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Zahira’s Zakwan; a star in the making

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Zakwan Nasik

by Rex Clementine

Football maybe the sport that’s close to the hearts of most students and old boys of Zahira College, Colombo but the Maradana school has made rapid progress in rugby and basketball in recent years. There’s something classy about Zahira’s basketball players. Not because they talk in English but the grace and discipline with which they play the game. They have many stars in the making but this 13-year-old

Zakwan Nasik is a special talent indeed about whom we will hear a lot more in coming years. Like most kids at Zahira, the sport that was dear to Zakwan was football. But he shifted to basketball because some of his friends had embraced the fastest game in the world. Learning the fundamentals of the game from Asanga Perera, the former Air Force and Sri Lanka player, Zakwan soon was taking huge strides in the sport.

Zakwan was born with an abnormal hip. A deformity that restricts his movement. He hardly can stand or walk straight but you’ve got to see him on the basketball court, he runs as fast as any other kid. What’s more interesting is the passion with which he plays the game. Defence is the most unglamorous part in basketball. Panduka Ranasinghe, one time coach of the national team once said, ‘offence wins you girls, defence wins you matches,’ and it’s Zakwan’d defence that makes you take note of him. He takes charges, dives for the loose balls, rebounds like Dennis Rodman and his help and recovery would certainly make Bobby Knight proud. Zakwan’s father is a mechanic working in Saudi. His parents are the biggest strength to his basketball.

Last week marked Zakwan’s first basketball tournament. He gets severe pain in the hip area after the game but that’s not stopping him from giving his best on the court. Zakwan’s parents have had many dialogues with surgeons in rectifying his deformity but they have been warned that corrective surgeries may lead into other complications. Let’s hope that with medicine advancing by the day, we find a solution to help Zakwan walk like a normal kid. Whether his deformity is corrected or not, there’s one thing for certain, the national selectors will be keeping a close eye on this remarkable kid who plays the game with much passion. Zakwan Nasik could be the first player from Zahira to go onto represent Sri Lanka in basketball.



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Asalanka’s ton and Theekshana’s four, down Australia

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Charith Asalanka scored 127 out of Sri Lanka's 214 [Cricinfo]

A captain’s innings of 127 off 126 balls by Charith Aslanka and a four wicket haul by Maheesh Theekshana helped Sri Lanka to defeat Australia in the first ODI played at the Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 214 in 46 overs [Charith Aslanka 127, Dunith Wellalage 30, Kusal Mendis 19; Spencer Johnson 2-44, Aaron Hardie 2-13, Sean Abott 3-61, Nathan Ellis 2-23] beat Australia 165 in 33.5 overs [Alex Careyb 41, Aaron Hardie 32, Sean Abott 20; Asitha Fernando 2-23, Maheesh Theekshana 4-40, Dunith Wellalage 2-33] by 49 runs

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Sri Lanka elect to bat in first ODI

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Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in the first ODI against Australia

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (c), Janith Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando

Australia: Matt Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cooper Connolly, Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

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Shanaka in trouble with SLC after two matches in two countries in one day

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The board's chargesheet to Shanaka includes the allegation that first-class match referee Wendell Labrooy had been led to believe Shanaka had a concussion, in order to approve a substitute [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka Cricket will conduct an inquiry over allegations that Dasun Shanaka left a first-class match in Colombo hours early, in order to play for the Dubai Capitals in the UAE that same evening  on February 2.

The board’s chargesheet to Shanaka includes the allegation that first-class match referee Wendell Labrooy had been led to believe Shanaka had a concussion, in order to approve a substitute. This is according to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, who told ESPNcricinfo “SSC [Shanaka’s first-class club] would probably be conducting their own inquiry as well”.

Shanaka, however, told ESPNcricinfo that de Silva and others had been aware that he would have to leave the first-class match early. According to Shanaka, he had left the ground soon after being dismissed on the third morning of the the three-day match. He said he visited a doctor at a nearby hospital first, to inspect a blow to the neck he had sustained while playing a sweep shot that morning, and then headed off to Dubai to play that evening’s T20, after a separate physiotherapist had cleared him to play.

“SLC and the club knew I had to leave,” Shanaka said. “I only came back because there was a request from the SSC to play this first-class match. But my other team wanted me back, as I’d helped win two games for them earlier in the tournament.”

For SLC, however, exiting a league game early, particularly with suspect reasons, is problematic, not that it has yet been established if there actually was any pretense involved. The board CEO de Silva explained that while Lasith Malinga had also famously played a Mumbai Indians match and then broken records in a domestic match in a match at Pallekele the next day, Malinga had played until both those matches reached their conclusion.

On the surface, though, Shanaka’s looks like a spectacular cricketing feat. He had been among the three players called back from the ILT20 by the SSC for their fixture against Moors Sports Club in the Major League Tournament, as SSC strove to avoid relegation. Shanaka had played the first two days of this three-dayer, bowling 21 overs and taking a wicket in Moors’ innings, before finishing on 39 not out at the end of day two.

Day three is when the absconding is alleged to have occurred, but before he left, Shanaka crashed a further 84, hitting 123 off 87 balls in total, 88 of those runs coming in boundaries. Though SSC’s innings ended not long after he got out, Shanaka did not bowl an over in the next Moors innings (the third of the match), and played no further part in the game.

What is clear is that several hours later, he appeared for the Capitals in Dubai, and struck 34 off 12 at No. 5, helping his team to 217 against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. He didn’t bowl in the Knight Riders’ innings either, however.

Capitals would go on to win the ILT20,  Shanaka playing three further games for them. He has not appeared for SSC since February 2.

[Cricinfo]

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