Sports
Green Machine dismantled by Bamba Brigade
By Nimal Luxshman
Saturday afternoon drew a mammoth crowd to the St Peter’s College grounds, Bambalapitiya, to witness the battle between St. Peter’s College (SPC) popularly known as the ‘Bamba Brigade’ and Isipatana College (IC), tagged the ‘Green Machine’. The match was played to decide the winners of the inter schools’ rugby league champions for 2023 season. This crowd may have been the biggest ever seen at a rugby encounter played this season by two schools.
It did not take more than five minutes for the scoreboard to start ticking, when Yuneth Shihara, the SPC centre, scoring the first try of the match on the right flank and converting it himself to give SPC a 7-0 lead. Soon afterwards, Ishanka Abeykoon, who was in charge of the whistle, warned Chamindu Chirath, the Isipatana centre, for unfair play and sent the latter to the ‘SinBin’.
Around two minutes later the SPC hooker Wishmika was seen lifting Rinesh Silva of IC above his head and dashing him on the ground. When the entire crowd thought it should have ended up in a ‘Red Card’ for dangerous play, Irshad Carder, the Television Match Official (TMO) thought otherwise and decided on a Yellow Card on Wishmika and a penalty for IC. Some spectators felt that the Referee himself could have taken the decision as it happened near him mid field. The only question would have been to decide on the colour of the card, whether yellow or red.
IC reduced the lead to 7-3 when Rinesh Silva converted a penalty for them when a SPC player was spotted off-side.
Place kickers of both teams kicked astray a penalty each within the next couple of minutes, but the kick attempted by the SPC player was the more difficult one from 45 meters out.
Halfway during the first half a line out won by the SPC ended near the IC territory, just five meters out. Though IC may have expected their opponents to engage in a ‘rolling maul’, they were surprised when the ball was taken from the front and two SPC players running along the touch line for SPC No: 8 to score on the left flank. The Assistant Referee, though he may not have seen planting the ball, informed the Referee it was a try. Referee then consulted the TMO to ascertain whether the ball had been grounded properly or not and the latter confirmed it was in order. With this unconverted try, SPC increased their lead to 12-3.
Once again IC were penalised when Rinesh Silva was spotted holding on to the ball. The penalty was converted and the lead of SPC increased again to 15-3.
The best try of the game was seen just before half time when Rinesh Silva of IC collected a backhand pass by Shaahid Zumri and made a jinking run, past a host of baffled defenders, to score by the right goalpost. He converted it himself to relieve pressure on his team by reducing the lead to 15-10 at the “lemons”.
The SPC lead increased once again when a misdirected goal line drop-out by the IC skipper Naveen Kanishka ended up in the hands of SPC players who scored far right. The Referee once again sought the assistance of the TMO to check whether the ball had been grounded properly by SPC’s Dineth Ranasinghe. With that try being confirmed and the conversion going astray, SPC led 20-10.
The play was held up for a couple of minutes soon afterward when the match officials decided that the crowd was too close to the touchline on the opposite side of the main pavilion.
When play resumed SPC’s Ranasinghe was sent to the ‘Sin Bin’ for a deliberate knock on. IC opted to kick to touch and during the ensuing line out won the ball. The IC forwards, after several ‘Pick and go’ attempts, managed to score with Damhiru Rajapakse going over the line. Rinesh Silva converted it to reduce the score to 20-17 for his team to come back to the game, with 10 minutes of play still remaining.
However, SPC who excelled in everything they did, especially in rucking and support play during the match, increased their lead to 25-17again,when Kushal Tharindu scored a try, which went unconverted. The Bamba Brigade did not try any fancy stuff but stuck to basic conventional rugby, in comparison to the Green Machine who decided to run with the ball even within their own territory, quite dangerously.
With 10 minutes play remaining IC did the mistake of not clearing the ball from their own territory and ended up giving away another simple penalty to the opponents, who once again stretched their lead to 28-17 when Kushan Tharindu converted it.
Overall, the day belonged to the ‘Bamba Brigade’ who had been put through their paces by their head coach Sanath Martis, reputed to be a shrewd tactician in school rugby. During the second half his instructions may have been to maintain the lead by kicking deep into the opponent’s territory. His charges were seen executing his plan extremely well and gaining territory by kicking the ball from their own 50 meters to the opponents’ 22 meters. They were successful on three occasions and won lineouts in the IC territory. They dictated terms to the opponents and had absolute dominance of the game. The way they played could be rated flawless, when compared with the opponents who kicked aimlessly at inappropriate moments, in addition to dishing out erratic passes on several occasions.
The ‘Bamba Brigade’ thereby won the league championship after 13 years, remaining unbeaten throughout the season. They began with a win against Royal in their first outing of the season and put the icing on the cake by dismantling the Green Machine on their home soil in their last game yesterday.
A few comments seem necessary regarding the poor crowd handling by the organizers of SPC who hosted this game. Most of the spectators who had bought their tickets in advance found it extremely difficult to gain entrance to the ground as there was only one queue for ticket holders as well as those who did not possess tickets. Once a section of the crowd who had tickets had barged in causing a stampede. In a crunch game like this, the organisers should have had a separate queue for those who had purchased tickets. Large crowds unable to get into the ground caused huge traffic congestion near the Wellawatte Canal end of the Duplication Road. Thanks to the Police who ordered the gates to be opened a second stampede was avoided and the free flow of traffic ensured, bringing much relief to those commuting in buses, who had been thoroughly inconvenienced by the delays in traffic movement.
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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