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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
Gary Kirsten Sets Ambitious Plans for Sri Lanka Cricket
Sri Lanka’s newly appointed head coach, Gary Kirsten, has outlined his vision for the national team, emphasizing consistency, depth, and adaptability as key pillars for success. Speaking to Wisden Cricket, Kirsten shared his thoughts on the challenges ahead and the roadmap he hopes to build with the players.
“Our goal is to move significantly up the rankings. Everyone wants to be part of a winning team, and that means we must focus on achieving victories more consistently,” Kirsten said.
He highlighted the unique challenge faced by subcontinental teams: performing well outside their home conditions. With the ICC World Cup approaching, Kirsten stressed the importance of preparing for South African conditions.
“It’s vital that we adapt to those environments, especially with a major tournament around the corner,” he noted.
Kirsten’s primary ambition is to establish stability within the system while also identifying the squad’s depth.
“How many players are competing for the same position? As an international coach, creating competition within the team is crucial. Relying on just two or three individuals for wins is a risky strategy,” he explained.
Looking ahead, Sri Lanka will play several bilateral series, which Kirsten sees as an opportunity to strengthen the foundation of the team.
“My focus in the coming months is to build a strong background that supports long-term success,” he added.
Earlier Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed the appointment of Gary Kirsten as the new head coach, succeeding Sanath Jayasuriya, who stepped down following the recently concluded T20 World Cup
Cricket
Afghanistan’s White-ball Series against Sri Lanka officially postponed
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announces that the Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka bilateral series, originally scheduled to commence on 13 March in the United Arab Emirates, has been rescheduled to the last quarter of 2026 due to logistical challenges, including flight constraints arising from the ongoing regional situation.
The series, which was to mark the first occasion of Afghanistan hosting Sri Lanka, was scheduled to feature six white-ball matches. The three T20 International matches were planned to be staged at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on 13, 15, and 17 March, followed by three One Day Internationals at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 20, 22, and 25 March.
Following the receipt of the required sanction from the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), preparations had been finalized for hosting the matches across the two venues. However, in early March, unforeseen developments created logistical constraints that affected travel arrangements and operational planning for the series.
To address the situation, the Afghanistan Cricket Board held a series of consultations with key stakeholders, including the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), Sharjah Cricket Stadium (SCS), and Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS). A joint meeting convened by the ACB on 4 March resulted in a recommendation to monitor the situation and reassess by 6 March, in the hope that conditions would improve. A subsequent follow-up meeting on 7 March recommended waiting until 9 March before making a final determination.
Despite the collective efforts of all parties to proceed with the event as planned, the logistical challenges remained beyond operational control, leading to the decision to postpone the series and explore rescheduling options.
Throughout this process, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) was kept fully informed, and the decision to postpone the series was made in consultation and with the consent of Sri Lanka Cricket.
The preferred venue for the rescheduled series remains the United Arab Emirates, and the new dates will be announced in due course following further coordination between the respective boards and stakeholders.
Cricket
Gary Kirsten Appointed as Head Coach of Sri Lanka National Men’s Team
Sri Lanka Cricket has officially announced the appointment of Gary Kirsten as the new head coach of the national men’s team, effective from 15 April 2026. His tenure will run for two years, concluding on 14 April 2028.
Kirsten, a former South African international cricketer, brings with him a wealth of coaching experience and a distinguished playing career. Between 2008 and 2011, he served as head coach of the India men’s national team, guiding them to victory in the 2011 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. He later took charge of the South Africa men’s national team from 2011 to 2013, during which South Africa rose to become the number one ranked team across all formats.
Most recently, Kirsten worked as a consultant with Cricket Namibia during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, further expanding his global coaching footprint.
As a player, Kirsten represented South Africa from 1993 to 2004, amassing 14,087 international runs across Tests and ODIs. His record includes 21 Test centuries and 13 ODI centuries, cementing his reputation as one of South Africa’s most reliable batsmen.
Sri Lanka Cricket has emphasized that Kirsten’s appointment is part of a broader initiative to revamp the National High Performance Center. His primary responsibility will be to prepare and lead the Sri Lanka National Men’s Team in their campaign for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027, which will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
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