Thuppahi's Blog

Michael Roberts

It is not only the  location of this Win by Bangladeshbut the comprehensive character of the triumph in all departments that stuns the cricketing world. Well done Bangladesh…..

Bangladesh trump Australia for historic win in Darwin after Mehidy five-for

Visitors needed just 57 to win on day four even as Cameron Green scored 104 for Australia in the second innings

Mohammad Isam …..  Aug 16, 2026, 2:48 PM (14 mins ago)·Published: Aug 16, 2026

Mehidy Hasan Miraz finished with five wickets in the second iinings iGetty Images

Bangladesh 426 (Tanzid 101, Shanto 84, Mehidy 65, Hazlewood 6-89) and 57 for 1 (Mominul 30*, Shadman 25*, Hazlewood 1-5) beat Australia 198 (Smith 71, Mahmud 6-55, Ebadot 2-39) and 284 (Green 104, Smith 44, Mehidy 5-56, Mahmud 3-66) by nine wickets

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A WEB Item sent by Riyaz  Aluher

Every morning, half a million schoolchildren in Singapore stand with their right fists over their hearts and recite 38 words.”We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.”

Those words were written by a man who was born in Ceylon, raised in Malaya, spent 12 years in London, married a Hungarian woman, and didn’t call Singapore home until he was in his thirties.***

   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>      >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

He wasn’t born Singaporean. There was no Singapore to be born into.  He had to help build the country first… and then write the words that would teach its children who they were.

His name was S. Rajaratnam. He was born on February 25, 1915, in Jaffna, Ceylon. But only because his father wanted him born there for auspicious reasons… his elder brother had died prematurely, and the family believed a birth in the ancestral homeland would protect the second child.

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ITEM in The ISLAND Newspaper, August 2026

The International Masters Cricket Over-60s tournament got underway in Toronto, Canada, yesterday, with a strong Sri Lankan side hoping to make its mark against some of the best Masters teams in the world. Sri Lanka have been drawn in Group ‘A’ alongside defending champions Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Wales and hosts Canada.

Group ‘B’ comprises England, New Zealand, India, USA, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Scotland.

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Danny Byrne, … presenting an article entitled ““Grit and determination keep Bangladesh on track for a possible famous victory; Day 3 in Darwin”

In 2006 the Australians played a Test match in Fatullah and won despite conceding a lead of over 150 in the first innings. In that game Bangladesh batted first and scored 427 with Nafees getting 138 and Stuart MacGill taking 8–108 from 33.3 overs while Warne went for 0-112 from 20 overs. Australia made 269 in reply with Gilchrist scoring 144 batting at 6. The first innings lead was 158 in favour of Bangladesh. The home team scored only 148 in the second innings and the Australians knocked up 307 for 7 to win by 3 wickets with Ponting as captain scoring 118 not out. Most Australians I have spoken with in the ground are completely convinced that a similar recovery will take place in Darwin. Many of them cannot contemplate that this great Australian side could possibly lose a five-day Test match to a country like Bangladesh. They need to wake up, and they need to wake up quickly.

Darwin 2026 4

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Michael Roberts presenting an article printed in 2003: “Language and national identity: The Sinhalese and others over the centuries,” Nationalism and    Ethnic Politics, Summer 2003, 9: 75-102.

The collective identity of Sinhala-speakers over four centuries dating from the 1590s is analyzed with due attention to the structural form of (a) the Kingdom of Kandy and (b) the British colonial regime that took control of the whole island by 1815/18. The analysis dwells on the modes of oral, visual-iconic and written forms of cultural transmission that pre-dated print technology, while drawing attention to the relative uniformity of the Sinhala language in both geographical and temporal scale. A semantic pattern of political alliances based on the opposition of inside to outside which works contextually like a nestling Chinese-box is one dimension of this linguistic order. This supported the tendency of Sinhalese representations to adopt an associational logic which merged past enemies (the wicked Tamils) with contemporary enemies (the Portuguese, the English) during the liberation struggles of the Kandyan state and its militia in the pre-1818 period. Such tendencies and the continuation of disparaging epithets coined during the period of Portuguese imperial intrusion into the vocabulary of the twentieth century must inform any theoretical efforts to distinguish the collective consciousness of the Sinhalese after the substantial transformations initiated under the British from that which is expressed so powerfully in the war poems of the pre-British period.

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Danny Byrne, whose title reads thus: “Tanzid’s brilliant maiden Test century puts Bangladesh in a wonderful position; Day 2 in Darwin.”

The seat row numbers in the Grandstand start with A as the top row and the most likely to offer shade. Naturally we bought seats for row P expecting it to be at the back and out of the sun. Lots of things are upside down here. The water appears to go down the sink in the wrong direction, the wickets are announced before the team totals, the ground floor is the first floor and so on. The only saving grace is that we all try to drive on the same side of the road.

….. Darwin, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

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Devika Brendon, iin GROUNDVIEWS, August 2026 …. Photos courtesy of Nayanahari Abeynayake & Mudirshuni Kumar … with highlights being impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi

The title of the exhibition, The Endless Harvest, which was held at Haputale Town Hall is very powerful and resonant on several levels. For an agricultural society, the growing of crops is the focus of their lives. This is why the harvest festivals in many cultures celebrate prosperity and abundance, and invoke divine intervention and assistance to support the growing of grain, vegetables, rice and other foods grown in the ground.

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Danny Byrne on BANGLADESH’s Impressive First Day vs Australia …. “Bangladesh blow Australia away for 198 and set up the potential for a fascinating Test match; Day 1 in Darwin.”

DARWIN, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 12: A general view is seen during game two in the T20 International series between Australia and South Africa at Marrara Stadium on August 12, 2025 in Darwin, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

In the end, we took an Uber Taxi to the ground, sharing it with a couple of Woods’ mates who had come up from Melbourne. The journey took only 25 minutes because we did not have to go via Palmerston. The previous evening, we had tried to transfer electronic tickets to one another, but, as had happened in India five weeks earlier, they became stuck in the transit process. This time, however, the entry staff were helpful, and we managed to get in by showing downloaded images on a few phones. A large stand covered half the ground, with a small section of grass banks on the other side. There were several food outlets with the usual burgers, fish and chips, rice and fried chicken options. There was even a van selling falafel as well as burgers. It was nice to see independent traders making a living unlike the rubbish available at the large stadiums in Australia where there are often 10 or more identical food outlets offering absolutely no choice.

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ONE:  ICC SITE …. https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/sri-lanka-announce-squad-for-first-test-against-india

Sri Lanka have announced a 16-member squad for the first Test as part of the ICC World Test Championship series against India set to begin on August 15 in Galle.

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