Sports
Sadeesh’s century helps Joes force a draw
88th Battle of the Saints
A back to the wall century by Sri Lanka Under 19 player Sadeesh Jayawardena helped pre match favourites St. Joseph’s avert a possible defeat at the hands of St. Peter’s as the latter dominated the 88th Battle of the Saints which ended in a draw at the P. Sara Oval on Tuesday.
Given a target of 321 runs to chase, the Joes lost their fourth wickets for 91 runs when spinner Niman Umesh dismissed their key middle order batsman Dunith Wellalage for the second time in the Big Match. With the national player leaving early, St. Peter’s were starting to make further advances.
That was when the batting opener produced his best, playing the sheet anchor role. Jayawardena carried his bat through with an unbeaten 103 runs before bad light halted play around 5pm.
He faced 189 balls and hit 11 boundaries in his unbeaten knock. Hiran Jayasundara kept him company posting an unbroken 51 runs stand for the sixth wicket.
Jayasundara remained unbeaten on 19. Together they stayed in the wicket for 20 overs to disappoint Petes.
Earlier, commencing from 35 for two wickets, the Petes posted 232 for seven wickets declared as the night watchman Abilash Wellalage top scored with 61 runs.
He scored just two fours in his 134-ball knock. Lahiru Dawatage made 53 runs inclusive of six fours. While Wanuja Kumara chipped in with 28 runs, Danal Hemananda scored 21 runs not out.
Sadeesh Jayawardena was adjudged the Man of the Match for his match saving knock.
Shevon Daniel, who took five wickets for Joes and made a vital half century for them in the first innings received the award for the Best All-rounder.
For Petes, who dominated the match, Lahiru Dawatage, Wanuja Kumara and Shenal Botheju won the Best Fielder, Best Bowler and Best Batsman awards respectively.
The ICC has finalised Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai as the venues in India for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka as well. It is understood the ICC has shortlisted two venues in Colombo and Kandy as the three venues in Sri Lanka.
The T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7 and will conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8. According to PTI, the ICC is likely to release the schedule next week, with just about three months to go for the start of the tournament. It is understood that the majority of the participating countries have been waiting for the ICC to inform them about the grouping of teams as well as the schedule. The ICC is also yet to release ticketing information for the tournament.
Pakistan will play all their games in Sri Lanka as per the agreement reached between the BCCI and PCB for India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues during multi-nation tournaments hosted by the other country. If Pakistan make the final, the fixture will be held in Sri Lanka.
The 2026 T20 World Cup will have the same format as the previous edition – 20 teams split into four groups of five each, with every team playing the others once. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super-eight stage, where they will be placed into two groups of four. The top two sides from each Super-eight group will then qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-final will meet in the final.
Apart from hosts India and Sri Lanka, the other teams with automatic qualification to the tournament were the top seven teams from the 2024 T20 World Cup – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, United States of America and West Indies. The three teams that qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings were New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.
Canada took the lone spot from the Americas Qualifier. Italy, first time T20 World Cup participants, and Netherlands, qualified from the five-team tournament in Europe. Namibia and Zimbabwe grabbed the two spots from the eight-team African qualifier before Nepal, Oman and UAE made it from the Asian -EAP round.
India are the defending champions, having beaten South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.
[Cricinfo]
Mercantile Tennis Tournament 2025
Yashitha De Silva of MAS Holding beat Sanka Athukarala of Lanka Minerals & Chemical to clinch the Division I men’s singles title of the Mercantile Tennis tournament held at Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts.
Yashitha beat Sanka 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.
Dasun Shanaka has been named Sri Lanka’s vice-captain for the upcoming T20I tri-series that will also involve Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Fast bowler Eshan Malinga, meanwhile, is in line to make his debut in the same series while also being included in the ODI squad for the three matches against Pakistan before the tri-series begins.
Dilshan Madushanka has been ruled out of the ODI series as he hasn’t yet recovered from a knee injury, and was replaced by Malinga, whereas Matheesha Pathirana isn’t a part of the T20I squad as he is recovering from an upper respiratory tract infection. Pathirana was replaced by Asitha Fernando.
Top-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who last played a T20I at the start of the year, was back in the squad for the shortest format, having missed two bilateral series and the Asia Cup since then.
Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage didn’t find a spot in either of the 16-member squads, but he will lead Sri Lanka A in the Rising Stars T20 Asia Cup in Doha later this month.
Sri Lanka’s ODIs against Pakistan are all scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi, on November 11, 13 and 15. Those will be followed by the tri-series from November 17 in Rawalpindi and Lahore, with the final slated for November 29.
Sri Lanka squads
ODIs: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan, Eshan Malinga
T20I tri-series: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Kamil Mishara, Dasun Shanaka (vice-capt), Kamindu Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Asitha Fernando, Eshan Malinga
[Cricinfo]
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