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Sri Lanka brings Kusal Janith Perera, and Mathews into the White ball series Vs NZ

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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has named a strong two 18-member squads for the ODI and T20I series against New Zealand.

The Islanders will be heading into the white ball format with ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League points in mind.

The Dasun Shanaka-led team are currently in the 10th spot in the Super League table with 77 points. The 3-match ODI series is crucial for the Lankans in order to secure direct qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 scheduled to be held in India.

The ODI series is scheduled to begin on March 25, while the T20I series commences on April 2.

Rookie pacer Dushmantha Chameera has been ruled out from both series as he is still undergoing rehabilitation after his left ankle surgery. Meanwhile, former Skipper Angelo Mathews also return to the white ball format after the lapse of three years where he was last seen in action in an ODI game back in March 2021 during the tour of West Indies. The former skipper has featured in 218 ODIs for Sri Lanka, scoring 5835 runs at 41.67 – the second-best average among Sri Lankan batters.

His return for the series in New Zealand will also be a golden opportunity as a dress rehearsal ahead of the World Cup. will return to the team after a two-year break.

Meanwhile Wicketkeeper batter Kusal Perera has also earned a spot in the T20 squad for the first time in 16 months. The 32-year-old last played in the format against West Indies in November 2021 before he underwent a shoulder injury.

ODI Squad: D Shanaka(c), P Nissanka, N Fernando, K Mendis(wk), A Mathews, C Asalanka, S Samarawickrama, D de Silva, S Arachchige, W Hasaranga, D Wellalage, M Theekshana, K Rajitha, L Kumara, P Madushan, D Madushanka, C Karunaratne, M Pathirana
T20I Squad: D Shanaka(c), P Nissanka, K Mendis(wk), K Perera, D de Silva, C Asalanka, L Croospulle, S Samarawickrama, N Fernando, W Hasaranga, M Theekshana, D Wellalage, K Rajitha, L Kumara, D Madushanka, C Karunaratne, M Pathirana, P Madushan

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කුසල් ජනිත් පෙරේරා සහ මැතිව්ස් නවසීලන්තයට එරෙහිව වයිට් බෝල් තරඟාවලියට ගෙන එයි

නවසීලන්තයට එරෙහිව පැවැත්වෙන එක්දින සහ විස්සයි20 තරගාවලිය සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩකයින් 18 දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් ප්‍රබල සංචිත දෙකක් නම් කර තිබේ.

ICC පිරිමි ක්‍රිකට් ලෝක කුසලාන සුපර් ලීග් ලකුණු මනසේ තබාගෙන දූපත් වැසියන් සුදු පන්දු ආකෘතියට පිවිසෙනු ඇත.

දසුන් ශානකගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුත් කණ්ඩායම මේ වන විට සුපර් ලීග් ලකුණු සටහනේ 10 වැනි ස්ථානයේ පසුවන්නේ ප්‍රසාද ලකුණු 77ක් ලබා ගනිමින්. ඉන්දියාවේදී පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත 2023 ICC පිරිමි ක්‍රිකට් ලෝක කුසලානය සඳහා සෘජු සුදුසුකම් ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා තරග 3 කින් සමන්විත එක්දින තරගාවලිය ලංකා ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට තීරණාත්මක වේ.

එක්දින තරඟාවලිය මාර්තු 25 වනදා ආරම්භ වීමට නියමිත අතර T20I තරඟාවලිය අප්‍රේල් 2 වනදා ආරම්භ වීමට නියමිතයි.

නවක වේග පන්දු යවන ක්‍රීඩක දුෂ්මන්ත චමීර ඔහුගේ වම් වළලුකර සැත්කමෙන් පසු තවමත් පුනරුත්ථාපනය වෙමින් සිටින බැවින් තරගමාලා දෙකෙන්ම ඉවත් කර තිබේ. මේ අතර, හිටපු නායක ඇන්ජලෝ මැතිව්ස් ද වසර තුනකට පසු නැවත සුදු පන්දු ආකෘතියට පැමිණ ඇති අතර එහිදී ඔහු අවසන් වරට 2021 මාර්තු මාසයේදී බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් සංචාරයේදී එක්දින තරඟයකදී ක්‍රියා කළේය. හිටපු නායකයා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වෙනුවෙන් එක්දින තරග 218කට ක්‍රීඩා කර ඇති අතර, ලකුණු 5835ක් 41.67ක් ලෙස ලබාගෙන ඇත – එය ශ්‍රී ලංකා පිතිකරුවන් අතර දෙවැනි හොඳම සාමාන්‍යය වේ.

ඔහු නවසීලන්තයේ පැවැත්වෙන තරගමාලාව සඳහා නැවත පැමිණීමද ලෝක කුසලානයට පෙර ඇඳුම් පෙරහුරුවක් ලෙස ස්වර්ණමය අවස්ථාවක් වනු ඇත. වසර දෙකක විවේකයකින් පසුව නැවතත් කණ්ඩායමට පැමිණෙනු ඇත.

මේ අතර කඩුලු රකින පිතිකරු කුසල් පෙරේරා ද මාස 16කට පසු පළමු වරට T20 සංචිතයේ ස්ථානයක් හිමිකරගෙන තිබෙනවා. 32 හැවිරිදි ඔහු උරහිසේ ආබාධයකට ලක්වීමට පෙර අවසන් වරට 2021 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේදී බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව්වන්ට එරෙහිව ආකෘතියට ක්‍රීඩා කළේය.

එක්දින සංචිතය: ඩී ශානක (ඇ), පී නිශ්ශංක, එන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, කේ මෙන්ඩිස් (විකේ), ඒ මැතිව්ස්, සී අසලංක, එස් සමරවික්‍රම, ඩී ද සිල්වා, එස් ආරච්චිගේ, ඩබ්ලිව් හසරංග, ඩී වෙල්ලාලගේ, එම් තීක්ෂණ, කේ රාජිත, එල් කුමාර, පී මධුෂාන්, ඩී මධුශංක, සී කරුණාරත්න, එම් පතිරණ
විස්සයි20 සංචිතය: ඩී ශානක (ඇ), පී නිශ්ශංක, කේ මෙන්ඩිස් (විකේ), කේ පෙරේරා, ඩී ද සිල්වා, සී අසලංක, එල් කෲස්පුල්ලේ, එස් සමරවික්‍රම, එන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, ඩබ්ලිව් හසරංග, එම් තීක්ෂණ, ඩී වෙල්ලාලගේ, කේ රාජිත, එල් කුමාර, ඩී මධුශංක, සී කරුණාරත්න, එම් පතිරණ, පී මධුෂාන්

இலங்கை அணி குசல் ஜனித் பெரேரா, மற்றும் மேத்யூஸ் ஆகியோரை வைட் பால் தொடருக்கு எதிராக நியூசிலாந்துக்கு கொண்டு வந்தது

நியூசிலாந்துக்கு எதிரான ODI மற்றும் T20I தொடருக்கான இரண்டு 18 பேர் கொண்ட வலுவான அணியை இலங்கை கிரிக்கெட் (SLC) அறிவித்துள்ளது.

ஐசிசி ஆண்கள் கிரிக்கெட் உலகக் கோப்பை சூப்பர் லீக் புள்ளிகளை மனதில் கொண்டு தீவுவாசிகள் வெள்ளை பந்து வடிவத்திற்குச் செல்வார்கள்.

தசுன் ஷனக தலைமையிலான அணி தற்போது சூப்பர் லீக் பட்டியலில் 77 புள்ளிகளுடன் 10வது இடத்தில் உள்ளது. இந்தியாவில் நடைபெறவுள்ள ஐசிசி ஆடவர் உலகக் கோப்பை 2023க்கான நேரடித் தகுதியைப் பெறுவதற்கு 3 போட்டிகள் கொண்ட ஒருநாள் தொடர் இலங்கையர்களுக்கு முக்கியமானது.

ஒருநாள் தொடர் மார்ச் 25ஆம் தேதியும், டி20 தொடர் ஏப்ரல் 2ஆம் தேதியும் தொடங்க உள்ளது.

புதிய வேகப்பந்து வீச்சாளர் துஷ்மந்த சமீர தனது இடது கணுக்கால் சத்திரசிகிச்சைக்குப் பின்னரும் புனர்வாழ்வு பெற்று வருவதால் இரண்டு தொடர்களிலிருந்தும் நீக்கப்பட்டுள்ளார். இதற்கிடையில், முன்னாள் கேப்டன் ஏஞ்சலோ மேத்யூஸ் மூன்று ஆண்டுகளுக்குப் பிறகு வெள்ளை பந்து வடிவத்திற்குத் திரும்பினார், அங்கு அவர் கடைசியாக மார்ச் 2021 இல் மேற்கிந்திய தீவுகள் சுற்றுப்பயணத்தின் போது ஒரு ஒருநாள் ஆட்டத்தில் விளையாடினார். முன்னாள் கேப்டன் இலங்கைக்காக 218 ஒருநாள் போட்டிகளில் விளையாடி 5835 ரன்களை 41.67 சராசரியாக எடுத்துள்ளார் – இது இலங்கை பேட்டர்களில் இரண்டாவது சிறந்த சராசரி.

நியூசிலாந்தில் தொடருக்கு அவர் திரும்புவது உலகக் கோப்பைக்கு முன்னதாக ஆடை ஒத்திகையாக ஒரு பொன்னான வாய்ப்பாக இருக்கும். இரண்டு வருட இடைவெளிக்குப் பிறகு மீண்டும் அணிக்கு திரும்புவார்.

இதற்கிடையில் விக்கெட் கீப்பர் பேட்டர் குசல் பெரேராவும் 16 மாதங்களில் முதல் முறையாக டி20 அணியில் இடம் பிடித்துள்ளார். 32 வயதான அவர் தோள்பட்டையில் காயம் ஏற்படுவதற்கு முன்பு நவம்பர் 2021 இல் மேற்கிந்திய தீவுகளுக்கு எதிராக கடைசியாக விளையாடினார்.

ஒருநாள் அணி: டி ஷனக (கேட்ச்), பி நிஸ்ஸங்க, என் பெர்னாண்டோ, கே மெண்டிஸ் (வி.கே), ஏ மேத்யூஸ், சி அசலங்க, எஸ் சமரவிக்ரம, டி டி சில்வா, எஸ் ஆராச்சிகே, டபிள்யூ ஹசரங்க, டி வெல்லலகே, எம் தீக்ஷன, கே ராஜித, எல். குமார, பி மதுஷன், டி மதுஷங்க, சி கருணாரத்ன, எம் பத்திரன
T20I அணி: டி ஷனக (கேட்ச்), பி நிஸ்ஸங்க, கே மெண்டிஸ் (வாரம்), கே பெரேரா, டி டி சில்வா, சி அசலங்க, எல் குரூஸ்புள்ளே, எஸ் சமரவிக்ரம, என் பெர்னாண்டோ, டபிள்யூ ஹசரங்க, எம் தீக்ஷன, டி வெல்லலகே, கே ராஜித, எல் குமார, டி மதுஷங்க, சி கருணாரத்ன, எம் பத்திரன, பி மதுஷான்

Football

Sri Lanka Women Finish Qualifiers with 0 Goals, 20 Conceded – Who Will Take Responsibility?

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Colombo, July 3 – Sri Lanka Women’s National Football Team wrapped up their AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers campaign with a third straight defeat — a 2-0 loss to Laos — confirming their position at the bottom of Group F, with 0 wins, 0 goals scored, and 18 conceded in just three games.

But beyond the scorelines lies a far more serious issue: a complete collapse of women’s football development in Sri Lanka. And this time, the blame does not lie on one individual — but on a system that has failed the sport, from top to bottom.

Match-by-Match Recap

Match 1: Sri Lanka 0 – 10 Uzbekistan

  • Possession: 30%
  • Shots on Target: 0
  • xG: 0.0 vs Uzbekistan’s 3.60
  • A game that exposed a lack of preparation, structure, and fitness from the very start.

Match 2: Sri Lanka 0 – 8 Nepal

  • Possession: 50%
  • Defensive errors gifted goals, including a hat-trick by Sabitra Bhandari.
  • xG: Nepal 3.76 vs Sri Lanka 0.60
  • Tactical breakdown: Midfield collapsed under pressure, backline failed to close space.

Match 3: Sri Lanka 0 – 2 Laos

  • Possession: 50%
  • Shots on Target: 5
  • xG: 2.56 (Laos) vs 1.08 (Sri Lanka)
  • A more balanced performance, but defensive lapses in the 73rd and 90+2 minutes led to defeat. Sri Lanka couldn’t convert chances despite their best game statistically.

Final Group Standings – Group F

TeamMPGFGAGDPoints
🇳🇵 Nepal2170+176
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan2170+176
🇱🇦 Laos2216-140
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka3020-200

Tactical Issues Across All Matches

  • No clear formation or transition play.
  • Lack of defensive coordination — players failed to track runners, especially on the flanks.
  • No attacking identity — only 1.08 xG across three games.
  • In-game management absent — few substitutions or tactical shifts despite being outplayed.

While public criticism often targets the President of the Football Federation, this decline in women’s football runs deeper:

Who Is Accountable? Not Just the President

Women’s Football Committee:

  • Failed to organize any domestic tournament in recent years.
  • Selected the squad via open trials, with no league performance data to back selections.
  • No consistent training camps or fitness programs.

Executive Committee:

  • Remains silent on the recurring failures.
  • No inquiries, reviews, or structural reforms have followed Sri Lanka’s repeated humiliations — including the U20 Women’s SAFF defeat earlier this year.

Technical & Development Staff:

  • No tactical framework or youth development.
  • No modern coaching methods or international exposure for players.

The Bigger Problem: Silence and Stagnation

Sri Lanka is not just losing matches — it’s losing direction. The current state of women’s football is not the result of one bad campaign. It’s the product of years of neglect, political appointments, and a failure to treat women’s football with equal priority.

Even now, there is no explanation from the Executive Committee on how the women’s team was prepared or what plans exist for recovery.

Time for a Reset, Not Excuses

If Sri Lanka is serious about competing in international football, the following must be addressed:

  • ✅ A national women’s league
  • ✅ Provincial and school-level competitions
  • ✅ Professional coaching staff and structured fitness programs
  • ✅ Regular international friendlies and camps
  • ✅ Transparent selection processes based on performance, not politics

🔚 Conclusion

Sri Lanka’s 2026 AFC campaign should not just be remembered for the scorelines — but as a call for change. It is time for every stakeholder — from the Women’s Committee to the Executive — to reflect, respond, and rebuild.

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News

Sri Lanka Set to Face UAE in Crucial Rugby Clash Tomorrow in Colombo

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The Sri Lanka national rugby team will lock horns with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a much-anticipated international rugby encounter set to take place today (July 4) at the iconic Racecourse Ground, Colombo.

As part of their final preparations, the Sri Lankan team held an intensive training session today under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff. The team looked sharp, focused, and ready to bring their A-game to home soil.

This clash promises to be a key test for the Tuskers as they look to strengthen their footing in the regional rugby scene and gain momentum ahead of upcoming international competitions. UAE, a rising force in Asian rugby, will also be eyeing a big performance away from home.

Both teams are expected to field strong lineups, and the match is anticipated to draw significant interest from local fans eager to witness top-tier rugby action.

📍 Match Info
🗓️ Date: July 4, 2025
📍 Venue: Racecourse Rugby Grounds, Colombo
🕒 Kick-off: TBA

Stay tuned for live updates, photos, and post-match coverage on Sri Lankan Sports TV.

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Football

Sri Lanka Women Crushed 8-0 by Nepal in AFC Qualifiers – Tactical Collapse Raises Alarm

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Colombo, July 2 – Sri Lanka Women’s National Football Team suffered another brutal defeat in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers, going down 8-0 to a confident and clinical Nepalese side. Coming just days after a 10-0 hammering by Uzbekistan, this latest loss highlights deeper tactical, technical, and structural issues within Sri Lanka’s women’s football system.

Full-Time Score: Sri Lanka 0 – 8 Nepal

Half-Time: 0 – 4
Venue: Group F – AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers

Key Match Statistics

StatSri Lanka WomenNepal Women
Possession50%50%
Total Shots426
Shots on Target318
Shots off Target18
Expected Goals (xG)0.603.76
Corners014
Fouls46
Cards00
Offsides03

Tactical Breakdown – Why Sri Lanka Lost 8-0

Despite the possession being even at 50%, Sri Lanka was thoroughly outplayed. This is a classic case where possession stats mislead the reality on the pitch.

1. Poor Defensive Organization

  • Sri Lanka conceded 14 corners and 18 shots on target, indicating that Nepal constantly penetrated both flanks and delivered into the box unchallenged.
  • There was no compact defensive line, and Nepal exploited space behind Sri Lanka’s fullbacks repeatedly.

2. Ineffective Midfield Structure

  • While Sri Lanka held possession equally, it was largely passive and in non-threatening zones.
  • Nepal, on the other hand, converted their possession into 3.76 xG, showing how effective and vertical their transitions were.

3. Repeated Failures in Closing Down Key Players

  • Sabitra Bhandari scored a hat-trick within 26 minutes (14’, 36’, 40’) and was left unmarked multiple times.
  • Nepal’s attackers were given space and time to shoot – evident from the 18 shots on target.

4. No Offensive Threat

  • Sri Lanka managed only 4 shots in the entire game, with an xG of just 0.60.
  • With no corners and no real pressing, the team offered nothing going forward, allowing Nepal to push numbers up comfortably.

Back-to-Back Heavy Losses: Structural Failures Exposed

This defeat comes after a 10-0 loss to Uzbekistan, meaning Sri Lanka has now conceded 18 goals in two matches without scoring once.

This isn’t just a reflection of players’ on-field performance — it’s a glaring indictment of:

  • FFSL’s failure to conduct any women’s football league in years
  • A rushed team selection based on a short trial, without competitive match practice
  • No structured coaching program or international exposure
  • Lack of scouting, fitness programs, and tactical planning

Nepal, though not an Asian powerhouse, had better coaching structure, player chemistry, and clear tactics, which led to their dominance.

What’s Next for Sri Lanka?

If the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) and the Ministry of Sports continue to ignore these warning signs, Sri Lanka risks becoming irrelevant in women’s football on the Asian stage.

What’s needed:

  • ✅ A proper national women’s league
  • ✅ Regular youth-level competitions and scouting
  • ✅ Appointing qualified coaching staff with modern tactical knowledge
  • ✅ Consistent international exposure for players

Conclusion

An 8-0 defeat to Nepal isn’t just a bad result — it’s a mirror held up to a broken system. Unless real change is implemented beyond symbolic participation, these results will become Sri Lanka’s norm in women’s football.

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