Sports
When 35,000 Asians stormed Long Island
Rex Clementine in Miami
Sri Lanka’s chances to qualify for the second round of the T-20 World Cup faded away when they suffered a second loss in the Group D fixture against Bangladesh in Dallas. They flew into Miami for their next encounter. Between those games is the epic India – Pakistan clash in New York that one wouldn’t want to miss out.
Everything in US is money. You can buy an air ticket, but that doesn’t include your checked-in luggage. For that you have to pay separately at the check-in counters. It costs you a cool 40 USD.
Near gate number D25 in Dallas airport is a restaurant. You walk in to have some food and notice something different. Several people who serve food in the restaurant are those who are down with autism. Ben is a tall lad working in the restaurant and he does a fine job and obliges your request for a selfie. US is not discriminating anyone. Perhaps, it’s time that back home too we treat people with autism with more understanding.
The cricket ground in New York is at a place called Long Island. It’s a 40-minute drive from John F. Kennedy airport.
Rooms in Long Island have gone up in prices because of high demands. Some 35,000 fans have bought tickets. For police, it’s a logistics nightmare. They need to make sure the game goes on without any incident.
Although the match starts only at 10:30 am New York time, it makes sense to leave the hotel early. So, booked an Uber. The driver arrives. But there’s a problem. He only speaks Chinese. So, we drive towards the ground and the traffic is building up. You tell the driver to just keep going straight because media has been issued car passes for the game and it’s in the phone. It will be scanned and your vehicle will be allowed in. But the Chinese speaking driver doesn’t get what you are trying to say. He tries to avoid the traffic and speeds away on another lane. And he drops you off at the other end of the ground. That means a 30-minute walk to the press box from the opposite end of the ground.
How can someone live in America leave alone work here without knowing English? When your plight is told to a local journalist he explains that America has in fact no official language. It’s the free world.
You enter the press box just on time for the toss. It’s a wise decision to have left early.
It’s a cracking game. A full house witness India beating Pakistan in a last over thriller. Pakistan are facing elimination after losing to USA and then to India. Someone put it sarcastically; ‘Last week Pakistan were beaten by Green Card Indians. This week Pakistan were beaten by Adhar Card Indians.’
After the game, you visit a convenient store to pick up some food. The owner of the place is a Pakistani. We chat about cricket for about five minutes and as you are about to leave he asks you, ‘So, where are you from? Guyana or Jamaica?’
That’s something that’s frequently asked. West Indies were playing a Test match in Kandy a few years ago. As you entered the press box, a cop gets up from his seat and says, ‘good morning, sir.’ The next day too we exchange pleasantries. On day three, Lakruwan Wanniarachci and yours truly go to the press box chatting in Sinhala. The cop gives a weird look and says, ‘thamusay Lanakweda. Mama hithuwe West Indies kiyala.’
Florida is where Sri Lanka’s next game is. Actually, Florida is the state. It’s twice as big as Sri Lanka. Florida is 170,000 Square Kilometers. Sri Lanka meanwhile is only 65,000 Square Kilometers. The state has several prominent cities with Orlando, Miami and Tampa being the major ones. The game is actually played at Fort Lauderdale. There’s an airport there. It’s no tiny airport as it handles over 700 flights daily. That’s far more than what Katunayake operates daily. Miami of course handles over 1000 flights daily. It’s a 90-minute drive from Miami International to the cricket ground.
The flight from New York to Miami takes three and half hours. The New York airport is named after President John F. Kennedy and fondly called as JFK. It is highly hyped up but it’s nowhere near to Changi Airport in Singapore or Bangalore Airport. JFK has eight terminals and handles over 2500 flights daily.
North Korea has held the Pyongyang International Marathon for the first time in six years, welcoming some 200 foreign runners to the streets of the reclusive country’s capital.
The marathon, which was launched in 1981, took place annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Before Sunday’s marathon, the race was last held in 2019, wherein 950 foreigners participated. North Korea sealed itself off the following year, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
North Korea has been slow to reopen since, allowing only Russian tourists into its capital since last year.
Runners have had to enter the country as part of an organised tour group, as was the case before the pandemic.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel agency listed as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six-day marathon tours at 2,195 euros ($2,406) including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
Sunday’s marathon route took participants past landmarks across the city, including the Kim Il Sung stadium, the Arch of Triumph built to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s role in resisting Japanese rule, and the Mirae Future Scientists’ Street said to be a residential district for scientists and engineers.
Pictures online show the stadium – where runners start and finish their race – filled with spectators, many of them cheering and waving gold-coloured paper flags.
Pak Kum Dong, a North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties whenever I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on race results.
North Korea had only statred to scale back Covid-19 restrictions in the middle of 2023.
In Feburary, it allowed some Western tourists into the remote, eastern city Rason, but suspended those tours just weeks after.
[BBC]
Noor Ahmad, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm wristspinner, continues to head the Purple Cap table with ten wickets from four games. His spell of 4 for 18 in CSK’s first game against MI, remains his best so far.
DC’s Mitchell Starc who picked up his maiden five-for in T20s, against SRH remains second on the list with nine wickets in three games.
GT’s Mohammed Siraj equalled Starc’s tally on Sunday night with his own IPL best, albeit he has played four games to Starc’s three. Siraj picked up 4 for 17 against SRH to hand them their four successive loss, and was named the Player of the Match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.
Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.
Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.
Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.
Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.
With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21
Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.
That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.
It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.
Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.
Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.
Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar 49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
INS Sahyadri sets sail from Colombo
Belgian prince loses bid for benefits on top of £300k royal allowance
Advisory for severe lightning issued for Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces and in Hambanthota district
-
Business20 hours agoColombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
Features2 days agoStarlink in the Global South
-
Business3 days agoDaraz Sri Lanka ushers in the New Year with 4.4 Avurudu Wasi Pro Max – Sri Lanka’s biggest online Avurudu sale
-
Business4 days agoStrengthening SDG integration into provincial planning and development process
-
Business3 days agoNew SL Sovereign Bonds win foreign investor confidence
-
Sports5 days agoTo play or not to play is Richmond’s decision
-
Features2 days agoModi’s Sri Lanka Sojourn
-
Sports4 days agoNew Zealand under 85kg rugby team set for historic tour of Sri Lanka