri Lanka will play another this year down under and looks like the trend is going to continue given the team’s poor standings in official ICC Rankings.
It is true that Dasun Shanaka has done wonders with limited resources. Making him to bat at six is not only asking too much but silly as well. There are already questions as to whether he merits a place in the ODI side. One good thing is that he’s got his priorities right. His primary focus remains cricket and not business.
Dasun is such a humble soul that even if a ground boy comes and gives him some ideas, he will listen, ponder and then take a decision.
Number six is a batting position occupied by some of the best finishers the game has seen like Michael Bevan of Australia or our own Hashan Tilakaratne and Russel Arnold. Those are the big shoes that Dasun has to fill apart from holding a young team together.
Slow over rates has been another issue that has haunted successive Sri Lankan teams in the last seven or eight years. Little has been done to address this issue. The other worrisome area is the reviews. Sri Lanka’s reviews have looked impulsive and imprudent in recent times and although our coaches have come up with various theories, very little progress has been made.
Novak Djokovic set up a mouth-watering Australian Open quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz with a convincing victory over Jiri Lehecka.
Djokovic continued his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win against the Czech 24th seed.
He will face Alcaraz in the last eight after the Spaniard progressed when British number one Jack Draper retired with a hip injury earlier on Sunday.
Alcaraz has beaten Djokovic in the past two Wimbledon finals, but the Serb got the better of the 21-year-old to win gold at the Paris Olympics last summer – Djokovic’s self-proclaimed “biggest sporting achievement”.
Djokovic was booed by the crowd as Lehecka threatened to force a fourth set, and the 11-time Australian Open champion was quick to leave Rod Laver Arena after his victory.
“Thank you very much for being here tonight. I appreciate your support and I will see you in the next round,” the 37-year-old said.
Speaking in a news conference afterwards, Djokovic clarified his reasons for swerving the usual on-court interview with four-time major winner Jim Courier.
He referred to the actions of Channel 9 newsreader Tony Jones, who shouted “Novak, he’s overrated, Novak’s a has-been, Novak kick him out” towards Djokovic fans while live on camera on Friday.
“A couple days ago the famous sports journalist who works for official broadcaster Channel 9 here in Australia made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me,” Djokovic said. “So since they’re official broadcasters, I chose not to give interviews for Channel 9. I have nothing against Jim Courier or the Australian public. “It was a very awkward situation for me.”
On Monday, Jones said he thought the comments were “banter” and “humour”, but gave an on-air apology – one he said he had already offered to Djokovic’s team 48 hours earlier. “I stand by that apology to Novak, if he felt any disrespect, which quite clearly he does.”
Channel 9 issued a public apology as well, saying “no harm was intended towards Novak or his fans”.
[BBC Sports]
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Kandy Sports Club smashed the daylights out of Navy Sports Club in their inter-club league rugby tournament match up in Nittawela on Sunday when they recorded a 66-5 win. The winners led 38-0 at the short whistle of referee Charani Liyanage. Incidentally this also marked the first occasion when a female member from the Sri Lanka Association of Rugby Football Referees got an opportunity to officiate in a division 1 men’s inter-club rugby tournament fixture in Sri Lanka.
Kandy SC opened the floodgates on the ‘Sailors’ in the second half and ran in tries through D. Wickremaarachchi, Dhanushka Ranjan, Gayan Perera and Dilksha Dange. Navy earned their only try which came in the second half through Stephen Gregory.
Meanwhile CR&FC kept title hopes alive with an exciting 27-22 win over CH&FC in closely contested domestic inter-club league rugby tournament encounter played on Saturday at Race Course.
CR played their fast and superior rugby throughout the eighty minutes of rugby, but found CH equally aggressive in their approach to the game. The scores were deadlocked 22 all till the dying stages of the game, before CR’s Aron Corera produced the match winner scoring near the corner flag. The try scorers for the winners were I.Ariyapala, A.Weeratunga and Corera while Zubair Doray kicked right two conversions and a penalty.
The players who were outstanding for CH were Udesh Madushanka, Janidu Dilshan and Nirosh Perera who touched down once each. Janith Chandimal and Dinesh de Silva did the honours in the kicking department.
Also on Saturday, Air Force Sports Club did well to beat Police Sports Club by 20 points to 19 in a closely contested game at Ratmalana. Both sides scored three tries each, but Air Force pulled off the game through their strengths in the kicking department. The scores read seven all at half time.
On Friday, Havelocks Sports Club downed Army Sports Club by 29 points to 18 after trailing 5-3 at halftime. The match was played at Panagoda.
Havies got their points through four tries, three conversions and a penalty while Army responded with two tries, a conversion and two penalties. S. Waidyanatha, D. kodagoda, J.Rajaratne and did the honours in the try scoring department for the winners while Samuel Maduwantha slotted in three conversions and a penalty. D.Wijetilake and M.Patapilihewage scored a try each for the Soldiers while the promising Gayan Salinda kicked right a conversion and two penalties.
Sri Lions SC didn’t have a game his week.
Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL Group), the leading food manufacturer, are powering the MCA “D” Division 40-over League Tournament 2025 for the 5th successive year and is contested for the glittering “CBL – Munchee” trophy.
The official sponsorship handing over ceremony together with the media conference was held at the MCA Legends Wing.recently.
The tournament features 15 teams pooled into three (03) groups and got underway on 4 th of December 2024 and will conclude on 25 th January 2025 with the final
Participating Teams and their Groupings
Group A:
Hemas Group, The Recovery Room, Peoples Leasing PLC, Colombo Dockyard, Yokohama TWS
Group B:
Airport and Aviation, Abans Group, Nations Trust Bank, HNB Finance, Power Hand Plantations
Group C:
Central Finance, Millenium IT, Teejay Lanka, Delmege Group, Seylan Bank
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