Sports

Silver jubilee celebrations of World Cup win in full swing

Published

2 years ago

2021/03/15

The silver jubilee celebrations of Sri Lanka’s World Cup triumph is in full swing with several activities organized in Colombo and Jaffna. The state will felicitate the nation’s World Cup heroes at an official function to be held at Temple Trees on Wednesday morning with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in attendance.

That evening there will be a dinner organized by members of World Cup winning team at Colombo’s Shangri-La. There are several other activities organized with the main event being a cricket match in Jaffna involving the World Cup winning team followed by a dinner.

Sri Lanka beat Australia in the finals of the WILLS World Cup on the 17th of March in 1996 with Aravinda de Silva’s unbeaten 107 setting up a comprehensive seven wicket win. Sanath Jayasuriya’s swashbuckling batting and his tidy left-arm spin won him the Player of the Series award as Sri Lanka became unbeaten champions with the highlight of their campaign being beating India twice in their own backyard. In the process, Jayasuriya ended the careers of a few players; Manoj Prabhakar and Philip DeFreitas.

Apart from India, Sri Lanka beat Kenya and Zimbabwe in their group games while Australia and West Indies conceded points having refused to play in Colombo due to security reasons. Having topped the group, Sri Lanka beat England in the quarter-finals, India in the semis and Australia in the finals, who qualified having beaten New Zealand in the quarters and West Indies in the semis.

Arjuna Ranatunga’s side defied many odds when they won the final chasing although no team batting second had won a World Cup final previously.

In the five previous World Cups, Sri Lanka had never reached the second round, when they did ultimately in 1996, they went onto become champions.

Sri Lanka’s attacking style going after the bowling when fielding restrictions were on in the first 15 overs caught many teams by surprise. The ploy did not work all the time and when it backfired, the team had enough resources to post decent totals or mange run chases.

The team’s bowling resources were limited but they compensated for that with some excellent fielding. Improved fitness levels also helped the side immensely.

Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia just prior to the World Cup toughened up the team and incidents such as the ball tampering allegations in Perth and the chucking controversy on Boxing Day at the MCG brought the side together. It was fitting that Sri Lanka met Australia in the final and beat them comprehensively.

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Sports

Second ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka abandoned

Published

3 hours ago

2023/03/28

Priyan

(pic ICC)

The second ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has been called off due to rain in Christchurch.

Sports

Lahiru takes five wickets as Joes take lead

Published

7 hours ago

2023/03/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Lahiru Amarasekara

Under 19 Cricket

Off-spinner Lahiru Amarasekara produced a five-wicket haul as St. Joseph’s restricted Mahinda to 127 runs on day one of the Under 19 traditional cricket encounter at Galle on Monday.

Amarasekara was ably supported by spinner Yenula Dewthusa and Muditha Dissanayake who shared the other five wickets.

With wickets falling at regular intervals, batting opener Ranmina Hettiarachchi anchored the top order with a knock of 33 runs. Chandupa de Silva with 29 runs, Tharusha Dilshan (15) and Hiruna Gallalge (17) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures.

In their essay St. Joseph’s were comfortably placed at 132 for two wickets but back-to-back wickets in the last two overs placed them at 132 for four wickets at stumps.

At Welisara, Dinuka Tennakoon took five wickets but Maris Stella managed to post 268 runs as Shean Adithya top-scored with 83 runs. In reply Trinity were nine without loss.

Vihanga Nimsara and Rasindu Ilukshana were the heroes for Moratu Vidyalaya as their half-centuries helped them score 249 runs against St. Sylvester’s at Boyagane.

Match Details

At Galle: Mahinda 127, St. Joseph’s 132/4

Scores:

Mahinda

127 all out in 57 overs (Ranmina Hettiarachchi 33, Chandupa de Silva 29; Lahiru Amarasekara 5/34, Muditha Dissanayaka 2/23, Yenula Dewtusa 3/32)

St. Joseph’s

132 for 4 in 42.1 overs (Sadeesh Jayawardena 53, Naren Muralidaran 41; Shehan Hasaranga 2/39)

At Welisara: Maris Stella 268, Trinity 9/0

Scores:

Maris Stella

268 all out in 93.5 overs (Kaveen Fernando 26, Shean Adithya 83, Anshen de Silva 28, Ramith Bandara 33, Nethum Basnayake 26, Levin Fernando 22; Jayavi Liyanagama 2/40, Dinuka Tennakoon 5/74)

Trinity 9 for no loss in 4 overs

At Boyagane: Moratu Vidyalaya 249, St. Sylvester’s 5/1

Scores:

Moratu Vidyalaya

249 all out in 93.1 overs (Vihanga Nimsara 82, Rasindu Ilukshana 54; Isuru Gunasekara 2/28, Pansilu Bandara 2/50, Akila Wickramasinghe 3/48, Khanka Wickramasinghe 2/31)

St. Sylvester’s

5 for 1 in 4 overs.

Sports

Sowmiya clinches a triple crown, Silvijan bags a double

Published

7 hours ago

2023/03/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Winners posing with their awards.

Northern Badminton Championship 2023

T. Silvijan Dalima was crowned men’s singles champion while S. Sowmiya clinched a triple crown at the Northern Badminton Championship 2023 in Kilinochchi during the weekend.

At the Provincial Indoor Stadium in Kilinochchi, Silvijan met K Thusan in the final clash in which the latter retired in the second set with scores reading 21-14, 16-11 in favour of the champion. L Hentry and K Kajan were the losing semi-finalists.

Meanwhile, S. Sowmiya won all three of her open events, the women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles with respective partners.

Sowmiya clinched the women’s singles crown with a 21-15, 21-13 win over R. Ragavi in the final following her doubles title win with B. Oliviya. Sowmiya and Oliviya overcame Athmika and M. Kavinaya 21-9, 21-15 to seal the women’s doubles crown.

Earlier, Sowmiya and Silvijan, the best singles duo in the tournament, also won the mixed doubles title by defeating R. Sulacsan and S . Thanojana 21-12, 21-16 in the final.

The men’s doubles final was won by L. R. Reminsan and T. Thusyanthan who beat G. Thanukanth and R. Yuthakaran with a 21-13, 21-9 score line.

The tournament, organised by the Northern Province Badminton Association, was conducted under the guidance of Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB). SLB President Rohan de Silva and a host of top officials were among the special guests at the presentation ceremony.