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New Zealand 305, Sri Lanka 251/7 Kiwis fight back to check Lankan batting New Zealand checked Sri Lanka's experienced batting line-up with a combination of seam and spin bowling to have the homesters at 251 for 7 in reply to their first innings total of 305 on the second day of the first cricket Test at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday. Medium pacer Chris Cairns put New Zealand in the driving seat by initially capturing the wickets of the opening pair of Sanath Jayasuriya (10) and Marvan Atapattu (0) in the first session of play to be followed by the scalp of Arjuna Ranatunga who was bowled for 49 just when he looked threatening.
Earlier in the day New Zealand resumed from an overnight 282 for 7 and lost Adam Parore for his overnight score of 67, caught at second slip by Sanath Jayasuriya off paceman Pramodya Wickremasinghe. Muttiah Muralitheran finished with a haul of five wickets which included the wickets of Paul Wiseman and Vettori.-(CD) HARD COURT JUNIOR NATIONAL TENNIS C'SHIPS Nishan Rajakaruna emerges champion Nishan Rajakaruna of British School won the under 12 championship at the Hard Court Junior National Tennis Championships last week. Rajakaruna whipped Royalist Yoveen Jayasekera 6-4, 6-0 in straight sets in the finals to clinch the title. Rajakaruna scored a crushing 6-0, 6-0 victory without dropping a point over his semi final opponent Shyamalan. His domination was remarkable during the tournament where he won pre-quarter and quarter final matches also without losing a single game. He won 6-0, 6-0 over Nishandran in the quarter final after a 9-0 win over Manishka Jayasundera in the pre-quarters. Coached by Jagath Welikala, Rajakaruna also won the under 12 event at the Fischer tennis tournament recently. Asian Women's Volleyball Tourney Sri Lankan Air Women go down tamely to Australia Shirajiv Sirimane from Vietnam Hochi Minh City, May 22 - Air Force women spikers put up a lethargic performance as they went down to Australia 3-0 in the first ranking match of the 10th Asian Women's Club Championship for the 'LG Cup' here last Wednesday night. A much better performance was expected from the Lankans who had gained tremendous experience from their earlier three encounters over top Asian teams of Taipei, Kazakastan and Thailand. Drawn up with the Australians, who had only one victory over the hosts, was considered a team, in par with the Air Force. Sri Lankans lost their rhythm all the way to lose 3/15 7/15 and 3/15 in one hour. Skipper Nayana Jayaratne did not come up with any exceptional performance while Wajira Nettasinghe, other than scoring a single point from a service never made any impact. Kumari Wanniarachchi was the lone game batter for Sri Lanka and played a fine up and down game. A significant contribution was never made by Gunawathie Ranasinghe and Krishanthi Jayawardane. Even the fine and praiseworthy fighting skill displayed against Thailand was not repeated, which made victory easy for their opponents. The silver lining for the Lankans was the fact that they had only four net servers (two by W. Kumari and one each by M. Kumari and Nayana) and their technique had picked up. The Australians prolonged their victory by serving as many as 7 faulty serves. Six footer Tamsin Barnett tormented the Sri Lankans with a display of fine and accurate spiking and she also gained four points from services. The Lankan coach Ajith Nettasinghe tried all his knowhow to slow the Australian victory, but with no avail. Once when a technical time out was awarded he simply asked skipper Nayana to brief the team and opted to keep away. Meanwhile, hosts Vietnam too found that things were not going in their favour as they suffered a huge 13/15 11/15 and 9/15 defeat at the hands of Thailand. They were to play Sri Lanka yesterday to determine the one before last position of the championships. The match will be a prestige battle to secure a single victory, but hosts are the favourites. Sri Lanka Table Tennis Tour of Germany Chalitha and Sirisena back to form Dhammika Ratnaweera reporting from Germany Bermen, (May 27) - K. S. T. Chalitha and Rohan Sirisena the two Sri Lankan paddlers who could not perform well in the previous games came back to form by winning their matches against Post TTC Bermen which ended in an easy 9-0 victory for Sri Lanka Table Tennis team. Chalitha the number four player defeated Meyer in two straight sets 21-13, 21-17 while Sirisena beat Tegge again in two straight sets 21-18, 21-18 respectively. Thilina Piyadasa and Sri Lanka Skipper Indika Prasad the most senior players scored two victories to put the side on top and guided the two young players Yohan and Dinesh Deshapriya who played in their own style to win their games. Sri Lanka team will have two rest days on May 28 and 29 and will play their next match at Bocholt City on May 30. They will be travelling to Trier City for German Cup tournament on May 31. Lumbini edge out Nalanda, 13/10 Lumbini had to fight tooth and nail to overcome Nalanda as they were edged out by 13 points (a goal, two penalties) to 10 (a goal and a penalty) in a Zone I inter-school rugby encounter at Havelock Park yesterday. Lumbini led 6/0 at lemons. Lumbini players put up a superb effort led by their forwards to overcome their rivals. They scored their try through centre Roy Nishantha which fly half Sham Pradeep added the extra points. Then the two penalties were converted by Pradeep to notch up their first win. For Nalanda flanker Venura Kitumini planted the try and full back Janaka Ruwan goaled it. He later put over their solitary penalty. (Referee — Saman Edama (AN) Thomians crush DSS: 34/0 S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia crashed D. S. Senanayake College by 34 points (2 goals, 4 tries) to nil in their inter-school Rugby encounter at Longden Place yesterday. At the breather Thomians led 10/0. Second rower Dax Moses (2), full back Romesh Perera, Fly half Stephan Vantwest, winger Azwan Tajudeen and centre Sasanka Gunasekera touched down for the winners. Azwer Tajudeen goaled two tries. Referee — Roshan Deen. (AN) Thurstan outclass Wesley to clinch Rajaratnam trophy by Ravi Nahagawatte Thurstan outclassed Wesley 17-3 to clinch the "Diyanesh Rajaratnam Memorial Trophy", which was awarded for the first time, in their annual rugby fixture played at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. The win put Thurstan right on top of Western Province Zone Two, leaving them with just a single match to be completed to emerge as group champs. The Wesleyites, who trailed 0-10 at the breather, were forced to defend most of the time in the face of an attacking three quarter line which contributed all the tries for Thurstan. Winger Asanka Peiris was the first to score when he powered his way from fifteen metres out when skipper Nuwan Kumara switched play to the left flank seeking a breakthrough. Mohamed Rilwan made the score 10-0 when he planted the teams second try during injury time. The centre three quarter out-smarted the entire Wesley back division and cut into score by diving over following a twenty metre dash. Four minutes into the second half, he crossed the line again when winger Peiris cleared the path by drawing the defence in masterly fashion. Rilwan added the extra points from under the posts. Wesley's solitary penalty was put over by fly half Sulfikar Haleemdeen. Referee — John Barnard. Thomian batsman 'URP' dies Former Thomian opening batsman Dr. U. R. P. Gunatilake who played during 1957-59 passed away on Wednesday (27 May). Gunatilake who shone as a batsman opened batting with the famous T. C. T. Edwards when representing the first eleven cricket team. He joined Medical College after leaving school, and passed out in 1966. Gunatilake served in the Sri Lanka Army for a short period before migrating to England where he lived for twenty years. He took up duties as the doctor at Central Bank on his return to Sri Lanka five years ago, and was injured during the recent bomb blast. Gunatilake leaves his wife and three children. The funeral took place yesterday at Mt. Lavinia Cemetery. |
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