Sports
Yanaya, Hathim Under 14 swimming champs
All Island Schools Swimming Championship
Yanaya Perera of Lyceum International School Gampaha and A.I.M. Hathim of St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya were adjudged the champions of the Under 14 girls’ and boys’ categories respectively at the All Island Schools Swimming Championship.
Yanaya aggregated 30 points in her age category while Hathim established three new records and collected 45 points during the championships.
Meanwhile, Ladies College excelled in the Under 18 age category to bag the championship title of that age category.
Vaibhav Surrvayanishi starred with a second successive half-century as India stormed into the Under-19 Asia Cup final with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Friday.
The 13-year-old, who became the youngest cricketer ever to be bought at an IPL auction last month, smashed five sixes and six fours for his 36-ball 67 as India chased down a target of 174 with as many as 170 balls to spare.
India will face Bangladesh in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by seven wickets, completing a chase of 117 in 22.1 overs in the first semi-final in Dubai.
Opting to bat, Sri Lanka could only manage 173 in 46.2 overs despite a valiant effort from Lakvin Abeysinghe (69 off 110) and Sharujan Shanmuganathan (42 off 78).
Their innings struggled to gain momentum but Indian bowlers were in full control with Chethan Sharma (3 for 34), Kiran Chormale (2 for 32), and Ayush Mhatre (2 for 37) wreaking havoc in the middle overs.
Ayush Mhatre’s 34 off 28 laid a solid foundation for the chase as he put on a stand of 91 with Suryavanshi for the opening wicket.
The young left-hander from Bihar troubled the Sri Lankan bowlers from the beginning as he started with consecutive sixes and a boundary off Sigera, who ended up giving away 31 runs in his opening over.
Mhatre too played his strokes at the other end as the duo raced to 87 for no loss in eight overs before Vihas Thewmika gave Sri Lanka their first breakthrough by removing the batter.
But Suryavanshi kept the run rate ticking despite losing his opening partner, forging another crucial association with C Andre Siddharth (22).
He didn’t stop there, taking the attack to the bowlers with his aggressive strokes, including scoring two sixes off Aayan Khan. Captain Mohamed Amaan (25 not out) and KP Karthikeya (11 not out) then completed the chase.
Brief scores:
India Under 19 175 for 3 in 21.4 overs (Ayush Mhatre 34, Vaibhav Suryavanshi 67, C Andre Siddarth 22, Mohamed Amaan 25*; Vihas Thewmika 1-33, Viran Chamuditha 1-38, Praveen Maneesha 1-27) beat Sri Lanka Under 19 173 in 46.2 overs (Lakvin Abeysinghe 69, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 42; Yudhajit Guha 1-19, Chetan Sharma 3-34, Kiran Chormale 2-32, Ayush Mhatre 2-37, Hardik Raj 1-30) by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
Mitchell Starc’s sizzling spell with the pink ball headlined the opening day of the day-night Test in Adelaide as Australia responded to their 295 run drubbing in Perth by dismissing India for 180. Jasprit Bumrah then got rid of Usman Khawaja in the twilight but the under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne and rookie opener Nathan McSweeney navigated a tricky passage of play to guide Australia to stumps without any further damage. Their unbroken 62-run partnership helped Australia cut their deficit to under 100 and ensured that the first day in Adelaide belonged to them.
The first ball from Starc was a portent for what was to follow. He struck in the first over of each of his three spells, asserting his supremacy in pink-ball Tests. He came away with career-best Test figures of 6 for 48, which extended his pink ball tally in Australia to 2. It is twice as many as Pat Cummins (36) has taken and 29 more than what Nathan Lyon, Starc’s closest contender in pink-ball Test cricket in the country, has managed.
It all started with that first ball to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had told Starc that he was “coming on too slow” in Perth. On Friday in Adelaide, Starc let rip a full, fast inswinger that swerved late and thudded into his front pad. It was so plumb that Jaiswal didn’t even bother to review. Starc roared at the departing Jaiswal and had over 36,000 spectators – the biggest crowd for an India-Australia Test in Adelaide – roaring with him.
Shubman Gill, who returned to India’s Test XI after missing the Perth Test with a hand injury and KL Rahul then briefly settled India’s innings with a 69-run stand for the second wicket. Gill showed little signs of rust and laid into drives whenever Australia’s quicks veered away from their lengths and the stumps.
At the other end, Rahul was more circumspect, playing out Cummins for three maidens. He then lost his patience and fended at Scott Boland’s first ball, which reared up to threaten the shoulder of his bat. Rahul walked off, thinking he had nicked it behind but a front-foot no-ball from Boland earned him a reprieve. There was nothing on the Snicko either. Five balls later, Boland hit Rahul’s outside edge but Khawaja grassed the chance at first slip.
Rahul’s luck, however, ran out when Starc returned for his second spell and struck with his fourth ball. He extracted extra bounce and had Rahul edging it to gully for 37 off 64 balls. In his next over, Starc took out Virat Kohli for seven off eight balls with a similar prancing delivery.
Brief scores: [stumps]
Australia 86 for 1 (Nathan McSweeney 38*, Marnus Labuschagne 20*; Jasprit Bumrah 1-13) trail India 180 in 44.1 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 42, KL Rahul 37; Mitchell Starc 6-48, Pat Cummins 2-41) by 94 runs
[Cricinfo]
Kyle Verrevnne clobbered bouncer after bouncer after bouncer, crashing six fours and three sixes, on his way to a dynamic third Test century, as South Africa reaped 89 runs for the loss of their last three wickets. En route to that ton, Verreynne forged a 66-run stand with Kagiso Rabada, a period in which his confidence ballooned, just as Sri Lanka were left utterly frustrated, their short-ball plans going awry.
In the end, South Africa motored to a total of 358. Rabada contributed 23 of those runs, and Dane Paterson 9. Verreynne, meanwhile, bludgeoned 57 runs off the 50 balls he faced on the second morning, and remained not out on 105 off 133 balls by innings end.
Sri Lanka’s frontline seamers each took a wicket on day two, with Vishwa Fernando having Keshav Maharaj caught at slip, before Asitha Fernando ended Rabada’s innings, and Lahiru Kumara had Paterson holing out. Kumara claimed the innings’ best figures, taking 4 for 79.
After they had dismissed South Africa, Sri Lanka’s openers had six overs to face before lunch. They were tested by Rabada and Marco Jansen’s zip off the pitch, and the bounce both bowlers generated, with both Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka drawn into playing (and missing) balls in the channel. But they survived this period, with Karunaratne finding one boundary behind square on the off side.
It was a triple-boundary over against Asitha that really got Verreynne’s engine roaring. This being the 99th over of the innings, Sri Lanka had long since decided that the second new ball had stopped swinging, and turned almost solely to bouncers and short deliveries to blast the final two wickets out. They had a deep square leg and a deep midwicket out for Verreynne, but he set himself up for the bouncer by changing his stance to a slightly front-on one, and kept thumping the ball past the deep fielders.
Rabada, who had been shielded from the strike in most overs, but had nevertheless faced more than 30 deliveries now, chipped in with boundaries of his own, some of them fortuitous ones off the edge.
Rabada would soon be bowled by Asitha, going at the stumps for a change. With the No. 11 in, and still on 81, Verreynne yanked the throttle with even more intensity, first smashing Prabath Jayasuriya over cow corner for six, before mowing Asitha Fernando into the banks to get within one strike of a 100, before reaching triple figures with another mighty pull, which sent the ball sailing over fine leg’s head.
The milestone sparked wild celebrations, a bow from Verreynne to the dressing room, and a bear-hug from Paterson. Verreynne himself likely did not anticipate that a century would be on the cards when he began the morning on 48, with seven wickets already down.
Paterson would smack two fours and get out next over. But South Africa had inflicted substantial damage in the 17.1 overs they faced on day two.
Brief scores:[at lunch]
Sri Lanka 19 for no loss (Dimuth Karunaratne 5*, Pathum Nissanka 2*) trail South Africa 358 (Kyle Verreynne 105*, Ryan Rickelton 101, Temba Bavuma 78; Lahiru Kumara 4-79, Vishwa Fernando 2-65, Asitha Fernando 3-102 ) by 339 runs
[Cricinfo]
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