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Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe - book place in
semi-final Sri Lanka qualified to play in the semi finals of the 16th Commonwealth Games Cricket Tournament here in Kuala Lumpur beating Zimbabwe by one wicket. Sri Lanka is placed right on top of Group A with three wins. In the earlier games Lankans defeated Malaysia by five wickets and Jamaica by 67 runs. Yesterday’s game was vital for Zimbabwe as they too had recorded two victories over Jamaica and Malaysia and were hoping to book a berth in the semi final. Sri Lanka will take in the winners of South Africa/Barbados game in the semi final. Hashan Tillekeratne who won the toss invited Zimbabwe to take first lease of the wicket. Zimbabwe in their allotted 50 overs collected a decent total of 265 for seven wickets. Sri Lanka chasing a target of 266 runs were in trouble when they reached 71 for 4 in 12.4 overs. However in the 45th over Sri Lanka managed to come to equal terms. But the fall of Upul Chandana’s wicket in the 46th over saw Sri Lanka reading eight runs, three wickets remaining. At this stage Heath Streak struck a big blow when he managed to sent back three batsmen in one over score reading 263 for nine wickets. Sri Lanka’s hero Indika de Saram made the winning run when he stroked the ball from Mbangwa to mid off for a single which also sealed Sri Lanka’s victory and the semi final berth. Aviskha Gunawardene who got into records books scoring the first century in the Commonwealth Games cricket tournament was out for one when Steve Bucknor ruled him out lbw in a controversial manner. Russel Arnold joined Lanka de Silva and carried on the good work to lay a solid foundation towards a winning total adding 38 runs. Russel Arnold made 45 runs. Chandika Hathurusinghe too was at his usual form and went on to compile a well deserved half century. Indika de Saram was a threat to Zimbabwe paceman Heath Streak and Mbangwa. He scored freely against their bowling which was well cheered by the large spectator gathering. Ranjith Fernando, Manager of the Sri Lankan team speaking after the victory said it is great to see a young side overcome an experienced Zimbabwe team on foreign soil which proves that Sri Lanka’s young talent too is a fighting lot. He further added that this victory also showed the cricketing world the strength of Sri Lanka. He also had a special mention of Indika de Saram’s innings. His innings proved that he is on his way to a bright career in future. He finally added that Indika was included in the side though he lacked experience but we expected a lot from him. He has stood upto the occasion said Ranjith. SCOREBOARD ZIMBABWE A. CAMPBELL c Gunewardene b Arnold 82 EXTRAS 30 FALL: 1-57, 2-166, 3-186, 4-218, 5-222, 6-226, 7-241. BOWLING: Perera 5-0-30-0, Villavarayan 10-1-37-0, SRI LANKA A. GUNEWARDENE lbw Mbangwa 01 EXTRAS 26 FALL: 1-5, 2-43, 3-50, 4-71, 5-170, 6-195, 7-258, 8-263, 9-263. BOWLING: Streak 10-0-55-3, Mbangwa 8.2-0-49-3, Our shooters fail to win medals Sri Lankan shooters G. Welgama and J. Poddalgoda who collected 1060 points in the Pistol Shooting event at the 16th Commonwealth Games now in progress in Kuala Lumpur were placed eight. England’s Nick Backsten and Michael Gault won the Gold for this event while Australians David Moore and Bruce Quick grabbed the silver scoring 1088 points. Canada carried away the bronze medal. G. Welgama collected his 578 points (84, 92, 88, 89, 87 and 92) while Poddalgoda 577 points came through (84, 91, 86, 86 and 89). Meanwhile in the women’s pistol shooting event Ruvini Abeymanne and Soma Kumarasinghe were placed fifth in the overall standings. Australia’s Christina Trefri and Annette Woodword won the gold scoring 1140 points. New Zealand and Malaysia went away with the silver and bronze medals respectively for the same event. Seven teams qualified for the final of this event. Australia’s pair after collecting (1174) points received the gold while Canada (1172) and Scotland (1170) took silver and bronze medals. In the final round Ruvini Abeymanne scored 278 and 280 points while Soma Kumarasinghe made a total of 554 points. Old Dharmapalians gain first innings points A last wicket partnership worth 86 runs between Praneeth Chamara (52 n.o.) and Charith Silva (25) helped Old Dharmapalians gain first innings points over Lankan CC in the Under 23 Segment ‘B’ fixture at Pannipitiya over the weekend. Old Dharmapalians were struggling at 100 for 9 wickets at one stage reached a respectable total of 186 in their innings. Lankan CC chasing 186 runs were bundled out for 159. In the second essay too Old Dharmapalians were in trouble with eight wickets falling for only 88 runs. The ninth wicket pair consisting of Charith Silva (57) and Mohan Wickremasinghe (65) adding 110 runs saw them declare at 209 for eight. Lankan CC were 165 for 8 at close. SCORES: OLD DHARMAPALIANS 186 (Nimesh Perera 26, Amila Gunawardane 27, Praneeth Chamara 52 n.o., Charith Silva 25, Selvin Silva 3 for 34, A. D. Mel 3/32) and 209 for eight wickets declared. (Sadun Senanayake 26, Charith Silva 57 n.o., Mohan Wickreamasinghe 65 n.o., Nilakshan Abeyratne 36) LANKAN CC 159 (C. Nimesh 56, Nimesh Perera 3/30), and 165 for eight wickets at close (C. Jayasiri 27, D. Wennappuwa 36, Chamila Jayasinghe 3/40, Nimesh Perera 2/10) (DR) Lankans lose their second game Sri Lanka lost their second game in the 14th Asian Basketball Championships to South Korea 121-21 points. In the first half South Korea collected 61 points for which Sri Lanka managed only 17 points. South Korea bagged another 60 points in the second half while Lankan cagers failed miserably collecting only 8 points in this session. Lankan cagers never attempted to attack, they were merely trying to defend. This made things easy for Koreans to grab points uninterruptedly. The other teams who confronted these strong teams Japan and South Korea had to face the same fate as Sri Lanka when they too were beaten comprehensively. Lankan cagers tried everything possible to restrict their opponents. Their failure to control the ball brought in disasters. These failures of our cagers helped Koreans to score immensively. The second half saw Sri Lanka’s prominent player Anupama’s exit due to an injury. Others tried to make up for the loss of Anupama by trying to hold back the Koreans using all their tactics. Pramila Fernando and Dilrukshi Heenatigala played their hearts out in this game. Our cagers failed to collect most of the rebounds that came their way, but the Koreans made this opportunity to grab points. Today Sri Lanka will take on Laos. In this game our cagers are favoured to win said the manager of the Lankan contingent Francis Perera. He further added though we lost to Korea our cagers performed well within their capabilities. Coach speaking said though we lost both games our cagers have gained experience to face stiff opposition at this level of competition. With this kind of experience behind us we are sure to overrun Laos in today’s game said the coach. |
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