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Seifert’s blitz helped New Zealand clinch the series 2-1

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Tim Seifert’s brilliant 88 helped New Zealand edge Sri Lanka by four wickets in their thrilling third and final Twenty20 international in Queenstown on Saturday to complete a 2-1 series victory.

Put into bat first Sri Lanka posted 182 runs and in reply, New Zealand took 19.5 overs to achieve the target.

Openers Pathum Nissanka (25) and Kusal Mendis (73) laid a solid platform for their innings with a 76-run partnership until Pathum Nissanka bit the dust when he was caught at the boundary line off Ish Sodhi’s bowling.

His partner Mendis who was dropped on 10 by Mitchell at slip, punished New Zealand with 48-ball 73 runs that contained six fours and five sixes as the 28-year-old reached his 12th half-century in the company of Kusal Perera (33).

Dhananjaya de Silva and skipper Dasun Shanaka both made good starts after the pair departed but the tourists could not lay the final touches as they could score just 3 runs in the 19th and fell short of a match-winning total.

In reply Seifert led the run chase with outstanding innings, scoring 88 off just 48 deliveries,
which propelled the Black Caps to 183-6 in 19.5 overs.

The opener struck 10 fours and three sixes in an inning that bore many of the hallmarks of his unbeaten 79 when New Zealand levelled the series at Dunedin on Wednesday.

Captain Tom Latham provided the only meaningful support with 31 off 23 and New Zealand’s middle order nearly conspired to lose the game after Seifert departed with four overs remaining.

Needing to score at little more than a run-a-ball at that stage, the Black Caps stuttered.

Needing 10 runs to win off the final over bowled by Lahiru Kumara (3-38), Mark Chapman struck a six off the first ball before he was the first of three New Zealand wickets to fall.

With two still needed off the last two deliveries, Rachin Ravindra held his nerve to find a gap in the outfield and secure the 2-1 series win.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 182/6 in 20 overs (Kusal Mendis 73, Kusal Perera 33; Ben Lister 2-37) lost to New Zealand 183/6 in 19.5 overs (Tim Seifert 88, Tom Latham 31; Lahiru Kumara 3-38) by 4 wickets

Seifert ගේ Blitz නවසීලන්තයට තරඟාවලිය 2-1 ක් ලෙස ජය ගැනීමට උපකාරී විය

ටිම් සෙයිෆර්ට්ගේ විශිෂ්ට ලකුණු 88 හේතුවෙන් නවසීලන්තය සෙනසුරාදා ක්වීන්ස්ටවුන් හි පැවති තෙවැනි සහ අවසන් විස්සයි20 ජාත්‍යන්තර තරගයෙන් කඩුලු 4 ක ජයක් අත්කර ගනිමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව 2-1 ක් ලෙස තරගාවලියේ ජයග්‍රහණය සම්පූර්ණ කළේය.

පළමුවෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදුන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලකුණු 182ක් රැස්කළ අතර පිළිතුරු ලෙස නවසීලන්තයට එම ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගැනීමට පන්දුවාර 19.5ක් වැය විය.

ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවන් වන පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක (25) සහ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් (73) ලකුණු 76 ක සම්බන්ධතාවක් පවත්වමින් ඔවුන්ගේ ඉනිමට ශක්තිමත් වේදිකාවක් සකසා දුන් අතර, පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක ඉෂ් සෝදිගේ පන්දුවක් හමුවේ හතරේ සීමාවේ දී දැවී ගියේය.

28 හැවිරිදි කුසල් පෙරේරා (33) සමගින් සිය 12 වැනි අර්ධ ශතකය වාර්තා කරද්දී ඔහුගේ සහකරු මෙන්ඩිස් ලකුණු 10කට මිචෙල් අතට උඩ පන්දුවක් දෙමින් නවසීලන්තයට දඬුවම් කළේ පන්දු 48කදී හතරේ පහර 6ක් සහ හයේ පහර 5ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 73ක් රැස්කරමිනි. )

ධනංජය ද සිල්වා සහ නායක දසුන් ශානක දෙදෙනාම දෙදෙනාම ඉවත්වීමෙන් පසු හොඳ ආරම්භයක් ලබා ගත් නමුත් 19 වැනි තරගයේදී ලකුණු 3ක් පමණක් ලබාගෙන තරගයේ ජයග්‍රාහී ලකුණු සංඛ්‍යාවට වඩා අඩුවෙන් දැවී ගිය නිසා සංචාරකයන්ට අවසන් කටයුතු සිදු කිරීමට නොහැකි විය.

පිළිතුරු ඉනිම ක්‍රීඩා කළ සීෆර්ට් ලකුණු 88ක් ලබා ගත්තේ පන්දු 48කදී ලකුණු 88ක් ලබා ගනිමින්.
එය ඕවර 19.5කදී බ්ලැක් කැප්ස් පිල ලකුණු 183-6කට තල්ලු කළේය.

බදාදා නවසීලන්තය ඩුනෙඩින් හිදී තරඟාවලිය සම කරන විට ආරම්භක පිතිකරු ඉනිමක හතරේ පහර 10 ක් සහ හයේ පහර 3 ක් එල්ල කළ අතර එය ඔහුගේ නොදැවී ලකුණු 79 හි බොහෝ සලකුණු දරයි.

නායක ටොම් ලේතම් ලකුණු 23කින් ලකුණු 31ක් ලබා ගනිමින් එකම අර්ථාන්විත සහය ලබා දුන් අතර නවසීලන්ත මැදපෙළ ඕවර 4ක් ඉතිරිව තිබියදී සීෆර්ට් පිටත්ව ගිය පසු තරගය පරාජයට පත්වීමට බොහෝ දුරට කුමන්ත්‍රණය කළේය.

එම අදියරේ දී පන්දුවට ලකුණකට වඩා මඳක් වැඩි ලකුණු ප්‍රමාණයක් ලබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය වූ අතර, කළු කැප්ස් ගොත ගැසීය.

ලහිරු කුමාර යැවූ අවසන් ඕවරයේදී ජයග්‍රහණය සඳහා ලකුණු 10ක් අවශ්‍යව තිබියදී (3-38) පළමු පන්දුවේදීම හයේ පහරක් එල්ල කළ මාර්ක් චැප්මන් නවසීලන්ත කඩුලු තුනෙන් පළමුවැන්නා විය.

අවසන් පන්දු දෙකේදී තවත් දෙකක් අවශ්‍යව තිබියදී, රචින් රවීන්ද්‍ර පිටියේ හිඩැසක් සොයා ගැනීමට සහ 2-1 තරගාවලියේ ජයග්‍රහණය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට ඔහුගේ ශක්තිය රඳවා ගත්තේය.

සංක්ෂිප්ත ලකුණු: ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඕවර 20 කදී 182/6 (කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් 73, කුසල් පෙරේරා 33; බෙන් ලිස්ටර් 2-37) නවසීලන්තයට ඕවර 19.5 කදී 183/6 පරාජය (tim Seifert 88, Tom Latham 31; Lahiru Kumara 3-38 ) විකට් 4 කින්

Seifert அதிரடி ஆட்டத்தால் நியூசிலாந்து தொடரை 2-1 என கைப்பற்றியது

Tim Seifert இன் அற்புதமான 88 ரன்களுக்கு நியூசிலாந்து குயின்ஸ்டவுனில் சனிக்கிழமையன்று நடந்த மூன்றாவது மற்றும் கடைசி இருபதுக்கு 20 சர்வதேச போட்டியில் 4 விக்கெட்டுகள் வித்தியாசத்தில் இலங்கையை வீழ்த்தி தொடரை 2-1 என்ற கணக்கில் கைப்பற்றியது.

முதலில் துடுப்பெடுத்தாடிய இலங்கை அணி 182 ஓட்டங்களை பெற்று பதிலுக்கு துடுப்பெடுத்தாடிய நியூசிலாந்து அணி 19.5 ஓவர்களில் வெற்றி இலக்கை எட்டியது.

தொடக்க ஆட்டக்காரர்களான பாத்தும் நிசாங்க (25) மற்றும் குசல் மெண்டிஸ் (73) ஆகியோர் இஷ் சோதியின் பந்துவீச்சில் பவுண்டரி லைனில் கேட்ச் ஆகி 76 ரன்கள் பார்ட்னர்ஷிப்பில் தங்கள் இன்னிங்ஸுக்கு உறுதியான தளத்தை அமைத்தனர்.

28 வயதான குசல் பெரேரா (33) ஜோடியில் தனது 12வது அரைசதத்தை எட்டியபோது, 28 வயதான அவர், 48 பந்துகளில் 6 பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் 5 சிக்ஸர்களுடன் 73 ரன்கள் எடுத்து நியூசிலாந்தை 10 ரன்களில் மிட்செல் வீழ்த்தினார். )

தனஞ்சய டி சில்வா மற்றும் அணித்தலைவர் தசுன் ஷனக இருவரும் இந்த ஜோடி வெளியேறிய பின்னர் நல்ல தொடக்கத்தை வழங்கினர், ஆனால் சுற்றுலாப் பயணிகளால் 19வது ரன்னில் வெறும் 3 ரன்கள் மட்டுமே எடுக்க முடிந்தது மற்றும் போட்டியில் வெற்றிபெறும் ஸ்கோரை விட குறைவாக வீழ்ந்தது.

பதிலுக்கு சீஃபர்ட் 48 பந்துகளில் 88 ரன்கள் எடுத்து சிறப்பான இன்னிங்ஸ் மூலம் ரன் வேட்டைக்கு தலைமை தாங்கினார்.
இது பிளாக் கேப்ஸை 19.5 ஓவர்களில் 183-6 ரன்களுக்குத் தள்ளியது.

தொடக்க ஆட்டக்காரர் ஒரு இன்னிங்ஸில் 10 பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் மூன்று சிக்ஸர்களை அடித்தார், இது புதன்கிழமை டுனெடினில் நியூசிலாந்து தொடரை சமன் செய்தபோது அவர் ஆட்டமிழக்காமல் 79 ரன்கள் எடுத்ததன் பல அடையாளங்களைத் தாங்கினார்.

கேப்டன் டாம் லாதம் 23 பந்தில் 31 ரன்களுடன் ஒரே அர்த்தமுள்ள ஆதரவை வழங்கினார் மற்றும் நியூசிலாந்தின் மிடில் ஆர்டர் நான்கு ஓவர்கள் மீதமுள்ள நிலையில் சீஃபர்ட் வெளியேறிய பிறகு ஆட்டத்தை இழக்க சதி செய்தார்.

அந்த கட்டத்தில் ஒரு ரன்-எ-பந்தை விட சற்று அதிகமாக ஸ்கோர் செய்ய வேண்டியிருந்தது, பிளாக் கேப்ஸ் தடுமாறியது.

லஹிரு குமார (3-38) வீசிய இறுதி ஓவரில் வெற்றிக்கு 10 ரன்கள் தேவை என்ற நிலையில், மார்க் சாப்மேன் முதல் பந்தில் சிக்ஸர் அடித்து நியூசிலாந்து 3 விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்தினார்.

கடைசி இரண்டு பந்துகளில் இன்னும் இரண்டு ரன்கள் தேவைப்பட்ட நிலையில், ரச்சின் ரவீந்திரன் அவுட்ஃபீல்டில் ஒரு இடைவெளியைக் கண்டுபிடித்து 2-1 என்ற கணக்கில் தொடரைக் கைப்பற்றினார்.

சுருக்கமான ஸ்கோர்கள்: இலங்கை 20 ஓவரில் 182/6 (குசல் மெண்டிஸ் 73, குசல் பெரேரா 33; பென் லிஸ்டர் 2-37) நியூசிலாந்திடம் 19.5 ஓவரில் 183/6 (டிம் சீஃபர்ட் 88, டாம் லதம் 31; லஹிரு குமார 3-38) தோல்வியடைந்தது. ) 4 விக்கெட்டுகள்

Cricket

Angelo Mathews sparks debate over England’s proposed Test tour reductions

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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.

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.

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Sri Lanka Juniors Ready for Billie Jean King Cup Challenge in Kazakhstan

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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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Cricket

SLC Drops Social Media Follower Rule From LPL Season 6 Player Criteria

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Sri Lanka Cricket has revised the player eligibility criteria for the upcoming Lanka Premier League Season 6, removing a controversial requirement linked to social media popularity after widespread criticism from fans and members of the cricket community.

The latest edition of the LPL Season 6 Player Registration and Draft Guide, released as Version 1.5 on May 9, no longer contains any minimum follower count requirements for players registering under the Icon, Star, or Gold categories.

The change comes just a day after Version 1.4 of the guide drew backlash for introducing social media-based benchmarks alongside cricketing qualifications. Under the earlier rules, players in the Icon and Star categories were expected to maintain more than 250,000 social media followers, while Gold category players were required to have at least 150,000 followers.

The previous guidelines described top-tier players as individuals with strong commercial value and a significant online audience, prompting criticism that the league was prioritizing digital influence over cricketing merit.

Following the backlash, Sri Lanka Cricket removed all references to follower counts in the revised document while keeping the existing cricket-related qualifications intact. Players will still be assessed based on factors such as international T20 experience, franchise league participation, and recent competitive appearances.

The original social media clause triggered debate across online platforms, with many questioning the contradiction between the new LPL criteria and Sri Lanka Cricket’s past messaging encouraging national players to limit distractions from social media and focus on performance.

Critics also argued that a player’s standing in the tournament should be determined by achievements on the field rather than online popularity.

Although the revised regulations eliminate follower-based eligibility requirements, the LPL framework continues to place considerable importance on marketing and fan engagement. Players are still expected to participate in promotional campaigns, fan interaction events, media activities, and scheduled social media promotions throughout the tournament.

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