News
Sri Lanka topped Group B with a commanding win against Scotland

Sri Lanka completed their group stage on a high when they defeated spirited Scotland by 82 runs to continue their unbeaten run with four victories out of four matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers on June 27, Tuesday.
The win also helped Sri Lanka to end their group stage on top of the points table.
Half-centuries from Nissanka and Charith Asalanka set Scotland a target of 246 runs. Still, some brilliant bowling across the Sri Lankan attack saw Scotland collapse, despite a valiant unbeaten 56 from Chris Greaves.
Invited to bat first in a difficult and tired wicket at the Queens Sports Club in Harare, Scotland did well to restrict Sri Lanka to just 245 runs at the break.
The Scottish team got early inroads picking up two wickets in the first powerplay. Sri Lanka however got back into the game, courtesy of three middle-order partnerships, which helped them put something respectable on board.
Opener Pathum Nissanka top scored with 75 runs off 85 balls, while Charith Asalanka hit 63 off 65.
Scotland slid to 73-5 in reply and was eventually dismissed for just 163 after two runouts in the same over sealed their fate despite an enterprising 56 not out from Greaves.
Mahesh Theekshana was the pick of the bowlers claiming 3-41, while Wanindu Hasaranag ended with figures of 2-42.
Theekshana was awarded the Player of the Match award after picking three wickets for 41 runs in 10 overs. Earlier in the game, Theekshana had contributed with the bat as well scoring 16 runs from 21 balls.
“When I batted, the wicket was a bit sloppy. We wanted to bowl stump to stump, and with our variation, we knew we could get them out. For the first two or three balls, I kept it wider, but then I kept it wicket to wicket. I think my strength is bowling with the new ball, my team is using that well. We knew we had 10 overs to bat when I walked out, so I wanted to play till the end and get that extra 20-30 runs”, said Mahesh Theekshana at the post-match presentation.
Commenting on the day’s performance Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka went on to say,
“All the boys are excited for the next round. These two points were very crucial. The wicket was not easy to bat on compared to the other wickets. Credit to Nissanka and Asalanka. Collapses happen. We play positive cricket. Playing positively and getting out is not a problem for us. Theekshana and Hasaranga always do the job for us. DDS and I are there to bowl for the fifth bowling option. Chameera is also injured”.
Meanwhile in the other encounter between Ireland and the UAE, Ireland batter Paul Stirling played a monstrous 162-run knockoff 134 balls to power his side to 349/4 in 50 overs against UAE in the ICC World Cup 2023 qualifiers. The bowlers then put on a clinical show to fold UAE for just 210 runs.
ස්කොට්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව විශිෂ්ට ජයග්රහණයක් ලබා ගනිමින් ශ්රී ලංකාව B කාණ්ඩයේ පෙරමුණ ගැනීමට සමත් විය
ජූනි 27 වෙනි අඟහරුවාදා පැවති ICC ක්රිකට් ලෝක කුසලාන සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ තරඟාවලියේ තරඟ හතරකින් ජයග්රහණ හතරක් සමඟින් ඔවුන්ගේ අපරාජිත බව අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වා ගෙන යාම සඳහා ස්කොට්ලන්තය ලකුණු 82 කින් පරාජය කරමින් ශ්රී ලංකාව සිය කණ්ඩායම් අදියර ඉහළ මට්ටමක අවසන් කළේය.
මෙම ජයග්රහණය ශ්රී ලංකාවට ප්රසාද ලකුණු සටහනේ ඉහළින්ම සිය කාණ්ඩ වටය අවසන් කිරීමට ද ඉවහල් විය.
නිශ්ශංක සහ චරිත් අසලංකගේ අර්ධ ශතක හේතුවෙන් ස්කොට්ලන්තයට ලකුණු 246ක ඉලක්කයක් හිමිවිය. කෙසේ වෙතත්, ක්රිස් ග්රීව්ස් නොදැවී ලකුණු 56ක් ලබා සිටියද, ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රහාරය හරහා සමහර දක්ෂ පන්දු යැවීම් නිසා ස්කොට්ලන්තය බිඳ වැටුණි.
හරාරේ හි ක්වීන්ස් ක්රීඩා සමාජයේ දුෂ්කර හා වෙහෙසකර කඩුල්ලක් තුළ පළමුව පන්දුවට පහර දීමට ආරාධනය කළ ස්කොට්ලන්තය, විවේකය වන විට ශ්රී ලංකාව ලකුණු 245 කට සීමා කිරීමට හොඳින් ක්රියා කළේය.
ස්කොට්ලන්ත කණ්ඩායම පළමු පවර්ප්ලේ කඩුලු 2ක් දවා ගනිමින් වේලාසනින්ම පිවිසිණ. කෙසේ වෙතත්, ශ්රී ලංකාව නැවතත් ක්රීඩාවට පිවිසියේ, මැදපෙළ හවුල්කාරිත්ව තුනක අනුග්රහයෙනි, එය ඔවුන්ට ගෞරවනීය දෙයක් නැව්ගත කිරීමට උපකාරී විය.
ආරම්භක පිතිකරු පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක පන්දු 85කදී ලකුණු 75ක් ලබා ගත් අතර චරිත් අසලංක ලකුණු 65ක් ලබා ගත්තේ ය.
පිළිතුරු ලෙස ස්කොට්ලන්තය ලකුණු 73-5 දක්වා පහත වැටුණු අතර අවසානයේ ග්රීව්ස් නොදැවී ලකුණු 56ක් ලබා සිටියදී එකම ඕවරයේදී දුවද්දී දැවී යෑම් දෙකක් ඔවුන්ගේ ඉරණම මුද්රා තැබීමෙන් පසුව ලකුණු 163කට දැවී ගියේය.
පන්දු යවන්නන් අතරින් මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ ලකුණු 3-41කට හිමිකම් කියූ අතර වනිඳු හසරනාග් ලකුණු 2-42කින් අවසන් විය.
ඕවර 10කදී ලකුණු 41කට කඩුලු 3ක් දවාගත් තීක්ෂණ තරගයේ වීරයා සම්මානයෙන් පිදුම් ලැබීය. මීට පෙර තරගයට පිත්තෙන් ද දායකත්වය ලබාදුන් තීක්ෂණ පන්දු 21කින් ලකුණු 16ක් රැස් කළේය.
මේ අතර අයර්ලන්තය සහ එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්යය අතර පැවති අනෙක් තරගයේදී අයර්ලන්ත පිතිකරු පෝල් ස්ටර්ලින් පන්දු 134 කදී ලකුණු 162 ක් රැස්කරමින් තම කණ්ඩායම 2023 අයිසීසී ලෝක කුසලාන සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ තරගාවලියේදී එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්යයට එරෙහිව ඕවර 50 කදී ලකුණු 349/4 ක් ලබා ගැනීමට සමත් විය. පසුව පන්දු යවන්නන් සායනික දර්ශනයක් පෙන්වූයේ එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්යය ලකුණු 210කට නවතා දැමීමටයි.
Football
Stafford vs. Colombo International: The Second Edition of the Big Match Kicks Off!
Football fever returns as Stafford International School and Colombo International School gear up for the second edition of their highly anticipated Big Match! This year, the rivalry intensifies with four matches across different age and gender categories:
✅ U15 Girls
✅ U15 Boys
✅ U20 Girls
✅ U20 Boys
🏆 Stafford International’s Rising Stars:
- U15 Girls: Defending TISSL U14 and Colombo SLSFA District champions, featuring standout players like Keshalee Ranatunga and Sonja Ratanayake (just 10 years old!).
- U15 Boys: All-Island U14 runners-up out of 462 schools, led by goalkeeper Yash Amarasekara, who was named Best U14 GK in Sri Lanka.
- U20 Girls & Boys: Both teams finished as TISSL runners-up, boasting stars like Raya Rikaz, Yumna Safraz, Adnaan Ameen, and Nidurshan Mohan.
🏆 Colombo International’s Key Players:
- U15 Girls: TISSL U16 runners-up, featuring top defender Khadeeja Niyas and striker Ozra.
- U20 Girls: TISSL U20 runners-up, with Fioni Dedhia named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
- U20 Boys: Defending Big Match champions, looking to retain their title behind stars like Krishwen and Habib.
👀 Who will come out on top this time? Watch the action LIVE at the link below! 🎥👇
#BigMatch2025 #SchoolFootball #SriLankaFootball #StaffordVsCIS #RivalryRenewed
Cricket
Shammi Silva Re-Elected as Sri Lanka Cricket President for Fourth Consecutive Term
Shammi Silva has been re-elected as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president for the 2025-27 term, marking his fourth consecutive tenure at the helm of the nation’s cricket governing body. Silva secured the position uncontested at the 64th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Colombo on Monday.
A Controversial Yet Dominant Tenure
Silva’s leadership has not been without controversy. His previous term saw a high-profile clash with former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in 2023, which led to an interim committee being appointed after Sri Lanka’s poor performance in the ICC ODI World Cup. This move resulted in ICC suspending SLC, which led to Sri Lanka losing the hosting rights for the U19 Men’s World Cup, which was later held in South Africa.
Despite these setbacks, Silva regained control after a court ruling reinstated his administration, and he was later appointed as the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in December 2023, replacing Jay Shah.
Challenges & Future Outlook
Sri Lanka Cricket has long been seen as a powerful and influential body, with internal politics often shaping its leadership. With financial mismanagement concerns highlighted in the Auditor General’s report, Silva’s administration faces the challenge of restoring credibility and ensuring better governance.
With the ICC ban lifted, Sri Lanka looks to rebuild its cricketing structure and improve performance on the international stage. The focus now shifts to upcoming bilateral series, the Asia Cup, and preparations for the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Stay tuned for more updates on Sri Lanka Cricket and the latest in the world of sports!
Cricket
Stephen Fleming Defends MS Dhoni’s Batting Position Amid Criticism
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming has defended MS Dhoni’s late entry in the batting order, stating that the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman cannot play an extended innings at full intensity due to lingering knee concerns.
The 43-year-old Dhoni faced criticism after coming in at No. 9 during CSK’s 50-run loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Chepauk. In the next match against Rajasthan Royals on March 30, 2025, he batted at No. 7 when CSK required 54 off 25 balls but managed just 16 off 11 as his team fell short by six runs.
Fleming’s Explanation on Dhoni’s Role
Fleming emphasized that Dhoni carefully assesses the match situation before deciding when to bat.
“It’s all about timing. MS judges his body and situation. His knees aren’t what they used to be, so he can’t bat for 10 overs at full intensity. He will step in based on the game’s demands,” Fleming explained at the post-match press conference.
The CSK coach reiterated that Dhoni remains too valuable to the team for his leadership and wicketkeeping and that sending him in too early could be a strategic misstep.
“From around the 13th or 14th over, he assesses the situation and decides. He trusts other batters early on but steps up when needed.”
CSK’s Struggles in the Powerplay Cost Them the Match
Fleming also pinpointed CSK’s poor powerplay performance as a key reason for their loss against Rajasthan Royals. While RR blasted 79/1 in the powerplay, CSK only managed 42/1,
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