Sports
School rugby to write another amazing chapter this season
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Sports in Sri Lanka get much blessings. This can be seen when sports take place at school level. That’s the time when sportsmen and women- still in school- show resilience and endurance to balance sports and studies and most importantly do all that without demanding money like professionals. We are talking about sport here; largely disciplines done at competitive level. The reason to bring this topic up for discussion and review is that these great qualities are lost as boys and girls grow up and step into the adults’ world.
In Sri Lanka we see the best of sportsmen and women when they are in school. This is very true in sports like cricket, swimming, rugby, athletics, water polo and tennis; all which are glamour sports. Out of all these disciplines rugby at school level is so fiercely competitive that students will do anything to keep their head on the line.
School rugby is again getting ready for a new hectic season; the official tournament scheduled to kick off in March 22 with the Under 20 Elite Rugby Sevens. This will be followed by the league tournament in June and the President’s Trophy Knockout Tournament in August. We just saw the conclusion of the Zahira Centenary Sevens, which of course is a one-off tournament and was held specifically to mark 100 years of rugby at this great academic institute that stands tall in Maradana. There is no confirmation about this tournament being added to the school’s rugby calendar as a permanent event. Good if it is!
Rugby is a great leveler. People from all walks of life take to this sport. There have been times when circumstances bring out the beast in you, but then, after the final whistle goes in the game of rugby, all are friends again. This camaraderie is what gels people together at times when disagreements take place and there are differences of opinion.
We saw a couple of occasions during last season when aggression boiled to the surface and things became ugly in the school rugby scene. These incidents even came to the attention of the referee. There were occasions when the referee even warned both sides to keep their cool and control aggression. The school rugby field is the best place to experience the high-octane feelings that victory brings and deal with the depression that engulfs you when a team ends up as the loser. There were quite a couple of occasions when schoolboy behaviour came in for criticism last season and even worse when adults or parents justified these acts by teenage sportsmen, who couldn’t absorb the fact that the other team was better.
Unfortunately last season the cream of the schoolboy rugby players couldn’t make the tour for the Asian Championship because Sri Lanka Rugby was banned by World Rugby, Asian Rugby and the country’s very own Ministry of Sports. This is one tour where people from all walks of life come together and see rugby through one pair of glasses sans any colour, class or creed. Even in the past the Asian Under 20 tournament has served as a tour for players to settle old rivalries and differences and think of ‘what one can do for the country’.
School rugby was also given much value over the past few years with a leading sports website giving these matches live coverage. This brought the rugby action to the living room at home, but there was no drop in attendance by spectators at venues. School rugby remained ‘the king of the sport’ giving huge mileage to sponsors who tied up with the game.
Even this season too, the excitement is building up already. There are two new teams in the top league who are Thurstan and Sri Sumangala Kandy and much is expected from them. The only issue is whether these teams can survive the knocks in Division 1 Segment A which is packed with the cream of schoolboy teams in the island.
Rugby training is on already and all teams are gearing up for challenges this season. St. Peter’s has retained its position as ‘top dog’ in school rugby once again and showed its prowess in the abbreviated form of rugby union by winning the Zahira Centenary Sevens held recently. This team beat Isipatana in the final.
Rugby is a game of wonders spiced with ruthlessness and bravado, but still it’s a game played by gentlemen. Schools which have taken to rugby will not only cherish their traditional fixtures, but also do all to maintain the image they’ve built over the years.
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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