Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka on Monday scored the first century of the Men’s T20 World Cup to put his side into the Super Eights and leave Australia on the brink of elimination.
Nissanka scored 100 not out off 52 balls with five sixes and 10 fours as Sri Lanka, chasing Australia’s 181, reached 184-2 with two overs to spare in Kandy, Sri Lanka, to win by eight wickets.
A victory by Zimbabwe over Ireland in Group B, or against Sri Lanka tomorrow, would eliminate the 2021 champions.
Photo: AFP
If Zimbabwe lose both, Australia need to beat Oman in their final match on Friday by a big margin to get through on net run-rate.
“We’re in the lap of the gods now I think,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. “Lot of emotions in the room right now. Haven’t been at our best. Disappointed bunch at the moment.”
“We shouldn’t have lost to Zimbabwe with all due respect to them and then we were under pressure,” he said. “We will be watching the Ireland-Zimbabwe game. However, things are out of our control at the moment.”
Nissanka was involved in a 97-run stand off 66 balls with Kusal Mendis for the second wicket with the wicketkeeper-batsman posting his third half-century of the competition.
Nissanka became the first Sri Lanka player to score two centuries in T20 internationals.
After Mendis’ dismissal, Nissanka and Pavan Rathnayake put on 76 off 34 balls to see Sri Lanka to victory.
Nissanka played some glorious cover drives off the spinners and played some elegant flicks against the quicks.
“Very happy to score a hundred in a World Cup. It had been one of my dreams to be honest,” Nissanka told reporters. “Our fielding was outstanding today. We spoke about how being sharp on the field is important on a flat wicket like this. We knew they were 20 runs short. Here the par score is 200. The instruction was for me bat long even though the run rate kept climbing. We knew bad balls would come and it was important to cash in when they came along.”
Sri Lanka came into the World Cup after a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of England, but have gained momentum and have won all three games so far.
“Happy to go through to the Super Eights,” Nissanka said. “We had put in a lot of hard work, but we didn’t have much momentum leading up to the World Cup. Glad things are falling in line. Still, it’s a long tournament and we need to keep fighting.”
Australia’s campaign has been plagued by injuries, with pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood out with injury. Their captain Marsh, who missed the first two games, returned and gave them a rollicking start by scoring 54.
Marsh and Travis Head (56) scored 104 runs off 51 balls for the first wicket.
With Australia eyeing a total in excess of 200, Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers kept them to 181, with leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha picking up 3-37, and in going for quick runs Australia collapsed, losing their final six wickets for 21 in 24 balls.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS