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Star Garment won Honda Trophy – MCA G Division 25 over League Tournament 2023
Right-arm medium-fast bowler, Nimantha Perera with a hat-trick of wickets guided Star Garment (Pvt.) Ltd Katunayake to an exiting two (02) wickets win, with three (03) balls to spare, over Kelani Cables PLC in the 12th Stafford Motor Co. (Pvt) Ltd sponsored, “Honda” Trophy – MCA G division 25 over League Tournament 2023 final concluded on Saturday, 05th August at the MCA grounds.
Nimantha Perera, who also performed with the bat, opening the batting and scoring 20 runs in 19 balls, inclusive of two sixes and a four was picked as the man of the match by Match Referee, USC Perera.
Kelani Cables, sent into bat got off to a solid start, their openers Risith Ishara (51 in 52 balls, inclusive of six and six fours.) and Tharusha Nethsara (38 in 47 balls, inclusive of 04 fours) putting on 80 runs in 80 balls: one drop batsman, Lahiru Jayasuriya’s contribution of 34 runs in 24 balls with one six and 04 fours helped to step up the total to 133 for 3 in 20.5 overs.
As Nimantha Perera was brought back into the attack in the 21st over, Kelani Cable lost their grip losing the rest of their 07 wickets, being all out for 160 runs in 25 overs.
Nimantha Perera (04 for 35 in 05 overs) performed his hat-trick bagging the vital wickets of Risith Ishara, Lahiru Jayasuriya and Thilina Dilshan (00).
Star Garments chasing a victory target of 161 runs in 25 overs (RPO 6.44) was immensely inspired by their course by the 55 runs stand for the third wicket in 49 balls by Savindu Perera (Run a ball 23 runs inclusive of a six and a four) and Chathuranga Dilshan (31 runs in 32 balls with two sixes and three fours).
As the score stood 139 for 5 in 20.4 overs, Star Garment needing 22 runs in 28 balls, pacemen, Mohomed Azeem (04 for 20 in 05 overs) coming back his second spell struck like lighting getting three quick wickets to change the scoreboard to 151 for 8 in 23.4 overs.
Star Garments faced the last over needing 08 runs to win which was bowled by Thilina Dilshan.
Kanishka Gamage batting at no 07 (18 not out in 14 balls with one four) kept his nerve as he scored the required 08 runs by himself as he took Star Garment over the line with three balls to spare.
The other their special awards winners were:
- Best Bowler – Mas Active Trading, right arm medium pace bowler, Pasindu Wijesinghe (07 matches, 30.4 overs, 153 runs, 22 wickets)
- Best Batsman – Amana Banks right-hand batsman, Rikas Jawfer (07 innings, 369 runs, 2 not outs with 01 century and 03 Half Centuries)
- Man of the Series – Zillione Systems Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, all-rounder Sanka Peiris (05 innings, 334 runs with 01 century and 02 half centuries and 10 wickets for 106 runs)
Awards were given away by the Chief Guest, Director/Chief Operating Officer, Charaka Perera and Guest of Honor, General Manager Administration Damitha Jayasundara (Both from Stafford Motor Co. (Pvt.) Ltd), along with the MCA officials, Nalin Wickramasinghe, President, Mahesh de Alwis Snr. Vice President and Lakmal De Silva, Chairman Tournament Committee.
Chief Scorers:
Kelani Cables PLC: 160 all out in 25 overs (Risith Ishara 51, Tharusha Nethsara 38, Lahiru Jayasuroya 34, Nimantha Perera 4 for 35, Viraj Jayamaha 2 for 36)
Star Garment (Pvt.) Ltd: 161/8 in 214.3 overs (Nimantha Perera 20, Isuru Abeygunawardene 16, Savindu Perera 23, Chathuranga Dilshan 31, Ashan Nimantha 19, Vinila Perera 17, Kanishka Gamage 18 not out, Mohomad Azeem 4 for 20, Dinuka Anupamal 2 for 19)
ස්ටාර් ගාමන්ට් කණ්ඩායම හොන්ඩා කුසලානය -MCA G division 25 ලීග් තරඟාවලිය 2023 ජයගනී.
දකුණත් මධ්යම වේග පන්දු යවන ක්රීඩක නිමන්ත පෙරේරා කඩුලු ත්රිත්වයක් සමගින් ස්ටාර් ගාමන්ට් (පෞද්ගලික) සීමාසහිත කටුනායක පිලට පන්දු 3ක් (03)ක් ඉතිරිව තිබියදී කඩුලු දෙකේ (02) ජයග්රහණයක් කැලණි කේබල්ස් PLC පිලට එරෙහිව ලබා දුන්නේය. 12th Stafford Motor Co. (Pvt) Ltd අනුග්රහය දක්වන, “Honda” කුසලානය – MCA G Division 25 වෙනි ලීග් තරඟාවලිය 2023 අවසන් තරඟය අගෝස්තු 05 වන සෙනසුරාදා MCA ක්රීඩාංගණයේදී නිමාවට පත් විය.
පිත්තෙන් ද දස්කම් දැක්වූ නිමන්ත පෙරේරා පන්දු 19කදී හයේ පහර 2ක් සහ හතරේ පහරක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 20ක් රැස්කරමින් ලකුණු 20ක් රැස්කරමින් තරගයේ වීරයා ලෙස තරග තීරක යූ.එස්.සී.පෙරේරා විසින් තෝරා ගන්නා ලදී.
පිතිකරණයට යවන ලද කැලණි කේබල්ස් කණ්ඩායම සාර්ථක ආරම්භයක් ලබා ගත් අතර, ඔවුන්ගේ ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවන් වන රිසිත් ඉෂාර (පන්දු 52 කදී හයේ සහ හතරේ හයේ පහර 51 ක්) සහ තරුෂ නෙත්සර (පන්දු 47 කදී හතරේ පහර 04 ක් ඇතුළුව 38) ලකුණු 80 ක් රැස් කළහ. එක් පිතිකරුවෙකු වූ ළහිරු ජයසූරිය පන්දු 24කදී එක් හයේ පහරක් සහ හතරේ පහර 04ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 34ක් රැස්කරමින් මුළු ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව ඕවර 20.5කදී කඩුලු 3කට ලකුණු 133ක් දක්වා ඉහළ නැංවීමට ඉවහල් විය.
21 වැනි ඕවරයේදී නිමන්ත පෙරේරා යළිත් ප්රහාරයට ගෙන ඒමත් සමඟම කැලණි කේබල් පිලේ ග්රහණය ගිලිහී ගියේ ඕවර 25කදී සියලු දෙනා දැවී ලකුණු 160කට ඔවුන්ගේ ඉතිරි කඩුලු 07 දැවී යමිනි.
රිසිත් ඉෂාර, ළහිරු ජයසූරිය සහ තිළිණ ඩිල්ෂාන් (00)ගේ වැදගත් කඩුලු දවාලීමට නිමන්ත පෙරේරා (ඕවර 05 කදී ලකුණු 35 ට 04) සිය ත්රිත්ව ත්රිත්වය ඉටු කළේය.
ඕවර 25කදී ලකුණු 161ක ජයග්රාහී ඉලක්කයක් හඹාගිය ස්ටාර් ගාමන්ට් පිලට (ආර්පීඕ 6.44) සවිඳු පෙරේරා තෙවැනි කඩුල්ලට පන්දු 49කදී ලකුණු 55ක සබඳතාවයක් (පන්දුවක් හයේ පහරක් සහ හතරේ පහරක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 23ක් ලබාගනිමින් ලකුණු 23ක් ලබාගත්තේය. ) සහ චතුරංග ඩිල්ෂාන් (පන්දු 32 කදී හයේ පහර 2 ක් සහ හතරේ පහර 3 ක් සමගින් ලකුණු 31)
ලකුණු පුවරුව ඕවර 20.4කදී කඩුලු 5කට ලකුණු 139ක්ව තිබියදී ස්ටාර් ගාමන්ට් පිලට පන්දු 28කදී ලකුණු 22ක් අවශ්යව තිබියදී වේගපන්දු යවන්නන් වූ මොහොමඩ් අසීම් (ඕවර 05කදී ලකුණු 20කට කඩුලු 04ක්) සිය දෙවැනි ඉනිම ක්රීඩා කරමින් වේගවත් කඩුලු 3ක් දැවී ලකුණු පුවරුව 151ට වෙනස් කළේය. ඕවර 23.4කදී ලකුණු 8කට.
ජයග්රහණය සඳහා ලකුණු 08ක් අවශ්යව තිබියදී ස්ටාර් ගාමන්ට් පිලට තිළිණ ඩිල්ෂාන් යැවූ අවසන් ඕවරයට මුහුණ දුන්නේය.
කණිෂ්ක ගමගේ නොදැවී ලකුණු 07 (පන්දු 14 කදී හතරේ පහර 1 ක් සමග නොදැවී 18) පිතිකරණයේ යෙදී සිටි අතර ඔහු විසින්ම අවශ්ය ලකුණු 08 ලබා ගත් අතර ඔහු පන්දු 3 ක් ඉතිරිව තිබියදී ස්ටාර් ගාමන්ට් සීමාව ඉක්මවා ගියේය.
එහි අනෙක් විශේෂ සම්මානලාභීන් වූයේ:
- හොඳම පන්දු යවන්නා – මාස් ඇක්ටිව් ටේ්රඩින්, දකුණත් මධ්යම වේග පන්දු යවන්නා, පසිඳු විජේසිංහ (තරග 07, ඕවර 30.4, ලකුණු 153, කඩුලු 22)
- හොඳම පිතිකරු – අමානා බැංකු දකුණත් පිතිකරු, රිකාස් ජවුෆර් (07 ඉනිම, ලකුණු 369, ශතක 01ක් සහ අර්ධ ශතක 03ක් සමගින් නොදැවී 2)
- තරගාවලියේ වීරයා – සිලියොන් සිස්ටම්ස් සොලියුෂන්ස් (පුද්ගලික) තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩක සංඛ පීරිස් (ඉනිම් 05, ශතක 01ක් සහ අර්ධ ශතක 02ක් සමගින් ලකුණු 334ක් සහ 10ක්) ලකුණු 106කට කඩුලු)
ප්රධාන ආරාධිත අමුත්තා, අධ්යක්ෂ/ප්රධාන මෙහෙයුම් නිලධාරී, චරක පෙරේරා සහ ගෞරවනීය ආරාධිත අමුත්තා, සාමාන්යාධිකාරී පරිපාලන දමිතා ජයසුන්දර (දෙදෙනාම Stafford Motor Co. (Pvt. Ltd) MCA නිලධාරීන්, නලින් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා සමඟින් සම්මාන ප්රදානය කරන ලදී. සභාපති මහේෂ් ද අල්විස් ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ උප සභාපති සහ තරඟාවලි කමිටුවේ සභාපති ලක්මාල් ද සිල්වා.
Cricket
Sachithra Senanayake Indicted in Landmark Match-Fixing Case Under Sri Lanka’s Anti-Corruption Law
Former Sri Lankan cricketer Sachithra Senanayake has been formally indicted before the Hambantota High Court, marking a historic first in Sri Lanka’s efforts to criminalize corruption in sports. The charges stem from an alleged match-fixing attempt during the 2020 Lanka Premier League (LPL), making Senanayake the first player to face prosecution under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Offences Related to Sports Act No. 24 of 2019.
Senanayake, currently out on bail, is accused of attempting to influence Colombo Kings player Tharindu Ratnayake to underperform during the tournament. The incident reportedly occurred via a WhatsApp message, which was later flagged by a local anti-corruption officer, prompting an official investigation in 2020.
The case falls under the landmark legislation introduced in 2019 by then Sports Minister Harin Fernando, which criminalizes match-fixing and related offenses in the country. If convicted, Senanayake could face a prison term of up to 10 years, a fine reaching Rs. 100 million, or both.
The indictment signals a serious shift in Sri Lanka’s approach to tackling corruption in sports. Authorities hope this high-profile case will serve as a strong deterrent against similar offenses in the future.
Senanayake, once a celebrated off-spinner and a member of Sri Lanka’s victorious 2014 ICC T20 World Cup squad, now faces the grim prospect of being remembered not for his achievements on the field, but for his role in one of Sri Lanka’s most significant match-fixing scandals.
As the case unfolds, it casts a spotlight on the broader issue of corruption in sports and reinforces the urgent need for integrity, vigilance, and transparent governance across all levels of competition in Sri Lanka
Cricket
Harbhajan Singh Criticizes Jayawardene and Malinga for Over-Involvement in MI Dugout During IPL Qualifier
In a surprising turn of events during IPL 2025 Qualifier 2, cricket legend and former Mumbai Indians player Harbhajan Singh has voiced concern over what he termed “excessive involvement” by Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga during Mumbai Indians’ defeat against Punjab Kings.
Speaking on his YouTube channel after MI’s seven-wicket loss at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Harbhajan took issue with the coaching staff’s frequent instructions from the dugout — especially during tense moments when MI bowlers were under pressure.
Too many signals, too much talking — even with someone like Jasprit Bumrah, who knows exactly what he’s doing,” Harbhajan remarked. “At times, you need a calm and collected environment, especially during high-pressure games. Coaches should guide, not command every move from the sidelines.
Punjab Kings chased down a formidable target of 204, with captain Shreyas Iyer anchoring the innings with an unbeaten 87 to secure a place in the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Despite Mumbai posting a solid total, their bowlers failed to contain the opposition — a point that Harbhajan feels may have been worsened by the atmosphere in the MI dugout.
Jayawardene, MI’s Head of Global Performance, and Malinga, the bowling coach, were both seen actively engaging with players during the game, a move Harbhajan believes may have unintentionally undermined the confidence of seasoned campaigners like Bumrah.
I’ve been part of that setup. The coaching staff means well, but showing visible desperation can impact player morale,
Harbhajan added.
With this loss, Mumbai Indians miss out on a shot at their sixth IPL title, while discussions surrounding the balance between guidance and over-coaching during matches are sure to continue
Football
Fouzul Hameed Calls for Urgent Reforms in Sri Lankan Football: “Enough is Enough”
In a powerful and emotional statement, Fouzul Hameed — veteran football advocate, entrepreneur, and co-founder of the AC Milan Academy in Colombo — has delivered a scathing critique of Sri Lanka’s football administration, calling for immediate reforms to rescue the sport from what he describes as “chronic mismanagement and total collapse.
In a candid interview with Serendib News 🔗 Source, Hameed, who also captained Zahira College’s football team during his school days, expressed frustration over the decline of Sri Lankan football — both at grassroots and national levels.
“This is not personal—it’s a wake-up call. Especially at the school level, if we build a proper system, we might finally see decent results,”
Hameed emphasized.

“No Future in Football” – A Harsh Reality
Hameed admitted that he now encourages players to focus on their education instead of football due to the lack of career prospects in the sport. He lamented that football has become an elite pastime hijacked by individuals with no understanding or passion for the game.
There’s no future in it right now—no careers, no livelihood,” he said. “Talent doesn’t matter anymore. Football is now controlled by politics and greed.
School Football in Crisis
His strongest words were reserved for the school football system, which he described as being in complete disarray.
Our school system is a disaster. There’s no coaching, no nurturing of talent, and no proper calendar. Finals are played under harsh conditions, without basic facilities like medical support or crowd control.
Comparing football to the glamor of school rugby and cricket, Hameed pointed out how football is marginalized despite having deep roots and mass appeal.

Look at the attention rugby and cricket get. Meanwhile, school football finals happen in near silence. It’s disrespectful.
A Broken Federation
Hameed criticized the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) for its failure in leadership and planning.
The wrong people are running the game. They have no playing background, no vision, no strategy — they’re in it for the titles and benefits.
Highlighting Zahira College’s legacy of producing nearly 100 national players, he said that even his alma mater may withdraw from tournaments due to poor planning and conditions.
Give us one tournament and a proper venue — we’ll show you how it’s done.
Call to Clean House
Calling on the Ministry of Sports and the President of Sri Lanka, Hameed demanded a complete overhaul of the football governing body.
Football can unite this country, but it needs leaders with values and professionalism. We need people who genuinely care about the sport.
He referenced Sri Lanka’s recent humiliating 8-0 loss to India and the issue of national players wearing fake jerseys due to budgetary issues, calling it “a national disgrace.”
Final Word
This is not just a game — it’s identity, dignity, and hope. But it’s being destroyed by incompetence. Enough is enough.
Fouzul Hameed’s passionate appeal reflects a broader concern shared by players, fans, and former athletes alike — that Sri Lankan football is long overdue for reform, and that real change must begin with honest leadership and grassroots investment
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