News
Royal regain the Rt. Hon D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield
Royal College, Colombo registered a memorable 180-run win over S. Thomas’ College in the 144th ‘Battle of the Blues’ annual cricket encounter played for the Rt. Hon. D.S Senanayake Memorial Shield, which concluded on Saturday at the SSC Grounds, Colombo.
On day three the Royalists declared their overnight score setting a target of 342 runs, and in reply, the Thomians had no answers for the Royal dominance as they were bowled out for 161 runs to hand the Royalists a famous win.
The Thomian batters never looked comfortable in the second essay and none of their batters impressed apart from Senesh Hettiarachchi. He was the only batter to post a threat to the Royalists with a watchful 46 runs off 87 deliveries including 7 boundaries. Apart from him, none of the other batters was able to at least go past the 30-run mark.
Senesh and Charuka Peiris (22) looked to steady the Thomian innings at one stage in the chase, but their partnership was cut short when Peiris was bowled by spinner Ramiru Perera.
Adding salt to their wounds, Thomians was struck with a double blow when Akash Fernando walked back to the pavilion for a golden duck to make things worse for the boys from Mt. Lavinia.
With all recognized batters back in the pavilion, Thomians’ hope was all on Senesh Hettiarachchi’s shoulders, but the pressure was too much for him to handle as he was caught at short mid-wicket, and the Thomians were bowled out for 161, as Royal wrapped things up in style to regain the prestigious D.S. Senanayake Shield.
The Royal College bowling was spot on with Sineth Jayawardena, Ramiru Perera and Nethwin Dharmarathne sharing two wickets apiece, while Ranuka Malaviarachchi, Bulan Weerathunga, Sandesh Ramanayaka and Dasis Manchanayake picked up a wicket each.
Earlier, in the second innings, skipper Dasis Manchanayake once again came to the rescue with another quick-fire 57 in 49 balls to steady the Royals’ innings. He was once again well supported by Ramiru Perera who smashed an unbeaten 46 runs.
Brief scores:
Royal: 326-8 d and 168-4 d (Dasis Manchanayake 57, Ramiru Perera 46, Akash Fernando 4-59)
S. Thomas’: 153 and 161 all out (Senesh Hettiarachchi 46, Charuka Peiris 22, Sineth Jayawardena 2-14, Nethwin Dharmarathne 2-27, Ramiru Perera 2-25)
Individual Awards
Best Fielder – Uvindu Weerasekara (RC)
Best Bowler – Akash Fernando (STC)
Best Batter – Ramiru Perera (RC)
Player of the Match – Dasis Manchanayake (RC)
ගරු ඩී.එස්. සේනානායක අනුස්මරණ පලිහ රාජකීයන්ට යළි හිමිවේ
තෝමස් විද්යාලයට එරෙහිව කොළඹ රාජකීය විද්යාලය 144 වැනි ‘Battle of the Blues’ වාර්ෂික ක්රිකට් තරගයෙන් ලකුණු 180 ක අමතක නොවන ජයක් වාර්තා කළේය. ගරු. D.S සේනානායක අනුස්මරණ පළිහ සෙනසුරාදා කොළඹ SSC පිටියේදී අවසන් විය.
තුන්වන දිනයේදී රාජකීය ක්රීඩකයින් සිය එක්දින ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව ලකුණු 342ක ඉලක්කයක් ලෙස ප්රකාශයට පත් කළ අතර, පිළිතුරු ලෙස තෝමියානුවන් ලකුණු 161කට දැවී ගිය අතර රාජකීයයන්ට සුප්රසිද්ධ ජයග්රහණයක් ලබා දීමට තෝමියානුවන් සමත් විය.
තෝමියන් පිතිකරුවන් දෙවන රචනයේදී කිසිවිටෙක පහසු බවක් නොදැක්වූ අතර සෙනේෂ් හෙට්ටිආරච්චි හැරුණු විට ඔවුන්ගේ කිසිදු පිතිකරුවෙකුගේ සිත් ගත්තේ නැත. ඔහු පන්දු 87කදී හතරේ පහර 7ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 46ක් ලබා ගනිමින් රාජකීයයන්ට තර්ජනයක් එල්ල කළ එකම පිතිකරුවා විය. ඔහු හැර සෙසු පිතිකරුවන් කිසිවකුට අඩුම තරමින් ලකුණු 30 සීමාව පසු කිරීමටවත් නොහැකි විය.
සෙනේෂ් සහ චාරුක පීරිස් (22) හඹා යාමේ එක් අවස්ථාවක තෝමියන් ඉනිම ස්ථාවර වනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කළ නමුත් පීරිස් දඟ පන්දු යවන රමිරු පෙරේරාගේ පන්දුවක් හමුවේ දැවී යාමත් සමඟ ඔවුන්ගේ සබඳතාව බිඳ වැටුණි.
ගල්කිස්සේ කොල්ලන්ට තත්ත්වය තවත් නරක අතට හැරීම සඳහා ආකාෂ් ප්රනාන්දු රන් තාරාවෙකු සඳහා නැවත මණ්ඩපය වෙත ඇවිද ගිය විට ඔවුන්ගේ තුවාලවලට ලුණු එකතු කරමින් තෝමියානුවන්ට ද්විත්ව පහරක් එල්ල විය.
පිලිගත් පිතිකරුවන් සියල්ලන්ම නැවතත් මණ්ඩපය වෙත පැමිණීමත් සමඟම තෝමියන්ස්ගේ බලාපොරොත්තුව සියල්ල සෙනේෂ් හෙට්ටිආරච්චිගේ උරහිස් මත රැඳුණු නමුත් ෂෝට් මිඩ් විකට් අතට උඩපන්දුවක් දෙමින් තෝමියානුවන් ලකුණු 161කට දැවී ගිය අතර රාජකීය ලෙසින් තෝමියානුවන් දැවී ගියේය. කීර්තිමත් D.S. සේනානායක පළිහ නැවත ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා දේවල් අලංකාර ලෙස ඔතා ඇත.
රාජකීය විද්යාලයේ පන්දු යැවීමේදී සිනෙත් ජයවර්ධන, රමිරු පෙරේරා සහ නෙත්වින් ධර්මරත්න කඩුලු 2 බැගින් බෙදී ගිය අතර රනුක මලවිආරච්චි, බුලාන් වීරතුංග, සන්දේශ් රාමනායක සහ දාසිස් මංචනායක කඩුල්ල බැගින් දවා ගත්හ.
මීට පෙර දෙවැනි ඉනිමේදී තවත් වේගවත් පිතිහරඹයක නිරත වූ නායක දාසිස් මංචනායක පන්දු 49කදී ලකුණු 57ක් රැස්කරමින් රාජකීය ඉනිමේ ස්ථාවර තත්ත්වයට පත් විය. ඔහුට නැවත වරක් හොඳ සහයක් ලබාදුන් රමිරු පෙරේරා නොදැවී ලකුණු 46ක් ලබා ගත්තේය.
කෙටි ලකුණු:
රාජකීය: 326-8 සහ 168-4 (දාසිස් මංචනායක 57, රමිරු පෙරේරා 46, ආකාෂ් ප්රනාන්දු 4-59)
එස්. තෝමස්: සියලු දෙනා දැවී 153 සහ 161 (සෙනේෂ් හෙට්ටිආරච්චි 46, චාරුක පීරිස් 22, සිනෙත් ජයවර්ධන 2-14, නෙත්වින් ධර්මරත්න 2-27, රමිරු පෙරේරා 2-25)
තනි පුද්ගල සම්මාන
හොඳම පන්දු රකින්නා – උවිඳු වීරසේකර (RC)
හොඳම පන්දු යවන්නා – ආකාෂ් ප්රනාන්දු (STC)
හොඳම පිතිකරු – රමිරු පෙරේරා (RC)
තරගයේ වීරයා – දසිස් මංචනායක (RC)
கெளரவ டி.எஸ். சேனாநாயக்க நினைவுக் கேடயத்தை ரோயல் மீண்டும் கைப்பற்றியது
Rt அணிக்காக விளையாடிய 144வது ‘Battle of the Blues’ வருடாந்த கிரிக்கெட் போட்டியில், கொழும்பு ரோயல் கல்லூரி, S. Thomas’ கல்லூரிக்கு எதிராக 180 ரன்கள் வித்தியாசத்தில் மறக்கமுடியாத வெற்றியைப் பதிவு செய்தது. கௌரவ. D.S சேனநாயக்க ஞாபகார்த்த கேடயம், கொழும்பு SSC மைதானத்தில் சனிக்கிழமை நிறைவு பெற்றது.
மூன்றாவது நாளில், ராயல்ஸ்டுகள் தங்கள் ஓவர்நைட் ஸ்கோரை 342 ரன்களை இலக்காக நிர்ணயித்ததாக அறிவித்தனர், பதிலுக்கு, தோமியன்ஸ் ராயல்ஸ்டுகளுக்கு ஒரு பிரபலமான வெற்றியை வழங்க 161 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்ததால், ராயல் ஆதிக்கத்திற்கு எந்த பதிலும் இல்லை.
தோமியன் பேட்டர்கள் இரண்டாவது கட்டுரையில் ஒருபோதும் வசதியாகத் தோன்றவில்லை, செனேஷ் ஹெட்டியாராச்சியைத் தவிர அவர்களது பேட்ஸ் எவரும் ஈர்க்கவில்லை. 87 பந்துகளில் 7 பவுண்டரிகள் உட்பட 46 ரன்கள் எடுத்து ராயல்ஸ்டுகளுக்கு அச்சுறுத்தலாக இருந்த ஒரே பேட்டர் அவர்தான். இவரைத் தவிர மற்ற வீரர்களால் 30 ரன்களைக் கூட கடக்க முடியவில்லை.
செனேஷ் மற்றும் சாருக பீரிஸ் (22) துரத்தலில் ஒரு கட்டத்தில் தோமியன் இன்னிங்ஸை சீராகப் பார்த்தனர், ஆனால் பீரிஸ் சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர் ரமிரு பெரேராவின் பந்துவீச்சில் ஆட்டமிழந்ததால் அவர்களது பார்ட்னர்ஷிப் துண்டிக்கப்பட்டது.
அவர்களின் காயங்களுக்கு உப்பு சேர்த்து, ஆகாஷ் பெர்னாண்டோ மவுண்ட் லவீனியாவைச் சேர்ந்த சிறுவர்களை மோசமாக்குவதற்காக தங்க வாத்துக்காக பெவிலியனுக்கு திரும்பிச் சென்றபோது தோமியன்ஸ் இரட்டை அடியால் தாக்கப்பட்டார்.
அனைத்து அங்கீகரிக்கப்பட்ட துடுப்பாட்ட வீரர்களும் பெவிலியனில் திரும்பிய நிலையில், தோமியன்ஸின் நம்பிக்கை அனைத்தும் செனேஷ் ஹெட்டியாராச்சியின் தோள்களில் இருந்தது, ஆனால் அவர் ஷார்ட் மிட் விக்கெட்டில் கேட்ச் ஆனதால், அவரைக் கையாள முடியாத அழுத்தம் அதிகமாக இருந்தது, மேலும் தோமியன்ஸ் 161 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்தார். மதிப்புமிக்க டி.எஸ். சேனநாயக்க கேடயத்தை மீண்டும் பெறுவதற்கு பாணியில் விஷயங்களைச் சுற்றிக் கொண்டார்.
ரோயல் கல்லூரி பந்துவீச்சில் சினேத் ஜயவர்தன, ரமிரு பெரேரா மற்றும் நெத்வின் தர்மரத்ன ஆகியோர் தலா இரண்டு விக்கெட்டுகளையும், ரணுக மளவியராச்சி, புலன் வீரதுங்க, சந்தேஷ் ராமநாயக்க மற்றும் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க ஆகியோர் தலா ஒரு விக்கெட்டையும் கைப்பற்றினர்.
முன்னதாக, இரண்டாவது இன்னிங்ஸில், அணித்தலைவர் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க மீண்டும் 49 பந்துகளில் 57 ரன்களை எடுத்து நிலையான ராயல்ஸ் இன்னிங்ஸை மீட்டார். அவருக்கு மீண்டும் ஒருமுறை சிறந்த உறுதுணையாக இருந்த ரமிரு பெரேரா ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் 46 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார்.
சுருக்கமான மதிப்பெண்கள்:
ராயல்: 326-8 டி மற்றும் 168-4 டி (தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க 57, ரமிரு பெரேரா 46, ஆகாஷ் பெர்னாண்டோ 4-59)
எஸ். தோமஸ்: 153 மற்றும் 161 ஆல் அவுட் (செனேஷ் ஹெட்டியாராச்சி 46, சாருகா பீரிஸ் 22, சினெத் ஜயவர்தன 2-14, நெத்வின் தர்மரத்னே 2-27, ரமிரு பெரேரா 2-25)
தனிப்பட்ட விருதுகள்
சிறந்த பீல்டர் – உவிந்து வீரசேகர (ஆர்சி)
சிறந்த பந்து வீச்சாளர் – ஆகாஷ் பெர்னாண்டோ (STC)
சிறந்த பேட்டர் – ரமிரு பெரேரா (ஆர்சி)
ஆட்ட நாயகன் – தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க (RC)
Cricket
Sri Lanka Set for White-Ball Leadership Change as Kusal Mendis Emerges Favourite
Sri Lanka Cricket is reportedly preparing for a major leadership overhaul in the national white-ball teams, with Kusal Mendis tipped to become captain of both the ODI and T20I sides ahead of the upcoming West Indies tour.
According to a report by The Sunday Times, the experienced wicketkeeper-batter is expected to replace Charith Asalanka as ODI captain and take over the T20I leadership from Dasun Shanaka.
The reported decision comes as Sri Lanka seeks to strengthen its limited-overs structure and build momentum ahead of a packed international schedule. Cricket officials are believed to view Mendis as a dependable senior figure capable of guiding a relatively young squad through the next phase of development.
Having represented Sri Lanka for several years across all three formats, Mendis has established himself as one of the team’s key performers in white-ball cricket. His experience and consistency are expected to play a crucial role if the appointment is confirmed.
Meanwhile, the report stated that Dhananjaya de Silva will continue to lead the Test side, ensuring stability in the longer format.
Sri Lanka Cricket has yet to make an official announcement regarding the captaincy changes.
Cricket
Angelo Mathews sparks debate over England’s proposed Test tour reductions
Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has strongly criticised reports that England may reduce future Test tours of Sri Lanka to a single match, warning that such a move risks undermining the fairness and integrity of the World Test Championship structure.
According to reports, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is reviewing its Future Tours Programme, with discussions suggesting that overseas red-ball series against nations such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh could be trimmed to just one Test, alongside white-ball fixtures. The shift is being linked to scheduling pressures and a push to prioritise longer home series against top-tier opposition.
We should not play one off test with anyone! If any country doesn’t want to play more than one so be it! There’s nothing called bigger nations and test status is equal to all test playing nations .You can’t have 1 team playing 20 games and another playing 10 games in the same…
— Angelo Mathews (@Angelo69Mathews) May 9, 2026
However, Mathews has pushed back firmly against the idea, arguing that Test cricket must not be reshaped around commercial convenience or unequal participation between nations.
“We should not play one off test with anyone! If any country doesn’t want to play more than one so be it!” Mathews said, expressing clear frustration at the proposal.
He further stressed that all Test nations must be treated equally within the format, warning against creating an imbalance in match opportunities across the championship cycle.
“There’s nothing called bigger nations and test status is equal to all test playing nations,” he said.
Mathews also questioned the logic of restructuring series length while maintaining a unified global competition, pointing out the contradiction in workload and fairness.
“You can’t have 1 team playing 20 games and another playing 10 games in the same championship cycle!” he added.
His strongest criticism came when addressing the reasoning behind the proposed changes, which have been partly linked to revenue generation and broadcast appeal.
“Generating revenue and keeping test cricket alive is two different things and you should not mix up the two!” Mathews said, drawing a clear line between financial priorities and the preservation of the longest format.
The reported ECB discussions come amid wider debates within the International Cricket Council (ICC) over potential reforms to the World Test Championship, including proposals to expand participation and possibly allow single-Test series to contribute to standings for the first time.
The ICC is expected to review the proposals in upcoming meetings, with the future structure of Test cricket under increasing scrutiny as scheduling demands continue to grow across formats.
News
Sri Lanka Juniors Ready for Billie Jean King Cup Challenge in Kazakhstan
Sri Lanka’s emerging tennis players are set to represent the country at the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors – Asia/Oceania under-16 Final Qualifying tournament, which will be held in Shymkent, Kazakhstan from May 11 to 15, 2026.

The prestigious junior competition will bring together leading teams from across the region, including Australia, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, among others, all competing for regional supremacy and qualification progress.
Sri Lanka will be led by top-ranked junior player Annaya Norbet of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya, who will take the position of number one player in the squad. She will be joined by Akeesha Silva of Newstead College, Negombo, selected as the second player, while Bovindee Jithsara from Bishop’s College completes the main trio.
Sandithi Usgoda Arachchi of Musaeus College has been named as the standby player, providing additional support to the team if required during the competition.
The squad will be coached by Anupa Maththamagoda, an experienced figure tasked with guiding the young team through the demanding international event.
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