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New Zealand Thrash Sri Lanka to level series 1-1
Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand (Second T20)
Adam Milne’s five-wicket haul and Tim Seifert’s unbeaten 79 helped New Zealand register a thumping nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second Twenty20 International on Wednesday. The win also saw New Zealand level the series 1-all.
Seifert was the hero in the chase smashing six sixes in his 43-ball blitz as New Zealand reached the target with 5.2 overs to spare.
Earlier, Milne ripped through Sri Lanka’s batting lineup with a career-best 5-26 to help bowl out the Lankans for below par score of 141 in 19 overs on a pitch known as a batting paradise.
Sri Lanka was off to a sloppy start losing their openers cheaply. Sri Lanka was in some sort of trouble in the early stages of the innings Kusal Perera (35), Dhananjaya de Silva (37) and Charith Asalanka (24) shored them up and the wheels came off their innings in the second half.
At one stage it looked like Sri Lanka could post a competitive total of 180-200 without any hindrance but another middle-order collapse saw they were skittled out for 141 runs.
In reply, New Zealand’s chase got off to a blazing start with Chad Bowes laying the perfect foundation by scoring boundaries all over the park for his 16 balls and 31 runs.
New Zealand at a decent position of 40-1 at the end of the 4th over, Sri Lanka was eventually rewarded with the wicket of set batter Chad Bowes when he was caught deep off Kasun Rajitha’s bowling.
Despite a fierce start to their innings, Seifert continued their domination smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers with no respite to help set up New Zealand’s victory with back-to-back sixes.
Sri Lankan bowlers had a tough day at the office, all being hit for cleaners.
Also, Sri Lanka’s fielding was not up to the mark as their sloppy catching did not help their cause either as they dropped both Seifert and home captain Tom Latham, who remained unbeaten on 20.
Meanwhile, another highlight of the match was Auckland-born Cotton became the first female umpire to stand in a men’s international match between two International Cricket Council full-member countries.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 146/1 in 14.4 overs (Seifert 79*, Bowes 31) beat Sri Lanka 141 in 20 overs (De Silva 37, Perera 35, Milne 5-26) by nine wickets
නවසීලන්තය ශ්රී ලංකාව පරදවා තරගාවලිය 1-1ක් ලෙස සම කරයි
ශ්රී ලංකා නවසීලන්ත සංචාරය (දෙවන T20)
Adam Milne ගේ කඩුලු 5 සහ Tim Seifertගේ නොදැවී ලකුණු 79 හේතුවෙන් බදාදා පැවති දෙවන විස්සයි 20 ජාත්යන්තර තරඟයෙන් නවසීලන්තය ශ්රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව කඩුලු 9 ක විශිෂ්ට ජයක් වාර්තා කිරීමට සමත් විය. මෙම ජයග්රහණයත් සමඟින් නවසීලන්තය තරගාවලිය 1-1 ලෙස සම කිරීමට ද සමත් විය.
නවසීලන්තය පන්දුවාර 5.2ක් ඉතිරිව තිබියදී එම ඉලක්කය සපුරාගත් සීෆර්ට් පන්දු 43කදී හයේ පහර 6ක් එල්ල කරමින් හඹායාමේ වීරයා විය.
මීට පෙර, මිල්න් ශ්රී ලංකා පිතිකරණ ලැයිස්තුව බිඳ දැමුවේ, පිතිකරණ පාරාදීසයක් ලෙස හැඳින්වෙන තණතීරුවකදී ඕවර 19 කදී ලකුණු 141 ට වඩා අඩු ලකුණු සංඛ්යාවකට ලංකා ක්රීඩකයින් දවාලීමට උපකාර කිරීම සඳහා 5-26ක් ලෙසින් ශ්රී ලංකා පිලේ හොඳම පන්දු යැවීමයි.
ශ්රී ලංකාව ඔවුන්ගේ ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවන් ලාභදායි ලෙස අහිමි කර ගනිමින් ආරම්භය මන්දගාමී විය. ශ්රී ලංකා ඉනිමේ මුල් අදියරේ දී කුසල් පෙරේරා (35), ධනංජය ද සිල්වා (37) සහ චරිත් අසලංක (24) ඔවුන්ව ගොඩට ගෙන ගිය අතර දෙවැනි භාගයේ දී ශ්රී ලංකා ඉනිමේ රෝද ගැලවී ගියේය.
ශ්රී ලංකා පිලට කිසිදු බාධාවකින් තොරව ලකුණු 180-200ක තරගකාරී මුළු ලකුණු සංඛ්යාවක් ලබා ගත හැකි බව එක් අවස්ථාවක පෙනුනද තවත් මැදපෙළ කඩා වැටීමක් හේතුවෙන් ඔවුන් ලකුණු 141කට දැවී ගියේය.
පිළිතුරු ලෙස නවසීලන්ත හඹායාම උණුසුම් ආරම්භයක් ලබා ගත්තේ චැඩ් බෝව්ස් ඔහුගේ පන්දු 16ක් සහ ලකුණු 31ක් සඳහා උද්යානය පුරා හතරේ පහරක් එල්ල කරමින් පරිපූර්ණ අඩිතාලම දැමීමත් සමඟය.
4 වැනි ඕවරය අවසානයේ ලකුණු 40-1ක් ලෙස හොඳ තත්ත්වයක සිටි නවසීලන්ත පිල අවසානයේ කසුන් රාජිතගේ පන්දුවකට උඩපන්දුවක් දෙමින් දැවී ගිය ශ්රී ලංකාවට පිතිකරු චැඩ් බෝව්ස්ගේ කඩුල්ල හිමිවිය.
ඔවුන්ගේ ඉනිමේ දරුණු ආරම්භයක් තිබියදීත්, සීෆර්ට් ඔවුන්ගේ ආධිපත්යය දිගටම කරගෙන ගියේ ශ්රී ලංකා පන්දු යවන්නන් දවාලීමට කිසිදු විවේකයක් නොමැතිව නවසීලන්ත ජයග්රහණයට පිට පිට හයේ පහරවල් එල්ල කරමිනි.
ශ්රී ලංකා පන්දු යවන්නන් කාර්යාලයේ දුෂ්කර දවසක් ගත කළ අතර, සියල්ල පිරිසිදු කරන්නන් සඳහා පහර වැදී ඇත.
එසේම, ශ්රී ලංකා පිලේ පන්දු රැකීම ලකුණු මට්ටමට නොපැමිණියේ ඔවුන්ගේ අලස උඩපන්දුව ඔවුන්ගේ ජයග්රහණයට උදව් නොකළ නිසා ඔවුන් සීෆර්ට් සහ නොදැවී ලකුණු 20 ක් ලබා සිටි ගෘහස්ථ නායක ටොම් ලැතම් යන දෙදෙනාම දැවී ගිය බැවිනි.
මේ අතර, තරගයේ තවත් විශේෂත්වයක් වූයේ ඕක්ලන්ඩ්හි උපන් කපු ජාත්යන්තර ක්රිකට් කවුන්සිලයේ පූර්ණ සාමාජික රටවල් දෙකක් අතර පිරිමි ජාත්යන්තර තරගයකට පෙනී සිටි පළමු කාන්තා විනිසුරුවරිය වීමය.
කෙටි ලකුණු:
නවසීලන්තය ඕවර 14.4කදී 146/1 (සෙයිෆර්ට් 79*, බෝව්ස් 31) ශ්රී ලංකාව ඕවර 20කදී 141 (ද සිල්වා 37, පෙරේරා 35, මිල්නේ 5-26) විකට් 9කින්
நியூசிலாந்து அணி இலங்கையை வீழ்த்தி தொடரை 1-1 என சமன் செய்தது
இலங்கை நியூசிலாந்து சுற்றுப்பயணம் (இரண்டாவது டி20)
ஆடம் மில்னேவின் ஐந்து விக்கெட்டுக்கள் மற்றும் டிம் சீஃபர்ட்டின் ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் 79 ரன்களுக்கு உதவியது, புதன்கிழமையன்று நடந்த இரண்டாவது இருபதுக்கு 20 சர்வதேச போட்டியில் நியூசிலாந்து இலங்கைக்கு எதிராக ஒன்பது விக்கெட் வித்தியாசத்தில் அபார வெற்றியைப் பதிவு செய்தது. இந்த வெற்றியின் மூலம் நியூசிலாந்து தொடரை 1-ஆல் சமன் செய்தது.
நியூசிலாந்து 5.2 ஓவர்கள் மீதமிருக்க, வெற்றி இலக்கை எட்டியபோது, தனது 43 பந்துகளில் 6 சிக்ஸர்களை அடித்து சேஸிங்கில் நாயகனாக இருந்தார் சீஃபர்ட்.
முன்னதாக, பேட்டிங் சொர்க்கம் என்று அழைக்கப்படும் ஒரு ஆடுகளத்தில் 19 ஓவர்களில் 141 ரன்களுக்கு குறைவான ஸ்கோருக்கு இலங்கை வீரர்களை அவுட்டாக்க மில்னே 5-26 என்ற கணக்கில் இலங்கையின் பேட்டிங் வரிசையை முறியடித்தார்.
தொடக்க ஆட்டக்காரர்களை மலிவாக இழந்த இலங்கை ஆரம்பமானது. குசல் பெரேரா (35), தனஞ்சய டி சில்வா (37), சரித் அசலங்கா (24) ஆகியோர் இன்னிங்ஸின் ஆரம்ப கட்டத்தில் ஒருவித சிக்கலில் இருந்த இலங்கை, இரண்டாவது பாதியில் அவர்களின் இன்னிங்ஸில் சக்கரங்கள் வெளியேறின.
ஒரு கட்டத்தில் இலங்கை 180-200 என்ற போட்டித் தொகையை எந்தத் தடையும் இல்லாமல் பதிவு செய்யலாம் என்று தோன்றியது, ஆனால் மற்றொரு மிடில் ஆர்டர் சரிவில் அவர்கள் 141 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்தனர்.
பதிலுக்கு, நியூசிலாந்தின் துரத்தல் ஒரு பிரகாசமான தொடக்கத்தை பெற்றது, சாட் போவ்ஸ் தனது 16 பந்துகள் மற்றும் 31 ரன்களுக்கு பார்க் முழுவதும் பவுண்டரிகளை அடித்ததன் மூலம் சரியான அடித்தளத்தை அமைத்தார்.
4வது ஓவரின் முடிவில் 40-1 என்ற நல்ல நிலையில் இருந்த நியூசிலாந்து, இறுதியில் கசுன் ராஜிதவின் பந்துவீச்சில் டீப் கேட்ச் ஆனபோது, செட் பேட்டர் சாட் போவ்ஸின் விக்கெட்டை இலங்கைக்கு பரிசாக அளித்தது.
அவர்களின் இன்னிங்ஸுக்கு கடுமையான தொடக்கம் இருந்தபோதிலும், சீஃபர்ட் அவர்களின் ஆதிக்கத்தைத் தொடர்ந்தார், இலங்கை பந்துவீச்சாளர்களை எந்த ஓய்வும் இல்லாமல் அடித்து நொறுக்கினார்.
இலங்கை பந்துவீச்சாளர்கள் அலுவலகத்தில் ஒரு கடினமான நாள், அனைத்து துப்புரவு பணியாளர்கள் தாக்கப்பட்டது.
மேலும், இலங்கையின் பீல்டிங்கும் குறிக்கு ஏற்றதாக இருக்கவில்லை, ஏனெனில் அவர்களின் ஸ்லோபி கேட்ச்சிங் அவர்களின் காரணத்திற்கு உதவவில்லை, ஏனெனில் அவர்கள் 20 ரன்களுடன் ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் இருந்த சீஃபர்ட் மற்றும் ஹோம் கேப்டன் டாம் லாதம் இருவரையும் வீழ்த்தினர்.
இதற்கிடையில், போட்டியின் மற்றொரு சிறப்பம்சம், ஆக்லாந்தில் பிறந்த காட்டன், இரண்டு சர்வதேச கிரிக்கெட் கவுன்சில் முழு உறுப்பினர் நாடுகளுக்கு இடையிலான ஆண்கள் சர்வதேச போட்டியில் நின்ற முதல் பெண் நடுவர்.
சுருக்கமான மதிப்பெண்கள்:
நியூசிலாந்து 14.4 ஓவர்களில் 146/1 (சீஃபர்ட் 79*, போவ்ஸ் 31) 20 ஓவர்களில் 141 ரன்களுக்கு இலங்கையை வென்றது (டி சில்வா 37, பெரேரா 35, மில்னே 5-26) ஒன்பது விக்கெட்டுகள்
News
SLR Unveils National Coaching Staff for 2026 Season
Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) has officially named the coaching and support staff for the national XV-a-side and sevens teams ahead of the 2026 international rugby season, which begins next month with the tour of the New Zealand Under-85kg team to Sri Lanka.
Dushanth Lewke has been appointed as the Head Coach of the national XV-a-side squad for the upcoming international campaigns. He will be supported by forwards coach Henry Terance and assistant coach Lasintha De Costa. The team’s support staff will include Tharanga Premakumara as physiotherapist and Vishvamithra Jayasinghe overseeing strength and conditioning.
Lewke previously served as the forwards coach of the national XV-a-side team during the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship. He also enjoyed a highly successful domestic season, guiding his club CR & FC to a historic double by winning both the League title and the Clifford Cup.
Sri Lanka’s XV-a-side international calendar will begin with the New Zealand Under-85kg tour scheduled for April. Later in the year, Sri Lanka will compete in the Asia Rugby Top 4 tournament alongside South Korea, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.
For the men’s sevens programme, Shamly Nawaz and Amjad Buksh have been appointed as co-coaches, while Dansha Dayan will join the setup as an intern coach. Dilan Zoysa will manage strength and conditioning responsibilities and Shafin Majid will serve as the team physiotherapist.

The women’s national programme will be led by head coach Leonard De Zilwa with M. Saldeen appointed as assistant coach. Nimesh De Silva will take on the role of team physiotherapist.
Cricket
92nd Battle of the Saints Set for March at SSC
The stage is set for one of Sri Lanka’s most cherished school cricket rivalries, as St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College prepare to renew their historic contest in the 92nd Battle of the Saints. The three-day encounter will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground on 19, 20 and 21 March, with the prestigious Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc Trophy up for grabs.
Adding to the excitement, the 52nd Joe–Pete Limited Overs Encounter for the Rev. Fr. Peter A. Pillai Trophy will take place on 25 April, also at SSC. Dialog Axiata PLC continues its proud tradition of powering this iconic fixture for the tenth consecutive year, underscoring its commitment to nurturing the champions of tomorrow.
This year, St. Joseph’s will be led by Rishma Amarasinghe, while St. Peter’s will take the field under Enosh Peterson, who starred as Man-of-the-Match in last year’s limited overs clash. The rivalry remains finely balanced: St. Joseph’s has 12 outright wins, their last in 2008, while St. Peter’s boasts 10, most recently in 2016. A remarkable 68 encounters have ended in draws, reflecting the competitive spirit that defines this fixture. The 2025 edition, contested as a three-day match for the first time, fittingly ended in a draw.
In the shorter format, St. Joseph’s holds a narrow edge with 25 victories compared to St. Peter’s 23, alongside two no-results and one tie. The 51st encounter saw St. Peter’s clinch a thrilling four-wicket win to retain the Rev. Fr. Peter A. Pillai Memorial Shield.
Beyond the numbers, both schools carry a proud legacy of producing cricketing greats who have represented Sri Lanka at the highest level. Josephian alumni include Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Chaminda Vaas, Dunith Wellalage, Thisara Perera, and Sadeera Samarawickrama, while Peterites have given the nation stars such as Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake, Russel Arnold, Angelo Perera, and Janith Liyanage.
Speaking ahead of the match, Rev. Fr. Rohitha Rodrigo of St. Peter’s emphasized that the fixture represents more than competition, symbolizing brotherhood, character, and the highest standards of school cricket. Rev. Fr. Ranjith Andradi of St. Joseph’s echoed the sentiment, highlighting the values of discipline, teamwork, and fellowship that unite generations of players and supporters.
Dialog’s Group Chief Marketing Officer, Lasantha Thverapperuma, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the Big Match season, calling it a cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s sporting heritage and wishing both teams success in what promises to be another memorable chapter in this storied rivalry.
Cricket
LPL Player Draft Postponed Amid Middle East Tensions
The Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2026 has encountered an unexpected delay, with organizers confirming that the highly anticipated player draft will not take place this month due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East. While the draft has been pushed back, the tournament itself remains firmly on schedule, set to run from 8 July to 8 August 2026.
Despite the setback, excitement around the sixth edition of the league continues to build. Several prominent international cricketers have already expressed their interest in participating, reinforcing the LPL’s growing stature in the global cricket calendar.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also exploring the possibility of expanding the list of venues for this year’s competition. The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo has emerged as a strong candidate following the installation of floodlights, which now allow the historic venue to host day-night fixtures. If included, SSC would join the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, and Dambulla International Stadium, easing logistical challenges and giving fans in the capital another opportunity to witness the action.
Although no official confirmation has been made, discussions are ongoing, and SSC is increasingly seen as a likely addition to the venue lineup.
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