Sports

Plans to build a new 40-000-seater cricket stadium in Colombo have been abandoned after ex-players warned Sri Lanka's Prime Minister that the venue would be a waste of money.

The proposed arena, plans for which were unveiled by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) earlier this week, was estimated to cost $30 million.

"It was decided at a meeting with former top players today that instead of the proposed Homagama stadium it was better to spend money on building school cricket," read a statement from the office of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Former Sri Lankan captains Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya were among those to meet with the Prime Minister and raise their concerns.

Eyebrows were raised when SLC said it intended to build a new stadium in Homagama in the district of Colombo, which already boasts the R Premadasa Stadium, currently the largest stadium in Sri Lanka.

The R Premadasa Stadium is in Khettarama and is where Sri Lanka's national teams usually train, but it lacks indoor nets and and swimming pool.


SLC had suggested that a new stadium was needed if it were to host future International Cricket Council events, but the nation did host both the men's and women's T20 World Cups in 2012 using three stadiums - one of which is named after the current Prime Minister.

It also emerged that a feasibility study on a new cricket venue in Jaffna - announced by SLC in 2017 - has still not been completed.

Government Minister Bandula Gunawardana, who represents the area where the new stadium would have been build, had announced the plans for the new stadium in Homagama, but when he did said the taxpayer would not be footing the bill for the new venue.

SLC needed a Government bailout in 2011 after costs associated with co-hosting the World Cup overran, so whether it was really in a strong enough position to fund a new stadium was doubtful.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been directed by the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to suspend operations of ‘Cricket Aid’ until the Attorney General submits an audit report within two months.

The COPE yesterday recorded statements from Sri Lanka Cricket officials on alleged misappropriations and irregularities at SLC.

Issues related to alleged irregularities in Cricket Aid were earlier reported in the media.

Sri Lankan women’s cricket star Achini Kulasuriya was taken to hospital and her team’s match against South Africa was called off on Sunday after she suffered a horrible injury as she attempted to take a catch on the boundary.

Playing a warm-up match ahead of the women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, the 29-year-old was struck on the head by the ball when she failed to grasp a catch in the deep.

Kulasuriya was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital for tests but was later discharged and cleared of serious injury, cricket.com.au reports. She will continue to be monitored.

The scary incident occurred late in Sri Lanka’s tussle against South Africa as the two sides simulated a Super Over situation after the result had already been sealed.
South Africa won the match by 41 runs but because the next match of the day’s double-header, between England and New Zealand, wasn’t scheduled to start for another hour, both teams agreed to practice their death skills with a Super Over, which takes place if a match ends in a tie.

The Proteas took to the crease in the second Super Over but drama struck on the first ball when big-hitter Chloe Tryon slapped her first ball to long off.

Kulasuriya steadied under the ball but it burst through her fingers and cracked her flush on the skull, sending her crumbling to the turf.

She reportedly lay motionless, face down on the ground for several minutes as teammates rushed to her side.

Ambulance officers assessed Kulasuriya and she was stretchered off the field before being taken to hospital.

Tryon was reportedly distressed by the incident but members of the Sri Lankan camp reassured her Kulasuriya was OK and the batter was in no way to blame for the sickening blow.

The Proteas didn’t continue their Super Over after Kulasuriya’s scare and the game was called off.

Certain financial deficiencies of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have been revealed amidst money pouring into the game in spite of the team's poor performance in recent international matches.

These deficiencies were disclosed after the financial statements for the year 2017/2018 were reviewed by the government audit.

The fixed assets register and certificates of physical verification of fixed assets for the year 2017 had not been made available to the Auditor General's department.

As such, the existence of fixed assets valued at Rs.4,249.70 million and the accuracy of their value could not be confirmed, audit inspectors said.

Contract agreements, letters of assumption of duties and dates of commencement of work and dates on which work should be completed, had not been made available for auditing purposes.

As such, the accuracy of the value of work-in-progress totalling Rs.240.99 million shown in the financial statements relating to the year under review could not be confirmed, they claimed.

SLC has failed to identify and settle the advances totaling Rs.5.85 million paid since the year 2013, it was reported.

Even though advances of Rs.58.27 million had been paid to cricket playing sports clubs during the period from the year 2008 to the year 2017 for playing matches, SLC had failed to settle and account those advances even by the end of the year under review.

Sri Lanka Netball team emerged champions at the inaugural South Asian under 16 Netball Championship concluded yesterday at the Army Sports Complex in Kathmandu, Nepal . In the final Sri Lankan team led by Nethmi Wijenayake defeated India 42/28 to take the South Asian crown.

In the final, the Lankan lasses played with more confidence from the first quarter. In the first quarter, both teams scored 8 points each but in the second and third quarters, the Sri Lankan team dominated with a clear lead of 16/4 and 11/8. However, Indians won the final quarter after a tough game 8/7 but that was not enough to get the championship in the inaugural tournament and Sri Lanka recorded a comprehensive victory by registering 42/28.

Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives and hosts Nepal took part in this tournament organised by the Nepal Netball Association.

Sri Lanka team coach Amalka Gunatilleka said this was a fine team effort by the Sri Lanka side.

"We had good confidence before this tournament to win the title. We were able to get good practice sessions and all players did their part very well thoughtout the tournament. Actually, this was a good exposure for the juniors and they are our future prospects," said coach Amalka Gunatilleka who is the head coach of Holy Family Convent Kurunegala which has produced top players in the school arena over the past couple of decades.

The champion team comprised three players from HFC Kurunegala, as well as two each from Musaeus College and Kalutara Balika as well as HFC Kalutara and one each from Girls High School Kandy and Presbyterian Girls School in Dehiwela.
Further, Hiruni Heshani was named as the Best Shooter, Nethmi Wijenayaka was named as the Best Player while Hiruni Jinali was named as the Best Player of the final.

The champion Sri Lanka under 16 team:

Nethmi Wijenayake - Captain (Musaeus College), Hiruni Heshani (Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala), Hiruni Jinali(Maliyadeva Balika Vidyalaya, Kurunegala), Maheesha Bandara (Girls High School, Kandy), Rishini Sewwandi (Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala), Randuli Rubasinghe (Musaeus College), Rashmi Anjalika (Presbyterian Girls’ School, Dehiwala), Ramdhi Gamage (Holy Family Convent, Kalutara), Krishmi Dinethya (Holy Family Convent, Kalutara), Senuthi Dilakna (Kalutara Balika Vidyalaya), Dishari Adeesha (Kalutara Balika Vidyalaya), Natasha Dias (Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala), Amalka Gunatilleka (Coach).

Sri Lanka's Minister of Sports Harin Fernando on Tuesday announced that three members will fucntion as national selectors for Sri Lanka Cricket for a year.

Accordingly, Fernando has named Asantha de Mel as the chairman of selectors along with Vinothen John and Chaminda Mendis.

Sri Lanka whitewashed Bangladesh 3-0 in the recently concluded ODI series.

Now the selection for the team against New Zealand Test series will be done by the newly formed selection committee.

Sri Lanka is scheduled play their first Test of the 'Test World Championship' against the visiting Kiwis in Colombo from August 14.

Fiji took a shock 21-12 lead over Australia early in the second half in Saturday's Pool D game before the Wallabies came storming back to win 39-21.

O'Keeffe was in charge of the match, his first at a World Cup, and Australia publication Fox Sports claims the Kiwi 'committed the cardinal sin' by giving a low five to a Fijian player after their second try to Waisea Nayacalevu.

"Regardless of his intentions or the motivations behind the gesture, it just shouldn't happen," the Fox Sports story says.

 O'Keeffe is set to officiate France v USA on October 2 and Japan v Scotland October 13.

After the game Michael Chieka seemed less than impressed with O'Keeffe when it came to a number of calls on flanker David Pocock. The Wallabies veteran was pinged three times at the breakdown.

"The stuff on the ground, I'm not quite sure what's going on but the team of three were talking about David Pocock from the first minute of the game," Cheika said.

"I'm not sure what (Pocock's) done but there was some severe focus on him.

"I heard his name mentioned between them on the commentary at least half a dozen times in their own chat when he hadn't even been involved in the ruck."

Lasith Malinga shone in his farewell match after Kusal Perera struck a quick-fire century as Sri Lanka crushed Bangladesh by 91 runs in the first one-day of a three-match series in Colombo on Friday.

Malinga rattled Bangladesh with his fiery opening spell, reducing the visitors to 39-4 in the process, without allowing them to recover from the damage despite the best efforts by Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman.

Mushfiqur made 67 while Sabbir added 60 as the duo shared an 111-run partnership for the fifth wicket but Bangladesh stuttered to 223 all out in 41.4 overs replying to Sri Lanka's 314-8.

Retiring Malinga claimed 3-38 while Nuwan Pradeep (3-51) and Dhananjaya de Silva (2-49) played their parts in the win.

"I feel it's the right time for me to retire from ODIs. I have been playing for the last 15 years for Sri Lanka and this is the right time to move on," Malinga, who finished his ODI career with 338 wickets, said after the game.

"My time is over and I have to go."

Perera struck 111 off 99 balls with 17 fours and a six, his fifth ODI century, to set up Sri Lanka's total after skipper Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first.

Left-handed Perera put on 97 runs with Karunaratne for the second wicket before adding 100 with Kusal Mendis for the third wicket.

Shafiul Islam, who finished with 3-62 in his first match in three years, drew the first blood for Bangladesh when he had opener Avishka Fernando caught by Soumya Sarkar at slip for seven.

Perera was reprieved on 49 runs when the third umpire overturned a caught behind decision off Shafiul.

Part-time seamer Soumya ended the valiant knock of Perera as he was caught at short fine leg by Mustafizur Rahman.

Mendis, who was dropped on 28 by Mahmudullah Riyad off Soumya, fell to Rubel Hossain the next over after making 43 off 49 balls.

Mendis walked after a muted appeal for caught behind from wicketkeeper Mushfiqur and bowler Rubel.

Angelo Mathews took Sri Lanka's total past the 300-run mark with 48 off 52 balls.

Mustafizur dismissed Mathews before finishing with 2-75.

Malinga, who was unbeaten on six with the bat, hit the leg-stump of opener Tamim Iqbal in his fifth ball with a deadly yorker.

Tamim, who debuted as Bangladesh's 14th ODI captain, was unable to open his account and the team's other top-order batsmen did hardly any better.

Pradeep trapped one-down Mohammad Mithun leg-before for 10 and Malinga bowled out opener Soumya for 15 in the next over.

Kumara compounded Bangladesh's problem once he removed Mahmudullah for three.

De Silva ended the resistance of Sabbir, forcing him to give a catch at deep midwicket to leave Sri Lanka's victory all but a formality.

Malinga took the final wicket fittingly to end the brief entertainment by Mustafizur, who made 18 off 14 balls before being caught by Thisara Perera at mid-off

The second match will be held at the same ground on Sunday.

The ICC will analyse the security plans before appointing neutral umpires and match referees.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ICC had not appointed neutral match officials when Zimbabwe visited Pakistan in 2015.

Instead, officials from both the countries had been tasked to oversee cricketing matters.

It remains to be seen whether the ICC would indirectly endorse the security arrangements in Pakistan by appointing neutral officials or let the PCB and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) pick officials from within their own setups.

The Sri Lankan team is scheduled to play an ODI and a T20I series in Pakistan starting Sep 27.

The tour, however, has become doubtful over the past week since Sri Lankan authorities received intel of a possible terrorism attack on their team in Pakistan.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended Zimbabwe for failing to ensure there is no government interference in its running of the sport.

ICC funding has been withdrawn and the country will be barred from participating at ICC events.

Zimbabwe are due to take part in a T20 World Cup qualifier in October.

"We must keep our sport free from political interference," said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar.

"What has happened in Zimbabwe is a serious breach of the ICC constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked."

The ICC issued the punishment after the entire Zimbabwe Cricket Board was suspended by the government sports and recreation commission last month and replaced with an interim committee.

The ICC says it will review its decision at a board meeting in October.

Zimbabwe's Test status was suspended by the ICC in June 2004 after 15 players dropped out of the squad after the then captain Heath Streak was sacked.

They played eight Test matches in 2005 after the suspension was lifted, but would then not play another Test match until 2011.

They failed to qualify for this year's Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.

In March, former Zimbabwe Cricket director Enock Ikope was given a 10-year ban from the game after being found guilty of breaching three counts of the ICC's anti-corruption code.

His suspension followed a 20-year ban for Rajan Nayer, a former Zimbabwe cricket official, for attempted match-fixing in March 2018.

Meanwhile, the Croatia Cricket Federation and the Zambia Cricket Union have also been suspended for failing to meet ICC criteria while the Moroccan Royal Cricket Federation has been expelled for continuing to remain non-compliant.

The decisions were taken at the ICC annual conference in London.

Clijsters’ return was first announced by the WTA.

I don't really feel like I want to prove something," Clijsters told the WTA Insider Podcastin an exclusive interview on Thursday. "I think for me it's the challenge."

With a game built around superb all-court coverage, athleticism and power, Clijsters won three U.S. Open titles, one Australian Open championship and three season-ending WTA Finals. Clijsters, the daughter of the late Belgian soccer player Lei Clijsters, won 41 career titles, amassing over $24 million in prize money. She was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

Clijsters last played a competitive tennis match at the 2012 U.S. Open, when she was 29 years old. She will make her second comeback to women’s tennis as the mother of three children with her American husband, former basketball player Brian Lynch.

Her oldest daughter, Jada, was born in February 2008, during a 26-month break away from the Tour. In July 2009, Clijsters had a fairytale comeback, winning the U.S. Open that year in just her third tournament back to become the first mother to clinch a major since Australia’s Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in 1980. Clijsters and Lynch welcomed a son, Jack, in 2013, followed by another son, Blake, in 2016.

“Kim Clijsters ranks among the greats of the game and her return to the Tour is exciting news for the WTA family and tennis fans around the world,” Steve Simon, WTA chairman and chief executive officer, said in an emailed statement. “Driven by her love for the sport, this wonderful champion continues to inspire women and men in all walks of life – and she only adds to the compelling wealth of talent in women’s tennis. I wish Kim all the best in this next chapter of her playing career.”

In May, Clijsters took part in an exhibition event at Wimbledon to test its new roof over No. 1 Court. Afterwards, five-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams told the crowd the Belgian "could be on Tour right now. The strokes are so clean and I am looking across and the net and I am like ‘Wow, what an amazing stroke production’...It’s unbelievable how she is moving and playing."

Former West Indies captain Brian Lara has been given an honorary doctorate by the DY Patil University in India.

The Doctor of Science from the University is for a “remarkable cricketing career and his impact on cricket in the West Indies and around the world at large.”

The honor was bestowed on him during a ceremony at the University campus in Navi Mumbai, India by the Chancellor Dr. Vijay Patil.

Lara was in India for World Cup broadcasting role for Star Sports.

In making the announcement on his Instagram page last week, Lara said, “I am honored! An Honorary Doctorate bestowed on me by the University. WOW.”

Lara, who is nicknamed “The Prince of Port of Spain,” has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

He was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s highest national award, the Trinity Cross (later changed to the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) in 2013.

The legendary batsman holds the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston, England, in l994 and the record for the highest individual score in a Test innings after scoring 400 not out against England at Antigua in 2004.

Lara was appointed honorary member of the Order of Australia on Nov. 27, 2009.

On September 2012, he was inducted to the ICC’s Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony held in Colombo, Sri Lanka as a 2012-13 season inductee along with Australians Glen McGrath and former England women all-rounder Enid Bakewell.