Army Sports Club who trailed the much fancied CH and FC by 15 points to 12 with seconds to go for the final whistle came from behind in a gallant manner to hold the Maitland Crescent club to a 15 all nail-biting draw in their Carlsberg ‘A’ Division second round fixture at Havelock Park yesterday.

At lemons soldiers led by 12 points to 10. Army’s points came through (1 goal, 1 try, 1 penalty), whilst CH and FC’s points was made from (3 tries).

In an inter club match where the firm favourites to win this game CH and FC was expected to simply brush aside the soldiers. Army came up with a superlative display of hard running rugby to surprise their erstwhile opponents in the end by forcing a cliff hanger draw against severe odds.

In fact Army drew first blood in the game, when in only the eighth minute of play their Fijian centre Taniala Kunarara having picked the ball from a loose maul sprinted his way in a breathtaking solo run covering some sixty metres to touch down under the posts which really bemused the CH players whose defence was found wanting at that stage.

Kunarara’s try was converted by fullback T. Silva for Army to take the lead by 7 points to nil. Their stand-off Ajith Peries then got into the score sheets when he planted their second try following a successfull drive from their forwards as the ball was eventually passed down the line, for Peries to go over the try line.

Conversion was fluffed by fullback Silva as Army shot to a 12-0 lead by the fifteenth minute of the game. After these two telling blows suffered by the CH their players got their act together to score two successive tries courtesy of Fijian lock, Vale Buto Buto and fullback Milinda Jayasinghe to bring the crowd to their feet.

Both conversions which was vital for CH was kicked astray by prop Shiyan Subullah, as the soldiers enjoyed their lemons with a scoreline of 12 points to 10 in favour of them.

During the second half both sides matched each other man to man, whilst churning out a high-class game of rugby for the capacity crowd present to witness the game. CH who was trailing the soldiers for almost the entirely of the second half finally broke the jinx in the 28th minute of play when their lock forward Tanivelamuttu powered his way to fall over for their third try in the match having picked up the ball off a loose maul in the Army territory.

The important conversion was bungled once more by Subullah as CH took the lead for the only time in the match by 15 points to 12.

And with just seconds to go for the referee Orville Fernando to blow no sides, Army’s full back T. Silva fired accross a 30 metre penalty to deprive the much fancied CH from winning this encounter as the match ended in a fitting draw at the park last evening.

An exciting cricket match can be witnessed when Access Group the newcomers to Mercantile ‘A’ Division clash with defending runner-up Hatton National Bank in the final at SSC grounds today play commencing at 9.30 a.m.

Singer Sri Lanka Ltd have sponsored this tournament. Chairman of Singer Sri Lanka Hemaka Amarasuriya will be the chief guest and distribute the awards.

Access Group making their appearance in this ‘A’ Division for the first time remained unbeaten so far in the tournament. They defeated Singer, Sampath Bank, Informatics, John Keells ‘A’, Commercial Bank and engaged in a no-decision against Union Assurance respectively.

Due to most of the key players out of the country on National duty both teams are badly affected as a result. Access Group will be without star batsman Aravinda de Silva, Niroshan Bandaratilleke, Suresh Perera and skipper Pramodya Wickremasinghe while Hatton National Bank will miss the services of all-rounder Kumara Dharmasena and Russel Arnold and wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardena.

However, both teams have talented players to replace them. HNB ‘A’ during the tournament defeated Singer, Sampath Bank, Informatics, Union Assurance and Commercial Bank while losing to John Keells in a thrilling finish. They were also engaged in two no decisions against Union Assurance and Access Group respectively.

Manager of Access Group, Lakshman Rodrigo told ‘The Island’ that although they miss the services of those four players away in England on tour some talented young cricketers are available to replace them. They are certain to do well in this final and are confident of proving themselves at the highest level. They are Indika de Saram, Anil Redeegammanagedera, Charindu Fernando and Bradman Ediriweera have contributed during the tournament.

Meanwhile, Chrishantha Obeyesekera the President of the HNB Sports Club said: "we will attempt to do our best in this final and hope to use the hard hitting Avishka Gunawardena as our chief batting weapon. As defending runner-up we look forward to improve on this and win the final at any cost.

Batting star Avishka Gunawardena made the highest individual score when he scored 142 not out against Singer while Eric Upashantha of Union Assurance took the best bowling analysis of 6 for 29 against Seylan Bank in the tournament.

Eric Upashantha of Union Assurance and Marvan Atapattu of Sampath Bank were adjudged best bowler and best batsman respectively up to the semi-finals.

The teams for the final:

ACCESS GROUP: Jeevantha Kulatunga (Capt.) Bradman Ediriweera, Indika de Saram, Anil Redeegammanagedera, Gayan Wijekoon, Asela Pathirana, Pasan Wanasinghe, Romesh Fernando, Charindu Fernando, Sanjeewa Jayaratne, Sajith Rupasinghe, Ajantha Weerappuli, Vinod Samarawickrama, Thushara Sampath, Trevin Matthews, Lakshman Rodrigo (Manager).

HNB: Varuna Waragoda (Capt.), Avishka Gunawardena, Nilantha Bopage, Hemanth Boteju, Manoj Perera, Sanjeeva Chanaka, Saman Jayantha, Chaminda Handunettige, Nimesh Perera, Sanjeeva Silva, Wendal Labrooy, Sajeewa Weerakoon, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Damith Hunukumbura, Hasan Rushdy and Sathya Jayasuriya (Manager).

A spectacular try by winger Hamesh Gunaratne during injury time enabled Isipatana to book a semi-final berth in their Presidents Trophy U-17 quarter-final clash against Zahira which was played at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.

Gunaratne took the game past a "stale" situation where the scores read five all at full time. The winger then burst through on the right flank and fell mid right as he put the finishing touches to a three quarter move done in utter desperation. Gunaratne also scored the teams first try in the second half while Zahira enjoyed a 5-0 lead at the short whistle through an unconverted try by M.M. Fathey. Referee: D. Nimal.

Kingswood qualify
In another quarter-final game worked off earlier on, Kingswood made it to the semi-finals when they dumped S. Thomas' with a 18-10 victory.

The winners collected their points through one goal one try and two penalties, while the lads from Mount Lavinia made up their points through one goal and a penalty. The winners led 13-3 at half time. A. Vithanage and A. Galagamuwa scored a try each for the winners while H. Wijeweera put over two penalties and converted a try. Prop forward Gavin Jayasekara scored the only try for the Thomians which was converted by Azwan Thajudeen. The latter also put over a penalty.

Referee: Lasantha Jayawardana.

KH and FC, packed with some top Kandy school products beat Old Vidyarthians SC by four goals to nil, in a Kandy District Hockey Association tournament match played over here in Kandy.

KH and FC playing some good quality hockey completely outplayed the opponents, and had several chances of scoring more but failed due to some superb goalkeeping from the Old Vidyarthian team.

In another match of the same tournament, one of the oldest hockey playing clubs in the country Hockey Young Stars Sports Club who were leading 3-1 against the Old Sylvestrians, with only 10 minutes of play left in the second half, walked out of the field due to a Yellow card incident, and this game is in the balance, the Tournament Committee will decide the result at the next meeting.

The Junior Hockey Nationals, which was to be held during the first week of this month over here in Kandy, was postponed for October, due to the bad weather conditions, during that time, they are not in a position to have it in August due to Advance Level Examinations. The Tournament will be organised by the Kandy District Hockey Association and will be worked off at the Police Grounds.
Kandy District Hockey Association will be hosting the Women's Nationals in September, and will be organising this National championships in Kurunegala, so this will be the first time that a National Hockey championship is to be worked off at Kurunegala.

The President of the Kandy District Hockey Association SSP Lakshman Sene-viratne, who is stationed in Kurunegala is all out to make it a great success. It is a good idea, where Kurunegala too can take up to the game.