appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Josh Ball

Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground: Sri Lanka A (2pts) beat UAE by three wickets.
If Sri Lanka A’s main goal in Hong Kong this week is to unearth a potential star or two ahead of the senior team’s tour of New Zealand next month, then they could do far worse than take a closer look at Madushika Methtananda.
The diminutive slow right-armer took four wickets for 16 runs and then scored a vital 11 off 12 balls as her side eked out a last-ball T20 win over United Arab Emirates in the first game of the Asian Cricket Council Women’s Emerging Teams Cup on Monday.
Methtananda’s 21-run partnership with wicketkeeper Nilakshana Sandamini (12) rescued a dying run-chase at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground against a UAE side who had been bowled out for 95, losing their last eight wickets for just 32 runs.
With Sri Lanka 70 for five with four of their 20 overs remaining, the pair nudged, nurdled, cut and pulled their way towards the target, finding gaps that possibly should not have been there and – in contrast to their teammates – turned ones into scampered twos.

Sandamini even managed a rare four over square leg, and by the time she was run out by Vaishnave Mahesh at the end of the penultimate over, Sri Lanka needed five from the last six balls.
Despite losing Malsha Shehani to another run-out with four still needed, Rashmi Silva saw her side to a three-wicket victory with a ball to spare.
“We have some experienced players in the squad, and they used that to get us the win,” Sanjeewa Alankarage, the Sri Lanka coach, said. “It was nice to start with a win.
“Next month we have the New Zealand tour, and we are looking at a few players and if they perform well they will definitely be going to the national squad.”
UAE came within a whisker of pulling off an impressive win, and it was spinners Esha Oza and Kavisha Egodage who almost got them there, conceding just 25 runs between them from their eight overs.
Oza grabbed two wickets into the bargain, and the pair slowed almost to a crawl a Sri Lanka reply that had started brightly, with opener Vishmi Gunaratne (21) and Imesha Dulani (15) getting their side to 54 for two midway through the innings.
Oza then trapped Gunaratne leg before and the wheels almost came off completely for Sri Lanka, with Indhuja Nandakumar taking two wickets in three balls to leave them five down.
On another day it would have been Oza, not Methtananda, taking home the player-of-the-match award. The UAE opener scored 39 from 30 balls at the top of the innings, and had propelled her side to 62 for one before she went for one big hit too many in the ninth over and was bowled by Methtananda.

Having already lost the dangerous Theertha Satish (16), UAE struggled to find any runs, and only Khushi Sharma (14) got into double figures.
Methtananda finished with four for 16, and Malsha Shehani and Nimasha Meepage took two wickets apiece as UAE’s innings came to an end in 19.3 overs.
In the day’s second game, Bangladesh A crushed Malaysia by 97 runs, thanks to an unbeaten 44-ball half-century from Murshida Khatun.
Batting first, Bangladesh scored 148 for six in their 20 overs, and then restricted their opponents to 51 for eight, with Rabeya Khan the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets for seven runs from her three overs.
Hong Kong’s women, meanwhile, will begin their tournament on Tuesday, taking on India A in the day’s second game. Before that, Nepal will face Pakistan A.


Mandhana becomes top women’s run-scorer as India put Hong Kong to sword in Asia Cup

Hong Kong primed for T20 Asia Cup India cricket clash, stars atoning for 2024 heartbreak

Hong Kong’s plan to grow ‘skeletal’ women’s cricket talent pool and challenge Asian elite

New Zealand cricket great Suzie Bates aiming to bow out on World Cup high

Women's cricket

ACC Women’s Emerging Teams Cup: Sri Lanka beat UAE in last-ball thriller with Methtananda a star in making

Madushika Methtananda (right) of Sri Lanka performed well with bat and ball in the win over UAE. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Nilakshana Sandamini (centre) celebrates with Umasha Thimeshani (left) and Malsha Shehani. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Vishmi Gunarathne cuts loose for Sri Lanka at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Sri Lanka likely venue of India matches in cricket’s Asia Cup after refusal to visit Pakistan: official

India and Pakistan have not met on each other’s soil since 2012. Photo: Reuters

Pakistan-India rivalry risks ‘tit-for-tat’ cricket boycotts of Asia Cup, World Cup tournaments

Pakistan’s Mohammad Kamran (centre) in action in a match against India at a cricket tournament in Hong Kong in 2020. Photo: Edmond So

Cricket fans, with their faces painted in the Indian and Pakistani national flag colours, ahead of the first match between India and Pakistan in Twenty20 World Cup super 12 stage on October 23, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Cricket fans in Lahore react while watching the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match between India and Pakistan in August last year via a live telecast. Photo: AFP

Indian fans wave the national flag during the 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-final in Manchester, England. India is the sport’s most lucrative market by far. Photo: AFP

Sport

Cricket

Hong Kong

Madushika Methtananda takes four wickets and then guides side to three-wicket win
In day’s second game, Bangladesh crush Malaysia by 97 runs thanks to 44-ball half-century from Murshida Khatun


Madushika Methtananda takes four wickets and then guides side to three-wicket win in Asian Cricket Council Women’s Emerging Teams Cup.


Cricket Hong Kong