Sports
South Africa complete 3-0 drubbing
by Rex Clementine
Sri Lanka’s T-20 woes have been well and truly exposed ahead of a major tournament as South Africa completed a 3-0 rout at RPS last night. Set a target of 121, the tourists romped home to a comprehensive ten wicket win with Quniton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks finishing the run chase with 32 deliveries to spare.
Only one other time Sri Lanka had lost a T-20 International by ten wickets. That was during the inaugural World T-20 in 2007 when they went down to Australia in Cape Town. That was with 58 balls to spare while this one was with 32 deliveries in hand.
The Proteas have been hardly tested in this series as they won the opening encounter by 28 runs, sealed the series with a nine wicket win and then rubbed salt into the wounds by completing the whitewash having won the dead rubber with ease.
Sri Lanka lost three wickets during the Power Plays and never recovered to post a competitive total with Kusal Perera top-scoring with 39 runs. Chamika Karunaratne hit an unbeaten 24 and stitched a 19 run stand for the ninth wicket to save the side from embarrassment.
Kagiso Rabada bowled a hostile spell taking a return catch in his first over to dismiss Avishka Fernando. In his next over, Bhanuka Rajapaksa was walking away from the stumps and he followed the batsman with a nasty bouncer. In the next ball, he gave away a boundary, and with Rajapaksa giving himself room for the third delivery, bowled a straight one with mean pace to send the stumps cartwheeling.
It was a superb display of fast bowling and having troubled Rajapaksa throughout the series, you can safely say, Rabada has found his bunny.
With the World Cup just around the corner, Sri Lanka are still in an experimenting mood and without a settled batting line-up, they are losing too many wickets in the Power Plays and then getting bogged down in the middle overs leaving too much for the tail to do in the slog overs.
The middle-order comprising Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga are in such a wretched form while the replacements the selectors are bringing in aren’t working.
Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks posted half-centuries as they completed the run chase inside 15 overs. Their 121 run stand is the highest partnership in T-20 Internationals between the countries for any wicket.
De Kock was unbeaten on 59 off 46 balls with seven fours while Hendricks was 56 not out off 42 balls with five fours and one six.
There was nothing much the bowlers could do on a good batting track. The feature during the run chase was Kamindu Mendis bowling off-spin to the left-hander and then switching to left-arm orthodox spin for the right-handed batsman. He did not have great control but with exposure, the ambidextrous Richmondite could go places.
Olympian Yupun Abeykoon’s 60 metres Indoor National record is among several national indoor records under threat when Sri Lanka’s top sprinters vie for honours at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing China from today.
The country’s athletes do not get many chances to take part in indoor competitions. Most of the current national indoor records are owned by athletes who were based in Europe or USA when the records were established. Italy based sprinter Abeykoon established the current national indoor 60 metres record of 6.59 second in 2021.
With a world class field around him and a faster track providing support Chamod Yodasinghe is looking forward to improving his personal best (6.63secs) which is just four milliseconds behind Abeykoon’s national record. “Events in the magnitude of World Championships are conducted on tracks that support faster performances. We look forward for several record breaking performances,” Yodasinghe’s coach Sanjeewa Weerakkody told ‘The Island’ before the team’s departure to Nanjing.
Weerakkody is also the coach cum manager of the Sri Lanka team for Nanjing.
Former Royal College hurdler Kaveesha Bandara is the current national record holder in the 60 metres hurdles. His outdoor record mark of 7.80 seconds is faster than Chaminda Fonseka’s 1998 indoor record of 7.90 seconds.
Similarly Kalinga Kumarage too will be eager to lower legendary Sugath Thilakaratne’s indoor record mark of 46.70 seconds.
With this competition offering high points for top performances all three will be aiming at improving their rankings as well in a World Championship year.
The men’s 4×400 metres indoor national record is another record that is under serious threat. The current national indoor record of 3:11.29 established at the Asian Indoor Championship in Macau in 2007 will be on the back of Kumarage’s mind when he anchors the event in the final.
It will be the first time the country’s women’s 4×400 team will be running at an indoor championships. Whatever the time produced by the quartet anchored by Nadeesha Ramanayake will become a national record.
The Sri Lanka women’s 4×400 team will vie against the US, Poland, China, India and Australia teams. The US team is the undisputed favourites. According to World Athletics USA’s squad features three of the four women that earned 4x400m silver in Glasgow last year – Alexis Holmes, Bailey Lear and Quanera Hayes – along with Rosey Effiong, Karimah Davis and Maya Singletary.
by Reemus Fernando
Bangladesh’s veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has finally been cleared of suspect action after suffering months of negativity regarding the same. The 37-year-old had failed the test twice but the latest results suggest that Shakib has finally managed to clear the air around his bowling action.
The development comes as a huge sigh of relief for Shakib who had been excluded for Bangladesh’s Champions Trophy squad as the selectors didn’t want to pick him as a specialist batter. Having been suspended to bowl meant that the all-rounder couldn’t take part of the ICC event which had been earmarked as a farewell tournament for him in international cricket.
The phrase third-time lucky proved right for Shakib who cleared his latest bowling action test in England. When contacted by Cricbuzz, he confirmed the news with an understandable air of happiness.
“The news is right (passing about the bowling test) and I am cleared to bowl again,” Shakib said.
Shakib’s bowling action first came under scrutiny during a County Championship match for Surrey against Somerset in September 2024. Subsequently, the England and
Wales Cricket Board [ECB] suspended him following an independent evaluation that declared his action illegal.
Shakib then underwent two separate reassessments, first in England and then in India, failing both attempts, following which he was suspended from bowling.
Sri Lanka at World Indoor Athletics Championships
In the absence of Aruna Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage is shouldering an extra burden in living up to the reputation of Asian Champions in the 4×400 metres relay when the World Indoor Championship commences in Nanjing China on Friday.
The men’s 400 metres is Sri Lanka’s biggest strength in track and field events though two javelin throwers currently dominate world athletics top lists for the 2025 season. With the track and field season still in its start, the country’s top sprinters were yet to flex their muscles when the opportunity arose for the 400 metres sprinters to compete at the World Indoor Championships.
Kalinga Kumarage
Kumarage is the only experienced campaigner in the men’s 4×400 metres relay team scheduled to compete against world leading USA, Jamaica, Hungary, Nigeria and China in the men’s 4×400 metres final. Both Aruna Dharshana and Kalinga Kumarage had been involved in some of the fastest relay performances for Sri Lanka at international arena including the Asian Games, Asian Championship and Asian Relays. But Dharshana is not available for the event as he is currently competing in Australia. Kumarage is the only member from the gold winning team at last year’s Asian Relays competing in Nanjing. However, it will be a huge opportunity for Randima Madushan and the two juniors Sadew Rajakaruna and Omel Shashintha when they brush shoulders against top sprinters in a global final.
Apart from the relay, Kalinga will also compete in the men’s 400 metres where he will look to produce a top performance in a bid to improve his rankings.
Sri Lanka is fielding its biggest contingent to a world indoor championship this year. The team is inclusive of sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe who will compete in the 60 metres, hurdler Kaveesha Bandara (60 m hurdles) and the men’s and women’s 4×400 metres relay teams.
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Rajakaruna clarifies on behalf of Dharshana
Asanka Rajakaruna, the coach of leading 400 metres specialist Aruna Djarshana said that his charge was unaware of the 4×400 metres relay invitation extended by World Athletics to Sri Lanka for this week’s World Indoor Championships.
He said this with reference to our article on Tuesday which quoted a Sri Lanka Athletics official as having said that Dharshana had decided to stay in Australia to complete his commitments and was not available for the World Indoor Championships.
“We were not informed about the World Indoor Championships. We have always given priority to national duty. Dharshana would have taken the opportunity with open arms had he been informed of the opportunity to compete at the World Indoor Championship,” Asanka Rajakaruna told The Island.
Sri Lanka received the invitation to include relay teams for the World Indoor Championships well after Aruna Dharshana left for Australia.
by Reemus Fernando
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