Sports
Sri Lanka depleted for second Test after players test positive for COVID
Sri Lanka have been delivered a severe blow ahead of the second Test starting in Galle on Friday as four players tested positive for COVID and the hosts were forced to bring in replacements. Australia have already retained Warne-Murali Trophy having won the first Test last week by ten wickets and Sri Lanka’s efforts of squaring the two match series has suffered a huge blow.
When testings were done on Wednesday evening, three players who featured in the first Test returned positive. Leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, fast bowler Asitha Fernando and all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva have been ruled out of the second Test while left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama is already in isolation having tested positive earlier in the week. Sri Lanka have added spinners Prabath Jayasuriya, Maheesh Theekshana, Lakshan Sandakan and Dunith Wellalage into the squad and two of them are expected to partner Ramesh Mendis, who played in the first Test. Apart from Sandakan, the other spinners who were added to the squad are yet to make their debuts. The squad already has a back up batsman in Kamindu Mendis, who is likely to replace de Silva.
One good news for Sri Lanka is that former captain Angelo Mathews, who tested positive for COVID during the first Test has been given the all clear and he will take part in the game.
The Sri Lankan camp will go through another round of testing on the eve of the Test match and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne feared that there could be more players withdrawn.
“If you take the COVID situation there are several affected players and it is very difficult to say the combination. We have picked 13 players but before we select the final 11, we have another antigen test and from that we have to find whether there are any more positive cases and after that only we can announce our playing 11,” Karunaratne explained.
Australia have no such issues and they will be looking to further consolidate their position as world’s number one ranked team in official ICC Rankings. Captain Pat Cummins told journalists that the only change the tourists are considering is whether to bring in Glenn Maxwell into the equation to further strengthen their spin department. Spinners claimed 18 of the 20 Sri Lankan wickets in the first Test as the game ended before lunch on day three. Mitchell Starc is likely to be left out if they go in that direction.
“Maxwell provides us the spinning and bowling options as well. I thought he was the pick of the bowlers in the one-day series. He was excellent. All-round package that he brings in, particularly that bowling, you feel like you can easily get 15-20 overs out of him,” Cummins said.It will be quite a turnaround if the 33-year-old Maxwell is picked to play as he has not featured in a First Class game since 2019.
Sri Lanka (From)
Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Ramesh Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella (Wicketkeeper), Dinesh Chandimal, Kasun Rajitha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Dunith Wellalage, Lakshan Sandakan and Maheesh Theekshana.
Australia (From)
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Cameroon Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson.
Umpires:
Michael Gough (Eng) and Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
Third Umpire:
Nitin Menon (Ind)
Match Referee:
Javagal Srinath (Ind)
With the objective of enhancing the living conditions of the agricultural community and increasing the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP, ‘Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme’ is being implemented with the financial contribution form the government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation is
implementing the program in collaboration with the Regional Development Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. All recoveries from loans provided under the program shall be directed to a revolving fund titled the “Sustainable Agricultural Fund”, which shall be utilized exclusively for the provision of
agricultural loans. Using the said fund, it is proposed to implement an agricultural loan scheme titled the “Sustainable Agriculture Programme” for individuals and institutions engaged in agriculture and related activities.
It is expected that an amount of Rs. 800 million from the funds available in the Sustainable Agriculture Fund will be allocated for the implementation of the Sustainable Agriculture Program in the year 2026.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal made by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to implement the “Sustainable Agriculture Program” loan scheme through the Participatory Finance Institution as an annual program from the year 2026.
The BCCI has raised the match fees in women’s domestic cricket, from INR 20,000 to INR 50,000 per day, for those in the first XIs in senior competitions. The decision was taken at an Apex Council meeting on Monday in Mumbai.
Those in the reserves are entitled to half that amount (INR 25,000 per day). There has also been a revision at the age-group level, with players part of the first XIs set to earn INR 25,000 a day, and reserves earning INR 12,500.
Until now, the age-group players used to take home INR 10,000 a day if they were in the XI, while the reserves made INR 5000. This fee structure totalled to a little more than INR 2 lakh a season if they played all league fixtures, including the final. That figure will now be in the region of INR 5 lakh.
The changes are part of BCCI’s ongoing efforts to elevate the domestic game in the wake of India’s maiden ODI World Cup triumph, amid calls within the system to have a relook at match fees.
ESPNcricinfo understands that several top state coaches and players had requested such a change internally to help expand an existing talent pool that the WPL has helped amplify. The pay revision at the junior level stems from a growing interest in the game among younger women, with India emerging champions in back-to-back editions of the Under-19 World Cup.
In 2022, the BCCI had put the match fees of the women’s national team at par with that of men, meaning those playing a Test took home INR 15 lakh per match, while the corresponding amounts for an ODI and a T20I stood at INR 6 lakh and INR 3 lakh respectively.
There has, however, been no change in central contract figures, with those ranked in the highest grade taking home INR 50 lakh, which is less than the lowest pay slab for the men.
[Cricinfo]
Gede Priandana, Indonesia’s 28-year-old right-arm quick bowler, has become the first to pick up five wickets in an over in an international T20I match (where ball-by-ball data is available), achieving the feat in the first T20I against Cambodia in Bali on Tuesday. He is the first man or woman to achieve the feat.
Indonesia had the upper hand in the game, but Cambodia were not out of it yet at the end of the 15th over of the chase of 168, the scorecard reading 106 for 5. Bowling his first over, Priandana struck off the first three balls to record a hat-trick, sending back Shah Abrar Hussain, Nirmaljit Singh and Chanthoeun Rathanak. A dot ball followed, after which Priandana got rid of Mongdara Sok and Pel Vennak to finish off the match, Cambodia getting just one run in the over, a wide between the last two wickets, to end 60 runs short.
Priandana had earlier scored 6 in 11 balls opening the innings alongside Dharma Kesuma, the wicketkeeper-batter, who led the batting show for Indonesia with an unbeaten 110 in 68 balls with eight fours and six sixes.
The feat has, however, been achieved twice before in men’s T20s. Al Amin Hossain took five wickets in an over against Abahani Limited playing for UCB-BCB XI in the Victory Day T20 Cup in 2013-14. The other was when Karnataka’s Abhimanyu Mithun dismissed five Haryana batters in the semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20.
While this is the first time a bowler has taken five in an over in an international game, there have been 14 instances of a bowler taking four in an over before today. The most famous of these was when Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga famously took four in four balls in the third over of a T20Is against New Zealand in 2019.
[Cricinfo]
Implementation of the loan scheme, “Sustainable Agriculture Program”
Cabinet nod to implement ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme in the year 2025 / 26
Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
Match fees more than doubled for women’s domestic cricketers in India
National progress can be achieved only when everyone fulfills the responsibilities entrusted to them with steadfast determination, unity of purpose and resilience in the face of any challenge – President
Indonesia’s Gede Priandana becomes first to pick five wickets in an over in T20Is
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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