Sports
Brothers Murali and Prabu Empower Rural Nuwara Eliya with the Foundation of Goodness
Sri Lanka’s Nuwara Eliya District is famed for its picturesque views, flourishing tea estates and awe inspiring waterfalls. The colder climate also makes it a favourite destination among local and international visitors. However, among the beauty of this district are rural communities that struggle everyday to afford their basic necessities.
This district is home to some of the most under-served rural Sri Lankan communities, consisting mostly of tea estate workers and daily wage earners. Unfortunately, these communities are often marginalized with little or no support to elevate them from the vicious cycle of poverty that they are trapped in.
It is against this backdrop that the Foundation of Goodness recently established not just one but three Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres in Ragala, Kothmale and Hatton in the Nuwara Eliya District. These Empowerment Centres provide free educational, vocational and sports courses such as English Language training, dressmaking, computer training and STEM education, and act as the nerve centre of the village by empowering its population. These new skills provide a step up for rural beneficiaries to better their lives and open new doors of opportunity.
Recently, the Foundation of Goodness together with Founder Kushil Gunasekera and Centre sponsors, Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran, Muthiah Prabagaran and Snackings (Pvt) Ltd declared open the Kothmale and Hatton Centres.
“Murali is someone very passionate about giving and caring for the less privileged and since both Murali and his brother Prabu pledged to establish these productive village empowerment centres, they delivered their promise to match their word of honour. He is well aware of the prevailing circumstances in the tea estate communities and as such the numbers registered exceeding 4,000 is a record breaking achievement from all our 15 centres that demonstrates the need to provide facilities of this kind for their progress,” said Kushil Gunasekera.
The Centre in Ragala located in a tea estate will benefit 1150 rural villagers from 14 villages in the locality. The Kothmale Centre has registered over 1721 rural villagers from 20 villages while the Hatton VHE Centre will empower 1198 villagers from 11 villages.
In total, these Centres will benefit over 4,000 rural Sri Lankans from 45 villages, giving them access to opportunities brought by the Foundation of Goodness that go beyond educational and vocational training, such as educational scholarships, overseas competitions and mentorship.
The total number of Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres established across Sri Lanka by the Foundation of Goodness now stands at 14, empowering over 10,971 rural beneficiaries from 150 villages.
The Foundation of Goodness recognises the extraordinary contribution made towards growing our reach to the central highlands of Sri Lanka by Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran together with his brother Muthiah Prabagaran and Snacking PVT Ltd. Murali always keeps FoG in his heart and over the years, he has donated the entirety of many of his endorsement fees and has now launched his Cameo celebrity promotions exclusively in aid of FoG, ensuring that thousands of rural Sri Lankans across the island receive empowerment courses free of charge, urgent medical and welfare needs and helps improve rural sports development. He constantly promotes the Foundation of Goodness and truly believes in the vision for a better Sri Lanka.
The Foundation of Goodness was established in 1999 and has worked extensively to develop a one of a kind holistic rural community development model that seeks to bridge the urban-rural divide. In 2021 alone, despite struggles brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation of Goodness delivered a wide range of programmes to over 68,000 beneficiaries from 900+ villages across Sri Lanka, free of charge. In addition to its flagship venue and project headquarters, the OYOB Centre of Excellence and Sports Academy in Seenigama, the Foundation of Goodness has also branched out to offer its key courses and resources to distant rural villages via Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres which strive to empower disadvantaged communities so that they may have equal opportunities to excel in life. As the nerve centre of the village, the Village Heartbeat concept works to give underprivileged villagers access to skills that will enable them to develop to their full potential.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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