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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.

Football

Stafford vs. Colombo International: The Second Edition of the Big Match Kicks Off!

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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

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Cricket

Shammi Silva Re-Elected as Sri Lanka Cricket President for Fourth Consecutive Term

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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!

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Cricket

Stephen Fleming Defends MS Dhoni’s Batting Position Amid Criticism

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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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