Sports
Sri Lanka face Australia in Masters World Cup semi-final today
Sri Lanka Masters will lock horns with their Australian counterparts today in the semi-finals of the Over-50 Masters World Cup at the Mercantile Cricket Association grounds in Colombo – 7. The other semi-final will see England take on Pakistan across the wall at NCC. The grand final set to be played at the P. Sara Oval on Sunday.
Led by Shane Fernando and coached by Harsha de Silva, the Sri Lankan team has been a formidable presence in the tournament.
Organized by International Masters Cricket (IMC)—an Australia-based body dedicated to senior cricket—the body promotes four age group categories, ranging from Over-40s to Over-70s.
This year’s tournament has brought together 14 nations: Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, England, Wales, UAE, Canada, USA and the West Indies and caters for over 50 players. Sri Lanka Masters have consistently participated across all age-group World Cups, underscoring their commitment to veterans’ cricket.
Previous editions of the tournament were hosted in Sydney and Cape Town. The Colombo leg commenced earlier this month, with the 14-team event broadcast live globally. In total, 56 matches were scheduled, with each innings comprising 45 overs.
Veterans’ cricket continues to gain popularity worldwide, promoting fitness, camaraderie, and a love for the game well beyond the professional years. This tournament not only offers intense competition but also serves as a testament to the sport’s enduring appeal. However, despite its significance, the Masters World Cup struggles with limited sponsorship, relying largely on self-funding and a restricted budget to stay afloat.
Sri Lanka squad:
Saman Jayantha, Rory Ingram, Indika de Saram, Ruvin Peiris (Vice-Captain), Russell Ingram, Shane Fernando (Captain), Upul Chandana, Suwanji Madanayake, Duminda Somaweera, Dilshan Amarasinghe, Ravi Perera, Dillon Fernandesz, Priyantha Rajapaksha, Chaminda Rajapaksha, Punyakantha Abeygunasekara, Renuka Nonis, Pujitha Uduwana, and Daminda Wijesekara.
World Indoor Athletics Championship
Sri Lanka men’s 4×400 metres relay team established a new national indoor record at the World Indoor Athletics Championship concluded in Nanjing China yesterday.
The team inclusive of Kalinga Kumarage, Randima Madushan, Shashintha Silva and Sadew Rajakaruna finished fifth in the 4×400 metres final won by the USA. Their finishing time of 3:10.58 seconds improved on the previous mark held by Prasanna Amarasekara, Rohitha Pushpakumara, Shivantha Weerasooriya and Asoka Jayasundara in 2007.
The women’s team ran in an indoor event for the first time. They too finished fifth in the final.
The semi-final berths secured by sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe and hurdler Kaveesha Bandara in their respective events were the high points of the Sri Lankan contingent during the three-day World Indoor Championships concluded on Sunday.
Yodasinghe reached the semi-finals of the 60 metres dash with a remarkable sprint performance on day one of the Championship.
Competing in heat two Yodasinghe clocked 6.70 seconds. It was also the finishing time clocked by USA’s Coby Hilton and Switzerland’s William Reais, who were separated by photofinish. Coby Hilton, William Reais and Yodasinghe were given the first, second and third places respectively.
Yodasinghe could not produce such a performance in the semi-final but his appearance in the semi-final will augur well when the world rankings are updated.
Bandara advanced to the semi-finals with a 7.87 seconds feat in the fourth heat of the 60 metres hurdles on Saturday. He could not make an impact in the semi-final but the semi-final appearance is going to stand him in good stead.
by Reemus Fernando
Chennai Super King’s bowling acquisitions during the off-season paid immediate dividends as their four new bowlers took nine wickets between them to restrict Mumbai Indians to 155 for 9, a total that they ultimately chased down with ease but not without a hiccup against debutant left-arm wristspinner Vignesh Purthur, who is yet to represent his state side in senior cricket.
However, it was the other left-arm wristspinner, younger than Puthur but a veteran by comparison, who made the telling impact. Noor Ahmad registered his best IPL figures and the best figures for a CSK spinner against MI, 4 for 18, to capitalise on the inroads made b Khaleel Ahmed whose CSK debut was not too shabby either: wickets of the openers and analysis of 4-0-29-3.
CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad made the chase look like a walk in the park with 53 off 26, bringing the requirement down to a run a ball in the ninth over, but this is when they started losing wickets to Puthur, struggling to impart power into his slow wristspin. Three of them holed out in the deep, but Rachin Ravindra anchored the chase with 65 off 45 to see them home.
Khaleel is a dichotomous IPL bowler. He is worse than the average fast bowler during afternoon games, and better than the average fast bowler in night games. The only explanation for it is that there is a small window for movement with the new ball under lights, and he is a different beast when the ball moves. It showed in how he denied the openers a big hit with the little bit of movement that was available. The eventual dismissals looked soft – Rohit Sharma caught at forward square leg and Ryan Rickleton bowled off an inside edge – but they were the results of the pressure created by Khaleel himself.
To make it better for CSK, their returning homeboy R Ashwin took a wicket in his first over. There is not much mystery to the Ashwin who has returned to CSK after more than a decade, but his length was immaculate, making it a risk every time the batters wanted to attack him. He ended up with figures of 4-0-31-1, the wicket being that of Will Jacks inside the powerplay.
Down at 36 for 3 in 4.4 overs, MI needed something special from their two best batters, stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. The latter hit right back by taking two fours off Ashwin and then hitting two sixes off Ravindra Jadeja, against whom Suryakumar doesn’t enjoy a good match-up.
Noor then applied the handbrake with some elan. He was so difficult to pick even MS Dhoni was beaten by a mile when he turned one past Varma’s outside edge. That seed of doubt cast, he went back to what he does more often, turn the ball the other way at high speed. Suryakumar was beaten on the outside edge and stumped in a flash by Dhoni.
Debutant Robin Minz couldn’t get going and tried a desperate shot only to be caught at long-off. Tilak was beaten both in the air and off the pitch: caught on the crease, he had no time to adjust to the ball that turned back in and trapped him lbw. Noor came back at the death to bowl Naman Dhir around his legs.
Nathan Ellis took care of one of the former CSK players, Mitchell Santner, but the other, Deepak Chahar gave MI something to bowl at with a cameo of 28 off 15.
CSK made a surprise move of promoting Rahul Tripathi ahead of Gaikwad, but it didn’t last long as Chahar carried on from where he had left off with the bat, taking a wicket in his first over against CSK with a well-directed short ball.
Gaikwad, though, batted like a dream, taking down Trent Boult and both former colleagues, Chahar and Santner. S Raju, who is supposed to be a good death bowler, made an indifferent start with the new ball, and CSK ran away to 62 in the powerplay. The field spread, but Gaikwad kept going, hitting Jacks for a beautiful inside-out six against the turn, suggesting an easy pitch to bat on.
With just 82 needed off the last 13 overs, CSK would have wanted to register a big net-run-rate bonus, which is perhaps why they kept trying to hit Puthur’s slow left-arm wristspin for sixes. More than anything it was his slow pace and the slight slowness of then pitch that kept resulting in catches on the fence. Still, Gaikwad, Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda is not a bad debut haul at all.
By now, it was almost like the home crowd was willing MI to take wickets so that they could get a glimpse of Dhoni with the bat. When Jacks bowled Sam Curran for 4 off 9, it drew a big cheer but the sight of Jadeja quelled the excitement.
The steepest the task got was 31 off the last four overs, but this is when MI gave CSK some pace to work with, and Jadeja immediately hit Boult for a four. Ravindra was the only batter to hit boundaries off Puthur: three sixes, all thanks to momentum generated by his use of feet to charge at the bowler. A run-out in the 19th over gave the Chepauk crowd what they wanted, they even got a six to seal the game, but off the bat of Ravindra as Dhoni stayed unbeaten on 0 off 2.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 158 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Rachin Ravindra 65*, Ruturaj Gaikwad 53, Ravindra Jadeja 17; Deepak Chahar 1-18, Will Jacks 1-32, Vignesh Puthur 3-32) beat Mumbai Indians 155 for 9 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 13, Will Jacks 11, Suryakumar Yadav 29, Tilak Varma 31, Naman Dhir 17, Mitchell Santner 11, Deepak Chahar 28*; Noor Ahmad 4-18, Khaleel Ahmed 3-29, Nathan Ellis 1-28, Ravichandran Ashwin 1-31) by four wickets
[Cricinfo]
In IPL 2024, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) took batting to dizzying heights. With Ishan Krishan’s addition to an already power-packed line-up, everyone wondered if they might be the first team to hit 300 in the IPL. In their opening fixture of IPL 2025, they seriously threatened to get there, thanks to Kishan’s 45-ball hundred on franchise debut and Travishek’s opening salvo. They eventually fell 14 short of 300, and just one short of the IPL record they had set last season, but it was another emphatic statement of their high intent and power.
Kishan is an upgrade over their previous No. 3 Rahul Tripathi. He seamlessly slotted into SRH’s line-up, clattering an unbeaten 106 off 47 balls, his first IPL ton. After Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had helped SRH take 94 in the first six overs, the fifth-highest powerplay total, Kishan launched from there.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) made a decent fist of the chase, with Sanju Samson and Dhruy Jurel matching the intent and power of SRH’s batters with half-centuries. Late blows from Shimron Hetmyer, the only overseas batter in RR’s squad, contributed to a match aggregate of 528, the second highest in the IPL, but such a mammoth target was always going to unchaseable.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 286 for 6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 24, Ishan Kishan 106*, Travis Head 67, Nitish Kumar Reddy 30, Heinrich Klassen 34; Maheesh Theekshana 2-52, Sandeep Sharma 1-51, Tushar Deshpande 3-44) beat Rajasthan Royals 242 for 6 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 70, Sanju Samson 66, Nitish Rana 11, Shimron Heytmeyer 42, Shubnam Dubey 34*; Mohammed Shami 1-33, Simarjeet Singh 2-46, Adam Zampa 1-48, Harshal Patel 2-34) by 44 runs
[Cricinfo]
Racketeers imported luxury cars, fraudulently declaring them as tractors: COPA
Kariapper finds fault with NPP over Gaza statement
Gun violence: 22 killed in 27 shooting incidents so far this year
-
Business3 days agoCargoserv Shipping partners Prima Ceylon & onboards Nestlé Lanka for landmark rail logistics initiative
-
Sports6 days agoSri Lanka to compete against USA, Jamaica in relay finals
-
Features1 day agoThe US, Israel, Palestine, and Mahmoud Khalil
-
News1 day agoScholarships for children of estate workers now open
-
Business3 days agoSri Lankans Vote Dialog as the Telecommunication Brand and Service Brand of the Year
-
News2 days agoDefence Ministry of Japan Delegation visits Pathfinder Foundation
-
Features3 days agoThe Vaping Veil: Unmasking the dangers of E-Cigarettes
-
News1 day agoSeniors welcome three percent increase in deposit rates