Sri Lanka geared up for their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 final against the Netherlands with a comfortable eight-wicket victory over West Indies.
It was the Ninth consecutive win for the Sri Lankan cricket team in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.
Opening batters Pathum Nissanka (104) and Dimuth Karunaratne (83) did the bulk of the damage to chase down 243 after Keacy Carty (87) had dragged Windies to a respectable target.
Victory means Sri Lanka remain unbeaten in Zimbabwe, and now face one final hurdle in Netherlands to be crowned Qualifier champions.
Openers fire Sri Lanka to victory
Pathum Nissanka hit the third ODI century of his career as Sri Lanka cruised to an eight-wicket victory over West Indies.
Nissanka hit 104 runs off 113 balls as part of a 190-run opening stand with Dimuth Karunaratne that took the game away from West Indies.
Kusal Mendis (34) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (17) did the rest to easily reach their target of 244, for which Windies had Keacy Carty (87) to thank after Maheesh Theekshana (4/34) had ripped through much of their top order.
West Indies had started strongly, racing to 31 from their first four overs before Theekshana conceded just two from his first over and cleaned up Brandon King (10) in his second.
The spinner struck again in his third, Shamarh Brooks (2) nicking behind before captain Shai Hope (2) became his third victim from his fourth over, pinned leg before.
Opener Johnson Charles (39) was next back to the hutch an over later, trapped leg before by Matheesha Pathirana to leave Windies floundering on 62 for four.
But Carty and Nicholas Pooran (14) led the fightback, as the pair stopped the flurry of wickets until Dushan Hemantha accounted for Pooran to further drag West Indies into the mire at 81 for five.
Carty, having survived a dropped catch on nine, kept the scoreboard ticking over and dragged his side to 123 for seven by the time Sahan Arachchige bowled Kyle Mayers (18) and Hemantha trapped Roston Chase (1) leg before.
Late contributions from Romario Shepherd (26) and Kevin Sinclair (25) then pulled Windies towards 250 before Carty fell 12 balls from the end to leave his side 243 all out.
Having perhaps been disappointed to let West Indies reach almost 250, Sri Lanka began their chase quickly, bringing up 50 inside nine overs before Nissanka reached his 10th ODI half century in as many balls in the 16th over.
Opening partner Karunaratne soon followed, bringing up his 50 with four as Sri Lanka cantered towards their total.
Windies tried mightily to break the partnership, rotating through six bowlers in search of a way through, but the pair proved impenetrable as they brought up the 150 stand in the 28th over.
Nissanka then brought up his century with just under 20 overs remaining before eventually holing out to mid-wicket off the bowling of Kevin Sinclair.
But the fall of the first wicket failed to stem the flow of runs, as Mendis picked up the scoring baton, bringing up the 200 with a four before Karunaratne was trapped leg before by Akeal Hosein.
It left Mendis and Samarawickrama to bring the chase home, doing so in style with 34 balls remaining to send Sri Lanka into Sunday’s final with their unbeaten record intact.
Sri Lanka and Netherlands face off in final
After almost a month of absorbing action, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 comes to a close on Sunday, as Sri Lanka and the Netherlands fight it out for the right to be crowned champions.
Both sides have already claimed their main prize, a place in India next October for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 but neither will want to end their time in Zimbabwe with defeat.
Sri Lanka were comfortable victors when the two sides met in the Super Six just over a week ago, but Netherlands are fresh from their thrilling victory over Scotland and will hope their momentum can help them to victory.
The Parliamentary Caucus for Persons with Disabilities held a discussion with representatives of groups with disabilities regarding the key issues affecting the community with disability.
This discussion took place recently (8th) in Parliament under the Chairmanship of Member of Parliament Sugath Wasantha de Silva.
The representatives informed the Caucus of their issues following a request made by the Caucus. The Chair of the Caucus stated that all the proposals and ideas presented would be received with great respect and that appropriate action would be taken by the Committee in this regard.
During the discussion, the attending representatives proposed that a specific quota be reserved for the community with disabilities in all elections. They also proposed the creation of a dedicated web page containing all necessary data related to the community with disabilities, which should be accessible via mobile phones.
Furthermore, attention was drawn to the need for increased facilities for children receiving education through Braille media. They also brought to the attention of the Caucus the proposal previously submitted to the Ninth Parliament regarding the introduction of new legislation for the community with disability and requested that further action be taken on it.
In addition, the Caucus was informed about the shortage of teachers affecting the education of the hearing-impaired community, and proposals were also presented regarding the creation of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in both the public and private sectors.
State Minister Dr. Upali Pannilage and Hon. Members of Parliament – Dr. Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam, Chandima Hettiarachchi, and Susantha Kumara Nawarathna also participated in this Parliamentary Caucus.
2nd phase of luxury vehicle auction by the Presidential Secretariat Concludes Successfully
The second phase of the auction to sell luxury and decommissioned vehicles owned by the Presidential Secretariat was successfully concluded today (15 May), with over Rs. 200 million in revenue generated, the President’s Media Division says.
A total of 26 vehicles, previously allocated by former Ministers and the former President, to their advisors and staff appointed under Article 41(1) of the Constitution during their tenure, were listed for sale. Out of these, 17 vehicles were successfully sold today with
The auctioned vehicles included:
1 BMW car 2 Ford Everest SUVs 1 Hyundai Terracan SUV 2 Land Rover SUVs 1 Mitsubishi Montero 3 Nissan Patrol vehicles 2 Nissan brand cars 1 Porsche Cayenne 5 SsangYong Rexton SUVs 1 Toyota Land Cruiser Sahara 6 V8 vehicles
1 Mitsubishi Rosa air-conditioned bus
With the aim of reducing government expenditure and promoting fiscal responsibility, a decision was taken to auction the vehicles belonging to the Presidential Secretariat.
The decision to auction these vehicles were taken with the aim of reducing government expenditure and promoting fiscal responsibility, the PMD adds.
(Previous News on 15th May 2025 at 8:57am)
2nd phase of luxury vehicles auction, today
As part of the second phase of the luxury vehicle auction conducted by the Presidential Secretariat, 26 vehicles including luxury and decommissioned models are scheduled to be auctioned today (May 15).
All vehicles set to be auctioned were manufactured within the last ten years. The deadline for submitting bids for these vehicles concluded today (May 14).
Among the vehicles to be auctioned are 01 BMW car, 02 Ford Everest Jeeps, 01 Hyundai Terracan Jeep, 02 Land Rover Jeep 02, 01 Mitsubishi Montero, 03 Nissan Patrol vehicles, 02 Nissan cars, 01 Porsche Cayenne, 05 SsangYong Rexton Jeeps, 01 Toyota Land Cruiser Sahara, 06 V08 vehicles and 01 Mitsubishi Rosa air-conditioned bus.
Previously, under the first phase of this auction, 14 luxury vehicles, six decommissioned vehicles, and various spare parts were sold.
This initiative is part of the government’s effort to reduce expenditure and promote financial responsibility. In the first phase, 15 vehicles, including nine Defender jeeps, were successfully auctioned.
The vehicles being auctioned tomorrow are not part of the official vehicle fleet assigned to the regular staff of the Presidential Secretariat. Instead, they were used by advisors and staff appointed by the former President under Article 41(1) of the Constitution during his term in office.