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Sri Lanka secured a world cup spot thanks to Nissanka’s ton

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2 years ago

July 4, 2023

Editor

Pathum Nissanka’s century and Maheesh Theekshana’s four-for helped Sri Lanka thump Zimbabwe in their second super six games of the ongoing world cup qualifiers worked off at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on Sunday.

The win saw Dasun Shanaka and co confirmed their tickets to India for the World Cup in October.

Put into bat first the host didn’t have the best of the starts as they were reduced to 30-3 inside the first powerplay.

With Zimbabwe at a spot of bother
In-form Sean Williams (56) and Sikandar Raza (31) however revived their innings with a 68-run fourth-wicket stand.

With Zimbabwe slowly recovering from their shaky start, skipper Dasun Shanaka delivered the all-important breakthrough when he claimed the wicket of his mate Sikandar Raza when he was caught at the boundary line.

After the breakthrough, the Zimbabwe middle and lower-middle-order never recovered as wickets tumbled like nine pins.

Mahesh Theekshana was the architect of Zimbabwe’s collapse as he ended with figures of 4-25.

He claimed the all-important wickets of Sean Williams (56), Ryan Burl (16), L Jonwe (10) and B. Muzarabani (00) to set up an easy win for Sri Lanka. The last seven wickets fell for just 67 runs.

In response to 165, Sri Lanka was led by Pathum Nissanka who made a run-a-ball fifty to seal the match.

He was involved in a 100-run partnership with Dimuth Karunaratne for the first wicket.

Dimuth playing an anchor role went on to score 30 runs before being caught at fine leg in the 19th over.

With the damage already done Nissanka continued to hammer the opposition bowlers all over the park steering Sri Lanka to their total, ably supported by Kusal Mendis who chipped in with unbeaten 25 runs.

Interestingly throughout the qualifying process, no team has scored over 200 runs against Sri Lanka which proves how quality a bowling attack they’ve got.

The islanders who are already booked their tickets to India will meet West Indies in their last outing on Friday (7).

Following the victory Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said it was crucial for the 1996 winners to be at the sport’s quadrennial showpiece.

“It was a much-needed thing for Sri Lanka to play on that big stage,” said Shanaka. “It’s always tough coming to the qualifiers, but still, if you go through the process and we knew with the team we’ve got, we were going to qualify for the World Cup.”

Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine said despite the heavy defeat they would stick to their game plan for Tuesday’s match against Scotland.

“I don’t think we need to prepare any differently from what we have been doing in this tournament [against Scotland],” said Ervine. “We have been playing some very good cricket. Sri Lanka was much better than us today.”

Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 165 in 32.5 overs (San Williams 56, Sikandar Raza 31, Maheesh Theekshana 4/25, Dilshan Madushanka 3/15).

Sri Lanka 169/1 in 33.1 overs (Pathum Nissanka 101 not out).

නිශ්ශංකගේ ශතකය නිසා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලෝක කුසලානයේ ස්ථානයක් තහවුරු කරගනී.

පැතුම් නිශ්ශංකගේ ශතකය සහ මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණගේ අනර්ඝ ක්‍රිඩා විලාශය හේතුවෙන් සිම්බාබ්වේ හි බුලවායෝ හිදී පැවැත්වෙන ලෝක කුසලාන සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ දෙවන සුපිරි හය තරඟවලදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සිම්බාබ්වේ පරාජය කළේය.

ප්‍රථමයෙන් පන්දුවට පහර දුන් සත්කාරක කණ්ඩායමට පළමු පවර් ප්ලේය තුළදී ඔවුන් ලකුණු 30-3ක් දක්වා අඩු වූ බැවින් හොඳම ආරම්භය නොතිබුණි.

සිම්බාබ්වේ සමඟ කරදරකාරී ස්ථානයක කෙසේ වෙතත් සිවුවැනි කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 68ක සබඳතාවක් ගොඩනැගූ ෂෝන් විලියම්ස් (56) සහ සිකන්දර් රාසා (31) ඔවුන්ගේ ඉනිම යළි පණ ගැන්වූහ.

සිම්බාබ්වේ පිලේ බිඳවැටුණු ආරම්භයෙන් සෙමෙන් යථා තත්ත්වයට පත්වීමත් සමඟ නායක දසුන් ශානක සිය සගයා වූ සිකන්දර් රාසා හතරේ සීමාවේදී දැවී යන විට ඔහුගේ කඩුල්ල දවාගැනීමත් සමඟින් වැදගත් පෙරළියක් සිදු කළේය.

පෙරළියෙන් පසුව, සිම්බාබ්වේ මැද සහ පහළ මැදපෙළ කිසි විටෙකත් යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් නොවූයේ කඩුලු 9ක් මෙන් කඩා වැටුණු බැවිනි.

මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ සිම්බාබ්වේ බිඳවැටීමේ නිර්මාපකයා වූ අතර ඔහු ලකුණු 4-25 කින් අවසන් විය.

ඔහු ෂෝන් විලියම්ස් (56), රයන් බර්ල් (16), එල් ජොන්වේ (10) සහ බී. මුසරබානි (00) යන සියලු වැදගත් කඩුලු දවා ගනිමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පහසු ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලබා දීමට සමත් විය. අවසන් කඩුලු 7 බිඳ වැටුණේ ලකුණු 67කට පමණි.

ලකුණු 165ට පිළිතුරු ලෙස පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක විසින් තරගයේ ජයග්‍රහණය සඳහා ලකුණු 50ක් රැස්කරමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉදිරියෙන් සිටියේය.

ඔහු පළමු කඩුල්ලට දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න සමගින් ලකුණු 100ක සබඳතාවයකට සම්බන්ධ විය.

19 වැනි ඕවරයේදී ෆයින් ලෙග්හිදී දැවී යාමට පෙර දිමුත් නැංගුරමේ භූමිකාවක් ඉටු කරමින් ලකුණු 30ක් ලබා සිටියේය.

මේ වන විටත් සිදුවී ඇති හානියත් සමඟ නිශ්ශංක දිගින් දිගටම උද්‍යානය පුරා සිටින ප්‍රතිවාදී පන්දු යවන්නන්ට පහර දෙමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඔවුන්ගේ මුළු ලකුණු සංඛ්‍යාව කරා මෙහෙයවමින් නොදැවී ලකුණු 25ක් ලබා ගත් කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස්ගේ මනා සහයෙනි.

සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය පුරාවටම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව කිසිදු කණ්ඩායමක් ලකුණු 200කට වඩා රැස් කර නොතිබීම සිත්ගන්නා කරුණක් වන්නේ ඔවුන් කෙතරම් ගුණාත්මක පන්දු යැවීමක නිරත වූවාද යන්නයි.

දැනටමත් ඉන්දියාවට යාමට ප්‍රවේශපත්‍ර වෙන්කරගෙන සිටින දූපත්වාසීන් සිකුරාදා (7) බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් කණ්ඩායම හමුවනු ඇත.

ජයග්‍රහණයෙන් පසුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා නායක දසුන් ශානක ප්‍රකාශ කළේ 1996 ජයග්‍රාහකයින් ක්‍රීඩාවේ සිව්වසර ප්‍රදර්ශන භූමියට පැමිණීම ඉතා වැදගත් බවයි.

“එම විශාල වේදිකාවේ ක්‍රීඩා කිරීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ඉතා අවශ්‍ය දෙයක්,” ශානක පැවසීය. “සුදුසුකම් වටයට පැමිණීම සැමවිටම දුෂ්කර ය, නමුත් තවමත්, ඔබ ක්‍රියාවලිය හරහා ගියහොත් සහ අප සතුව ඇති කණ්ඩායම සමඟ අපි දැන සිටියහොත්, අපි ලෝක කුසලානයට සුදුසුකම් ලබන්නෙමු.”

සිම්බාබ්වේ නායක ක්‍රේග් අර්වින් පැවසුවේ දරුණු පරාජයක් ලැබුවද ස්කොට්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව අඟහරුවාදා පැවැත්වෙන තරගය සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ ක්‍රීඩා සැලැස්මට ඇලී සිටින බවයි.

“මෙම තරඟාවලියේ [ස්කොට්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව] අප කරමින් සිටි දෙයට වඩා වෙනස් ලෙස සූදානම් විය යුතු යැයි මම නොසිතමි,” අර්වින් පැවසීය. “අපි ඉතා හොඳ ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩා කරනවා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද අපට වඩා බොහෝ දියුණු විය.

සංක්ෂිප්ත ලකුණු: සිම්බාබ්වේ ඕවර 32.5 කදී 165 (සැන් විලියම්ස් 56, සිකන්දර් රාසා 31, මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ 4/25, ඩිල්ෂාන් මධුශංක 3/15).

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඕවර 33.1කදී 169/1 (පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක නොදැවී 101).

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ISKA Appoints Dayan Samarasekara as National Director for Sri Lanka

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

Editor

The International Sport Kickboxing Association (ISKA) has appointed Dayan Samarasekara as the National Director for Sri Lanka, recognizing his longstanding contribution to the development and modernisation of combat sports in the country.

Samarasekara has played a pivotal role in elevating Sri Lanka’s combat sports sector and has also been instrumental in supporting the professionalisation of combat sports across the South Asian region. His vision and commitment have been acknowledged through this significant appointment by ISKA.

Currently serving as the Co-Founder and Combat Sports Director of KFL, Samarasekara continues to work towards expanding and strengthening combat sports in Sri Lanka. ISKA has expressed confidence that, together with his leadership, the organisation will be able to further broaden the footprint and recognition of combat sports within the country.

About ISKA

The International Sport Kickboxing Association (ISKA), established in 1986, is the world’s most widely recognised sanctioning and regulatory body for over 20 combat sports and competitive martial arts disciplines.

ISKA is dedicated to training officials, updating competition rules, and upholding global standards, integrity, and professionalism while identifying champions and elite competitors worldwide.

The association regulates top-tier global events such as the US OPEN World Martial Arts Championships and GLORY.

Cricket

Sri Lanka Stun Pakistan to Seal Final Spot After Dramatic Tri-Series Turnaround in Rawalpindi

Published

3 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Rawalpindi, Nov. 27 – Sri Lanka mounted a remarkable comeback in the Pakistan T20I Tri-Series, defeating the hosts by 6 runs in a tense final league-stage encounter to secure their place in Saturday’s grand finale. The victory completes a spirited late surge from the Islanders, who began the series with two deflating defeats but responded with back-to-back wins to keep their title hopes alive.

Sri Lanka’s Road to the Final – From Early Struggles to Strong Recovery

Sri Lanka’s campaign began on the wrong foot, suffering a heavy 67-run defeat against Zimbabwe and a 7-wicket loss to Pakistan in their first two outings. Their batting struggled for rhythm, and the bowling failed to contain opposition top orders.

But the narrative shifted dramatically in the last two matches:

Match 5: Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe – A Statement Win

Zimbabwe: 146/5
Sri Lanka: 148/1 (16.2 ov)
Sri Lanka dominated with a 9-wicket win, powered by an authoritative chase that restored confidence ahead of the Pakistan clash.

Today’s Match: Sri Lanka Defend 184 in a Rawalpindi Thriller

Sri Lanka – 184/5 (20 ov)

A superb innings from Kavindu Mishara (50 off 34) anchored Sri Lanka’s approach, supported by contributions from Kusal Mendis, Janith Liyanage, and Kusal Perera. Partnerships were steady, with Sri Lanka crossing key milestones — 100 in 11.1 overs and 150 in 16.2 — setting up a competitive 184.

Pakistan – 178/7 (20 ov)

Pakistan’s innings was rocked early, reduced to 45/4 in the Powerplay, thanks to Sri Lanka’s fiery pace attack.
Dushmantha Chameera, later named Player of the Match, delivered when it mattered most.

Agha Salman (50 off 35) and Usman Khan attempted a rebuild with a 50-run partnership, but Sri Lanka’s bowlers held their nerve at the death.

Pakistan reviewed twice unsuccessfully in tense moments but ultimately fell short by 6 runs.

Series Summary So Far

Match	Winner	Margin
Pakistan vs Zimbabwe	Pakistan	5 wickets
Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	67 runs
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan	Pakistan	7 wickets
Pakistan vs Zimbabwe	Pakistan	69 runs
Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	9 wickets
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (today)	Sri Lanka	6 runs

Pakistan finished the league matches with 3 wins, Sri Lanka with 2, and Zimbabwe with 1.

Final: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka – What to Expect on Nov. 29

The final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is shaping up as a high-stakes rematch. Both teams have beaten each other once in the series, making this final evenly poised.

Pakistan Strengths

Explosive top order (Babar not featured in league matches but expected for final)
Strong seam attack at home conditions
Ability to accelerate in middle overs

Sri Lanka Strengths

Momentum after two consecutive victories
Improved batting with stable partnerships
A rejuvenated pace attack led by Chameera and a disciplined spin unit

Key Battles

Sri Lanka openers vs Shaheen Afridi
Agha Salman vs Hasaranga/slow bowlers
Middle-overs match-up: Mendis vs Shadab Khan

Prediction: A Close Final, Momentum Favors Sri Lanka Slightly

With Rawalpindi offering good batting conditions under lights, a totals around 165–180 will be par.
Pakistan remain favorites at home, but Sri Lanka’s recent form gives them a genuine chance to upset the hosts. If Mishara, Mendis, or Liyanage fire again and Chameera continues his rhythm, Sri Lanka could edge Pakistan in a tight contest.

Predicted Winner (slight edge): Sri Lanka – if they bat first and defend with confidence.

Cricket

SSC Ground Begins Major Upgrades Ahead of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026

Published

3 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Colombo, Nov. 27 – The historic Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground is undergoing significant redevelopment as Sri Lanka prepares to co-host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 alongside India. One of the most notable upgrades is the long-awaited installation of floodlights, marking a new chapter for one of the country’s most prestigious cricket venues.

SSC has traditionally been a venue for day matches, regularly hosting domestic cricket and women’s internationals. For years, Colombo’s day-night fixtures were primarily steered towards the R. Premadasa Stadium, the city’s largest ground equipped for evening play.

With the World Cup approaching — scheduled from 7 February to 8 March 2026 — SSC is set to take on a more prominent role. The venue will host five group-stage matches, including its first-ever World Cup night game. The opening fixture at SSC will be on 7 February, featuring Pakistan vs Netherlands, followed by the ground’s first floodlit World Cup encounter on 9 February, when Zimbabwe meet Oman at 3:00 PM local time.
The only full night match scheduled at SSC is the high-profile clash between Pakistan and the USA on 10 February at 7:00 PM.

Cricket authorities noted that the addition of floodlights will not only support Sri Lanka’s World Cup commitments but also expand SSC’s long-term hosting capabilities. Once completed, the upgrades could pave the way for future day-night Test matches and domestic tournament games under lights — potentially elevating SSC’s status as a top-tier international venue.

With construction and installations now in progress, the SSC Ground is gearing up to reassert its place among Sri Lanka’s elite cricket stadiums — this time with the glow of modern stadium lighting.