Sports

Sri Lanka’s mindset muddle clouds World Cup hopes

Published

3 weeks ago

2026/02/5

Sri Lanka's batting unit failed to chase down 129 runs in the third T20I at Pallekele and suffered a 3-0 whitewash.

A home series against England was meant to be the ideal dress rehearsal, a chance for Sri Lanka to oil the wheels and gather momentum ahead of the World Cup starting later this week. Instead, the campaign has gone awfully wrong. Plenty of promise, precious little substance. Bar the lone victory in the opening ODI, the hosts have spent the white-ball leg chasing shadows, the ODI series defeat a bitter pill and the T20I whitewash a full-blown reality check. Sri Lanka’s frailties against spin were already an open secret; this series merely put them under a brighter spotlight, throwing up more questions than answers.

Handing three wickets in an over to a part-timer like Jacob Bethell is the sort of generosity normally reserved for charity matches. Failing to hunt down 129 on surfaces the batting unit has been reared on, rank turners that should feel like home cooking, tells its own grim tale.

The malaise is rooted in mindset. Too many batters are reaching for the glory shot, swinging from the heels when the situation demands nudges into gaps, hard yards between the wickets and a willingness to play the waiting game.

Cricket, after all, is not always about clearing the ropes; sometimes it is about milking the bowling and letting the scoreboard tick over. Unless these rough edges are sanded down, Sri Lanka risk walking into the World Cup with the same old cracks papered over.

Recent T20 World Cups have been a sobering reminder of how far the side has drifted. A meek first-round exit last time and the indignity of qualifying rounds before that should have set alarm bells ringing. Yet, carrying largely the same cast into a fourth successive global event, the team continues to tread water, repeating errors like a stuck record rather than turning the page.

One positive has been the improved handling of injuries that once felled key players at the worst moments, but elsewhere the repair job remains half-finished.

The biggest question mark hovers over captain Dasun Shanaka. A skipper struggling to read the wrong’un, let alone steer a chase, can quickly become dead weight. His elevation came out of the blue and the warning signs were there from day one, but they were waved away. Cricket, like life, has a habit of punishing stubbornness, and Sri Lanka are discovering that harsh truth the hard way.

Rex Clementine at Pallekele

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Sports

Matthews’ century leads West Indies to six-wicket victory

Published

7 mins ago

2026/02/26

Priyan

[File photo] Hayley Matthews was her dominant best in the chase

Hayley Matthew’s tenth ODI century led West Indies to a six-wicket victory in the final match of the series against Sri Lanka and gave them their first points in the new Women’s Championship cycle.

Sri Lanka had already secured the series but couldn’t clinch a whitewash as Matthews dominated: she started the match by removing opposite number Chamari Athapaththu in the first over of the contest and then compiled an 118-ball hundred, which took West Indies most of the way in their chase.

“I felt like I was in a pretty good space batting-wise and probably just [in the] first game got pretty unlucky with how I got out and then in the second match gave my own hand away,” Matthews said. “So I certainly felt like I was in a space where I wasn’t exactly being too threatened at the crease and I knew I just had to lock in and try to take it a bit deeper.”

The home side was in early trouble in St George’s against a target of 218 with Qiana Joseph and Shemaine Campbelle falling to Malki Madara to leave West Indies 12 for 2. But after taking 12 balls to find her first boundary, Matthews did not look back as she took charge of the innings, adding 124 for the third wicket with Stefanie Taylor, who moved second on the all time run scorers list in ODIs.

Matthews’ fifty came from 48 balls before she slowed a little in the second half of her innings, but the asking rate was never a threat for West Indies. She did give a chance on 70 when Nilakshika Silva was unable to hold a return catch. The ball after reaching the century, though, Matthews picked out deep midwicket but a stand of 49 between Deandra Dottin and Chinelle Henry finished the job.

Following the early loss of Athapaththu, Sri Lanka’s innings was anchored by Harshitha Samarawickrema’s 70 off 112 balls. She added 78 for the third wicket with Vishmi Gunaratne, but the visitors struggled to lift the scoring rate in the latter stages as West Indies chipped away, with Karishma Ramharack removing Gunaratne and Samarawickrama in the space of four overs.

Brief scores:
West Indies Women 218 for 4 in 46 overs (Hayley Matthews 100, Stefanie Taylor 38, Chinelle Henry 32*; Malki Madara 2-33) beat Sri Lanka Women 217 for 7 in 50 overs (Hasini Perera 27, Harshitha Samarawickrama 70, Kavish Dilhari 45*, Hayley Matthews 2-33, Karishma Ramharack 2-39) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Trinity take first innings honours against S. Thomas’

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

Pulisha Thilakarathne top scored with 89 runs and held the top order batting together as Trinity scored first innings points and took major honours in the Ranil Abeynayake Memorial Trophy cricket encounter at BRC ground on Wednesday.

‎Trinity took a first innings lead of over 50 runs and declared their innings with two wickets in hand to find Thomians doing better in the second essay.

‎Jayden Amaraweera was in the forefront of the Thomian revival in the second innings as he scored his second half century of the match. Aaron Kodituwakku missed a second half century by five runs.

‎For Trinity, Mahendra Abeysinghe and Dinal Fernando were the others to make contributions with over 40 runs, while Aadham Hilmy made 32.

‎Scores:

‎S. Thomas’ 189 all out in 77.4 overs

‎(Aaron Kodituwakku 72, Jaden Amaraweera 50, Shanil Perera 37n.o.; ‎Kanika Anthony 5/66, Dinal Fernando 3/34) and 182 for 5 in 53 overs (Jaden Amarawera 68, Aaron Kodituwakku 45;

‎Chaniru Senarathne 2/44)

‎Trinity 54 for 1 overnight 246 for 8 decl. in 58.2 overs (Pulisha Thilakarathne 89, Mahendra Abeysinghe 44, Dinal Fernando 45, Adam Hilmy 32; Abheeth Paranawidana 4/95, Gimhan Mendis 3/41) (RF)

Latest News

India and Zimbabwe out to raise the roof at Chepauk

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/26

Priyan

As India seek to return to winning ways, they will hope to boost their net run-rate as well [Cricbuzz]

Blue jerseys on the backs of a teeming crowd along the Walajah Road on Thursday evening will finally not be out of context. Fans in Chennai have embraced every team that has set foot in the city and played at the iconic venue, turning up in tens of thousands even for sweltering afternoon matches here. But India are finally in town, with everything riding on their fixture.

For the second World Cup in a row, the locals were meant to be treated to an India-Australia spectacle. That’s what the pre-tournament seeding had it chalked down as. But Zimbabwe emphatically struck that out, proving once again that there are no certainties in this format.

Speaking of no certainties, India have reached Chennai with their tag of favourites fast fading, and their batting – unrivaled until the tournament began – is now being seriously questioned. Not all is lost yet of course, but the Net Run Rate column has them in a tangle. The defeat to South Africa means India can only reach four points at best. There’s a possibility where they could be dragged into a three-way tangle for two semifinal spots with NRR being the deciding factor. The decimation in Ahmedabad left them with -3.800, which they need to resuscitate over the next four days. Wins alone won’t cut it.

Zimbabwe are now in the same boat, needing two wins and a surge in NRR. Their unbeaten journey through the group stage in Sri Lanka was cut short violently by West Indies in Mumbai, where a six-hitting batting line-up and the short square boundaries caught them unawares. Chennai offers better dimensions in that regard, but there will be the challenge of dew to deal with.

The competitiveness of the Super Eights group has raised the stakes for the 3 PM fixture on Thursday too. West Indies and South Africa will jostle for two crucial points in Ahmedabad, and nearly 2,000 kilometers away in Chennai, India and Zimbabwe will watch on keenly for as long as they can.

Yet, their futures in the tournament will still be determined by what they can control later that evening, as Chepauk gears up to bounce with bated anticipation for one last time at the World Cup.

Equal-sized square boundaries, with the game to be played on the central pitch (No.5). It’s confirmed to be a black soil surface, but in what will come as music to India’s ears, Chepauk has the worst bowling strike-rate and second-worst bowling average for spinners among the eight venues in this World Cup.

Furthermore, they might just stumble upon the true surface they have sought all along. In the two 7 PM matches at the venue, first innings scores have been 200/4 (by Afghanistan) and 196/6 (by USA).

Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak revealed that there have been conversations about changes to mix up the left-handed top-three. Sanju Samson, who batted long and did keeping drills two days out from the fixture, could be an option.

Kotak also confirmed that Rinku Singh had left to attend to his ailing father but was due to return on Wednesday evening. There’s still a chance India don’t feature him and maintain their batting depth by adding to the heft at the top. With only two left-handers in Zimbabwe’s top-order, expect Axar Patel to reclaim his spot too.

“Sikandar Raza is 100% playing. Good luck telling him that he’s not going to play against India,” Ryan Burl said with a chuckle. The Zimbabwe skipper took a hit to his left palm in the game against West Indies in Mumbai, but is ready to go again.

Zimbabwe could resist the urge to make changes after the big loss in Mumbai, and instead choose to alter their bowling plans. Against West Indies, they used four quicks and just two spinners in Raza and Graeme Cremer. If the opportunity comes up, Raza could throw on leg-spinner Burl against the likes of Suryakumar and Tilak in the middle-overs.

India Probable XI:Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun CV, Jasprit Bumrah

Zimbabwe Probable XI:Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani

[Cricbuzz]