SL vs ZIM | 1st ODI: Fifties from Nissanka, Chandimal and Asalanka guide Sri Lanka past Zimbabwe

It was a thorough professional chase from Sri Lanka as they defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets with eight balls remaining to win the first ODI of the three-match series between the two sides taking place at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium at Pallekele.

Three Sri Lankan batters in opener Pathum Nissanka, experienced batter Dinesh Chandimal and rising star Charith Asalanka played pivotal roles in the chase of a huge target of 297 runs set up by the Zimbabwe team.

It all started well with a cautious start by the opening pair of Nissanka and Kusal Menids, who was making a comeback to international cricket after serving a ban of five months.

After the 40 run opening stand, Mendis was caught behind the wicket by Regis Chakabva off the bowling of Blessing Muzarabani. Kamindu Mendis, who replaces, Kusal also had a decent stand with Nissanka as the two added 41 for the second wicket before Kamindu was trapped by Richard Ngarava. It was after the dismissal of Kamindu that experienced Chandimal walked in.

Chandimal played the anchor role giving a free hand to first Nissanka and later on Asalanka to attack from the other end. He had a 67 run stand with Nissanka before the latter was removed Sikandar Raza and then had a match-winning 129 run stand with Asalnka before he himself was out courtesy of soft dismissal.

While both Nissanka and Chandimal made 75 each, Asalanka, after the fall of Chandimal scored more freely and reached his fourth ODI fifty in only his ninth match. However, he too couldn’t see his team home and became Ngarava’s third scalp after being trapped LBW for 71 off 68 balls. Skipper Dasun Shanka and Chamika Karunaratne saw the end of the game remaining unbeaten on 10 and five respectively.

Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Zimbabwe on the back of a century from Sean Williams (100 0ff 87 balls), a half-century from Regis Chakabva (72 off 81 balls) and valiant debut innings of 42 from just 50 balls by Takudzwanashe Kaitano managed to get to 296-9 in their 50 overs.

The second game between the two sides will be played at the same venue on Tuesday, January 18th, 2022.

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U19 World Cup | Defending champions Bangladesh rolled over for 97 by England

The title defence of the defending Under 19 World Champions Bangladesh didn’t start in a great manner at the 2022 ICC Under 19 World Cup going on in West Indies as they were rolled over for 97 by England while batting first after winning the toss. At one point, even getting 97 didn’t look like a possibility as they were reduced to 51-9 in the 25th over before 46 runs stand for the 1oth wicket between number 10 Naimur Rohman Noyon and number 11 Ripon Mondol. After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Bangladesh would have thought of getting to a great start but it wasn’t to be as England bowlers got all over them and removed the first four batters at a cumulative score of eight runs in the first 10 overs. The misery didn’t end there as after a partnership of 18 runs the wickets once again started to fall and from 26-4 in the 14th over, the junior Tigers suddenly lost five wickets in the next 25 runs. An easy catch was also dropped by England otherwise the innings would have ended much earlier. For England, fast bowler Josh Boyden picked four wickets while Thomas Aspinwall picked two. Among the rest of the wickets, there was one run out and James Sales, Fateh Singh and part-time bowler and skipper Tom Prest picked one wicket each. Into the chase, England had scored five runs without the loss of any wicket by the end of the fifth over at the time of writing this piece.

SL vs ZIM | 1st ODI: Williams’ century, Chakabva’s brilliant fifty helps Zimbabwe set up 297 for win

Experienced Zimbabwe all-rounder Sean Williams hit his fifth ODI century as he made 100 off just 87 balls to take his team to a great total of 296 in the first ODI of the three-match series against Sri Lanka taking place at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele. Along with Williams, Regis Chakabav also played a great knock although he missed out on his first ODI century yet again, getting out on 72 off 81 balls. Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision was vindicated by his openers in debutant Takudzwanashe Kaitano and Chakkabva. The openers added 80 for the first wicket in the first 15 overs before Kaitano was trapped leg before wicket by leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay who is making his comeback to the Sri Lankan team with this game. Another wicket fell quickly as Zimbabwe skipper Ervine was removed by Kamindu Mendis. Post the second wicket, Williams walked in and added 50 for the fourth wicket with Chakabva before the latter was caught by Kusal Mendis off Vandersay. However, without getting perturbed by that, Williams kept going on and added 42 with Wesley Madhevere and then 46 with Sikandar Raza. Just after Raza’s dismissal, Ryan Burl also got out but Williams kept up the march. However, even he was removed on the first ball of the 50th over, but not before reaching his fifth century which came in just 86 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes. In that every over, 10 runs were scored off the next five balls and one more wicket was lost Zimbabwe finished on 296-9. For Sri Lanka, Chamika Karunaratne picked two wickets while Vandersay and Nuwan Pradeep picked two each. In the chase, the Lankan Lions had reached 105-2 at the end of the 17th over of their innings at the time of publishing this. They needed 193 off 198 balls with eight wickets in hand.

BBL | Glenn Maxwell's all-round show against Heat keeps Stars’ hopes of Playoffs alive

Glenn Maxwell hasn’t shown his full potential even after 13 games in this year’s Big Bash League, but the way he performed in this game against Brisbane Heat, the do or die game for his team, was enough to take them to a win and resultingly closer to chance to qualify for the Playoffs of BBL 2021-22. Maxwell not only hit an exciting 37 off 30 balls with the bat to help his team in the chase but also picked up two crucial wickets in his four overs spell to contribute with the ball in restricting the Heat to an average score in their first innings. Chasing 150, the Stars got off to a more than decent start with the opening pairing of Maxwell and Joe Clarke putting up a great stand of 104 runs in just the first 11 overs. Though both the openers got put in quick succession with the scores changing from 104-0 to 110-2, Hilton Cartwright and Marcus Stoinis, who came in at number three and four respectively, utilised their experience and added an unbeaten 40 off just 15 balls to finish off the game. Clarke, the British import for Stars was the top run-scorer as he made a swift 62 off just 36 balls, which included nine fours and a six. James Bazeley and Mark Steketee got one wicket each for the Heat. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first at the MCG in Melbourne, Heat were able to get off to a great start as the opening pairing of Nathan McSweeney and Chris Lynn put together 50 for the first wicket. However, that momentum couldn’t be carried on as Heat lost wickets and couldn’t score freely. Ben Duckett’s persistence 51 off 42 balls and quickfire 15* from skipper Jimmy Peirson to the blue brigade eventually 149-6 in their 20 overs. For Stars, along with Maxwell, Adam Zampa picked up two wickets while Pakistani import Ahmed Daniyal and Nathan Coulter-Nile got one wicket each. With this win, the Stars now have 22 points from 13 games same as Hobart Hurricanes but have played one game more than that. However, Adelaide Strikers, who are at the fourth position in the table, also have only 24 points from 13 games. Thus with one game left, Stars are still in the mix to finish top-five and qualify for Playoffs.

The Ashes | England finish an agonising tour - for the fans and the players themselves

England were decimated once again at the hands of Australia, submitting to a 0-4 loss in the Ashes Down Under. The Hobart pink ball Test on Sunday evening saw another collapse from the visitors as they lost 10 wickets in just 56 runs to hand over the Urn to the new Australian leader - Pat Cummins. Chasing a total of 271 runs, England started well given the circumstances and put on 68 runs on board in the first 16 overs. Cameron Green was the star for Australia today and broke the back of the English order by removing Burns, and Crawley in a space of six overs and put England back into the same agony. Once the top three went back to the hut, it was expected that senior pros like Ben Stokes would opt to fight back against the home side but a rash shot against Mitchell Starc sent him back to the pavilion. From there it was just a waiting game for Australia as barring Joe Root, every single player fell prey to poor dismissals. The partnership card was horrible to read as barring the opening duo, not a single one crossed 15 runs, and final eight partnerships were of single digits. England were bundled out for just 124 runs in the second innings and lost the Test match even before the third day ended. A barrage of criticism followed in the social media with the English contemplating ways to fix their first class structure. The visitors had very few moments to remember from the series, but one of them was the relentless bowling of Mark Wood, who poured his heart out whenever asked to bowl by the captain. Wood consistently clocked speeds above 145ks and effected nine wickets in the final Test match. He took 17 wickets in the series and was the only English player in the top 5 wicket-takers chart. With a drubbing of 0-4 in the Ashes, England sunk further and now are placed at the bottom position in the list. Australia have won four out of the five Test matches played and with 83.33 percentage points hold the second position in the list.