Sports

Sri Lanka Under-19 chase 273 to win

Published

4 years ago

2022/08/25

Rex Clementine in Chelmsford

There’s much to like about Essex County Cricket ground. It may not have the aura of Lord’s, history of The Oval or character of Headingley, but Chelmsford has its own beauties. A ten minute walk from the train station, an underground tunnel has been built by the side of river Chelmer to give easy access to the ground. As you approach the tunnel, you see people of all age groups rowing boats with an eye on cricket.

Once you enter the ground and walk towards the media center passing the pavilion, there’s bit of greenery and the bushes are full of blackberries and blueberries. They are within your hands reach and tempting, but the thing about blackberries is that these bushes have thorns. But it’s a risk worth taking as the fruits are tasty and of course organic having grown in the wild.

The last thing on Sri Lankans’ minds is picking away these juicy fruits. They have been set a target of 273 in 59 overs to go 1-0 up in the series. An exciting run chase is on the cards.

Sri Lanka did score over 400 runs in the first innings and the wicket looks flat. They were in a good position to score over 500 runs and bat England out of the game. Although their batting was deep there was a mini-collapse in the first inning allowing England back into the game.

Despite a hundred by Ross Whitefield and a half-century from captain Ben McKinney, Sri Lanka’s bowlers did a good job to bowl the hosts out for less than 300 runs in the second innings with the last four wickets falling for 35 runs.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Wanuja Sahan was the pick of the bowlers having claimed four wickets. Mahanama College’s Duvindu Ranatunga claimed three wickets while Nalandian Raveen de Silva finished with two wickets.

Sri Lanka have been left with two sessions to chase down the target as the last wicket fell in the penultimate ball before the lunch break.

The key for Sri Lanka will be their opening batsman Asitha Wanninayake, who impressed many with a superb hundred on debut. England will be looking up to Benjamin Cliff, a tall Yorkshireman, who has been tipped as the next big thing in English cricket. Cliff has both pace and movement and tends to bowl long spells.

Whichever the team wins this contest or even if the game ends in a draw, both teams have put on a superb show and there have been some outstanding players to emerge from the game.

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England limp to 146-9 against Sri Lanka

Published

7 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

Dunith Wellalage got rid of the well-set Phil Salt [Cricinfo]

England stagger to 146‑9 at the end of their 20 overs as they failed to build any sustained partnerships.

This might just be well short of a truly competitive total but they will hope the pitch does them some favours when they come out to bowl.

Brief score:
England 146/9 in 2o overs [Phil Salt 62, Harry Brook 14, Sam Curran 11,Will Jacks 21, Jamie Overton 10*; Dilshan Madushanka 2-25, Dunith Wellalage 3-26, Maheesh Theekshana 2-21, Dushmantha Chameera 1-34] vs England

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Sri Lanka opt to chase against England in Pallekele

Published

9 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

Sri Lanka opt to chase after success here versus Australia [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka have opted to chase against England at Pallekele, hoping to replicate their dominance victory over Australia here to kickstart their Super Eight campaign.

It was six days ago that Pathum Nissanka’s unbeaten 100 saw the hosts chase down Australia’s total of 181 with eight wickets and two overs to spare. And with home skipper Dasun Shanaka is looking to utilise that confidence in this Group 2 encounter.

“We’ve been chasing well in the past few occasions and happy to chase again,” said Shanaka at the toss. “The boys are very confident playing here.”

England skipper Harry Brook – on his 27th birthday – again called for bravery after his side stumbled into the second stage of this tournament. The two-time champions have gone in with an unchanged team for the fourth match in a row, with Jamie Overton retaining his place as the allrounder. Brook’s only slight worry is a cut to Jacob Bethell’s bowling hand (sustained during the match against West Indies), which is likely to prevent him from bowling due to the strapping on his finger.

Sri Lanka meanwhile make two changes to their XI, with Dushmantha Chameera returning in place of Pramod Madushan, having been rested for the defeat to Zimbabwe. Kamil Mishra comes back in for the man who replaced him, Kusal Perrera, as the hosts shuffle once more in an attempt to find a functional opening partnership.

These two squads know each other very well, having only concluded a three-match T20I series against one another at the start of the month, which took place entirely in Pallekele. England secured a 3-0 scoreline, capping things off with a professional 12run win in a low scoring encounter.

As for the outfield, both sides are primed for a different evening of ground-fielding on patchy grass. Heavy rains have punctuated the five das leading into this clash. Overnight precipitation has sodden the edges of the field, though the middle parts of the ground had been well-covered.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Dunith Wellelage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (capt), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Six races, six golds – Klaebo’s historic Olympics

Published

12 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

'Amazing!' - Klaebo sets record for most golds won at a single Winter Olympics

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway’s king of cross-country skiing, broke the record for the most gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics with his sixth of the Games.

Klaebo led a Norwegian sweep of the podium in the 50km mass start classic, with team-mates Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Emil Iversen taking silver and bronze respectively.

The 29-year-old finished the brutal distance in two hours six minutes 44.8 seconds, 8.9secs ahead of Nyenget who takes his third medal of the Games.

“It’s been crazy, it’s a dream come true,” Klaebo told BBC Sport.

“I really think this Olympics has been perfect. Being able to crown the Olympics with the 50km was unbelievable.”

Klaebo breaks the previous record of five golds from a single Games, held by American speed skater Eric Heiden since the Lake Placid Olympics of 1980.

It also extends his own record for most Winter Olympic golds to 11, while he becomes the first athlete to win all six cross-country events at one Games.

Only US swimming great Michael Phelps, who won 23 gold medals, has more Olympic titles to his name.

Born in Oslo, Klaebo moved to Trondheim – a haven of cross-country skiing trails – as a young child, a move that has seen him become the greatest to ever do the sport.

No other man, active or retired, comes close to his record of 116 World Cup wins, while he is also a 15-time world champion, winning all six titles at last year’s edition on home snow in Trondheim.

“After the world championships last year, we knew that it was possible, but to be able to do it, it’s hard to find the right words,” he told reporters.

“[There were] so many emotions when I’m crossing the finish line.”

His sixth Olympic gold at Milan-Cortina adds to the titles he had won earlier in the Games in the skiathlon, sprint classic, 10km interval start free, 4×7.5km relay and the team sprint.

[BBC]