Sports

Sri Lanka shot out for 157 at Bull Ring

Published

4 years ago

2021/01/4

Ruan van der Merwe at Wanderers

Not many Asian teams want to play at the Bull Ring. It’s not only one of the quickest wickets in the world alongside WACA in Australia, the high altitude of Johannesburg – 5750 feet –makes life difficult for players. The Wanderers is fondly known as the Bull Ring for its intimidate nature.

The Sri Lankans – depleted and moral down – after four who featured in the opening game being ruled out with injuries – shouldn’t lose hope though as far better teams have come to the Bull Ring and have eaten humble pie.

The only bright spot in the innings after they won the toss and opted to bat first was Kusal Perera, who batted superbly to post 60 runs off 67 balls with 11 fours.

Incidentally, it happens to be the highest score by a Sri Lankan here and only captain Dimuth Karunaratne had managed a half-century before Perera. This is Sri Lanka’s third Test match at the Bull Ring.

After the early dismissal of Karunaratne (19), Perera along with Lahiru Thirimanne had added 52 runs for the second wicket. Perera was doing all the scoring and with him picking up boundaries frequently, there were some worries among the Proteas.

But Wiaan Mulder provided the breakthrough to settle nerves. Mulder is not the typical South African fast bowler with outright pace. His strength is building up the pressure through disciplined seam bowling and he got the better of Perera who drove loosely and was caught at gully.

In the same over he dismissed Kusal Mendis for a duck and in the next over picked up Thirimanne for 17 and the Sri Lankans were in disarray.

Minod Bhanuka on debut showed his inexperience when he attempted to drive the last ball before lunch for four. But Anrich Nortje has that extra yard of pace and the bounce at Bull Ring is far more genuine than his home ground – SSC.

Mulder’s opening spell of three overs fetched him three wickets for just one run. He had set the stage for Nortje to dominate. His pace was too quick and the Sri Lankan tail couldn’t handle him.

Nortje finished with six for 56, the fourth best figures by a South African quick against Sri Lanka.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka 157 all out in 40.3 overs

(Kusal Perera 60, Wanindu Hasaranga 29, Dushmantha Chameera 22, Anrich Nortje 6/56, Wiaan Mulder 3/51)

South Africa 148 for 1 in 37 overs

(Dean Elgar 92, Rassie van der Dussen 40)

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Sports

Kandy smash Havelocks 50-24 before clinching league rugby title

Published

2 hours ago

2025/03/17

Thilina Walpola

An intense moment in the final game of the inter-club league rugby tournament between Kandy SC and Havelocks SC which the former won 50-24 at Nittawela on Sunday (Picture courtesy Yazir Zubair of www.thepapare.com)

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Kandy Sports Club crowned themselves as ‘Cup Championship’ winners in the inter-club league rugby tournament when they overcame their final hurdle by beating Havelocks Sports Club by 50 points to 24 at Nittawela last evening.

Kandy SC was anyway assured of the title this season before this final game of the season even began, given that they were unbeaten thus far in the league tournament. Kandy SC collected their points through seven tries, six conversions and a penalty while Havelocks Sports Club responded with a three converted tries and a penalty.

Kandy SC set the pace for the game from the kick off itself and recorded first half tries through Dinal Ekanayake, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Kenula Hettiarachchi and Dahan Wickremaarachchi and all four conversions were slotted in by Tharinda Ratwatte. Havelocks SC got most of their points in the first half through Sandesh Jayawickreme who scored a try and booted through a conversion. The penalty for the Park Club was kicked right by Samuel Maduwantha.

Kandy SC faced some resistance from Havies after the turn around, but the side from Nittawela found the try line by breaking through a barrage of tackles from the men wearing the pink and chocolate jerseys.

Dahan Wickremaarachchi started the ball rolling for Kandy with a try after the turn around which took the side’s score to 38 with the conversion. Havies played in patches thereafter and scored through Jayathu Rajaratne and Janidu Fernando. Jayawickreme was spot on with the conversions.

Kandy’s Ethen Schneider Loos smashed his way through for the side’s sixth try which was converted by Ratwatte. Kandy had the game in the bag despite Havies playing attacking rugby whenever they had possession. But the score line deference that Kandy maintained throughout the game made it hard for Havies to make a real comeback into the game.

The Nittwala side erupted in jubilation when Ekanayake punted ahead and sent crowd favourite Nigel Ratwatte for the seventh and final try. There was speculation throughout the game that this would be Nigel’s final game for the Kandy SC side. Surprisingly Tharinda missed the conversion.

At the awards presentation ceremony after the game, Kandy Sports Club’s Tharinda Ratwatte was named as the highest points scorer for the 2024/25 league rugby season. He has accumulated 139 points this season.

Havelocks Sports produced the highest try scorer for the season. That award went to Jayathu Rajaratne of Havies. He has had 16 touchdowns this season. Havelocks Sports Club had to be satisfied with the runners-up trophy at the awards presentation. Players from both sides including the coaching staff were presented with medals by the organisers of the tournament.

Meanwhile CR&FC did well in their last outing in the Cup Championship segment of the league tournament when they beat Air Force by 31 points to 16 at Longden Place.

In the two Plate Segment matches, Sri Lanka Navy beat Sri Lions by 41 points to 38 at Race Course.In the other match of the Plate segment, Police SC beat Army SC by 24 points to 17. The match was played at Police Park.

Sports

Sivarajan, Rasara win national cross country titles

Published

2 hours ago

2025/03/17

Thilina Walpola

Mutthusami Sivarajan and Rasara Wijesuriya won the men’s and women’s Cross Country Championships of the National Sports Festival conducted in Nuwara Eliya.

Sivarajan representing Central Province returned a time of 34 minutes and 21 seconds to finish ahead of Samantha Pushpakumara and Damith Hemantha Kumara.

In the women’s category, Wijesuriya from Eastern Province clocked 38 minutes and 41 seconds finish ahead of Madhushani Herath and Chamini Herath.

Sports

Trinity to meet St. Joseph’s after eliminating St. Anthony’s

Published

2 hours ago

2025/03/17

Thilina Walpola

Dimantha Mahavithana held their batting together with a valuable knock as Trinity booked final berth.

Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Cricket

by Reemus Fernando

Trinity advanced to the final of the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Cricket tournament with six wickets victory over arch rivals St. Anthony’s in the semi-final played at BRC ground on Saturday.

Open batsman Dimantha Mahavithana held Trinity’s batting together with a valuable knock of 74 runs inclusive of six fours. He was out after leveling scores. Chaniru Senarathne added a fourth wicket stand of 82 runs with Mahavithana and remained unbeaten on 44.

Deciding to bowl first, Trinity did well to take three quick wickets.

Malith Rathnayake who opened bowling with Sethmika Senavirathne took three wickets as he completed his full quota of ten overs for 23 runs. Senavirathne did not take a wicket but he bowled an economical spell giving away just 20 runs in his eight overs.

Sweath Anurajeewa took three wickets for 25 runs (8 overs) while Chaniru Senarathne, Vathila Udara and Jayavi Liyanagama grabbed a wicket each.

Trinity will now meet St. Joseph’s in the final which will be played after the O/L exams.

St. Joseph’s eliminated Gurukula to book their final berth.

Trinity are in the semi-final stage of the two-day tournament as well.

Scores:

St. Anthony’s 158 all out in 50 overs (Sadew Amarakoon 31, Kaushika Kumarasinghe 35, Kevan Fernando 34n.o.; Malith Rathnayake 3/23, Sweath Anurajeewa 3/25)

Trinity 159 for 4 in 45.3 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 74, Aadham Hilmy 22, Chaniru Senarathne 44n.o.; Ryan Gregory 2/30)