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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
“Rohit and Ryan were exquisite to watch”: Mahela Jayawardena
The long-standing jinx has finally been broken after 14 years, as the Mumbai Indians secured a memorable opening-game victory at home against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2026 season. Mumbai Indians began their campaign in style, registering a convincing six-wicket win in a high-scoring encounter.
Addressing the media in the post-match press conference, head coach Mahela Jayawardene appeared calm and reflective, acknowledging both the significance of the win and areas for improvement.
It is brilliant. It was a good wicket, and KKR got 220 on the board. I think we gave away 20 runs extra. The way Rohit and Ryan batted, it was exquisite to watch… brilliant execution. That was the game plan and these two guys played well Jayawardene said.
A key turning point in the match was the inclusion of Shardul Thakur, who delivered a crucial spell, picking up three wickets and helping Mumbai claw their way back into the contest.
Explaining the tactical decision, Jayawardene noted,
“It was again tactical because we could not have too many new-ball bowlers upfront. We needed some options in the middle and at the back end. That was the thinking when we traded Shardul from LSG as well it reflects our approach of building flexible bowling combinations depending on the opposition.”
The highlight of the chase, however, was the commanding partnership between Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton. Rohit’s fluent 78 off 38 balls, combined with Rickelton’s impressive 81 off 43 deliveries, ensured Mumbai chased down the daunting target with composure.
Jayawardene was full of praise for Rohit’s preparation and leadership.
“Rohit joined us from the first day of the camp. He was very focused and fresh. He played some good matches, practice games, and had match simulations. I was quite happy with the way he was hitting the ball I thought he batted brilliantly.”
He further emphasized the tactical maturity shown by the pair, adding,
“The way Rohit and Ryan handled the opposition bowling attack was good to see from a tactical point of view. It was a great partnership, and long may it continue.”
Reflecting on their consistency, Jayawardene also highlighted their previous contributions:
“If you look at last season, Rohit and Rickelton did well for us at the top of the order. They were solid, and the way they complemented each other was great.”
With this emphatic victory, Mumbai Indians have not only broken a long-standing curse but also sent a strong message to the rest of the league setting the tone for what promises to be an exciting IPL 2026 season.
Cricket
Wanindu Hasaranga Faces Inquiry After Missing Mandatory Fitness Test
Sri Lanka’s premier leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga is under scrutiny after failing to attend a scheduled fitness test, raising fresh concerns over compliance with national selection standards.
Sources within Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that selectors have formally escalated the matter to the High Performance Center, overseen by Jerome Jayaratne, along with senior board officials. The incident has drawn attention due to SLC’s increasingly strict enforcement of fitness protocols.
Hasaranga, who missed Sri Lanka’s campaign at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup earlier this year with a hamstring injury, is believed to have fully recovered. Despite this, he has yet to complete the mandatory fitness assessment required for national selection and overseas participation.
Under SLC’s revised policy, centrally contracted players must meet defined fitness benchmarks before receiving clearance to compete in franchise tournaments such as the Indian Premier League.
The situation is particularly significant given Hasaranga’s recent signing by the Lucknow Super Giants during the mini-auction for his base price of INR 2 crore.
Thushara Ruled Out, Pathirana Awaiting Clearance
In a related development, Sri Lanka fast bowler Nuwan Thushara has been ruled out of the upcoming IPL season after failing to meet fitness requirements.
Thushara reportedly did not pass his initial fitness test and was granted a second opportunity, which he also missed. As a result, SLC declined to issue him the required NOC, effectively ending his participation hopes.
Despite being injury-free and available to bowl, Thushara is understood to have fallen short of the board’s prescribed fitness standards. He had been signed by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for approximately INR 1.6 crore and was expected to bolster their pace attack.
Meanwhile, young pacer Matheesha Pathirana remains in contention but is yet to complete his fitness test. Officials indicate he is likely to join his IPL franchise once he clears the required assessments. Pathirana had previously been sidelined due to a hamstring injury.
IPL 2026 Underway
The 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League officially commenced on March 28 and is scheduled to run through the end of May, with franchises finalizing their squads amid strict fitness and regulatory oversight from national boards.
Football
Late heartbreak ends Sri Lanka’s semi-final hopes
Sri Lanka’s journey at the SAFF U-20 Championship 2026 came to a dramatic and painful end after a last-gasp goal handed Bhutan a 1-0 victory in their decisive group-stage clash in Malé, Maldives.

With a place in the semi-finals on the line, the match carried high stakes for both sides. Sri Lanka entered the contest knowing only a positive result would keep their campaign alive, and they responded with a disciplined and energetic performance. The young Sri Lankan side showed composure in defense while attempting to build attacking momentum against a well-organized Bhutan team.
Chances, however, were at a premium. Sri Lanka managed to create a few half-opportunities but were unable to convert, as the Bhutanese defense held firm. As the match wore on, tension grew, with both teams aware that a draw would not be enough to secure progression.
Just as it seemed the game would end in stalemate, Bhutan struck a decisive blow in stoppage time. Forward Dhendup Gyeltshen capitalized on a momentary lapse in the Sri Lankan defense to score in the 90+2 minute, silencing hopes of a late turnaround and sealing all three points for his side.
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