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The Sri Lanka youth team lead from the first innings.

Published

3 years ago

August 24, 2022

Editor

The Sri Lankan youth team, which has participated in a four-day test match with the England youth team, is in a huge situation by scoring 407 runs in its first innings. Limited to 387 runs in their first innings, the England youth team started their second innings yesterday (23) behind by 20 runs. By the end of the third day, they had scored 199 runs with the loss of 3 wickets, and the England team had taken the lead with 179 runs in the second innings.

Asitha Vanninayake, who scored 132 runs the previous day, had the opportunity to stay on the field today for only 8 more balls. Vanninayake failed to collect a single run in the innings on the third day when he was dismissed by Spinwall’s delivery straight through the stumps.

However, starting the day with Asitha, the middle-order batsman Ravinda Silva scored 62 runs and managed to fulfil the responsibility of the middle order of the innings. Due to Lahiru Dawata’s first ball dismissal, the young Sri Lankan innings were in danger of going backwards, but Vinuja Ranpul, who joined the captain, added 76 runs for the 7th wicket and took the Sri Lankan innings over England’s first innings.

Today (24) is the fourth and last day of the match.

England youth team all out for 387 in 78.3 overs – George Bell 107, Bertie Foreman (not out 58, Ross Whitefield 86, Harry Singh 27, Ben McKinney 33, Duvindu Ranatunga 100/4, Dulaj Samuditha 105/2, Vanuja Sahan 56/2)

Sri Lanka Youth 407 all out in 141.1 overs – (Asitha Vanninayake 132, Ranuda Somaratne 65, Pawan Pathiraja 32, Shevon Daniel 22, Ravin de Silva 62, Vinuja Ranpul 42, Bertie Foreman 94/4, Thomas Aspinwall 98/2, Benjamin Cliff 68/2, Eddie Jack 62/2)

Young England second innings 199 for 3 in 45 overs – (Ross Whitefield 110, Ben McKinney 56, George Bell (not out) 28, Vanuja Sahan 52/2)

ශ්‍රී ලංකා යොවුන් පිල පළමු ඉනිමෙන් පෙරමුණට

එංගලන්ත යොවුන් පිල හා සිව්දින ටෙස්ට් තරගයකට සහභාගී වී සිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකා යොවුන් පිල තම පළමු ඉනිමට ලකුණු 407 ලබා ගනිමින් ඉතා දැවැන්ත තත්වයක පසු වේ. සිය පළමු ඉනිමට ලකුණු 387කට සීමා වූ එංගලන්ත යොවුන් පිළ ඊයේ දින (23) ලකුණු 20 පිටුපසින් සිට සිය දෙවන ඉනිම ඇරබීය. තෙවන දිනය නිමා වන විට කඩුලු 3ක් දැවී ලකුණු 199 ලබා සිටි අතර එංගලන්ත පිල දෙවන ඉනිමේ ලකුණු 179 කින් පෙරමුණට පැමිණ ඇත.

පෙර දින ලකුණු 132 ක් ලබා සිටි අසිත වන්නිනායකට අද දිනයේදී පිටියේ රැඳී සිටීමට අවස්ථාව උදාවූයේ තවත් පන්දු 8 කට පමණි. ස්පින්වෝල්ගේ පන්දුවක් කෙළින්ම කඩුල්ලේ වැදීම නිසා වන්නිනායක දැවී යන විට තෙවැනි දිනයේදී එකම ලකුණක් හෝ ඉනිමට එකතු කර ගැනීමට අපොහොසත් වූවේය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් අසිත සමඟ දිනය ඇරැඹි මැද පෙළ පිතිකරු රවීන්ද සිල්වා නායකත්වයේ පිතිහරඹයක නිරත වෙමින් ලකුණු 62 ක් ලබා ගත්තේ ඉනිමේ මැද පෙළෙහි වගකීම මනාව ඉටු කිරීමට සමත් විය. ළහිරු දවටගේ පළමු පන්දුවෙන්ම දැවී යෑම නිසා ශ්‍රී ලංකා යොවුන් ඉනිම යම් කිසි පසුබෑමකට යෑමේ අවධානමක් පෙන්නුම් කළත් නායකයා හා එක් වුණු විනුජ රන්පුල් 7 වැනි කඩුල්ල වෙනුවෙන් ලකුණු 76 ක සම්බන්ධතාවක් එක් කරමින් එංගලන්ත පළමු ඉනිම අභිබවා ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉනිම රැගෙන ගියහ.

අද (24) තරගයේ සිව්වැනි සහ අවසන් දිනයයි.

එංගලන්ත යොවුන් පිල පළමු ඉනිම පන්දුවාර 78.3 කදී සියලු දෙනා දැවී ලකුණු 387 යි – ජෝර්ජ් බෙල් 107, බර්ටී ෆෝර්මන් (නොදැවී_ 58, රොස් වයිට්ෆීල්ඩ් 86, හැරී සිං 27, බෙන් මැකිනි 33, දුවිඳු රණතුංග 100/4, දුලාජ් සමුදිත 105/2, වනුජ සහන් 56/2)

ශ්‍රී ලංකා යොවුන් පිල පළමු ඉනිම පන්දුවාර 141.1 කදී සියලු දෙනා දැවී ලකුණු 407 යි – (අසිත වන්නිනායක 132, රනුද සෝමරත්න 65, පවන් පතිරාජ 32, ෂෙවෝන් ඩැනියල් 22, රවීන් ද සිල්වා 62, විනුජ රන්පුල් 42, බර්ටි ෆෝර්මන් 94/4, තෝමස් අස්පින්වෝල් 98/2, බෙන්ජමින් ක්ලිෆ් 68/2, එඩී ජැක් 62/2)

එංගලන්ත යොවුන් පිල දෙවැනි ඉනිම පන්දුවාර 45 කදී කඩුලු 3 ක් දැවී ලකුණු 199 යි – (රොස් වයිට්ෆීල්ඩ් 110, බෙන් මැක්කිනේ 56, ජෝර්ජ් බෙල් (නොදැවී) 28, වනුජ සහන් 52/2)

இலங்கை இளையோர் அணி முதல் இன்னிங்சில் முன்னிலை

இங்கிலாந்து இளையோர் அணியுடன் நான்கு நாள் டெஸ்ட் போட்டியில் பங்கேற்றுள்ள இலங்கை இளையோர் அணி, தனது முதல் இன்னிங்சில் 407 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்று மாபெரும் நிலைமைக்கு தள்ளப்பட்டுள்ளது. தமது முதல் இன்னிங்ஸில் 387 ஓட்டங்களுக்கு மட்டுப்படுத்தப்பட்ட இங்கிலாந்து இளையோர் அணி 20 ஓட்டங்களால் பின்தங்கிய நிலையில் நேற்று (23) தமது இரண்டாவது இன்னிங்ஸை ஆரம்பித்தது. மூன்றாம் நாள் முடிவில் 3 விக்கெட் இழப்புக்கு 199 ரன்கள் எடுத்திருந்த நிலையில், இங்கிலாந்து அணி 2-வது இன்னிங்சில் 179 ரன்கள் எடுத்து முன்னிலை பெற்றது.

நேற்றுமுன்தினம் 132 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்றிருந்த அசித வன்னிநாயக்கவுக்கு மேலும் 8 பந்துகளுக்கு மாத்திரமே இன்று களத்தில் நிற்கும் வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்தது. மூன்றாம் நாள் இன்னிங்ஸில் வன்னிநாயக்க ஒரு ரன் கூட எடுக்கத் தவறினார், அப்போது அவர் ஸ்பின்வாலின் பந்து வீச்சில் நேராக ஸ்டம்புகளுக்குள் ஆட்டமிழந்தார்.

எவ்வாறாயினும், அசிதாவுடன் இன்றைய தினத்தை ஆரம்பித்த மத்திய வரிசை துடுப்பாட்ட வீரர் ரவிந்த சில்வா 62 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்று இன்னிங்ஸின் மிடில் ஆர்டரின் பொறுப்பை நிறைவேற்றினார். லஹிரு தவத்தாவின் முதல் பந்தில் ஆட்டமிழந்ததால் இலங்கையின் இளம் இன்னிங்ஸ் பின்னோக்கி செல்லும் அபாயத்தில் இருந்தது.ஆனால் கேப்டனுடன் இணைந்த வினுஜா ரன்புல் 7வது விக்கெட்டுக்கு 76 ரன்கள் சேர்த்து இலங்கை இன்னிங்சை இங்கிலாந்தின் முதல் இன்னிங்சை கைப்பற்றினார்.

இன்று (24) போட்டியின் நான்காவது மற்றும் கடைசி நாள்.

இங்கிலாந்து இளைஞர் அணி 78.3 ஓவரில் 387 ரன்களுக்கு ஆல் அவுட் – ஜார்ஜ் பெல் 107, பெர்டி ஃபோர்மேன் (58 நாட், ராஸ் வைட்ஃபீல்ட் 86, ஹாரி சிங் 27, பென் மெக்கின்னி 33, துவிந்து ரணதுங்கா 100/4, துலாஜ் சமுதிதா 105/2, வனுஜா சஹான் 56 2)

இலங்கை யூத் 141.1 ஓவர்களில் 407 ஆல் அவுட் – (அசித வன்னிநாயக்க 132, ரனுதா சோமரத்ன 65, பவன் பதிராஜா 32, ஷெவோன் டேனியல் 22, ரவின் டி சில்வா 62, வினுஜா ரன்புல் 42, பேர்டி ஃபோர்மேன் 94/4, தாமஸ் 8 ஆஸ்பின்வால், பென்ஜமின் 2 68/2, எடி ஜாக் 62/2)

இளம் இங்கிலாந்து இரண்டாவது இன்னிங்ஸ் 45 ஓவர்களில் 3 விக்கெட் இழப்புக்கு 199 – (ராஸ் வைட்ஃபீல்ட் 110, பென் மெக்கின்னி 56, ஜார்ஜ் பெல் (நாட் அவுட்) 28, வனுஜா சஹான் 52/2)

Cricket

Sri Lanka Stunned by Zimbabwe Despite 178 as Bowling Falters in Colombo

Published

15 hours ago

February 19, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign suffered a major setback as they went down to Zimbabwe by six wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium — a result few predicted before the first ball was bowled.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, Sri Lanka posted what appeared to be a competitive 178/7. But defensive bowling and a lack of control in key moments allowed Zimbabwe to chase down 179 with three balls to spare, finishing on 182/4 in 19.3 overs.

Where Sri Lanka Lost the Game

Strong Start, Poor Finish with the Bat

Sri Lanka flew out of the blocks, scoring 61 runs in the Powerplay.

Pathum Nissanka led the charge with a fluent 62 off 41 balls.
The opening stand raced to 54 inside five overs.

However, momentum dipped sharply in the middle overs:

Kusal Mendis struggled (14 off 20).
The run rate slowed between overs 7–14.
Despite a late push from Pavan Rathnayake (44 off 25), Sri Lanka managed only 28 runs in the final three overs.

From a position of dominance at 108/2, they could not push beyond the 185–190 mark — a total that, in hindsight, proved costly.

Failure to Strike Early with the Ball

Zimbabwe’s chase was built on a solid foundation:

55 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket.
69-run opening stand removed early pressure.

Sri Lanka never truly regained control.

The Raza–Bennett Counterattack

The turning point came when captain Sikandar Raza launched a brutal counterattack:

45 off 26 balls
4 sixes
50-run partnership in just 27 balls

Brian Bennett anchored the chase superbly with an unbeaten 63 off 48.

Raza’s assault in overs 15–18 shifted the momentum completely, taking the game away from Sri Lanka just when it seemed evenly poised.

Bowling Concerns Under Lights

Sri Lanka’s bowling lacked penetration:

Maheesh Theekshana conceded 47 in 3.3 overs (13.42 economy).
No early breakthroughs from the seamers.
Only one Powerplay wicket across both innings combined.

On a Colombo surface that slowed slightly, Zimbabwe adapted better, rotating strike efficiently before accelerating at the death.

Key Numbers That Hurt Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe Powerplay: 55/0
Sri Lanka Powerplay wickets: 0
Zimbabwe scored 150 in just 16.1 overs
Sri Lanka conceded 9.33 runs per over in the chase

What This Means

Sri Lanka entered as favourites, especially batting first at home. But tactical lapses, middle-over stagnation, and expensive spells under pressure proved decisive.

Zimbabwe, disciplined with the ball and fearless in the chase, fully deserved their two points.

For Sri Lanka, questions now emerge:

Is the bowling attack lacking bite?
Are middle overs becoming a recurring concern?
Was 178 ever going to be enough on this surface?

With tougher fixtures ahead in the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka must regroup quickly — because performances like this could derail their campaign early.

Cricket

Sri Lanka Sweats on Pathirana Injury; Hasaranga Comeback on the Cards

Published

2 days ago

February 18, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign has suffered a major setback, with fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana likely to miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury.

The 23-year-old sustained a calf injury during Sri Lanka’s Group B encounter against Australia on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The incident occurred in his opening over when, after delivering the fourth ball, Pathirana suddenly pulled up clutching his left calf before collapsing to the ground in visible discomfort.

Team physiotherapists rushed onto the field as concerned teammates gathered around. The pacer was unable to leave the field without assistance, immediately raising concerns about the severity of the injury. Captain Dasun Shanaka completed the over in his absence.

Shortly after, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that Pathirana would take no further part in the match. In a brief statement, SLC said the bowler had experienced discomfort in his left calf and would undergo medical scans for a full assessment.

Major Blow to Pace Attack

Initial indications suggest the injury could rule Pathirana out for the rest of the World Cup — a significant loss for Sri Lanka’s bowling unit. Known for his slingy action and deadly yorkers, especially at the death, Pathirana has been one of Sri Lanka’s most reliable T20 strike bowlers.

If ruled out, team management is expected to consider Dilshan Madushanka or Nuwan Thushara as potential replacements. While both offer pace and variety, replacing Pathirana’s unique skillset will be a challenge.

Hasaranga Return Under Discussion

In a parallel development, Sri Lanka are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Wanindu Hasaranga back into the squad as he continues recovery from a hamstring injury.

Although Hasaranga has not yet regained full match fitness, officials are said to be evaluating whether he could feature later in the tournament — particularly if Sri Lanka qualify for the Super Eight stage.

With their final group match effectively a dead rubber, Sri Lanka have a short window to reassess their injury situation and make strategic decisions. The team management is likely to wait for clearer medical reports before confirming any squad changes.

As the tournament enters a decisive phase, Sri Lanka’s hopes may depend as much on fitness updates as on performances on the field.

Cricket

Colombo Set for High-Voltage India–Pakistan Night Battle

Published

5 days ago

February 15, 2026

Editor

ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup

Colombo is preparing for one of cricket’s biggest nights as India and Pakistan meet in a marquee clash of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.

Beyond tactics and statistics, this is a contest built on history and pride. With both teams in form and World Cup ambitions on the line, Sunday night promises a high-quality contest under the Colombo lights.