| Sri Lanka in command by
Althaf Nawaz
Accurate and tight bowling supported by excellent ground fielding enabled Sri
Lanka to restrict the strong South African batting line up to just 167 runs in 49.2 overs.
After being invited to bat, the South Africans never looked comfortable against the
devastating pace of Nuwan Zoysa and the wily spin of Upul Chandana, Kumara Dharmasena and
skipper Sanath Jayasuriya.
Sri Lanka went into this game with one change from the previous game. Pramodaya
Wickremasinghe was brought in to replace Chaminda Vaas.
It was a good toss to win for Sanath Jayasuriya, who unhesitatingly and correctly
invited the South Africans to bat first. The latter, with the intention of making a big
score and improving their run-rate, decided to open their innings with dashing batsman
Lance Klusener and regular opener Gary Kirsten. But their hopes were soon to be shattered.
Klusener departed in only the second over for a duck, with the scoreboard still blank,
when he attempted to drive a ball from Wickremasinghe and ended up giving a simple catch
to Atapattu at cover point. The South Africans could not recover from this early set back
and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals to be all out for 167.
FedEx puts balls into scrum
Junior Rugby football is to be given a big boost. Mountain Hawk Express Private
Limited, the Licensee of Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) in Sri Lanka have begun to
roll the balls into the scrum and this they did from last Sunday. They have teamed up with
Rugby Union’s development Committee headed by Y.C. Chang and Southern rugby promoter
Kumar Abeywardena, who mooted this idea.
The idea of catching ‘em young, exposing their hidden talent and grooming them for
the big time was initiated two years back. The results have been rewarding with over 500
new schools taking to the game.
Children are now being introduced to this high body-contact game from the age of nine
years and they are gradually trained up to club level. The players are being grouped
according to age coming under the categories of Under 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19.
The Rugby Development Committee of the SLRFU has divided their coaching programme
between the provinces. There grade three coaches will be sent into each province to train
the masters-in-charge of rugby in schools and the coaches on modern coaching techniques
and the rules and regulations of the game.
The five-year plan kicks off, in the Galle and Matara districts, today and will then
proceed to Hambantota. The organizers expect to have over 12,000 schools taking upto rugby
before the end of the programme.
FedEx, one of the largest courier services in the world, has come forward with an
initial sponsorship by way off 750 rugger balls and have assured their continued support
for this sport which can be developed to reach great heights. (AN)
Three new Selectors
Former test cricketers Lalith Kaluperuma and Kapila Wijegunawardane along with Shammi
Silva have been appointed by the Sports Ministry to the panel of national cricket
Selectors yesterday.
After Dav Whatmore stepped down from the panel it was decided by the Sports Minister to
appoint these three to join hands with Chairman of Selectors T.B.Kehelgamuwa and Brendon
Kuruppu.
Shammi Silva, a former CCC and Board XI player, served as the Chairman of Selectors in
the Regional Cricket committee.
This Committee will be an independent one serving for the betterment of the game. (AN)
Yohan and Dilini
lead schools TT teams in HK
by Dhammika Ratnaweera
Yohan Deshappriya of Royal College and Dilini Madawala of Pushpadana College
Kandy are leading the boys and girls junior table tennis teams respectively at the Asian
Schools Table Tennis Championships now in Hong Kong. It will continue till July 17.
The touring team consists of four boys and four girls and three officials.
Yohan Deshappriya, ranked No. 1 in the Under 17 group also won the Junior National
title in 1998. He also toured Germany and India and also participated in the Asian Junior
Coaching Clinic held in India last year.
Dinesh Deshappriya the Under 17 No. 2 player from Isipatana, who toured Germany twice
with Yohan under the Asian Germany Sports Exchange Programme is very experienced.
K.S.T. Lakshan of Devananda College, Ambalangoda and J.T. Gunapala of Vidyartha College
Kandy are the other two players in the boys team.
It is the second Junior Asian championship for Yohan, Dinesh and Gunapala.
The girls team captain Dilini Madawala is the most experienced player in the squad. She
participated in the Asian Championship in Doha-Qatar and was also a member of the senior
womens team at the last SAF Games in Katmandu.
Saranga de Silva of Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda represented the senior national team
at the last World TT championships in Kuala Lumpur and the Commonwealth Games in
Singapore.
Pradeepa Dilrukshi of St. Joseph’s BMV Nugegoda and Nivarthana Udugama of Devi BMV
are the other two players.
L.B. Dissanayake (coach), M. Premaratne (Manager) and Womens Chaperone Vajira
Pandithasekara are the three officials.
Winning at the last post
by Rohan Wijeyaratna
Watching Sri Lanka win by a short head in a match that could have been won in a
canter last Sunday made me think that we have a tendency sometimes towards making heavy
weather out of mundane matters.
Having tied up the Pakistanis literally in knots for all but the very last few overs,
thanks to some fine tantalising stuff from our spin department, we nearly managed to throw
it all away by some thoughtless captaincy followed by some very ordinary bowling. This
brought hack memories of Ted Dexter’s massive mistake in the Leeds test of 1964 when
Fred Titmus had the Aussies almost by their throats until the English Captain in his
wisdom or the lack of it, took the new ball and brought back Trueman. The end result was
that Peter Burge, scored a terrific 160, and the Australians won the match in the end from
a near hopeless situation,
One over from Vaas should have been enough proof for Jayasuriya that Azhar Mahmood and
Razzak were a lot more comfortable against the quicks than the spinners given the
prevalent situation and conditions. But Jayasuriya persisted with both Vaas and Zoyza, and
they went for plenty in the process bowling some friendly medium pacers on a fullish
length. From a seemingly hopeless situation, Pakistan seemed to have turned the corner and
taken the game out of their boss’s reach.
Well, nearly. In the circumstances, it was fitting that Jayasuriya himself played a
major role in fashioning the win with his batting. Alternating between the brilliant and
the bizarre, he made 54 and gave the side a very steady start. Some shots were memorable;
pure vintage Jayasuriya. Some were less so, and some others very forgettable. But for my
money, the innings of Avishka Gunewardena and Jayewardene were the ones that shone through
as the purple patches.
Gunewardena plays with greater orthodoxy than his captain and immense power to boot.
Yet he seems sluggish in movement, both between wickets and out in the country. If both
these are addressed soon, he will lay strong claims for an opener’s berth in either
form of the game in the national side in the very near future.
Jayewardena played with his usual regal splendour, often making batting look a lot
easier than it actually was. It was frustrating therefore to observe that he continues in
his familiar role of promising a great deal and delivering a lot less. Of his class, there
is absolutely no argument and it seems that only steeling up his temperament is what is
wanted at the present time.
Atapattu gave his wicket away and Jayasuriya lived through the courtesy of Moin Khan,
playing shots that they would have otherwise rued had we lost the match. Angling the bat
and gliding the ball through the vacant slip cordon is all well and good, if you can
eliminate all possibilities of risk. But sometimes this bad habit is employed even with a
partially filled slip cordon, and they fall prey needlessly when well set and when looking
impregnable. I am a firm believer that a good batsman can make as many if not more runs by
employing conventional strokes coupled with sensible hard running. If the fancy one day
shots are to be resorted to, they should be left to the bottom half of the batting order,
and not to the front liners. Remember Mike Gatting’s suicidal reverse sweep in the
1987 World Cup final?
Pakistan played very well under the circumstances minus the legendary Wasim Akram and
Waqar Younis. The latter was kept away from playing on a charge that will do neither him
nor his team’s reputation any good. They do have a fine crop of younger players and
Moin is showing all the qualities needed from a resourceful and steady skipper. They may
not last long in this tournament, but we shall hear of them for a long time to come, given
stable and sensible management of their cricket.
Hillwood swim champs without
pool!
by Hafiz Marikar
Hillwood College, Kandy, a school without a swimming pool of their own, did
extremely well to emerge as the Girls’ Novices champions by collecting 118 points, in
the 5th Outstation Novices Swimming Championship, held at the Royal College pool, on
Saturday.
Trinity College, the only school with a pool in Kandy, retained the Boys’
championship by collecting 177 points. Kingswood College was placed second in the
boys’ event, while in the girls’, Mahamaya College with 54 points were placed
third. Girls’ High School took fifth place with 36 points.
Work on the pool at Hillwood College is on. This modern pool, with all facilities will
be ready in a couple of months. A big hand to the Principal Miss Sumithra Ratnayake and
the supportive parents. Mahamaya College too are in the process of building a pool.
Asian
Youth U/19 Soccer Tourney in Colombo from July 26 - 30
by Shirajiv Sirimane
Sri Lanka will take on India in the curtain raiser of the Asian Youth Under 19
Soccer Championships to be held from July 26 to 30 at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The championships are organised by the Asian Football Confederation and conducted by
the Football Federation of Sri Lanka. Teams from Bhutan and Pakistan will also
participate.
The event will be conducted on a league basis and the team finishing on top will make
it to the second round, which will be held in August out of Colombo.
Eight officials from Singapore, Maldives and Bangladesh will officiate in this under 19
tournament and their expenses will be met by the AFC. A 23 member youth pool under the
eyes of Coach M. Nizardeen and Assistant Coach A. Balendren is already under training and
the final team will be picked next week. SSP Sunil Perera will be manager of the team.
Each foreign team of 25 members will be housed at the Sugathadasa Stadium. The Sri
Lanka team is likely to be housed at the Federation Dormitory in Colombo 7.
Two matches will be played each day with one under floodlight.
The draw :
July 26 (Wednesday) Bhutan vs Pakistan and India vs Sri Lanka.
July 28 (Friday) Sri Lanka vs Bhutan and India vs Pakistan.
July 30 (Sunday) Bhutan vs India and Sri Lanka vs Pakistan.
The matches will commence at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. each day.
D. J. N.
Senevirathne Trophy
Sylvestrians smother Mahanama
by Hafiz Marikar Kandy Sports Corr.
St. Sylvester’s College rucked, drove and powered their way to a
comprehensive 33-0 win over Mahanama College, in their sixth D. J. N. Senevirathne Trophy
first leg rugby encounter played at the Nittawella grounds on Friday.
It was a scrappy opening ten minutes in front of a disappointing crowd of less than
100, as most of the rugby lovers were unaware of the game.
However, the Sylvestrians who started off with attacking rugby, pinned down the
Mahanama lads in their own territory. St. Sylvester’s dominated the line outs and
their passing was excellent.
One defect, however, was that their three-quarters kept too close to each other and
this prevented their otherwise excellent movements.
At the breather, the winners led 13-0.
Mahanama, who are usually capable of hard tackling, had no organised defence and
conceded five tries. The Sylvestrians backs ran like hares creating massive gaps in the
Mahanama back line.
They scored their tries through Abeyawickrema, Kodagoda, Roy, Lenadora and
Wickremasinghe. Roy goaled a try and put over two penalties. They scored their points
through a goal, four tries and two penalty kicks.
C. Tenakoon refereed.
SLTA to conduct
international coaching course
The SLTA, in its endeavour to uplift the standard of tennis coaches in Sri Lanka, will
be conducting a nine day Level 1 Coaches Workshop in conjunction with the International
Tennis Federation from August 19 at the National Tennis Centre, 45, Sir Marcus Fernando
Mawatha, Colombo 7.
The course will be conducted by Suresh Mennon, ITF Development Officer Asia, said
Romesh Fernando, Chairman, Coaches and Officials. According to Fernando, the course will
be divided into two categories. A mini-tennis course which will be concluded on two days
and a seven day tennis course.
The qualifications required to be eligible to follow this course are minimal. A number
of outstation participants have expressed interest in participating. Certificates of
attendance will be given to all those who attended the course, while those who pass the
examination will be provided with an ITF Level 1 certificate. As the number of
participants is limited, those interested are advised to apply early to the SLTA. |
