Sports

SLC keen to help Pakistan and looking for a window

Published

3 years ago

2021/09/23

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka Cricket is keen to help Pakistan once again after cricket in the country came to a standstill with New Zealand and England pulling out from their bilateral tours. Pakistan cricket chief former Test captain Ramiz Raja had reached out to his counterparts at SLC requesting the possibilities of a short tour. However, SLC is cramped for room for an immediate tour but will consider travelling to the country for a white ball series, possibly this year, SLC sources told The Island.

Sri Lanka are set to leave for Oman on the 3rd of October and that ruled out a series in Pakistan before the ICC T-20 World Cup. Soon after the World Cup, Sri Lanka will host West Indies for two Tests and the board will look at the possibility of touring Pakistan after that series.

Cricket in Pakistan stopped after the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore. Pakistan were forced to play their home games in UAE, an exercise that cost the PCB an arm and a leg.

In 2017, Pakistan made a huge step forward when the last game of a bilateral series against Sri Lanka was played in Lahore. In that series, two Tests, five ODIs and two T-20s had been played in UAE and the final T-20 in Lahore.

Since, then Pakistan has hosted Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe in limited overs cricket while South Africa had played Test match cricket. Sri Lanka had toured Pakistan for both white ball and red ball games.

PCB was looking to bring all international teams back to the country but the pulling out of New Zealand in the 11th hour followed by England’s no show have been massive blows. Pakistan officials have been bitter about the cancellations and have promised to take up the matter with the ICC.

SLC was highly impressed by the security arrangements that were in place for the team and officials during all their visits and had sent senior Air Force officer Roshan Biyanwala to assess the situation before the team travelled to Pakistan. Biyanwala had given a clean slate and the tours completed successfully.

Pakistan has been one of Sri Lanka’s strongest allies in cricket. Several Pakistan players including former great Wasim Akram played a hastily arranged exhibition match in Colombo along with leading Indian stars before the 1996 World Cup when Australia and West Indies pulled out due to security reasons.

Much before that, Pakistan was a pillar of strength when Sri Lanka applied for full member status with the ICC in 1970s. Abdul Hafeez Kardar in his capacity as Chairman of the Pakistan board aggressively pushed Sri Lanka’s case. He was responsible in training Sri Lankan coaches and curators in Pakistan to uplift the standard of the game in the island.

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Sports

Pant, Axar star in Delhi Capital’s nervy final-over win over Gujarat Titans

Published

3 hours ago

2024/04/25

Priyan

Rishabh Pant blasted a 43-ball 88 (Cricbuzz)

Delhi Capitals rode on their captain’s incredible knock of 88 from 43 balls to eke out a narrow four-run victory over Gujarat Titans, despite the best efforts of Sai Sudharsan, David Miller and Rashid Khan to stop the hosts from doing the double over them. Pant’s knock, along with Axar Patel’s essay (66 off 43) and Tristan Stubbs’s late cameo (26 off 7) turbo-charged DC’s innings well past the 200-run mark, and yet proved to be just about enough to pick the two points in the end.

Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88*, Axar Patel 66, Jake Fracer-McGurk 23, Tristan Stubbs 26*; Sandeep Warrier 3-15, Noor Ahmad 1-36) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55, Wriddhiman Saha 39, Rashid Khan 21*; Anrich Nortje 1-48, Rasikh Salam 3-44, Mukesh Kumar 1-41, Axar Patel 1-28, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29) by 4 runs

Sports

Akalanka, Abisheka qualify for finals

Published

9 hours ago

2024/04/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tharushi Abisheka and Ayomal Akalanka

Asian Junior Athletics Championships

by Reemus Fernando

Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Ayomal Akalanka who was included in the team at the eleventh hour qualified for the finals of the men’s 400 metres hurdles as he came almost close to matching his personal best time on day one of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Dubai on Wednesday.

Akalanka clocked 52.96 seconds to finish second in his heat and qualify for the finals.

Sri Lanka Athletics decided to drop him from the team after the Commonwealth Youth Game medallist failed to reach qualifying standards at the trials. He was included at the eleventh hour on the request of the Sports Minister who heeded an appeal. Akalanka will compete in the final on Friday.

Young Tharushi Abisheka provided the Sri Lankan team a morale boosting start as she qualified for the final of the women’s 800 metres in the morning.

Abisheka is the youngest member in the team and is eligible even to compete at the next edition of this Under 20 event in 2026. The Wickramabahu National School Gampola athlete finished third in her heat and will carry the third fastest time to the final which will be held on Friday.

In the men’s 100 metres, Merone Wijesinghe of Ananda College Colombo finished fourth in his heat.

When this edition went to press women’s team captain Madushani Herath of Nannapurawa MV Bibila was competing in the women’s triple jump.

Sri Lanka fielded a team of 17 athletes including four relay teams for the four-day regional event.

Sports

Saneshi wins three titles at Bandarawela

Published

9 hours ago

2024/04/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Saneshi Willoraarachchi

Saneshi Willoraarachchi won three titles at the Bandarawela Open Ranking Tennis Tournament.

The Musaeus College player won the women’s open singles, women’s open doubles and the Under 18 girls’ doubles.

She beat Inuki Jayaweera 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s open singles final and joined the latter to score a 4-2, 5-4 win in the doubles final against Lihini Jayakody and Diyana de Silva.

Saneshi and Inuki overcame a first set defeat to beat Gehansa Methnadi and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 0-4, 5-4, 10-6 for the Under 18 doubles title.