Sports
St. Anthony’s triumph, Sasanka, Mahith score centuries
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
St. Anthony’s registered their second win within a week, Sasanka Nirmal and Mahith Perera scored centuries for their respective teams while Pramesh Madubashana and Dinura Kalupahana put Mahinda in a strong position with a 111 runs stand in the Under 19 matches continued on Tuesday.
St. Anthony’s registered 157 runs win over Kingswood as Jayodya Amarasena, Lahiru Abeysinghe and Asitha Wanninayake did well to restrict them to 152 runs in their second essay. Amarasena and Abeysinghe bagged seven and six wickets respectively. It was the second consecutive win for the Katugastota team after winning against St. Servatius’ last week. For Kingswood Oshan Viranjana was the top scorer for the second time in the match as he followed up his half century with 44 runs.
In Jaffna, Romesh Mendis scored 93 (in 124 balls, 12x4s) and Mahith Perera made an unbeaten century (in 129 balls, 10x4s, 4x6s) for S. Thomas’ to post 279 for seven wickets declared after being 95 for five wickets overnight in their traditional match against St. John’s.
The match between Isipatana and St. Servatius’ ended in a draw after the home team posted 316 for eight in reply to Patana’s 285 at Uyanwatta Stadium.
Sasanka Nirmal, who was in the Sri Lanka Under 19 last 25 member squad for the last Youth World Cup produced a notable century for Devapathiraja to post 337 against Gurukula in their match at Sooriyawewa.
At Galle, Mahinda were in a strong position after restricting Dharmasoka to 210 runs thanks to a second wicket stand of 111 runs between Pramesh Madubashana and Dinura Kalupahana who helped the home team reach 146 for one wicket at stumps. The duo scored at a rate above five runs an over. Madubashana scored 78 runs not out in 73 balls (12x4s), while Kalupahana was unbeaten on 52 (in 62 balls 10x4s).
Match Scores
Mahith scores century for Thomians
Scores:
St. John’s
132 all out in 58.2 overs (Sachin Anderson 25; Aathif Siddhique 5/44, Mahith Perera 3/22) and 241 all out in 56.1 overs (Nezakumar Jezial 31, Anthonypilley Sukethan 39, Sangeeth Greme Smith 41, Anton Abhishek 77; G. Caniston 2/55, Ryan Fernando 4/08)
S. Thomas’
95 for 5 overnight 279 for 7 decl. in 64.1 overs (Ryan Fernando 25, Romesh Mendis 93, Mahith Perera 100n.o.; Anton. Abhishek 2/27, J.E. Adhnath 2/63) and 17 for 2 in 6 overs
A draw at Uyanwatta
Scores:
Isipatana 244 for 7 overnight 285 all out in 78.4 overs (Tharushka Ashel 124, Thinula Liyanage 19, Yuneth Senevirathne 78, Ameesh Rahul 23, Kevin Samuel 22n.o.; Damimdu Sankalpa 5/82, Kushan Wijerama 3/34)
St. Servatius’
316 for 8 in 92 overs (Hasitha Amarasinghe 39, Denuwan Pramod 58, Malith Charles 29, Kushan Wijerama 58, Vishwa Supun 61n.o.; Sithuka Gunawardana 4/97)
St. Anthony’s triumph at Katugastota
Scores:
St Anthony’s 359 for 7 decl. in 67 overs (Thisara Ekanayake 32, Kavindu Shehan 45, Asitha Wanninayake 36, Iduwara Galapitage 23, Lahiru Abeysinghe 29, Chandimal Herath 116, Ryan Anthony 50n.o.; Hasintha Polkotuwa 2/93, Mayuranga Rajapaksha 2/56) and 49 for 5 decl. in 9 overs (Kavindu Shehan 20n.o.; Chamudika Abeyrathna 2/20, Kavija Gamage 2/23)
Kingswood
88 for 7 overnight 99 all out in 27.5 overs (Oshan Viranjana 54; Lahiru Abeysinghe 3/39, Induwara Galapitage 2/19, Jayodya Amarasena 3/15) and 152 all out in overs (Oshan Viranjana 44, Kavija Gamage 37, Hasintha Polkotuwa 23; Jayodya Amarasena 4/35, Lahiru Abeysinghe 3/31, Asitha Wanninayake 3/44)
Pramesh, Dinura put Mahinda on strong
position at Galle
Scores:
Dharmasoka
210 all out in 59.3 overs (Hasitha Rajapaksha 30, Manasa de Silva 86, Chanaka Jananga 27; Dinura Kalupahana 2/40, Shehan Hasaranga 2/35, Kushan Madusha 3/61, Ranmina Hettiarachchi 2/26)
Mahinda
146 for 1 in 25 overs (Pramesh Madubashana 78n.o., Dinura Kalupahana 52n.o.)
Sasanka century propels Devapathiraja
at Sooriyawewa
Scores:
Devapathiraja 337 all out in 87.4 overs (Pawan Sandesh 51, Matheesha Saranga 32, Sasanka Nirmal 105, Irushka Thimira 66; Janitha Shehan 2/45, Yuwaneth Madusanka 2/51, Hiruna Fernando 2/55)
Gurukula
17 for no loss in 5 overs
Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) playoff chances took a serious beating after they lost their fifth game in a row, this time going down to Mumbai Indians (MI) by six wickets in Dharamsala. They remain fourth on the table with 13 points from 12 games, while the two teams just below them, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, have 12 points each with a game in hand.
MI were without their regular captain Hardik Pandya, who is still recovering from back spasms, and stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav, who missed out due to personal reasons. In their absence, Jasprit Bumrah led them for the first time in the IPL and put PBKS in after winning the toss. The hosts rode on Prabhsimran Singh’s chancy 57 off 32 to reach 100 in 11 overs before Shardul Thakur’s four-for derailed them. They were 140 for 7 in the 17th over but Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett and Impact Player Vishnu Vinod ransacked 60 in the last 22 balls to lift them to 200 for 8.
Ryan Rickelton set up the chase for MI with his 23-ball 48. But it was Tilak Verma who played the pivotal role with his unbeaten 75 off 33. With 50 needed from three overs, he, with the help of Will Jacks, took MI over the line on the penultimate ball of the match.
Priyansh Arya opened his account with a second-ball four off Deepak Chahar and Prabhsimran picked up two fours off Bumrah in the following over. In all, the two combined to hit ten fours in the powerplay but there were plenty of dot balls and not a single six. To make things worse for PBKS, Chahar bowled Arya with a knuckleball in the final over of the powerplay, after which PBKS were 55 for 1.
Prabhsimran was on 10 off 11 balls at one point. He was dropped on 5 by Naman Dhir off Bumrah and then on 28 by Corbin Bosch off his own bowling. He made full use of those reprieves and slog-swept Raghu Sharma for back-to-back sixes. He brought up his fifty off 29 balls and took PBKS past 100.
Shardul turned the tide in the 12th over. Bowling cross-seam into the pitch, he had Prabhsimran miscue an aerial hit to deep third. Two balls later, he got another cross-seam delivery to straighten and ping Shreyas Iyer’s off stump. From the other end, Raj Bawa bowled Cooper Connolly for 21 off 22 in the next over. A little later, Shardul removed Suryansh Shedge and Marco Jansen, leaving PBKS on 140 for 7 in 16.2 overs.
PBKS were so down and out that they decided to bring in Vinod as Impact Player, and the move seemed to have paid off. First, Omarzai struck four sixes and two fours in a 17-ball 38. Then Vinod (15 not out off eight) and Bartlett (18 not out off seven) added 34 off just 12 in an unbroken stand for the ninth wicket to take the side to 200.
Arshdeep Singh started the chase with a two-run over, after which Rickelton took over. He showed a preference for the leg side; 34 of his 48 runs and all four sixes came on that side of the wicket. Of the 59 runs MI scored in the powerplay, 47 came from Rickelton’s bat, while Rohit Sharma was struggling on 12 off 15.
PBKS made a comeback after the powerplay. Omarzai removed Rickelton, Dhir fell to Jansen, and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled Rohit to leave them 89 for 3 after ten overs.
While Tilak kept finding boundaries and moved to 22 off 11 balls, PBKS kept Sherfane Rutherford quiet. Jansen conceded just five singles in the 14th over and Arshdeep gave away only eight in the 15th, leaving MI with 72 to get from the last five.
Jacks and Tilak hit Jansen for two sixes and two fours in the 18th over. Arshdeep left Bartlett with 14 to defend in the final over but he started with a full toss, which Jacks hit over long-off for a six. A single and a dot brought it down to eight required from three. Tilak showed no nerves and smashed the next two balls for sixes to seal the win.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 205 for 4 in 19.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 25, Tilak Varma 75*, Ryan Rickelton 48, Sherfane Rutherford 20, Will Jacks 25*; Azmatullah Omarzai 2-36, Marco Jansen 1-55, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-32) beat Punjab Kings 200 for 8 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 57, Cooper Connolly 21, Azmatullah Omarazai 38, Vishnu Vinod 15*, Xavier Bartlett 18*; Shardul Thakur 4-39, Deepak Chahar 2-36, Corbin Bosch 1-42, Raj Bawa 1-11) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning team will arrive in Kuala Lumpur today (Friday) for a series of events marking the 30th anniversary of their triumph that stunned the cricketing world. The tour, organised by Tourism Malaysia, Cricket Malaysia and the Royal Selangor Club, will feature several events spread across four days.
The highlight of the visit will be a T20 game involving the World Cup-winning side on Saturday, starting at 11:30 a.m. Sri Lanka time. The match will be telecast live on Dialog TV.
A gala dinner, coaching clinics for underprivileged children conducted by the former world champions and several fan engagement activities are also part of the programme.
Sri Lanka’s dependable number three from the 1996 campaign, Asanka Gurusinha and team physiotherapist Alex Kountouri, both based in Melbourne, had already arrived in Kuala Lumpur ahead of the event, while the rest of the squad were due to leave Colombo on Thursday night.
“I am really excited and looking forward to the event. It’s always fun to get together with the boys and relive the good old days. It’s going to be a cracking few days,” Gurusinha told The Island.
“Without us even realising it, 30 years have gone by since we became world champions. All the boys are still close to each other just like we were back then and as I said, it’s going to be an exciting few days,” he added.
The organisers have secured several sponsors for the occasion and hope the presence of Sri Lanka’s celebrated side will help generate greater interest in cricket in Malaysia.
Malaysia became an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1967 and remains an active member of the Asian Cricket Council. Earlier this year, they appointed former Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore as Director of Cricket.
The country has previously hosted ICC events, including the Under-19 World Cup, but the national side has struggled to keep pace with emerging Asian teams such as Nepal, Oman, UAE and Hong Kong.
Badminton remains Malaysia’s most popular sport, accounting for ten of the country’s 15 Olympic medals. Football too enjoys a passionate following, leaving cricket fighting an uphill battle for wider appeal.
Rex Clementine
in Kuala Lumpur
Tilak Varma (c), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Riyan Parag (vc), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Harsh Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan
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