Sports
Petes’ ruggerites shower lessons on consistency
By A Special Sports Correspondent
St. Peter’s and Royal emerged winners in the first set of matches in the Super Round of the inter-school under 19 Fifteen-a-side league rugby tournament worked off recently, but the lads from Bambalapitiya are the ones with the best chance of winning the plum this season.
One reason for this is that St. Peter’s have remained unbeaten this season while Royal, though playing at their very best right now, have already lost two games this season and are out of contention for the league title. Royal’s smashing win against Isipatana on Saturday (August 12) can only help the Peterites inch closer towards the title. Rugby fans will know the winner of the tournament next week after the all important St. Peter’s vs Isipatana clash scheduled in Colombo. Isipatana too are in contention and lie second in the points table followed by Royal in third place.
Table leaders St. Peter’s ran circles around St. Anthony’s on Friday and raked in six glorious tries out of which the three were converted by place kicker Yumeh Shihara. One eye-catching feature in the Peterite style of play is that there is the absence of selfish play and the presence of plenty of team work before someone carries the ball over the try line.
The Peterites must be happy that their last year’s skipper Sudesh Jayawickreme is playing at his best once again and has become an inspiration to the side. Last season he was just a shadow of his potential.
He scored what looked like the best try of the match when he powered his way over the try line after breaking four tackles. We seldom see that kind of power play in school rugby; that touchdown brining memories of the late Isipatana skipper Nilantha Lakshmewewa who was known for brute strength when he played for the Green Shirts in 1987 and captained the school that year. He did something similar at the semi finals of the Premadasa Trophy knockouts that year when he powered his way over the Royal line off a penalty; first carrying a few players over the line and eventually his team into the final as a result of that feat. Lakshmewewa was a centre and also played First XI cricket for Isipatana. An entire Sri Lankan rugby community was shocked when they heard of his passing away at age 32.
St. Peter’s skipper Ashain Madugasge led from the front and scored twice in the first half of the match where the host team led 29-0 at the short whistle of referee Ishanka Abeykoon. Another point of concern this season is the forwards in the schools rugby scene being penalized for collapsing mauls which is quite dangerous given that schoolboys are our future in the sport and should not be exposed to injuries. For the record a St. Anthony’s college forward was shown the yellow card in the match against St. Peter’s for collapsing a maul. This is the tail end of the league season and it’s alarming if coaches have not given thought to teaching the laws of rugby; specially during rucks and the set pieces. The final score read 39-0 in favour of St. Peter’s. Sanath Martis, that burly veteran coach in their camp, sitting calm and watching his chargers play at their best knows that he has drilled that all important message into the players’ heads that no player is bigger than the game. This writer writes so because spectators and referees have seen so much player unwanted aggression this season which is so ugly to see when the mind strays away from the game to someone in the opposition camp who is also ready to massage his ego.
Royal must take credit for showing interest in continuing to participate in the tournament after the two exhausting Brady Shield encounters. We’ve seen in the past how even Trinity pulled out of schools tournaments because the Bradby really suck out the energies of both sides; leave alone injuries to players. But the boys from Reid Avenue did well to clear this hurdle and have the consolation of being the first team to beat Isipatana this season. Rugby is about endurance too and players will gain immensely for the future when they show the ability to hang in there and stay till the finish at a time when the battered bodies are screaming for a break. Most rugby players from the past -who are holding top posts in the mercantile sector and security forces -will vouch that rugby built their inner strength and made them mentally tough too.
Royal’s moment of glory came when fly half Thivain Perera scored under the posts; that was the only try for Royal in the game. Much credit will go to kicker Nabil Yehiya who knocked over one conversion and five penalties on a day where the need of an accurate place kicker was most needed. Royal dominated proceedings from the start and looked like pulling off this game with ease. At one time in the second half they led 16-3, but a try by the ever-reliable Rinesh Silva and a penalty try that came their way later gave the Ispatana score card some respect.
Next week Isipatana play against St. Peter’s while Royal lock horns with St. Anthony’s.
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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