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Ravindra, Santner, McConchie eliminate Sri Lanka
A stunning rearguard from Mitchell Santner and Cole McConchie knocked Sri Lanka out of the 2026 T20 World Cup in spite of an electric start for the hosts as New Zealand sealed a crushing 61-run win. At an electric R Premadasa Stadium that crackled with perhaps the best atmosphere of the tournament, Sri Lanka’s spinners put New Zealand’s top and middle order to the sword, reducing them to 84 for 6.
But just as New Zealand’s innings looked to be petering out, Santner and McConchie responded with a fierce counterattack in the last four overs. McConchie began it with a takedown of Dushmantha Chameera before Santner flayed Maheesh Theekshana, up till then the game’s best bowler. The last four overs produced 70 runs as the duo put on 84, the highest seventh-wicket stand in T20 World Cup history.
Punch-drunk Sri Lanka never got up off the floor following that flurry of attacks. The first ball of the innings saw them lose their talisman Pathum Nissanka to Matt Henry’s inswinger, and Charith Asalanka fell in his following over. In response, Sri Lanka retreated into their shell as New Zealand strangled them with spin.
Rachin Ravindra only had a part-time role in India but he was thrust in as the main character. He responded with two wickets in his first over and rounded out his spell with 4 for 19 – his best T20I figures. The game was long done even as it meandered to a dispiriting conclusion for a crowd that had shown its side it was ready to play its part. As Sri Lanka limped to 107 for 8, and out of the tournament, the team itself simply couldn’t keep up its end of the bargain.
It was a boomerang of a day for Maheesh Theekshana for the extremes it swung between. It began inauspiciously when he put down a diving catch of Tim Seifert at short third off the bowling of Dilshan Madushanka – and copped a spray from the bowler for his trouble.
The following over, Theekshana would make no such mistake off his own bowling, diving sharply forward to send Finn Allen packing. It began three sensational overs for the spinner as he engineered a New Zealand collapse, dismissing Ravindra and Mark Chapman within three balls of each other. At that stage, his figures read 3-0-9-3. However, New Zealand’s late counterattack sullied them somewhat, with the spinner unable to stem the run-flow as Santner took him apart for 21 in his last over.
New Zealand had the momentum at the halfway mark thanks to the Santner-McConchie stand, and Henry made sure it carried on uninterrupted. Off the first ball of the chase, he produced an unplayable inswinger that burst past Nissanka’s inside edge to knock off the top of the stumps. It was the start of a wicket-maiden, and that dagger already plunged, he returned for his second to take another wicket to open the over. This time, it was Charith Asalanka, a listless heave merely ballooning up in the infield.
To add insult to injury, McConchie and Santner returned to strangle Sri Lanka through half of the powerplay, their three overs inside the first six going for 14. It all combined for the hosts limping along to 20 for 2 in six, the lowest powerplay score all tournament.
New Zealand played most of this World Cup on the flat Chennai surfaces, but tonight’s bowling performance revealed their impressive flexibility. Coming to Colombo, they demonstrated they were fully prepared for slower, turning surfaces. McConchie was added in place of James Neesham to add bowling depth, with Ish Sodhi playing his first game of the tournament, not counting the Pakistan fixture that was washed out.
But it was Ravindra who epitomised New Zealand’s vast flexibility with a career-best performance, taking four wickets across his spell and carving the heart out of Sri Lanka’s middle order. All told, the visitors used five different spin options with only three overs of seam bowled all innings – the fewest for New Zealand in a completed T20I innings.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 168 for 7 in 20 overs (Finn Allen 23, Mitchell Santner 47, Rachin Ravindra 32, Glenn Phillips 18, Cole McConchie 31*; Dunith Wellalage 1-27, Maheesh Theekshana 3-30, Dushmantha Chameera 3-38) beat Sri Lanka 107 for 8 in 20 overs (Kusal Mendis 11, Pavan Rathnayaka 10, Kamindu Mendis 31, Dunith Wellalage 29; Rachin Ravindra 4-27, Matt Henry 2-03, Mitchell Santner 1-19, Glenn Phillips 1-21) by 61 runs
[Cricinfo]
Several tankers carrying Iranian oil have crossed the United States blockade line in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a tracking website, two days before Washington and Tehran are to launch more talks after reaching a framework agreement to end their war.
The TankerTrackers website, which monitors oil shipments and storage, on Wednesday identified Iran’s “first crude oil exports in two months”, citing digital tracking data corroborated by satellite imagery.
The talks on a final settlement to end the war, triggered by US Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, are to begin on Friday at Switzerland’s Burgenstock mountain resort as news that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen sent world oil prices tumbling.
According to TankerTrackers, two National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) tankers – the Diona and Hero 2 – carrying a total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian oil, exited the blockade line on Tuesday while another tanker, Stream, was sailing towards Iranian ports on Wednesday.
A third tanker operated by the NITC and carrying 1 million barrels of Iranian crude sailed past the US Navy’s blockade line in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, according to TankerTrackers.
In a post on X, the maritime tracking service said the Sonia I “exited the blockade line” at 01:11 GMT.
[Aljazeera]
An ODI between Canada and Netherlamds in King City Toronto on Tuesday was abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. The fixture was part of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 competition, which is part of the qualification pathway for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
The match was abandoned just 4.1 overs into the Netherlands innings after they had chosen to bat. They were 15 for 1, with Max O’Dowd the batter dismissed for a duck in the second over. The pitch had uneven bounce and the batters were struck several times during the short passage of play.
On June 12, four days before the abandoned match, the ICC had issued a statement saying the pitch at King City that was used for an ODI between USA and the Netherlands on June 8 had been given an “unsatisfactory” rating and one demerit point.
“This was a pitch that fell below the standard expected for this level of cricket,” match referee Phil Thompson had said about the surface for the USA-Netherlands match. “Both captains expressed disappointment with how it turned out, and the match officials assessed it as ‘very poor’. The inconsistent bounce created challenging and potentially unsafe playing conditions. Taking all factors into consideration, I believe the pitch merits an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating.”
According to the ICC’s pitch and outfield monitoring process, pitches that get an “unsatisfactory” rating will be given one demerit point, while an “unfit” pitch rating will result in three demerit points for the venue. Demerit points remain active for a rolling five-year period, and an accumulation of six demerit points will result in the venue being suspended from hosting international matches for 12 months (12 demerit points will lead to a 24-month ban).
(Cricinfo)
Joshua Da Silva and Amir Jangoo have earned recalls to West Indies’ squad for the two-match World Test Championship series at home against Sri Lanka starting later this month, while the two Josephs, Alzarri and Shamar, are back after missing the tours of India and New Zealand late last year because of injuries.
Trevin Imalch had kept wicket when West Indies last played Test cricket, in New Zealand last December, but Da Silva, 33 Test matches old, has returned after scoring 996 runs across the last two seasons of the West Indies Championship. Imlach, who failed with the bat in New Zealand with a total of 81 runs across six innings – after scoring 33 runs in his only Test in India – has been named captain of a West Indies Select XI to play the Sri Lankans in a tour match in Coolidge from June 18 to 21. Roston Chase will continue to captain the Test side.
West Indies vs Sri Lanka Tests
Jangoo, dropped after only one Test appearance, in Multan in January 2025, where he scored 0 and 30, has returned to the side following a fruitful WI Championship in which he scored 411 runs in seven innings. He finished second on the scorers’ table there, only behind Da Silva, who scored 413 in seven outing. The highlight of Jangoo’s season was the 203 not out he scored for Trinidad & Tobago against Leeward Islands
The pair of Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph, meanwhile, last played Test cricket during the home series against Australia in mid-2025.”Every Test series is an opportunity for us to grow as a team and strengthen our identity,” Darren Sammy, the head coach, said in a Cricket West Indies statement. “Sri Lanka are a quality side, so we know we’ll have to be at our best, but we’re excited about the challenge ahead.”For us, it’s about playing with discipline, showing character when the game gets tough, and representing the West Indies with pride. The players have been putting in the work, and we’re looking forward to putting on a strong display for our fans across the Caribbean.”
Some of the squad members are currently participating in a high-performance training camp in Antigua, which began on June 12 and will run till June 22. The members of the Test squad who were also part of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka – West Indies lost the ODIs and won the T20Is – will join the camp on June 15. The Tests will be played in North Sound from June 25 to 29 and July 3 to 7.
“This is a key component of our preparations heading into the series, providing players and coaches with valuable time to enhance and improve the skills we want to see sharpened, based on the areas we need to focus our attention on when facing this opponent,” Sammy said about the camp. “It also gives us the opportunity to put clear objectives and plans in place for the conclusion of the summer against Pakistan.
“Additionally, the four-day warm-up game prior to the series provides the chance for some of our Test hopefuls to play in high-intensity action and create the avenue for more competition within the squad ahead of the upcoming and future series.”
West Indies are currently bottom of the nine-team WTC table, having lost seven of their eight games in the ongoing cycle.
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Da Silva and Jangoo earn recalls for West Indies’ Tests against Sri Lanka
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