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Wanindu Hasaranga spin a web to outplay UAE

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World Cup qualifiers

Sri Lanka display an all-round performance to beat United Arab Emirates by a massive margin of 175 runs in their opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers worked off at Zimbabwe yesterday.
First, the batters of Sri Lanka outclassed the opposition bowling and then the bowlers showed pure class to trouble the UAE batting lineup.
Put into bat first Sri Lanka posted 355 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their allotted 50 overs and in reply UAE were bundled out for below par score of 180 runs.
Earlier Sri Lanka was off to a decent start when they added a 95-run partnership for the first wicket between Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka.
Dimuth notched up his first half-century in the qualifying round when he went on to score 52 runs while Pathum Nissanka smashed 57 runs before both of them departed.
After both the openers were back in the pavilion Sadeera Samarawickrama joined Kusal Mendis in the middle and continued Sri Lanka’s dominance with another 149-run partnership for the third wicket.
Kusal Mendis continued his fine form top scoring a brilliant 78 off 63 deliveries, while Sadeera Samawickrama – who found a spot in the playing XI after 2-3 years – proved his capabilities smashing 64 balls and 73 runs to set the platform for Sri Lanka to push past the 300-run mark.
Mendis holed out to the substitute fielder off Ali Naseer at the boundary line and Samarawickrama was run out on 73 from 64 balls to give UAE hope of restricting the scoring in the final six overs.
But Asalanka had other ideas, unleashing boundary after boundary in a brilliant display of finishing as he struck 48* off just 23 balls. And Wanindu Hasaranga (23* off 12) hit three boundaries in the final over to help post a score of 355/6 that will test UAE to the limit.
In reply, the target for UAE was beyond their limits as they were bundled out for 180 runs in just 39 overs.
Man with a golden arm Wanindu Hasaranga was the architect of UAE’s batting collapse as he ripped through their batting order to end with figures of 6-24. It also registers as Hasaranga’s best ODI bowling figure. En route to his six-wicket haul, Hasaranga also completed a mini milestone of 50 ODI wickets.
When the scoreboard was at 119-5, the UAE innings was revived to a certain extent when Ali Naseer joined Rameez Shehzad in the middle to put on a 48-run partnership for the 6th wickets, but it was cut short when Mahesh Theekshana joined the party to bamboozle Ali Naseer for 34 runs.
None of their batters impressed apart from wicketkeeper batter Vriitya Aravind and M. Waseem who top scored with a fighting 39 runs.
The win saw the Islanders placed top in the points table with a superior net run rate.
Meanwhile, in the other encounter, Oman pulled off a superb run chase to beat Ireland by five wickets in another group match to cause the first upset in the qualifying tournament.
Ireland would have been confident after posting a healthy 281/7 thanks to Harry Tector (52 off 82 balls) and George Dockrell (91 off 89 balls) cameos after Oman elected to bowl.
But the under-dogs Oman chased down the target in style with 11 balls to spare.
Kashyap Prajapati, Aqib Ilyas and Zeeshan Maqsood hit half-centuries to take their team over the line.

වනිඳු හසරංග එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යය දණ ගස්වයි.

සිම්බාබ්වේහිදී ඊයේ ආරම්භ වූ ICC ක්‍රිකට් ලෝක කුසලාන සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ තරගාවලියේ පළමු තරගයෙන් එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයට එරෙහිව ලකුණු 175 ක දැවැන්ත ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලබා ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම සමත් විය.

පළමුවෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදුන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම නියමිත පන්දුවාර 50 තුළ කඩුලු 6ක් දැවී ලකුණු 355ක් රැස්කළ අතර පිළිතුරු ලෙස UAE කණ්ඩායම ලකුණු 180කට අඩුවෙන් දැවී ගියේය.

දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න සහ පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක අතර පළමු කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 95ක සබඳතාවක් එක් කරමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම යහපත් ආරම්භයක් ලබා ගත්හ.
දිමුත් සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ වටයේ දී සිය පළමු අර්ධ ශතකය වාර්තා කළ අතර ඔහු ලකුණු 52ක් හා පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක ලකුණු 57ක් ලබා සිටියදී ඔවුන් දෙදෙනාම දැවී ගියහ.

පසුව සදීර සමරවික්‍රම, කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් සමඟින් එක්ව තෙවැනි කඩුල්ලට තවත් ලකුණු 149 ක සම්බන්ධතාවක් පවත්වමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආධිපත්‍යය දිගටම පවත්වාගෙන ගියේය.

කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් පන්දු 63කදී විශිෂ්ට ලකුණු 78ක් රැස්කරමින් සිය දක්ෂතා අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වාගෙන ගිය අතර වසර 2-3කට පසුව ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායමේ ස්ථානයක් හිමිකරගත් සධීර සමරවික්‍රම පන්දු 64කදී ලකුණු 73ක් ලබාගනිමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමේ සිය ස්ථානය තහවුරු කිරිමට තම හැකියාවන් ඔප්පු කළේය.

අවසන් භාගයේදි පන්දු 23කදී නොදැවී ලකුණු 48ක් රැස්කළ අසලංක සහ වනිඳු හසරංග (පන්දු 23* 12) අවසන් ඕවරයේදී හතරේ පහර 3ක් එල්ල කරමින් ලකුණු 355/6ක් ලබා ගැනීමට උපකාරී විය.

පිළිතුරු ලෙස එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ පන්දුවාර 39කදී ලකුණු 180කට දැවී ගියේය.
වනිඳු හසරංග එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ පිතිකරණ බිඳවැටීමේ නිර්මාපකයා වූ ඔහු සිය හොඳම එක්දින පන්දු යැවීම (6-24) ලෙසද අවසන් කලේය. හසරංග සිය කඩුලු 6 දවාලීමට යන ගමනේදී එක්දින කඩුලු 50ක කුඩා සන්ධිස්ථානයක් ද සම්පූර්ණ කළේය.

මෙම ජයග්‍රහණයත් සමඟ දිවයිනේ ක්‍රීඩකයින් ප්‍රසාද ලකුණු සටහනේ ඉහළ ශුද්ධ ලකුණු අනුපාතයක් සමඟින් පළමු ස්ථානයට පත් විය
.
මේ අතර, අනෙක් තරගයේදී ඕමානය විශිෂ්ට ලකුණු හඹා යාමක් ආරම්භ කරමින් තවත් කාණ්ඩයේ තරගයකදී අයර්ලන්තය කඩුලු පහකින් පරාජය කිරීමට සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ තරගාවලියේ පළමු පෙරළිය ඇති කළේය.

ඕමානය පන්දු යැවීමට තෝරා ගැනීමෙන් පසුව හැරී ටෙක්ටර් (පන්දු 82 කදී ලකුණු 52) සහ ජෝර්ජ් ඩොක්‍රෙල් (පන්දු 89 කදී ලකුණු 91) ට ස්තූතිවන්ත වෙමින් ආරක්ෂාකාරී 281/7 ක් ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පසු අයර්ලන්තය විශ්වාසය මඳක් ඉහළ නැංවී තිබුණි.

එහෙත් ඕමාන් කණ්ඩායම පන්දු 11ක් ඉතිරිව තිබියදී විශිෂ්ට ලෙස ඉලක්කය හඹා ගියේය.
කාශ්‍යප් ප්‍රජාපති, අකිබ් ඉල්යාස් සහ සීෂාන් මක්සූඩ් අර්ධ ශතක රැස් කරමින් තම කණ්ඩායම ඉදිරියට ගෙන ගියහ.

Cricket

Sri Lanka name squads for full-format West Indies tour

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Sri Lanka Cricket has announced the national squads for the upcoming multi-format tour of the West Indies, with selectors blending experienced campaigners and emerging talent across the Test, ODI and T20I squads.

The tour, which begins later this month, will feature white-ball and red-ball cricket, with the ODI series scheduled first before the teams move into the T20I and Test contests. The Sri Lankan squad is set to depart tomorrow, May 26, for what is expected to be a challenging overseas assignment in Caribbean conditions.

Senior batter Pathum Nissanka has been included in all three squads alongside wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis and all-rounder Kamindu Mendis, underlining their importance to Sri Lanka’s plans across formats.

In Test cricket, Dhananjaya de Silva will continue to lead the side, while Kamindu Mendis has been named vice-captain. The squad also includes experienced names such as Dinesh Chandimal, Prabath Jayasuriya and fast bowlers Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara.

Selectors have also rewarded several emerging players, with Lahiru Udara, Sonal Dinusha and Isitha Wijesundara earning places in the Test squad as Sri Lanka looks to build depth ahead of future international commitments.

For the ODI and T20I squads, Kusal Mendis has been entrusted with captaincy duties, while Kamindu Mendis will serve as deputy in both formats. The inclusion of power hitters such as Dasun Shanaka and explosive opener Lasith Croospulle signals Sri Lanka’s intention to adopt an aggressive approach in limited-overs cricket.

Spin will once again be spearheaded by Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage, while the pace attack features Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga and Binura Fernando.

The tour is expected to provide Sri Lanka with a crucial opportunity to test combinations in unfamiliar conditions against a traditionally strong Caribbean outfit. With several senior players returning alongside promising youngsters, selectors appear focused on balancing immediate success with long-term squad development.

Test Squad
Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Kamindu Mendis (Vice-Captain), Sonal Dinusha, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Milan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Isitha Wijesundara.

ODI Squad
Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Pavan Rathnayake, Kusal Mendis (Captain), Janith Liyanage, Charith Asalanka, Kamindu Mendis (Vice-Captain), Milan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan.

T20I Squad
Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Lasith Croospulle, Pavan Rathnayake, Kusal Mendis (Captain), Kamindu Mendis (Vice-Captain), Dasun Shanaka, Milan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara.

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Cricket

New Zealand secure consolation win but Sri Lanka clinch series

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New Zealand ‘A’ Women signed off their tour with a narrow five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka ‘A’ Women in the third and final T20 played at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Despite the defeat, Sri Lanka secured the three-match series 2-1 after winning the opening two encounters convincingly.

Asked to bat first, Sri Lanka endured a disappointing outing with the bat and were bundled out for just 78 in 16.5 overs. The home side never recovered after losing early wickets, with only skipper Sathya Sandeepani and Sanjana Kavindi reaching double figures in the top order.

Kavindi struck 15 runs with three boundaries before falling to Jess Watkin, while Sandeepani battled for 16 off 23 deliveries. Sumudu Nisansala added 15 runs, but the Sri Lankan innings continued to crumble against disciplined New Zealand bowling.

Jess Watkin starred with the ball, producing an outstanding spell of 4 for 4 in 2.5 overs to rip through the middle and lower order. Kayley Knight claimed two wickets, while Fran Jonas, Bella Armstrong and Marama Downes chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Chasing a modest target of 79, New Zealand also found batting difficult on the slow surface but managed to reach the target in 18.5 overs with five wickets in hand.

Prue Catton anchored the innings with an unbeaten 30 off 38 balls, holding the innings together after Sri Lanka struck regularly. Kate Anderson contributed 17 runs, while Kate Gaging remained unbeaten on seven at the finish.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers fought hard to defend the small total. Sachini Nisansala and Pramudi Methsara picked up two wickets each, while Chamudi Praboda accounted for New Zealand captain Jess Watkin.

However, Catton’s composed knock guided the visitors home as New Zealand earned a consolation win to end the tour on a positive note.

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Cricket

KKR Bring in Luvnith Sisodia as Replacement for Injured Matheesha Pathirana

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Kolkata Knight Riders have drafted in Karnataka wicketkeeper-batter Luvnith Sisodia as a replacement for Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana ahead of their crucial final league-stage fixture against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026.

Pathirana has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament after suffering a hamstring injury during KKR’s victory over Gujarat Titans last weekend. The Sri Lankan speedster, one of the franchise’s marquee signings at the auction, was bought for a massive INR 18 crore but endured an injury-plagued campaign.

The 23-year-old had already missed the early stages of the season due to a left calf injury sustained during Sri Lanka’s Super Eight campaign at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Although he eventually joined the squad in mid-April after recovering, his comeback proved short-lived.
Making his first appearance for KKR against Gujarat Titans, Pathirana bowled just 1.2 overs before leaving the field in visible discomfort with a left hamstring problem. Subsequent medical assessments confirmed that he would take no further part in the tournament.
In response, KKR have turned to Luvnith Sisodia, a promising left-handed wicketkeeper-batter from Karnataka. Sisodia has featured in 13 T20 matches at the domestic level but is still awaiting his IPL debut.

The youngster is no stranger to the IPL environment, having previously spent time with Royal Challengers Bengaluru before being picked up by KKR during the 2025 mega auction. His inclusion also strengthens Kolkata’s wicketkeeping options following injuries to Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who was sidelined after suffering a concussion and finger fracture earlier in the campaign.

KKR’s playoff hopes remain slim but alive heading into their final round-robin encounter. The defending champions will first need Rajasthan Royals to lose against Mumbai Indians. Even then, Kolkata must secure a convincing victory over Delhi Capitals to improve their net run rate sufficiently and overtake Punjab Kings for a place in the Eliminator.

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