News

SLC National Super League 50 over

Published

3 years ago

March 28, 2023

Editor

Priyanjan, Pavan shine in Dambulla’s win over Colombo

Ashan Priyanjan (6-20) followed by Pavan Rathnayaka’s half-ton, helped Team Dambulla outplay team Colombo by 6 wickets and continue their brilliant form in the ongoing SLC National Super League 50 over tournament at SSC on Sunday.

Put into bat first, Colombo was bundled out for 140 runs and in reply, Dambulla reached the target in just 27.3 overs.

Colombo didn’t have the best of the starts as they were reduced to 3-46 inside 11 overs with Sithara Gimhana (7), Krishan Sanjula (18) and Nipun Dhananjaya (4) all departing cheaply.

To make things worse, they lost two more quick wickets, that of Heshan Fernando (19) and Sachitha Jayathilake (4), to pin them down further.

With the scoreboard reading 5-72, Dushan Vimukthi joined Ashen Bandara in the middle and slowly revived their innings building 32 run partnership for the 6th wicket, but the partnership was short-lived when Vimkuthi (14) was caught at mid-on off Sonal Dinusha’s bowling.

With half of the side back in the pavilion, Ashen Bandara played a lone cameo of 36 runs off 40 deliveries including a boundary and a six before he was run out courtesy of a brilliant fielding effort from Lakshan Sandakan.

At one stage it looked like Dambulla wouldn’t go past the 120-run mark, but a late surge by Kalana Perera (24) saw them add some valuable runs from down the order before they were bowled out for 140 runs.

Ashan Priyanjan was the architect of Colombo’s collapse and ended with figures of 6-20, while Lahiru Samarakoon and Sonal Dinusha picked up a wicket each.

In reply, it was a walk in the park for team Dambulla as they took just 27.3 overs to achieve the target.

Pavan Rathnayaka top scored with a brilliant 53 ball 51 runs including 7 boundaries and a six, while Lasith Abeyrathna (30) and Sonal Dinusha (29*) also contributed with useful knocks.

Brief scores:

Colombo: 144 all out (38) (Ashen Bandara 36, Kalana Perera 24*, Ashan Priyanjan 6-20)

Dambulla: 146-4 (27.3) (Pavan Rathnayaka 51, Lasith Abeyrathna 30, Sonal Dinusha 29*, Dushan Vimukthi 1-30, Nuwan Pradeep 1-51, Danushka Sandaruwan 1-27)

SLC ජාතික සුපර් ලීග් පන්දුවාර 50

කොළඹට එරෙහිව දඹුල්ල ජයග්‍රහණයෙන් ප්‍රියංජන්, පවන් බැබළේ

අශාන් ප්‍රියංජන් (6-20) පසුව පවන් රත්නායකගේ අර්ධ ශතකය, දඹුල්ල කණ්ඩායම කොළඹ කණ්ඩායම කඩුලු 6කින් පරාජය කරමින් ඉරිදා SSC හි පැවැත්වෙන SLC ජාතික සුපර් ලීග් ඕවර 50 තරඟාවලියේදී ඔවුන්ගේ විශිෂ්ට දස්කම් දිගටම කරගෙන යාමට උපකාරී විය.

පළමුවෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදුන් කොළඹ කණ්ඩායම ලකුණු 140කට දැවී ගිය අතර පිළිතුරු ලෙස දඹුල්ල කණ්ඩායම පන්දුවාර 27.3කදී එම ඉලක්කය පසුකර ගියේය.

සිතාර ගිම්හාන (7), ක්‍රිෂාන් සංජුල (18) සහ නිපුන් ධනංජය (4) අඩු මුදලකට දැවී යාමත් සමඟ ඕවර 11 ක් ඇතුළත ලකුණු 3-46 කට සීමා වූ බැවින් කොළඹට හොඳම ආරම්භය නොතිබුණි.

තත්වය තවත් නරක අතට හැරීම සඳහා ඔවුන්ට තවත් වේගවත් කඩුලු දෙකක් අහිමි විය. හේෂාන් ප්‍රනාන්දු (19) සහ සචිත ජයතිලක (4) එම කඩුලු තවදුරටත් බිඳ හෙළීමට සමත් විය.

ලකුණු පුවරුව 5-72ක් ලෙස සටහන් වෙද්දී දුෂාන් විමුක්ති අශේන් බණ්ඩාර සමඟ එක්ව 6 වැනි කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 32ක සබඳතාවයක් ගොඩනැංවූ අතර ඔවුන්ගේ ඉනිම සෙමෙන් පණ ගැන්වූ නමුත් විම්කුති (14) සොනාල්ගේ පන්දුවකට මිඩ්-ඕන්හිදී දැවී යාමත් සමඟ එම සබඳතාව කෙටිකාලීන විය. දිනූෂගේ පන්දු යැවීම.

කණ්ඩායමේ අඩක් මණ්ඩපයට පැමිණ සිටියදී අශේන් බණ්ඩාර පන්දු 40 කදී හතරේ පහරක් සහ හයේ පහරක් ඇතුළුව ලකුණු 36 ක් රැස්කරමින් හුදකලා ක්‍රීඩා කරමින් ලක්ෂාන් සඳකැන්ගේ විශිෂ්ට පන්දු රැකීමේ උත්සාහයකින් දැවී ගියේය.

එක් අවස්ථාවක දී දඹුල්ල ලකුණු 120 සීමාව පසු නොකරනු ඇතැයි පෙනුනද, කලණ පෙරේරාගේ (24) ප්‍රමාද වූ පිබිදීමක් නිසා ඔවුන් ලකුණු 140කට දැවී යාමට පෙර අනුපිළිවෙලින් අගනා ලකුණු කිහිපයක් එකතු කරන ලදී.

කොළඹ කඩාවැටීමේ නිර්මාතෘ අශාන් ප්‍රියංජන් ලකුණු 6-20ක් ලෙසින් අවසන් වූ අතර ලහිරු සමරකෝන් සහ සොනාල් දිනූෂ කඩුල්ල බැගින් දවා ගත්හ.

පිළිතුරු ඉනිම ක්‍රීඩා කළ දඹුල්ල කණ්ඩායමට එම ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගැනීමට ගතවූයේ පන්දුවාර 27.3ක් පමණි.

පවන් රත්නායක පන්දු 53කින් හතරේ පහර 7ක් සහ හයේ පහරක් සමගින් ලකුණු 51ක් ලබා ගත් අතර ලසිත් අබේරත්න (30) සහ සොනාල් දිනූෂ (29*) ද ප්‍රයෝජනවත් දස්කම් දැක්වීමෙන් දායක වූහ.

කෙටි ලකුණු:

කොළඹ: සියලුම දෙනා දැවී 144 (38) (අශේන් බණ්ඩාර 36, කළණ පෙරේරා 24*, අශාන් ප්‍රියංජන් 6-20)

දඹුල්ල: 146-4 (27.3) (පවන් රත්නායක 51, ලසිත් අබේරත්න 30, සොනාල් දිනූෂ 29*, දුෂාන් විමුක්ති 1-30, නුවන් ප්‍රදීප් 1-51, ධනුෂ්ක සඳරුවන් 1-27)

SLC தேசிய சூப்பர் லீக் 50 ஓவர்

கொழும்பிற்கு எதிரான தம்புள்ளை வெற்றியில் பிரியஞ்சன், பவன் ஜொலித்தனர்

ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை SSC இல் நடைபெற்று வரும் SLC தேசிய சுப்பர் லீக் 50 ஓவர் போட்டியில், அஷான் பிரியஞ்சன் (6-20), பவன் ரத்நாயக்கவின் அரை சதம், தம்புள்ளா அணி கொழும்பு அணியை 6 விக்கெட் வித்தியாசத்தில் வீழ்த்தி, அவர்களின் சிறப்பான ஆட்டத்தை தொடர உதவியது.

முதலில் துடுப்பெடுத்தாடிய கொழும்பு அணி 140 ஓட்டங்களுக்குச் சுருண்டது, பதிலுக்கு துடுப்பெடுத்தாடிய தம்புள்ளை அணி 27.3 ஓவர்களில் வெற்றி இலக்கை எட்டியது.

சிதார கிம்ஹானா (7), கிரிஷன் சஞ்சுலா (18), நிபுன் தனஞ்சய (4) ஆகியோர் மலிவாக வெளியேறியதால், 11 ஓவர்களுக்குள் 3-46 ரன்களுக்குக் குறைக்கப்பட்டதால் கொழும்பு சிறந்த தொடக்கத்தைக் கொண்டிருக்கவில்லை.

நிலைமையை மோசமாக்குவதற்கு, அவர்கள் மேலும் இரண்டு விரைவான விக்கெட்டுகளை இழந்தனர், ஹெஷான் பெர்னாண்டோ (19) மற்றும் சச்சித ஜயதிலக (4), அவர்களை மேலும் பின்தள்ளினார்.

ஸ்கோர்போர்டு 5-72 ஆக இருந்த நிலையில், துஷான் விமுக்தி, அஷேன் பண்டாரவுடன் இணைந்து 6வது விக்கெட்டுக்கு 32 ரன் பார்ட்னர்ஷிப்பை உருவாக்கி, அவர்களின் இன்னிங்ஸை மெதுவாக மீட்டெடுத்தார், ஆனால் விம்குதி (14) சோனாலின் பந்தில் மிட்-ஆனில் கேட்ச் ஆனபோது அந்த பார்ட்னர்ஷிப் சிறிது காலம் நீடித்தது. தினுஷாவின் பந்துவீச்சு.

40 பந்துகளில் ஒரு பவுண்டரி மற்றும் ஒரு சிக்ஸர் உள்ளடங்கலாக 36 ரன்கள் எடுத்திருந்த நிலையில், அஷேன் பண்டார, லக்ஷான் சந்தகனின் சிறப்பான பீல்டிங் முயற்சியால் ரன் அவுட் ஆவதற்கு முன், அஷேன் பண்டார தனி ஒருவராக விளையாடினார்.

ஒரு கட்டத்தில் தம்புள்ளை 120 ரன்களுக்கு மேல் செல்லாது என்று தோன்றியது, ஆனால் கலனா பெரேரா (24) 140 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழக்க முன் அவர்கள் வரிசையில் இருந்து சில மதிப்புமிக்க ரன்களைச் சேர்த்ததைக் கண்டது.

அஷான் பிரியஞ்சன் கொழும்பின் சரிவை உருவாக்கி 6-20 என்ற புள்ளிகளுடன் முடிவடைந்தது, லஹிரு சமரகோன் மற்றும் சோனால் தினுஷா ஆகியோர் தலா ஒரு விக்கெட்டை கைப்பற்றினர்.

பதிலுக்கு துடுப்பெடுத்தாடிய தம்புல்லா அணி இலக்கை அடைய வெறும் 27.3 ஓவர்கள் மட்டுமே எடுத்துக்கொண்டது.

பவன் ரத்நாயக்க சிறந்த 53 பந்துகளில் 7 பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் ஒரு சிக்ஸர் உள்ளடங்கலாக 51 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்றதோடு, லசித் அபேரத்ன (30) மற்றும் சோனல் தினுஷா (29*) ஆகியோரும் பயனுள்ள ஆட்டங்களை வெளிப்படுத்தினர்.

சுருக்கமான மதிப்பெண்கள்:

கொழும்பு: 144 ஆல் அவுட் (38) (அஷேன் பண்டார 36, கலன பெரேரா 24*, அஷான் பிரியஞ்சன் 6-20)

தம்புள்ளை: 146-4 (27.3) (பவன் ரத்நாயக்க 51, லசித் அபேரத்ன 30, சோனல் தினுஷா 29*, துஷான் விமுக்தி 1-30, நுவன் பிரதீப் 1-51, தனுஷ்க சண்டருவன் 1-27)

News

BALL BLASTER 2026: SRI LANKA’S BIGGEST SCHOOL FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT RETURNS BIGGER THAN EVER

Published

3 days ago

September 17, 2026

Editor

24 Schools, 15 Venues and Three National Trophies as Ball Blaster Enters Its Third Year

COLOMBO — Ball Blaster, Sri Lanka’s premier school football tournament, is set to return in 2026 with its biggest edition yet, organized by Aasgard Sports (Private) Limited in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association and the Ministry of Education.

Now entering its third year, Ball Blaster has grown from 2023 with 20 schools into one of the country’s largest youth football events. The 2025 edition featured 16 schools competing across four groups, drawing national broadcast attention through Sri Lankan Sports TV and PEO TV. For 2026, the tournament expands significantly, with 24 schools set to compete across 15 venues nationwide, in a season spanning six weeks and 84 matches.

A NEW FORMAT: THREE TROPHIES, THREE CHAMPIONS

The standout feature of Ball Blaster 2026 is a new three-tier trophy format. Schools will be drawn into four groups of six, playing a round-robin group stage before advancing into one of three parallel championships based on their group finish: the Cup Trophy for group winners, the Bowl Trophy for runners-up, and the Plate Trophy for second runners-up. The format ensures every participating school remains in contention for a national title deep into the tournament.

All three championships will reach their conclusion on the same finals weekend, with third-place playoffs and grand finals for the Cup, Bowl and Plate trophies all being played at Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.

“Ball Blaster has always been about giving young footballers a stage,” said a spokesperson for Aasgard Sports. “This year, we’re expanding that stage to every corner of the island, and making sure every school that takes part has something real to play for, right to the final whistle.”

BUILDING ON A STRONG 2025

Ball Blaster’s growth has been underpinned by strong sponsor support. The 2025 edition was backed by Lifebuoy as Title Sponsor, alongside Lemonade as Refreshing Partner and Sky Market Travels as Travelling Partner. Organizers say conversations are already underway with returning and new sponsors ahead of the 2026 season, as the tournament’s expanded scale — nationwide venues, a longer season and three separate finals — offers significantly greater visibility for partners.

BROADCAST AND COVERAGE

As in previous years, Ball Blaster 2026 will be broadcast live via Sri Lankan Sports TV and PEO Sports, with matches also available on YouTube and across Sri Lankan Sports TV’s digital platforms.

For sponsorship and partnership enquiries, contact: Pasindu Mihiranga Sri Lankan Sports TV | Aasgard Sports (Private) Limited 0726 85 18 18 marketing@srilankansportstv.com

www.srilankansportstv.com

Football

Jaswar Umar Hails FIFA Series as Turning Point for Sri Lankan Football

Published

1 week ago

September 10, 2026

Editor

Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) President Jaswar Umar has described the inaugural FIFA Series in Colombo as a major milestone for the country’s football development, saying the tournament has given Sri Lanka renewed confidence and a stronger connection with the international game.

Umar, who has been involved in efforts to strengthen Sri Lankan football administration and development, said hosting the tournament demonstrated that developing football nations could compete on the global stage when given meaningful opportunities.

The FIFA Series, held in Colombo in March 2024, brought Sri Lanka together with Bhutan, Papua New Guinea and the Central African Republic. The four participating nations represented three different confederations, giving Sri Lanka an unusual opportunity to face teams with different playing styles.

Sri Lanka completed its campaign unbeaten, drawing 0-0 against Papua New Guinea and defeating Bhutan 2-0. Umar said the matches provided valuable experience for the national team and helped players adapt to different forms of international competition.

DOHA, QATAR – DECEMBER 17: FIFA President Gianni Infantino with Football Federation of Sri Lanka President Jaswar Umar during a meeting on December 17, 2024 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Serhat Akin/FIFA)

He stressed that the benefits extended beyond the football field. Sri Lankan officials involved in administration, technical operations, media, medical services and event management gained practical experience in organising matches to international standards.

The Racecourse Ground also received an important upgrade through assistance from FIFA’s Forward Programme. The renovation enabled the historic Colombo venue to host international football and created improved facilities for future events.

Umar said one of the most important achievements was bringing international football closer to Sri Lankan supporters. Young fans were able to watch national players compete against foreign opposition in their own city, helping to inspire a new generation.

He thanked FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino for supporting developing football nations.

According to Umar, the FIFA Series has left Sri Lanka with more than match results. It has provided international experience, stronger administrative capabilities, improved infrastructure and, most importantly, renewed belief in the future of Sri Lankan football.

Cricket

Dulani’s sparkling century powers Sri Lanka to thrilling victory

Published

2 months ago

July 31, 2026

Editor

Imesha Dulani stole the spotlight with a sensational unbeaten century as Sri Lanka Women chased down a formidable target of 177 to register a convincing six-wicket victory over Pakistan Women in the first T20I worked off at Dambulla international Stadium.

Pakistan looked set for victory after posting a competitive 176 for 7 in their 20 overs. Captain Muneeba Ali gave the innings early momentum with a fluent 42 off 24 balls, while Shawaal Zulfiqar anchored the innings superbly with a brilliant 63 from 41 deliveries, striking 10 fours and a six. Eman Naseer added a valuable 21, while Ayesha Zafar and Saira Jabeen played aggressive cameos in the closing overs to push Pakistan to an above-par total.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers shared the wickets, with Kavisha Dilhari leading the way with two dismissals. Chamudi Praboda, Sugandika Kumari and Kawya Kavindi chipped in with one wicket apiece, while disciplined fielding produced two crucial run-outs.

The chase belonged entirely to Dulani, who delivered the innings of the match. Displaying confidence, composure and a wide range of attacking strokes, she remained unbeaten on 101 from just 64 balls, smashing 17 boundaries and a six. Her innings combined elegance with controlled aggression, ensuring Sri Lanka stayed ahead of the required rate throughout the chase.

Captain Chamari Athapaththu provided the ideal platform with a sparkling 39 off 22 balls, adding 78 for the opening wicket before Nashra Sandhu broke the partnership. Although Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs, Dulani remained firmly in control, rotating the strike effectively before accelerating when it mattered most.

Kavisha Dilhari contributed 11 valuable runs, while Nilakshika Silva remained unbeaten on nine as Sri Lanka reached 177 for 4 in 19 overs, sealing victory with six balls to spare.

Pakistan spinner Nashra Sandhu finished with two wickets, but she could do little to halt Dulani’s memorable knock.