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Nishan and Dimuth ton set Sri Lanka’s strong reply
Openers Nishan Madushka and Dimuth Karunaratne both registered centuries in a 228-run opening stand while Kusal Mendis was unbeaten on 83 when rain brought an early end to day three of the second Test against Ireland.
At stumps, Sri Lanka was 357-1 with young Nishan Madushka and Kusal Mendis at the crease looking solid.
Earlier Sri Lanka, resuming the day on 81 without loss in response to their opponents’ highest-ever Test total of 492, raced along at more than four and a half an over with Karunaratne reaching his ton off only 116 balls.
The Sri Lanka captain perished for 115 off 133 deliveries after injudiciously top-edging seamer Curtis Campher – one of Ireland’s centurions on Tuesday – to Matthew Humphreys at deep fine leg.
Madushka, who made just 29 in Sri Lanka’s big win in the first Test last week, looked immovable with an unbeaten 149 runs including 18 boundaries and a six.
He was well supported by Kusal Mendis who was also looking in fine form with an unbeaten 83 runs.
Mendis, who made 140 in the first Test, reached his half-century off just 59 balls. He hit seven boundaries and five hits over the ropes, including three consecutive sixes off Matthew Humphreys.
Madushka and Mendis were involved in an unfinished stand of 129 runs for the second wicket, with Mendis showing great aggression in accumulating runs.
The match will continue today for day 4.
Brief scores: Ireland 492 (Curtis Campher 111, Paul Stirling 103; Prabath Jayasuriya 5/174) lead Sri Lanka 357/1 (Nishan Madushka 149*, Dimuth Karunaratne 115) by 135 runs
නිශාන් සහ දිමුත්ගේ ශතක ශ්රී ලංකා පිලේ ප්රබල ස්ථානය තහවුරු කළේය
ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවන් වන නිශාන් මධුෂ්ක සහ දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න ලකුණු 228ක ආරම්භක සබඳතාවයක් තුළ ශතක වාර්තා කළ අතර අයර්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව පැවැත්වෙන දෙවැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ තෙවැනි දිනයට වර්ෂාවෙන් බාධා පැමිණෙන විට කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් නොදැවී ලකුණු 83ක් ලබා සිටියේය.
තරගය නතර කරන විට ශ්රී ලංකා පිල ලකුණු 357-1ක් ලෙසින් යොවුන් නිශාන් මධුෂ්ක සහ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් ක්රීඩාගාරයේ රැඳී සිටියේය.
මීට පෙර, ප්රතිවාදීන්ගේ ඉහළම ටෙස්ට් ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව 492 ට ප්රතිචාර වශයෙන් කිසිවකු නොදැවී ලකුණු 81 ක් ලබාගෙන දිනය ආරම්භ කළ ශ්රී ලංකාව, ඕවර හතරහමාරකට වඩා වැඩි වේගයකින් දිව ගිය අතර කරුණාරත්න සිය ශතකය වෙත ළඟා වූයේ පන්දු 116 ක් පමණි.
ශ්රී ලංකා නායකයා අඟහරුවාදා අයර්ලන්තයේ ශතකලාභියෙකු වන කර්ටිස් කැම්ෆර් – ගැඹුරු ෆයින් ලෙග්හිදී මැතිව් හම්ෆ්රීස් හමුවේ අසාධාරණ ලෙස පන්දු 133 කදී ලකුණු 115 කට දැවී ගියේය.
පසුගිය සතියේ පැවති පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ දී ශ්රී ලංකාව ලැබූ විශාල ජයග්රහණයේ දී ලකුණු 29ක් පමණක් ලබා ගත් මධුෂ්ක හතරේ පහර 18ක් සහ හයේ පහරක් ඇතුළුව නොදැවී ලකුණු 149ක් ලබා ගනිමින් නොසැලී සිටියේය.
නොදැවී ලකුණු 83ක් රැස්කරමින් දක්ෂ පන්දු යැවීමක නිරත වූ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් ඔහුට මනා සහයක් ලබාදුන්නා.
පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගයේදී ලකුණු 140ක් රැස්කළ මෙන්ඩිස් සිය අර්ධ ශතකය ලබාගත්තේ පන්දු 59කදී පමණි. ඔහු හතරේ පහර 7ක් සහ හතරේ පහර 5ක් එල්ල කළ අතර, මැතිව් හම්ෆ්රීස්ගේ පිට පිට පිට හයේ පහර 3ක් ද ඇතුළත් විය.
මෙන්ඩිස් ලකුණු රැස්කිරීමේදී දැඩි ආක්රමණශීලී බවක් පෙන්නුම් කරමින් දෙවැනි කඩුල්ල සඳහා ලකුණු 129ක නොබිඳුණු සබඳතාවයකට මධුෂ්ක සහ මෙන්ඩිස් සම්බන්ධ වූහ.
තරගය අද 4 වැනි දිනයටත් පැවැත්වේ.
කෙටි ලකුණු: අයර්ලන්තය 492 (කර්ටිස් කැම්පර් 111, පෝල් ස්ටර්ලින් 103; ප්රභාත් ජයසූරිය 5/174) ශ්රී ලංකාව 357/1 (නිෂාන් මධුෂ්ක 149*, දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න 115) ලකුණු 135කින්
நிஷான் மற்றும் திமுத் ஆகியோரின் சதங்கள் இலங்கையின் வலுவான நிலையில்
தொடக்க ஆட்டக்காரர்களான நிஷான் மதுஷ்கா மற்றும் திமுத் கருணாரத்ன இருவரும் 228 ரன்களில் தொடக்க நிலையில் சதம் பதிவு செய்தனர், குசல் மெண்டிஸ் 83 ரன்களுடன் ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் இருந்தார், அயர்லாந்துக்கு எதிரான இரண்டாவது டெஸ்ட் போட்டியின் மூன்றாம் நாள் மழையால் ஆரம்பமாக முடிந்தது.
ஆட்ட நேர முடிவில், இலங்கை அணி 357-1 என்ற நிலையில் இளம் வீரர் நிஷான் மதுஷ்கா மற்றும் குசல் மெண்டிஸ் ஆகியோர் கிரீஸில் திடமாக இருந்தனர்.
முன்னதாக, இலங்கை அணி, எதிரணியின் அதிகபட்ச டெஸ்டில் 492 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் 81 ரன்கள் எடுத்தது, கருணாரத்னே 116 பந்துகளில் தனது சதத்தை எட்டியதோடு, நான்கரை ஓவருக்கும் மேலாக ஓடியது.
செவ்வாயன்று அயர்லாந்தின் செஞ்சுரியன்களில் ஒருவரான சீமர் கர்டிஸ் கேம்பர், டீப் ஃபைன் லெக்கில் மேத்யூ ஹம்ப்ரேஸிடம் தவறாக வீசிய பிறகு, இலங்கை கேப்டன் 133 பந்துகளில் 115 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்தார்.
கடந்த வாரம் நடந்த முதல் டெஸ்டில் இலங்கையின் பெரிய வெற்றியில் வெறும் 29 ரன்கள் மட்டுமே எடுத்த மதுஷ்கா, 18 பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் ஒரு சிக்ஸர் உட்பட ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் 149 ரன்களுடன் அசையாமல் இருந்தார்.
அவருக்கு குசல் மெண்டிஸ் நன்கு உறுதுணையாக இருந்தார், அவர் ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் 83 ரன்களுடன் நல்ல நிலையில் இருந்தார்.
முதல் டெஸ்டில் 140 ரன்கள் எடுத்த மெண்டிஸ், 59 பந்துகளில் அரை சதத்தை எட்டினார். அவர் ஏழு பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் ஐந்து வெற்றிகளை ரோப்களுக்கு மேல் அடித்தார், இதில் மேத்யூ ஹம்ப்ரேஸின் மூன்று தொடர்ச்சியான சிக்ஸர்கள் அடங்கும்.
ரன் குவிப்பதில் மெண்டிஸ் அபாரமாக ஆக்ரோஷத்தை வெளிப்படுத்த, இரண்டாவது விக்கெட்டுக்கு 129 ரன்கள் என்ற முடிவடையாத நிலையில் மதுஷ்காவும் மெண்டிஸும் ஈடுபட்டனர்.
இன்று 4-வது நாளாக ஆட்டம் தொடரும்.
சுருக்கமான ஸ்கோர்கள்: அயர்லாந்து 492 (கர்டிஸ் கேம்பர் 111, பால் ஸ்டிர்லிங் 103; பிரபாத் ஜெயசூர்யா 5/174) இலங்கை 357/1 (நிஷான் மதுஷ்கா 149*, திமுத் கருணாரத்னே 115) 135 ரன்களால் முன்னணியில் உள்ளது.
Cricket
Kingswood College ends 68-year wait with historic victory
Kingswood College, Kandy, ended a 68-year wait with a historic triumph at the 119th Battle of the Maroons, defeating Dharmaraja College by 148 runs.
It was their first victory in the annual ‘Big Match’ since 1958, a moment that will be remembered as one of the school’s greatest cricketing achievements.
Kingswood set the tone with a first-innings total of 226 before dismissing Dharmaraja for 160 to secure a 66-run lead. In the second innings, a bold declaration at 248/4 left the Rajans chasing a steep target. The pressure proved too much, and Dharmaraja collapsed for 166, sealing Kingswood’s emphatic win.
The dominant performance brought the T.B. Tennakoon Trophy back to Randles Hill, ending nearly seven decades of anticipation and marking a new chapter in Kingswood’s cricketing legacy.
Cricket
Naqvi: PCB to Take Action Against PSL Players Opting for IPL
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi has vowed to enforce disciplinary measures against players who abandon the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the last minute to join the Indian Premier League (IPL). With the two tournaments overlapping for a second consecutive year, tensions are rising over player commitments.
Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka is the latest to withdraw, leaving Lahore Qalandars to join Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for the injured Sam Curran. Qalandars have named Australia’s Daniel Sams as Shanaka’s replacement. Earlier, Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani pulled out of the PSL after signing with Kolkata Knight Riders.
Naqvi made his stance clear:
“We will take action against those players according to the rules. There was a case last year too [Corbin Bosch, banned for one year], and the same thing will happen this time.”
Bosch, a diamond pick for Peshawar Zalmi, had switched late to Mumbai Indians in the IPL last season.
Despite the clash with the IPL, Naqvi insisted the PSL would not be rescheduled:
“Clashing with the IPL is not an issue because if players are going there, we’re getting excellent players coming here as well. We could not afford to postpone the PSL because we have no other window all year.”
Withdrawals and Scheduling Challenges
Several other players have also withdrawn from PSL 2026, including Gudakesh Motie, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Ottneil Baartman, and Spencer Johnson, though most cited personal reasons.
The PSL is scheduled to begin on March 26, just two days before the IPL kicks off. Due to an ongoing oil crisis linked to the West Asia conflict, Naqvi confirmed the tournament will be played behind closed doors. Venues have also been reduced from six to two: Lahore and Karachi.
Cricket
Matheesha Pathirana Set for Delayed IPL 2026 Return
Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana is expected to miss the opening matches of the IPL 2026 season, with his return likely only around mid-April. The update was confirmed by Abhishek Nayar, head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.
Pathirana has been sidelined due to a calf strain that also forced him out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year. The young pacer managed to feature in just three matches during the global tournament before suffering the injury. He was visibly in discomfort and had to be assisted off the field during Sri Lanka’s clash against Australia.
Currently undergoing rehabilitation, Pathirana’s recovery is being closely monitored, with team management keen to ensure he regains full fitness before returning to competitive cricket. His absence will be a setback for Kolkata Knight Riders, given his reputation as a specialist death-over bowler with a unique sling action.
The franchise is expected to manage his workload carefully once he rejoins the squad, especially with a long tournament ahead. Pathirana’s return in the latter half of the competition could prove crucial as teams push for playoff positions.
For now, both Sri Lanka and KKR will be focused on his complete recovery, with hopes that the talented speedster will soon be back delivering his trademark yorkers on the big stage.
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