Sports
Pressure of expectations bogs South Africa down; freedom gives Sri Lanka wings to fly
They did not play a match between March 2020 and January 2022. They had only won three of the 13 T20Is they had played against South Africa before Friday. Their World Cup record is poor and the FICA Women’s Employment Report said they had “no professional structures” in place. Despite all of that, Sri Lanka silenced the biggest home crowd South Africa’s women’s team has ever played in front of – 8402 – at Newlands with a stunning, though error-ridden, three-run win.
It was the stuff of dreams for Chamari Athapaththu, who has carried the Sri Lankan team almost single-handedly over her 13-year career. She had scored her first T20I fifty against South Africa in 2016, and on the day, she scored another one to give the tournament a rousing start.
Two days ahead of the match, she had told ESPNcricinfo that she wanted to hit the longest six of the tournament with a lofted off drive. She couldn’t do that, but struck five crisp cover drives, three powerful pulls, and one slog sweep in an innings she owned, but also one in which she passed a baton.
Vishmi Gunaratne, just 17 years old, took 13 balls to score her first five runs but then lap swept Nonkululeko Mlaba and plundered three fours off Shabnim Ismail in a strong supporting role. In her, Athapaththu saw someone who could take cricket forward in a country without an extensive player pool.
“No one expects Sri Lanka will win,” Athapaththu said. “Everyone thinks Sri Lanka has average players and are an average side so if we lose, that’s no problem for us. We don’t have any pressure. I told my players to play fearlessly and trust and back your skill.”\
Vishmi Gunaratne ‘a young superstar’ – Chamari Athapaththu
She said those words especially to Gunaratne, who Athapaththu described as a “young superstar with a bright future” – not many 17-year-olds take Ismail on and come out on top, after all.
“I just told her to focus on the ball and don’t think about who is bowling. She knows Shabnim is the No. 1 bowler so the first boundary she hit, I said, ‘you hit that off the world’s No. 1 bowler and you can hit another boundary in this over’. She hit the second boundary and I said to her, ‘you are really good, better than the No. 1 bowler, so you can hit another boundary’.
“She’s really young and she thinks when Shabnim is bowling, she’s No. 1. but I just want to relieve that pressure from her, that’s why I always talked to her.”
Athapaththu also admitted she needed to improve on the field, though, in the end, it was Athapaththu, at long-on, who saved what could have been a boundary in the final over when Ismail hit the ball down the ground. Asked about it afterwards, she repeated what she had said a few days before: “I love pressure. We have only a few experienced players so I always try to lead from the front. We didn’t have any pressure in these conditions, especially with South Africa playing in their home conditions.”
On the other hand, the expectation on South Africa was enormous. As the hosts that are considered genuine contenders for the semi-finals, they were not supposed to slip up here. Especially not 20 years to the day after West Indies humbled the South African men’s team in the 50-over World Cup at this same venue.
(cricinfo)
Power World Gyms proudly announced its partnership with Sri Lanka Rugby as the official fitness partner, marking a significant milestone in its ongoing mission to support national sports and athletic excellence. This collaboration not only reinforces Power World’s position as a leading fitness brand in Sri Lanka but also reflects its deep commitment to empowering local talent through performance-driven training.
As part of this partnership, Power World will provide dedicated support to enhance the training and performance of Sri Lanka’s national-level rugby players.
Robots ran alongside humans at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday.
Twenty-one humanoid robots, designed by Chinese manufacturers, raced alongside thousands of runners over a 21km (13-mile) course that included slopes, turns and uneven surfaces.
Some robots completed the race, while others struggled from the beginning. One robot fell at the starting line and lay flat for several minutes before getting up and taking off.
While robots have made appearances at marathons in China in the past, this is the first time they have raced against humans over the course of a half-marathon.
[BBC]
Latest News
Bryce’s maiden ton in vain as Ireland knock Scotland out of contention for Women’s World Cup
Scotland and Ireland signed off from the Women’s World Cup Qualifier with a thriller that saw Ireland complete their highest successful chase, off the last ball of the game and with one wicket in hand, and knock Scotland out of contention of the World Cup. Both teams finished on four points.
The result leaves the race for the second World Cup spot down to two teams on the final day of the tournament, where Bangladesh play already-qualified Pakistan and West Indies meet Thailand. Bangladesh are currently in second place and have some wriggle room. They do not need to beat Pakistan to qualify, and could get there with a loss, provided West Indies do not go past their net run-rate. West Indies must beat Thailand by a big margin in order to give themselves a chance of getting to the World Cup.
Both Scotland and Ireland will be disappointed at missing out, especially after Scotland beat West Indies in their opener and were in the mix going into this game. They needed to beat Ireland to stay in contention and gave themselves as good a chance as they could after posting their highest ODI score of 268 for 7.
Captain Kathryn Bryce was the architect of the total and scored her first ODI century to help Scotland recover from 19 for 3 in the powerplay to set Ireland a challenging target. Bryce has also scored two half-centuries in the qualifier and with 293 runs, is the leading run scorer.
Her innings was a wonderful mix of accuracy and aggression as she pierced gaps in the Irish field and struck 14 fours and two sixes, mostly through the covers and over mid-wicket. Bryce shared in four half-century stands: a run-a-ball 62 with Ailsa Lister, 65 with Katherine Fraser, 51 with Priyanaz Chatterji and 52 off 30 balls with Rachel Slater, who was with her when her hundred came up. Bryce got there with a slash over the covers off the 122nd ball she faced. She went on to score 31 more runs off the next 15 deliveries and showed off an excellent ability to accelerate at the death.
Ireland’s prospects of reaching the World Cup were gone after their third loss earlier in the week and they approached their innings like a side with nothing to lose. Sarah Forbes and Gaby Lewis put on 109 for the first wicket and Forbes went on to her first ODI fifty to set Ireland up well. Forbes was run out when she ran from the non-striker’s end almost to Lewis, who swept and turned down a single but it was too late to send Forbes back. Amy Hunter was caught behind two balls later and Lewis, on 61, followed in the same fashion and Scotland were clawing their way back.
Orla Prendagast looked good for her 33 but popped a simple catch to Lister at mid-on in the 35th over, with Ireland still 89 runs away from victory. Scotland dismissed Leah Paul, Louise Little and Sophie MacMohan in the space of 23 deliveries and at 209 for 7, Ireland looked out of the game. But Laura Delany had not yet had her full say. She had No.8 Jane Macguire for company and they put on 53 runs for the eighth wicket to leave Scotland scrambling.
Delaney reached fifty off 55 balls at the end of the 47th over, with Ireland still needing 20 runs off the last 18 balls. Byrce took matters into her own hands. She already had figures of 2 for 37 from seven overs and brought herself on to bowl the 48th and 50th over. She conceded seven runs in the 48th over. Ireland needed 13 from 12. Slater was tasked with the penultimate over and six runs were scored off her first five balls before she had Macguire caught on the leg side boundary as she tried to leave as little as possible to do in the last over. Macguire was dismissed for a career-best 28 and Ireland seven to win off the last over.
It was all up to Bryce. She started with a dot ball to Delany and then gave away a single which brought the new batter, No.10, Ava Canning, on strike. She took guard on middle stump, Bryce bowled it on that line and Canning scooped the ball out to long-on, where a diving fielder could not get to it in time to haul it in. That boundary left Ireland needing two runs off the last three balls and still Bryce wasn’t done. She bowled Canning, who played a loose drive, and Ireland needed two off two. Cara Murray padded the ball to the off side and Ireland ran one to level scores. With tensions running high, Delany tried to flick the final ball, missed and it trickled off her pad but she ran with all she had to seal Ireland’s win in the most epic of Celtic clashes.
Brief scores:
Ireland Women 269 for 9 in 50 overs (Gabby Lewis 61, Laura Delany 57*, Sarah Forbes 55, Orla Prendergast 33, Jane Maguire 28; Katherine Fraser 2-37, Chloe Abel 2-50, Kathryn Bryce 3-49) beat Scotland Women 268 for 7 in 50 overs (Kathryn Bryce 131*, Alisa Lister 27, Katherine Fraser 33, Priyanaz Chatterji 26; Ava Canning 3-48, Cara Murray 2-48) by one wicket
[Cricinfo]
Business World International Awards 2025 takes off at Mount Lavinia Hotel
Sampath Bank Partners with COYLE to Champion SME Growth and Entrepreneurship
ANC hosts NUCARS 2025
-
Features7 days agoLiberation Day tariffs chaos could cause permanent damage to US economy, amid global tensions
-
Features7 days agoMinds and Memories picturing 65 years of Sri Lankan Politics and Society
-
Business1 day agoDIMO pioneers major fleet expansion with Tata SIGNA Prime Movers for ILM
-
Sports7 days agoLankan legends, Modi and the Jaffna dream
-
Opinion7 days agoEnd of an Era: Passing away of Raja Uncle (Mr. Rajapaksha)
-
Features7 days agoRepentance Leads to Passion
-
Features7 days agoRecollections of two past Aprils
-
News7 days agoRs. 200 Bn tutoring industry contributing to teacher shortage crisis