Sports
Sri Lanka record second win in Masters Hockey World Cup History
Sri Lanka Masters over 40 hockey team recorded its second win in the Masters World Cup history when they beat Italy 4-3 in the ranking games at the sport’s prestigious veteran tournament held in Nottingham, England.
Sri Lanka’s over 40 team, which lost all six round-robin matches against the World’s top European veteran hockey teams by big margins in Group A, put its house in order to win the crucial match in the 14-nation tournament.
Italy also lost all six group matches by margins less than that of Sri Lanka’s in Group B.
The match was crucial for the both teams to avoid being ranked at the last position in this year’s Masters World Cup.
The game was evenly poised, but Sri Lanka took the lead at the 11th minute when Sampath Subasinghe scored the first goal to a rebound for a penalty corner hit by vice-captain and Sri Lanka’s center forward Nadith Kudagama.
Duncan Devendra scored the second goal via a penalty stroke at the 17th minute and made it 2-0.
However, Italy fought back with Andrea Graziano scoring a field goal. Later, Sri Lanka defender Sanjay Edgar scored the third goal just before the half time to end the first half 3-1.
Italy fought back hard in the second half producing nail-biting moments. The European team, which beat Sri Lanka in the last 2018 Masters’ World Cup 2-1, scored at the 51st minute, snatching Sri Lanka’s weakly defended moment with Malluzzo Michele scoring a field goal.
However, an excellent forward combination of Nadith Kudagama, Mahesh Matiwala, and Duncan Devendra breached through the Italian defence and scored Sri Lanka’s fourth goal at the 60th minute of the game. Devendra netted the ball to score his fourth goal in the 2022 World Cup.
Italy skipper Alessandro Onano scored their third goal at the 67th minute of the game via a field goal and reduced the margin to 4-3. Sri Lanka saw some nervous moments in the last three minutes as Italy forwards breached Sri Lankan’s defence many times, but they held steady to finish the game in their favour to be ranked 13th in the 14-nation World Cup.
Sri Lanka was ranked 14th in the last World Cup held in Barcelona, Spain in 2018, which saw the participation of 15 nations.
It was Sri Lanka over 40 team’s second win at the Masters’ World Cup history. They recorded the first win against Denmark 2-1 in Spain, when they played the debut World Cup.
The men team’s main sponsor was Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and co-sponsor was Nippon Paint Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, while Sri Lankan Airlines was the official airline partner for the team.
The team, which was in the toughest group, lost to Germany by 11-0 in the first game, but fought back well against the mighty France to minimize the margin of loss by 5-1 goals. However, it saw four disastrous defeats from then onwards, losing to the hosts England by 12-0, Wales by 12-1, Ireland by 16-0, and South Africa by 15-0.
All the teams in the A group in which Sri Lanka’s over 40 team was included, won the game against equal ranked team in the B group. It partly explains Sri Lanka’s defeat in the round robin matches amid injuries for four players while both the coach and team manager were also forced to play due to visa rejections for at least three players. The team had only 16 14 players excluding the coach and manager instead of 18.
Over 35 Men’s and over 40 Women’s Sri Lanka teams failed to impress in this year’s World Cup.
The over 35 Men’s team was ranked last among the 10 nations participated in the World Cup after it lost the ranking game against Wales by 0-11. In the group games, they lost the games against Spain 9-0, England 15-0, Ghana 11-1, and South Africa 18-0. The only goal for the team against Ghana was scored by Rasiah Sathya.
The over 35 men’s team also comprised only 15 players instead of full 18 players.
Sri Lanka’s women’s team, led by Manoji Pradeepika Koralage, competed in over 40-category and had a similar experience suffering a massive 22-0 defeat at the hands of England.
The women’ team also lacked key players due to visa rejections. They lost the first game against Ghana 5-0 followed by losses to USA 9-0, Germany by 15-0, Scotland 11-0 and England 22-0. They also lost their ranking game against Spain 13-0.
The hosts England won all age category finals, while Ireland (0ver 35 women), South Africa (Over 35 men), Argentina (Over 45 women), and Australia (Over 45 men) became the runners up in the 10-day tournament which saw the participation of a total of 19 countries in different age categories.
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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