Sports

Athapaththu’s record-equalling ton gives Sri Lanka 144-run win

Published

11 months ago

July 22, 2024

editor

Chamari Athapaththu’s T20I best – an unbeaten 119 off 69 balls – formed the heart and soul of Sri Lanka’s crushing win over Malaysia at the Women’s Asia Cup in Dambulla.

There was also a dream outing for 15-year-old ambidextrous wristspinner Shashini Gimhani, who picked up 3 for 9 with her left-arm wristspin to send Malaysia on a tailspin in the powerplay from which they couldn’t recover, making it one-way traffic from start to finish.

Athapaththu starts sedately

Vishmi Gunaratne, the half-centurion in Sri Lanka’s win over Bangladesh, was out for 1 when she tamely chipped a check drive to short cover in the second over. But that hardly had any effect on Athapaththu, who kept putting the loose balls away from time to time. She also found some help from a series of lapses by the Malaysia fielders.

Athapaththu broke the shackles in the sixth over with back-to-back boundaries and raised Sri Lanka’s half-century in the next over. For much of the first half, Athapaththu’s elegance, and not her trademark brutality, took centre stage. With hardly any pace on the ball, she innovated at times to get well outside the line to flick and sweep, allowing Harshitha Samarawickrama some breathing space to find her gears during the course of a 64-run second-wicket stand.

Athapaththu hit back-to-back sixes off her opposite number Winifred Duraisingam in the 11th over to raise her half-century off 35 balls. Even then, there was a sense that Sri Lanka weren’t fully out of the third gear. Athapaththu received a lifeline on 56 when she was put down by Dhanusri Muhunan at backward point in the 12th over. That was the trigger for her to go into overdrive.

Athapaththu cranks it up

From 85 for 2 in 11 overs, Sri Lanka made 99 in the last nine. Athapaththu made 68 off her own, a majority of those coming in the last three overs. Unbeaten on 76 off 57 at the end of the 17th over, Athapaththu hit one four and five sixes in the last three overs. This included two back-to-back sixes off Aisya Eleesa’s military medium to bring up a century in the 19th, the first-ever in the history of the Women’s Asia Cup.

Athapaththu’s modus operandi was simple. Clear the front leg and muscle the ball into the arc from long-on to deep midwicket. Malaysia were so out of depth that they operated much of the second half with barely any protection on the leg side boundary against Athapaththu.

Anushka Sanjeewani had the best seat in the house during the course of their 115-run stand off just 62 balls. Sanjeewani’s own contribution to it was 31 off 24. The only semblance of cheer for Malaysia apart from their first wicket came right at the end when Duraisingham picked up two back-to-back wickets to close out the innings.

Winifred Duraisingam took 2 for 34 for Malaysia•Asian Cricket Council

Gimhani – Sri Lanka’s World Cup trump card?

Gimhani was one of the four changes Sri Lanka made in a bid to give everyone in the squad a run in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. And she responded by picking up three wickets, including two in two overs inside the powerplay, with her left-arm wristspin.

Gimhani imparted plenty of revs on the ball and wasn’t afraid to toss it up. Sure, the quality of the opposition wasn’t the best to challenge her, but figures of 3 for 9 from four overs will be confidence-boosting. Malaysia’s chase never took off and from 17 for 3 in the sixth over, it only kept getting worse. Aina Najwa held on defiantly to bat out 43 balls for her 9 as Malaysia were bowled out for 40 in the final over.

Elsa Hunter, who hit the only two boundaries of the Malaysia innings, was one of Gimhani’s three victims.

(espncricinfo.com)

Sports

SL squad named for 1st Test against Bangladesh

Published

6 hours ago

June 15, 2025

editor

The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Committee has named the following 18-member squad for the first Test match.

The two match test series will commence on 17th June 2025 at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.

Test Squad : Pathum Nissanka, Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Sonal Dinusha, Pavan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Tharindu Ratnayake, Akila Dananjaya, Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Isitha Wijesundara

Although Lahiru Kumara was selected but will not play as he has suffered an injury during practices.

Sports

South Africa triumph in WTC25 Final

Published

16 hours ago

June 15, 2025

editor

South Africa have broken a 27-year drought by claiming an emphatic five-wicket victory over Australia in the ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord’s on Saturday.

The Proteas made reasonably light work of the 69 runs they needed to win the mace on the fourth morning in London, with Kyle Verreynne hitting the winning shot to deliver South Africa their first men’s senior ICC trophy since 1998.

South Africa opener Aiden Markram took on the Australia attack and scored a crucial century on Day 3 of the World Test Championship Final at Lord’s.

Player of the Match Aiden Markram fell late in proceedings with just six runs required, with his innings of 136 proving the difference between two sides in a Test where ball dominated bat for the majority of the contest.

There were only two other hiccups for South Africa on the fourth morning, with skipper Temba Bavuma (66) removed by Australian counterpart Pat Cummins (1/59) in the third over of the day as the Aussies sniffed a potential lifeline and then Mitchell Starc (3/66) pierced the defences of Tristan Stubbs (8) when 41 runs were still required.

Aiden Markram’s superb innings comes to an end as South Africa inch closer to a historic win at Lord’s.

But just like he had done on a crucial third day, Markram stayed composed and waited for the bad ball to dispatch and made batting look relatively easy as South Africa inched towards the victory target.

His demeanour didn’t change when Bavuma and Stubbs departed and his dismissal to Josh Hazlewood (1/58) with the finish line in sight only allowed the opener to soak up the atmosphere and receive a standing ovation from the appreciative Lord’s crowd.

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma overcame pain to score a valiant half-century to put his side on course to a historic win at Lord’s.

While Markram will win plenty of plaudits for his match-winning innings and deservedly so, South Africa received a strong range of contributions from their entire XI and pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada also played a vital role in the triumph with his nine wickets across the two innings.

Both Markram and Rabada played together when South Africa won the ICC Men’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2014 and this victory is just rewards for the pair and a South African team that have had so many close misses in the knockout stages of ICC events in recent times.

Just last year South Africa fell agonisingly short with victory in sight in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup against India and there were some nervy moments at Lord’s as the Aussies made a couple of important breakthroughs on Saturday as the target of 282 was slowly diminished.

Australia’s experienced bowling attack was in excellent form for the entire match and it took the innings of Markram’s lifetime to quell them as South Africa broke their lengthy trophy drought in style in the Ultimate Test.

Mitchell Starc delivered a second breakthrough to Australia with a peach of a delivery.

South Africa XI: 1. Aiden Markram, 2. Ryan Rickelton, 3. Wiaan Mulder, 4. Temba Bavuma (c), 5. Tristan Stubbs, 6. David Bedingham, 7. Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8. Marco Jansen, 9. Keshav Maharaj, 10. Kagiso Rabada, 11. Lungi Ngidi

Australia XI: 1. Usman Khawaja, 2. Marnus Labuschagne, 3. Cameron Green, 4. Steve Smith, 5. Travis Head, 6. Beau Webster, 7. Alex Carey (wk), 8. Pat Cummins (c), 9. Mitchell Starc, 10. Nathan Lyon, 11. Josh Hazlewood

(ICC)

News

Order under the Convention Against Doping to be taken up on June 17

Published

2 days ago

June 13, 2025

editor

The Order under the Convention Against Doping in Sports Act, scheduled to be taken up for debate in Parliament on June 17 for the purpose of being passed, has received the approval of the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports.

This approval was granted at the meeting of the said Committee held today (June 13) at Parliament, chaired by the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Kumara Gamage.

Deputy Minister of Sports, Sugath Thilakaratne was also present at this Committee meeting held.

At the meeting, officials stated that, in relation to sports, Sri Lanka is legally updating the relevant regulations through this Gazette notification in accordance with the list published annually by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). It was further pointed out by the officials that certain substances are newly added to the list while some are removed from it. For instance, the substance “Caffeine” has now been removed from the list.

In addition, matters such as the possibility of obtaining the assistance of the Ministry of Sports for inter-university sports competitions, challenges related to establishing youth societies across the island, the shortage of youth service officers, and the need to develop sports including cricket at the rural level were raised by the MPs present at the meeting. Accordingly, the Minister instructed the relevant officials to take prompt action regarding these matters.Members of the Committee, Members of Parliament who are non-member members, and a group of officials including the Secretary to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports were present at this committee meeting held.