Sports
VVIPs still backing Danushka
Rex Clementine
in Sydney
Sri Lanka cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka was denied bail yesterday in Sydney after being charged with four counts of sexual assault. The alleged incident took place in Sydney a day after Sri Lanka’s penultimate Super 12 game against Afghanistan in Brisbane. The arrest was made a couple of hours after Sri Lanka’s last game against England as the team returned to the hotel to pack their bags. The team was scheduled to leave the hotel at 3:30 am on Sunday. The arrest was made around 1am.
With bail denied, Danushka will remain in a correction center and his lawyers intend to appeal to the Supreme Court for bail. He was denied bail on the basis of being a foreign national and police argued that they can not guarantee the player being at the said Sydney address given to the court.
Although Sri Lanka Cricket had initially taken a firm decision to distance themselves from the embarrassing incident, the board was allegedly told by a VVIP politician from SLPP to bear the players’ legal costs. Another prominent politician, formerly with SJB, is believed to have helped out with the Sydney address to appeal for bail. However, a source close to the player said that a famous cricket fan had intervened to get a Sydney address of a Sri Lankan living in Australia.
The board yesterday suspended Gunathilaka. This is the fourth time he had been suspended by SLC. His most recent suspension was last year when he breached the bio bubble in the UK. He was sent home from the tour along with two other players. Although he was handed a suspension of one year, it was later reduced to six months. He was advised to seek counseling.
On previous occasions that he had been suspended, there have been interventions from higher-ups to go soft on the player.
Sources in Australia told The Island that if proven guilty, Gunathilaka faces a lengthy jail sentence, a minimum of six years.
Gunathilaka featured in Sri Lanka’s opening fixture of the World Cup against Namibia in Geelong, but was withdrawn from the squad after he sustained a hamstring injury.
The team management decided not to send the player back home as his injury was not serious. They were hoping to draft him into the squad if there was any injury to another batter. Sri Lanka were knocked out of the World Cup with just two wins in the Super 12 stage against Ireland and Afghanistan. The team suffered defeats against New Zealand, Australia and England in the second round.
Officials, team management, and the national selection panel have been blamed for not putting their foot down on previous instances when Gunathilaka had got into trouble.
The team management comprises of gentlemen who are well respected in cricket circles and no doubt they have the best interests of Sri Lankan cricket. But there are question marks on whether they have the firmness to deal with troublemakers like Gunathilaka. It needs a Duleep Mendis or an Asanka Gurusinha to take the bull by the horns.
The current selection panel has been a disappointment. Their much-publicized fitness regime was welcomed by all and sundry when it was introduced last year. But it appears now that it was an unkind move to sideline half a dozen seniors.
The Island
learns that players were exempted from fitness tests before they came over for the World Cup. Although they have failed to provide answers to why so many injuries happened, the answer could be in the fact that fitness was compromised in the last two months. The selectors perhaps thought that everything was tickety-boo after the team won the Asia Cup. They were proven wrong.
The selectors have been way too lenient in dealing with misbehaving players. The current panel in fact appointed someone who was on bail after a road accident as the vice-captain of the national team. Given their lack of firmness against players who misbehaved, just in case Gunathilaka were to get out of trouble in Australia and returned home, there is a high probability of him being appointed as the next T-20 captain of Sri Lanka. Such is the reputation of the national selection panel; no integrity and no accountability. What’s going on is simply not cricket.
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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