ConquerORS
Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis propelled Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win over South Africa on the third day of the second Test at St George’s Park on Saturday, clinching an historic 2-0 series triumph. The unheralded Sri Lankans became the first team from Asia to win a Test series in South Africa. Unlike their [...]
Leaders strengthen their positions
With the online voting system coming back on track, the leaders of the three respective segments have further strengthened their positions as the 19th week results of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2019 contest are released. Navod Paranavithana of Mahinda College holds on to his lead in All-Island [...]
Skipper Dias stars as Thurstan breaks 27-year winless streak
Thurstan College broke a 20-year-old stalemate after recording a convincing 10-wicket victory against traditional rivals Isipathana College at the 56th Battle of the Brothers, and claimed the Blackham Wijewardene Trophy, at the SSC grounds yesterday. The name of Thurstan skipper Sandaru Dias would go down in the history of this big match for leading his [...]
Havies through in lacklustre game
Rugby fans were sated with some excellent rugby these past two weeks. The CR-Kandy game was gripping and had spectators on the edge of their seats. The Kandy-Havies encounter was also quite dramatic. By contrast, the Havies – CR was a bit tepid and devoid of much drama. Of course there was a bit of [...]
Jayaratne leads DFCC title win
A fighting unbeaten 52 runs by Amith Jayaratna and a good spell of bowling by Gayashan Jayaweera helped DFCC to emerge champions in Coca-Cola-MCA ‘D’ Division 40 Over League Cricket Tournament 2019 when they scored a three wicket win in the final match over Central Finance Co. Ltd at the MCA Grounds yesterday. In reply [...]
Gallant Soldiers fight back to give Airmen heartbreak
Army Sports Club pulled off a gallant victory against a spirited Air Force outfit by 29-25 in a enthralling Super Round encounter of the Dialog Rugby League played at Welisara yesterday. The Soldiers were trailing 7-18 at halftime but managed to overdrive the Airmen soon after the turnaround and made sure they hold on to [...]
Chathuranga, Dilesh guide NCC to semi finals
Left-arm pace and spin combination of Chathuranga de Silva and Dilesh Gunaratne guided defending champions NCC to the semi-final of the Premier T20 inter-club cricket tournament. The pair shared six wickets between them and succeeded in restricting Tamil Union who were in pursuit of 185 run target, to a total of 139. This was in [...]
If history has its way then a draw seems inevitable
With a chain of drawn games in the background, the 90th Battle of the Maroons annual cricket encounter between Ananda and Nalanda will take place at the SSC Grounds next Saturday (2) and Sunday (3). Ananda’s last victory was in 2003, under the captaincy of Duminda Kularatne, while Nalanda tasted the sweetness of victory way [...]
Teams equally balanced, keen tussle on the cards
All roads for the young and old boys of the two premier Catholic schools in Colombo–St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s will lead to the P. Sara Stadium as their two teams march on to the cricket field for annual “Battle of the Saints” encounter which is the 85th in the series on March 1 and [...]
Police vs Navy: Tweedledum and Tweedledee
There is a difference though. A look at the statistics shows the Police in a slightly more favourable light. They won twice in the second round, while their opponents won only once. They met a few days back and the law-enforcers triumphed 27-16. On this evidence Udara Suriyapperuma’s team should win and enter the plate [...]
Shammi is new SLC President but Thilanga will pull the strings
There weren’t many who were surprised by the results of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) election. A team backed by Thilanga Sumathipala was re-elected on Thursday to run cricket for the next two years, ending a months-long interim administration. The victory came despite multiple opposition attempts to knock Sumathipala’s gang out before the contest, thereby [...]
Nittawela – Kandy comes back to roost
It is sudden death time when hosts Kandy face the challenge of the redoubtable CH&FC today. The two earlier matches were shared. Predictably Kandy emerged 38-22 winners at home, while the CH prevailed 33-17, also at home. The CH certainly have the momentum going for them having preserved a clean slate in the second round. [...]
How the cricket world celebrated Kusal’s epic ton
Kusal Perera’s epic knock of 153 not out in Sri Lanka’s thrilling 1-wicket win against South Africa at Kingsmead last week, received high praise from all over the world. Perera not only proved that he is a fitting material for any form of cricket, but also took away a possible and easy win from South [...]
Allrounder Yuggesha Dishan: A star in the making for Dharmaloka
Scoring a century and capturing a match bag of 11 wickets in the same match is a rare occurrence, which was achieved by 19-year-old Yuggesha Dishan of Dharmaloka College, Kelaniya. A left handed middle order batsman and a left arm leg-spinner, Dishan brought up the second best all-round performance in this year’s Under-19 Cricket tournament, [...]
Ananda- Nalanda 90 not out
On 2nd March 2019, the Cricketers of two of Sri Lanka’s premier educational institutions will walk in to the middle of Colombo’s leading cricket ground for the 90th time. Hey.. it is the ‘Battle of the Maroons’, once again! During the two days the City of Colombo will witness the glamour of Maroon and Gold [...]
Foreign Referees blow a breath of fresh air
Havelocks beat Kandy despite having lost to CH and other niggles from the periphery. The League title is between two teams. There is a pseudo conclusion that Rugby has improved because games are won or lost by close margins. The test will be when Sri Lanka (SL) plays in the ARFU XVs shortly. The media [...]
The unwanted ‘Ranking’ mania
Tennis needs course correction Until professional bodies WTA and ATP limitrf their ranking to 750 players this year, the ranking mechanism was never ever questioned. In reality, it is inevitable, but to ask “why” Tennis is played now? “Ranking” would be the most probable answer from the majority. Ranking is a method which is definitely [...]
Won in a Day!
This is a story as told to me by my father, the Royal captain of 1919. He played for Royal from 1916- 1919. Let me take you to the Royal-Thomian cricket match played 100 years ago at the SSC ground on March 21, when, believe it or not, Royal trounced the Thomian’s in ONE DAY! [...]
Royal-Thomian Cricket Match 1911 – Montagu Frank Modder (1891-1958)
With the 140th encounter between these two schools just a little over two weeks away, it is worth portraying a scene of a cricket match that took place in the first decade of the 1900s. Images of sporting activities in the 19th century, in this country, are scarce, almost non-existent, -whether they be photographs, paintings [...]
Dinesh Chandimal – The Captain who thrives in the hour of need
Dinesh Chandimal has been a consistent run scorer over the last few years especially in Test cricket. After a disastrous series against Australia where Sri Lanka went on to lose the series (2-0) the selectors abruptly decided to transfer the captaincy of the Test team to Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal was asked to play domestic [...]
Dialog powers 140th Royal-Thomian ‘Battle of the Blues’
Big match fever hits Colombo once again, as Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC, extends sponsorship for the fifth consecutive year ofSri Lanka’s blue-ribbon cricket encounter, the ‘Battle of the Blues’ between Royal College, Colombo, and S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, for the prestigious D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield. The 2019 edition of ‘Battle [...]