Sensational last over nails India
Channaka De Silva

All rounder Robin Singh's act of valour under telling physical problems and tremendous pressure narrowly failed at the threshold of victory as a sensational final over by Sanath Jayasuriya brought Sri Lanka a thrilling eight-run margin amidst heart stopping drama in a Nidahas Trophy Limited Over cricket tournament match at SSC stadium yesterday.

India needed ten runs for victory with three wickets in hand when Jayasuriya began the final over at a tension filled SSC stadium. But the smart all rounder snapped up those three remaining wickets in four balls with his customary wily manner to give the locals a victory to remember. Among those was the wicket of India's lead fighter Singh who simply looked completely fagged out in the previous over when he wearily recovered after vomitting through exhaustion.

Man of the Match Aravinda de Silva celebrates his fiftieth one day fifty ( Pic by Mangala Weerasekara )

Singh who was soaked in sweat and dirt by the end of his battle, appeared to be in great discomfort when he suddenly began vomitting in the penultimate over but little must have been his physical pain compared with the mental trauma he would have undergone when his struggle ended in failure in the next over.

Indians were finally bowled out for 163 in the fourth ball of the final over after their brave chase of a 171 runs in a rain curtailed match. They had slumped to 58 for 5 in the eleventh over and then fell to 75 for 6 in the 17th over before Singh injected new life to the innings mainly in a partnership of 63 in 15 overs with young all rounder Ajit Agarkar. Indians who had a maximum of 36 overs to get a target of 171 runs, were given a flying start by the exuberant Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly who smashed the ball all around the park in a whirlwind 41-run opening stand in six overs.

Bowler Suresh Perera screams in jubilation as stumps get shattered by a stunning direct through from Muttiah Muralitharan at mid-on to run out Ajay Jadeja at SSC Stadium yesterday.( Pic by Mangala Weerasekara )

Tendulkar who was in amazing touch throughout the tournament, was finally undone by Kumara Dharmasena who received a return catch in the first ball he bowled which was a full toss. Tendulkar displayed the kind of form he is in, with some unbelievable strokes in his brief 16-ball stay of 17 which contained four boundaries.

His opening partner Saurav Ganguly who made 26 in 26 balls with five boundaries made his exit seven runs later on 48 in the next over by medium pacer Suresh Perera. Left hander Ganguly mistimed his drive and was caught at mid on by Aravinda de Silva.

Wicket keeper batsman Nayan Mongia who was promoted up the order to bat at number three in a new move by Indians which proved disastrous departed in Perera's next over. A brilliant piece of fielding by Muttiah Muralitharan at mid on who threw down the stumps with a direct hit while diving forward signalled the end of in-form Ajay Jadeja in the first ball he faced.

The double blow in successive balls was accompanied by another in-form player Mohammed Azharuddin's dismissal in the next over to the addition of another single to the total. This placed India awkwardly at 58 for five while all rounder Hrishikesh Kanitkar failed to cope with the pressure and fell for 9 on 76.

The run rate which was still healthily placed over 5 runs per over when the fifth wicket fell, had however been pegged back to just over four when Kanitkar departed in the 17 over.

Agarkar who rode his luck while playing a fine supporting knock to Singh, then gradually brought the Indians out of the hole. Upul Chandana usually a brilliant fielder, spilled a very easy high catch at deep mid wicket when Agarkar was on five and total was 85 while skipper Arjuna Ranatunga dropped a straight forward chance when Agarkar was on 20 and Total was 120. Romesh Kaluwitharna missed an easy stumping chance also when Agarkar was on 20.

He used the chances to the maximum and almost made the Lankans regret their mistakes bitterly, hammering a valuable 30 runs in 47 balls with two boundaries and a six. Singh and Agarkar added 63 runs in real quick time of 15 overs to bring the total up to 138 by the 32nd over.

When Agarkar was finally bowled by left arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya attempting a big drive, India needed 34 runs in the last four overs with three wickets in hand.

Singh immediately got into the task and kept the scoreboard ticking, scoring 12 runs in Jayasuriya's next over which included four byes as a result of a terrible mistake by Kaluwitharana.

Another nine runs in the next over-the 35th, kept the Indians in the hunt and they required ten runs in the final over for victory.

Jayasuriya finished with excellent final figures of 5.4-0-18-4 while Dharmasena and medium pacer Perera finished with two wickets each.

After a pathetic performance against India in the opening match of the tournament, Perera gave a controlled show which must have been to the great relief of the team management.

Earlier vice captain Aravinda de Silva completed a half century of one-day half centuries, a rare cricketing feat while setting the tone for a challenging Sri Lankan total.

The only previous players to have achieved the feat were West Indian Desmond Haynes (59 half centuries), Pakistani Javed Miandad (51 half centuries) and Mohammad Azharuddin (51 half centuries having scored two in the current tournament).

De Silva who came in at 30 for two in the fifth over, played with great authority and responsibility holding one end while letting his partners to act the role of the aggressor.

He was the last Sri Lankan wicket to fall in the 34th over having scored a polished 62 in 86 balls with five boundaries.

However Sri Lankan batting once again exposed their weakness of keeping the strike rate in the latter stages of the innings scoring only 36 runs in the final ten overs.

This sluggishness in the late stages was their downfall in the opening match against India and could have been proved disastrous again had not the bowlers performed remarkably well.

Called-in Avishka Gunawardena was flop at the top getting out in the first ball he faced while his opening partner Sanath Jayasuriya thumped a quick-fire 23 in 14 balls with three boundaries and a six.

As the number of overs was limited to 36 players showed little inhibition in their stroke-play but it also brought about a quick procession of batsmen coming-in and going-out while de Silva held one end firmly.

The partnerships were brief but they were maintaining a good scoring rate while the innings sometimes bordered on danger.

One such instance was when Romesh Kaluwitharna's dismissal left Sri Lanka on 90 for 5 in the 15th over suggesting Sri Lanka would not last their full quota.

But all rounder Upul Chandana played an entertaining knock of 26 spiced with two sixes and one boundary while associating de Silva for 42 runs in 11 overs to bring the total up to 132 by the 25th over.

His exit in the 26th over began the considerable slowing down of the Sri Lankan late order in the last ten overs.

The game was cut short to a 36 over game after a morning shower delayed the start.

    Sri Lanka
  S.Jayasuriya c Kanitkar b Prasad       23
  A.Gunawardena c Azharuddin b Agarkar    0
  M.Atapattu c R.Singh b Agarkar         12
  A.de Silva c Azharuddin b Prasad       62
  A.Ranatunga c jadeja b H.Singh         11
  R.Kaluwitharana st Mongia b H.Singh     7
  U.Chandana b Agarkar                   26
  K.Dharmasena c Tendulkar b Kumble      11
  P.Wickremasingh not out                 5
  M.Muralitharan not out                  3
  Extras (lb-4 w-2 nb-5)                 11
  Total (for eight wickets)             171
    Fall of wickets 1-1 2-30 3-38 4-77 5-90 6-132 7-160 8-164
    Did not bat: S.Perera
    Bowling Agarkar 7-0-38-3 (1nb, 1w), Prasad 7-0-34-2 (4nb),
R.Singh 7-0-38-0, H.Singh 7-0-35-2 (1w), Kumble 8-0-22-1.

    India
 S.Ganguly c de Silva b Perera           26
 S.Tendulkar c & b Dharmasena            17
 N.Mongia c Ranatunga b Perera            2
 M.Azharuddin c Ranatunga b Dharmasena    8
 A.Jadeja run out                         0
 H.Kanitkar c Ranatunga b de Silva        9
 R.Singh c sub b Jayasuriya              50
 A.Agarkar b Jayasuriya                  30
 A.Kumble st Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya   4
 V.Prasad not out                         1
 H.Singh st Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya    0
 Extras (b-4 lb-5 w-6 nb-1)              16
 Total (35.4 overs)                     163
    Fall of wickets: 1-41 2-48 3-57 4-57 5-58 6-75 7-138 8-162
9-163
    Bowling; Wickremasinghe 3-0-26-0, Perera 6-0-25-2 (2w),
Dharmasena 7-0-29-2 (1w), Muralitharan 8-0-29-0 (1w), de Silva
6-0-27-1 (2w 1nb), Jayasuriya 5.4-0-18-4
    Result: Sri Lanka won by eight runs
    Man-of-match: Aravinda de Silva

Mid-week Rugby Review
Isipatana maintains standards

Keeping standards seem to be a way with the Patanians, which they proved in their last outing against Thurstan by winning 9-5. The victory also underlined their ability to bounce back from defeat. And with the knock out tournament just around the corner, it also served as a warning to all schools.

Winning apart, Isipatana were made to toil for victory. Infact, it was three well taken penalties by fly half Roshan Peiris which stopped the Thurstanites in their tracks. However, the Thurstanites continue to remain unbeaten in their group since it weren't a tournament fixture. The solitary try for Thurstan was scored by number eight Aruna Ariyaratne.

On Same Shelf

Up in Kandy, Wesley went on to retain the Blaze Trophy when they won on a higher aggregate. The final score in the second leg read eleven-all. Despite having won the first leg by a slight margin (16-13), the Wesleyites did well to bring home the trophy for the second successive year.

Shock Defeat

The Thomians suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the Josephians in their Lady Jayatilake Shield rugby encounter played last week. The net result, however, will not effect their standings in the points table as it happened to be a friendly encounter. The final score read St. Joseph's 17. St. Thomas' 15.

Trinity did well to down a fighting Peterite outfit by 13 points to 10 in their annual encounter played in Pallekelle. The Trinitians, who played cohesive rugby to down their opponents, collected their points through one goal and two penalties while the visitors scored their points through one goal and one penalty.

One horse race

All the excitement that was built up before the Zahira-Ananda fixutre boiled down to nothing when it turned down to be a one-horse-race. The Zahirians, who are enjoying a fine season this year, romped home easy winners when they registered an easy 13-3 victory over their opponents in their fixture played at Longden Place.

It couldn't have been more nail-biting
by Bertie Wijesinha

It could not have been more sensational, more exciting, more nail-biting this so narrow win by Sri Lanka over India in this rain - curtailed shortened 36 overs-a-side match. This game had also the "glorious uncertainties of cricket all thrown into a few hours of emotional experience.

When Sri Lanka lost the toss and were invited to bat on a wicket that was comparatively unknown as to its behaviour one's heart missed a beat. The situation favoured the team chasing runs for they could calculate the rate of scoring and a final target.

And again when Sri Lanka were out for 171 setting the opposition less than five per over, are could be forgiven if one thought the match was over bar the shouting. This belief was further enhanced when Tendulkar and Ganguly began at a startling pace, smashing everything every where.

Fortunately for Sri Lanka such indiscriminate hitting could not last long and so it did happen. Tendulkar was out to a full toss from Dharmasena, his change of pace from the medium fast of Wickremasinghe and Suresh Perera to his slow medium perhaps causing the mistimed catch to the bowler Dharmasena in his very first delivery. Ganguly who was also in like mood lofted a catch to wide mid-on.

Then Jadeja was brilliantly run out by Muralitharan running in from mid-off. His throw hit the wicket directly a wonderful effort.

Now India were in trouble and soon were deeper into the mire when Ranatunga caught Azharuddin at mid wicket in unbelievably acrobatic fashion. It was a great catch, a match-winning effort which he further underlined when he caught another even more sunsational catch to dismiss Kanitkar.

At that moment of time Ranatunga had my vote for the "Man of the Match" award. Later events proved the value of his efforts when Sri Lanka appeared to be cruising to victory with India six wickets down for some 70 odd runs. Things then began to go wrong for Sri Lanka. The bowling deteriorated in quality and the fielding became deplorable. India appeared to be let off the hook.

At this stage Robin Singh began to play a heroic innings for India in the midst of adversity. He was suffering from nervous exhaustion and had to have treatment. He was finally out playing a weak pull when he seemed to be carrying India to victory. Agarkar supported him to the best of his limited capacity and scored a valuable 30 runs before he was bowled by Jayasuriya.

The match reached its climax then and the result was in doubt until the last two overs, but Jayasuriya with some clever bowling wiped off the Indian tail.

Sri Lanka's batting was to a great extent disappointing. Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Ranatunga all threw their wickets in a race for runs and seemed to give the match away.

Fortunately for them, the Indians outdid the Sri Lankans in their greed for quick runs and a quick finish.

All were thankful that the lean spell had been broken and that we were able to witness some cricket at last.

Thomians ward off Peterite challenge
by Jatila Karawita

A doughty S. Thomas' College XV warded off a spirited fightback from St. Peter's to pull-off a fine 18 points (1 goal, 1 try, 2 penalties) to 12 (1 goal, 1 try) win in their Milo Trophy Inter-School Rugby match at Havelock Park yesterday. Thus, Thomians by virtue of this triumph, retained the Archibald Pereira Memorial Challenge Cup for yet another year. At half time, S. Thomas' led by 7 points to 5. In a match which was played at a furious pace from start to finish, the underdogs Peterites came off with a brilliant display of attacking rugby football to match the much-fancied Thomians man to man throughout the game. Until Thomian centre Azwan Thajudeen scored the match-winning try virtually from out of the blues with just minutes from the long whistle of referee Roshan Deen to scrape through from the skin of their teeth.

Thomians, who won a line out in their 25, shoved the Peterite forwards about 20 metres before stand-off Stefan Van Twest made a lightening pass to Thajudeen who blazed away single-handedly in the open to fall under the posts which ultimately enabled them to nail the gutsy Peterites. Thajudeen's 50-meter solo effort took the Thomian score to 18-12 after leading by a single digit at 13-12 entering into injury time of the second half. However, earlier in the first half St. Peter's took the game well and truly up to the Thomians to stand head and shoulders above the Mount Lavinia School though at the short whistle they trailed the winners by 7-5.

STC drew first blood in this clash when in only the tenth minute of play right winger Krishan Gunawardene went over the Petes goal line on the blind sides after they had worked the ball down the three quarter line following a scrum won in the opposition half. Center Thajudeen, who excelled in this game besides scoring the winning try and firing across two other penalties in either half, converted for them to lead at 7-0. From there onwards Peterites launched an all out onslaught on the Thomian goal line and during the 20th minute of play they were rewarded when Mario Oorloff barged over to touch-down following a five metre scrum won by the Petes. Nuwan Chamikara fluffed the angular conversion and the scoreline read 7-5.

In the second half STC swelled the scoreline further ahead in their favour, thanks to the boot of Thajudeen to enjoy a 13-5 advantage. At this stage, St. Peter's got their act together to play a collective game of rugby which resulted in skipper and hooker Rajive Perera powering his way to score their second try which ensued from a second phase move after they had opted to take a short tap instead of the penalty awarded to them in the Thomian 25. Chamikara converted the try to place the Peterites tantalizingly close to their rivals at 13-12 only for Thajudeen to run down that bolt from the blues' try which saw the Thomians edged out a gallant Peterite outfit in the end.