Sports

Weightlifter Isuru Kumara wins first medal for Sri Lanka

Published

3 years ago

2022/08/1

Commonwealth Games 2022

Dilanka Isuru Kumara won Sri Lanka’s first medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games when he clinched bronze in the men’s 55kgs weight class lifting a total weight of 225kgs in the men’s weightlifting competition on Saturday. Malaysia’s Bin Kasdan Mohamad won the gold with a games record weight of 249kgs and India’s Sanket Mahadev Sargar settled for the silver lifting a weight of 248kgs.

Dilanka’s second lift of 105 kgs in the snatch and the first lift of 120kgs in the clean and jerk won him the bronze ahead of England’s Ben Hickling who had a total weight of 212. The 25-year-old made valiant attempts in his second and third attempts trying to lift 137 and 141 kgs respectively to overpower his Indian counterpart but could not perform them to perfection.

Apart from the gold and silver medallists, Dilanka was the only athlete to make a successful lift of over 100 kgs in the snatch.However Dilanka’s total weight of 225kgs was below his recent performance of 238kgs at the Singapore Weightlifting International where he won bronze to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. Meanwhile in cricket, Alice Capsey’s 44 laid the foundations for England to ease home by five wickets against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the Commonwealth Games T20 tournament.

Katherine Brunt set the tone for the Sri Lanka innings after England were made to field first by taking a wicket with the very first ball of the match.Two wickets apiece for fellow seamers Issy Wong (2-11) and Freya Kemp (2-14) helped hasten the demise, with three wickets from spinner Sophie Ecclestone helping restrict Sri Lanka to 106 for nine in 20 overs.The target never looked like not being in reach for the hosts at Edgbaston, but Sri Lanka made things interesting with spinner Inoka Ranaweera taking three wickets. However, 17-year-old Capsey showed maturity beyond her years to help the home side to victory with just under four overs to spare.

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu opted to bat first after winning the toss, but her side were one down without a run on the board when Brunt had Vishmi Gunarathne trapped lbw for a golden duck.Wickets then fell at regular intervals during Sri Lanka’s innings and it was Ecclestone who struck next, reacting quickly to have Hasini Perera caught and bowled for 17 in the sixth over, followed by left-armer Kemp claiming a first-ball wicket two overs later by clean-bowling Athapaththu (10).

In reply, England slipped to 63-4 on a tricky surface under the lights, with openers Wyatt (5) and Sophie Dunkley (17) falling to Oshadi Ranasinghe (2-20) followed by Sciver (17) becoming one of Ranaweera’s three victims.But Capsey ensured there would be no danger of England not reaching the target with a brisk 44 from 45 balls before being stumped off Ranaweera (3-29) with victory in sight.

All News Advertisement

Latest News

India seal T20I series 2-1 after Brisbane washout

Published

12 mins ago

2025/11/8

Priyan

The India T20I squad with the series trophy in Brisbane [Cricinfo]

India claimed a 2-1 series victory over Australia in an anti-climax after the fifth and final T20I was abandoned due to heavy rain and thunderstorms in Brisbane.

After being sent in to bat, there had been intrigue over how India’s top-order would fare on a Gabba surface with plenty of bounce and carry. But with their nemesis Josh Hazlewood in Ashes prep mode and again not in the line-up, Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill plundered 52 runs before play came to a halt after 4.5 overs.

Abhishek did have luck having been dropped twice, but Gill was in sweet touch as he smacked 29 off 16 balls.

The series ended the same way it began after rain ruined the opening T20I in Canberra. Australia dominated game two in front of 82,000 fans at the MCG, largely thanks to a rampant Hazlewood but India ultimately prevailed in the series after their spinners gained a stranglehold on slower surfaces in Hobart and the Gold Coast.

India will head home well pleased ahead of their T20 World Cup title defence on home soil.

“The way everyone chipped in every game, it was a complete team effort with the bat, ball and in the field,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said.

“I saw what happened with the women’s team winning the World Cup in India, having unbelievable support. When you play at home there is pressure but at the same there is a lot of excitement.”

In their final hit-out in the format before the T20 World Cup, Australia’s aggressive batting approach against high-quality spin attacks has come under scrutiny although recriminations are unlikely amid Ashes hysteria.

“I don’t think I can remember the last time we had so many rain interruptions,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. “I think there are a lot of learnings to take forward, a lot of positives. The flexibility of our group and the squad that we’re trying to build in a World Cup year has been amazing.”

Earlier, a grinning Marsh once again won the toss but his mood soon soured after the start India’s openers got.

There was no settling in for left-arm quick Ben Dwarshuis as Abhishek bludgeoned a trademark boundary over mid-off on the fourth delivery of the match.

He tried to repeat the dose on the next ball only to miscue high into the air where Glenn Maxwell nestled under having trudged back from mid-off. A resigned Abhishek had already begun walking off only for the unthinkable to happen, with Maxwell spilling a straightforward catch.

While Abhishek lived dangerously, Gill was in sublime touch as he stroked four boundaries off Dwarshuis’ second over with the best being a gorgeous cover drive. Gill was in the type of commanding form that had eluded him during a tough tour – which started with an ODI series defeat in his captaincy debut in the format – and he looked determined to finish on a high.

Abhishek, on 11, received another life when he was dropped by Dwarshuis who ran in from fine-leg before compounding Nathan Ellis’ misery by smashing him over midwicket for six.

Typical for Brisbane this time for year, bad weather loomed large and the players went off due to lightning before heavy rain cascaded onto the ground in a major disappointment for the sold-out crowd.

Scores: No result
India 52 for 0 in 4.5 overs (Shubman Gill 29*, Abhishek Sharma 23*) vs Australia

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Counties confirm decision to bin Kookaburra ball trial

Published

6 hours ago

2025/11/8

Priyan

Kookaburra balls have been used in the County Championship since 2023 (Cricinfo)

The controversial trial which saw the Kookaburra ball used for some rounds of the County Championship season has been scrapped after three seasons.

The ECB first proposed the trial as part of Andrew Strauss’ high-performance review three years ago in the hope that using the Kookaburra ball – rather than the Dukes – would encourage the development of spinners and bowlers with “extreme skills”. The pilot initially lasted two rounds of games in the 2023 season, and was criticised by county coaches.

Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, was a strong advocate for the Kookaburra ball and convinced the counties to expand the trial to four rounds for the 2024 season. Surrey’s Alec Stewart described that as ‘the worst decision ever’ but Key doubled down, saying it had produced “some bloody good cricket” after 17 of the first 18 fixtures ended in draws.

The Kookaburra was used for four further rounds in 2025 but again produced a high proportion of draws, epitomised by Surrey piling on a club-record 820 for 9 declared against Durham at The Oval.

It led directors of cricket from the 18 counties to make clear their wish to scrap the trial at a meeting last month, and the decision to revert to using the Dukes ball throughout the 2026 season was confirmed at a meeting of the Cricket Advisory Group – a sub-committee of the ECB Professional Game Committee – earlier this week.

Key and the ECB have taken a more hands-off approach to county cricket in recent years, and made a point of leaving discussion over proposed fixture restructures to the clubs earlier this summer. The counties failed to come to an agreement over the future of the Championship, but did agree to a small cut in the number of T20 Blast fixtures for 2026.

(Cricinfo)

Sports

ICC shortlists venues for 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka

Published

13 hours ago

2025/11/8

Thilina Walpola

Ahmedabad will host the final of the 2026 T20 World Cup, unless Pakistan qualify for it

The ICC has finalised Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai as the venues in India for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka as well. It is understood the ICC has shortlisted two venues in Colombo and Kandy as the three venues in Sri Lanka.

The T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7 and will conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8. According to PTI, the ICC is likely to release the schedule next week, with just about three months to go for the start of the tournament. It is understood that the majority of the participating countries have been waiting for the ICC to inform them about the grouping of teams as well as the schedule. The ICC is also yet to release ticketing information for the tournament.

Pakistan will play all their games in Sri Lanka as per the agreement reached between the BCCI and PCB for India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues during multi-nation tournaments hosted by the other country. If Pakistan make the final, the fixture will be held in Sri Lanka.

The 2026 T20 World Cup will have the same format as the previous edition – 20 teams split into four groups of five each, with every team playing the others once. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super-eight stage, where they will be placed into two groups of four. The top two sides from each Super-eight group will then qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-final will meet in the final.

Apart from hosts India and Sri Lanka, the other teams with automatic qualification to the tournament were the top seven teams from the 2024 T20 World Cup – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, United States of America and West Indies. The three teams that qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings were New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.

Canada took the lone spot from the Americas Qualifier. Italy, first time T20 World Cup participants, and Netherlands, qualified from the five-team tournament in Europe. Namibia and Zimbabwe grabbed the two spots from the eight-team African qualifier before Nepal, Oman and UAE made it from the Asian -EAP round.

India are the defending champions, having beaten South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.

[Cricinfo]