Sri Lanka very much in contention
Ranjan Paranavithana Reporting from England

Despite the 36-run defeat Sri Lanka suffered at the hands of England, Sri Lanka's chances of entering the final cannot be written off easily. There is one more preliminary round match of the Emirates Cup triangular cricket tournament still to be played. It will be played today at Edgebaston between hosts England and South Africa.

If South Africa are to enter the finals displacing England, they will have to post victory by a huge margin. This victory should be at least by a 75-run margin or should be achieved with ten overs remaining.

Organisers announced during the match between England and Sri Lanka that Sri Lanka will definitely be in the finals if they score 191 runs. But as nothing can be predicted easily in the game of cricket with glorious uncertainties, anything could happen today. If South Africa posts a big win, then the chances of England making it to the finals are in real danger. But as the way things are, Sri Lanka and England have the best chances of making it into the finals.

If England wins today's match, then there will be no work for the calculators to find the net run rates as England and Sri Lanka will qualify to meet in the finals.

BIASED UMPIRING
Analysts here give many reasons for Sri Lanka's defeat against England when the two teams met for the first time after the 1996 world cup. In the World Cup quarter finals, Sri Lanka thrashed the Englishmen without mercy but Sri Lankans lost without much of fight here. Among the main reasons are the poor standard of umpiring by the Englishmen. It is seen as ridiculous as Englishmen always demean umpiring in the sub continent. In the match between Sri Lanka and England it was clearly evident that English umpires played a major part in England's victory without shame.

Many fingers were pointed at the English umpires when England beat South Africa in the test series and they went on to add to their notoriety on Sunday, giving many so many lbw decisions in England's favour without any hesitation.

Mervyn Kitchen and E.K. Palmer chose Lord's, the Mecca of cricket to bring the game into disrepute by indulging in their shameful cheating exercise.

Palmer's finger did not go up to send Alec Stewart back before opening his half-century account when Suresh Perera trapped him clearly in front for and easy lbw decision but it was promptly lifted to signal the end of Atapattu when the ball seemed nowhere near the stumps.

Mervyn Kitchen however was the English champion who actually ensured the English victory by dismissing Aravinda de Silva when the master batsman was shaping up well for a long innings to put Sri Lankans on path to victory in good partnership with his skipper. Debutant Ian Austin should be happy to see his name on the scoreboard against Aravinda's name instead of Kitchen's.

PATHETIC FIELDING
The exceptional fielding performance witnessed against the South Africans were not produced by any of the Sri Lankans except Marvan Atapttu. The spilled catches and the mistakes in ground fielding accounted for a huge portion of the target which they later had to chase.

Analysts who are very familiar with Lord's wickets said that the strip provided for the match between Sri Lanka and England tended to support the batsmen initially and then the bowlers in the latter stages. But the inability the Sri Lankan middle order men showed to go for their shots when the wicket had settled down after the early life was largely responsible for Sri Lanka's downfall.

Recent additions to the side Chandika Hathurusinghe and Russell Arnold hopelessly let the side down at the crucial middle overs.

In addition to showing their weakness to bat solidly in the crunch situation, they further burdened the side by their sloppy fielding.

The feature of the Sri Lankan innings was the courage showed by the tail enders who came after Kumara Dharmasena. All those player who made the side on their bowling skills passed double figures. Muralitharan's hitting in the over by Darren Gough was the key factor which finally ensured Sri Lanka a virtual place in the final.

Coach Roy Dias said he would concentrate on mainly on the fielding on the next few days before the finals when he was asked about the poor show in the match against England.

Kandy - likely venue for a major football event
by Hafiz Marikar, our Kandy Sports Corr.

The Football Federation of Sri Lanka is planning to hold key games, viz the F.A. Cup quater finals, semis and the finals out of Colombo in future. Kandy may be the next venue for another major football event, said the president of FFSL.

Today the game is popular, all over but the footballers lack proper grounds.

In early days, the Play Grounds Department of Municipal Councils, promoted the poor mans game. But today, it is not there. Even in Kandy the only ground which is next to Bogambara stadium for football is the Getambe grounds which is more used as a car park and a carnival place. Recently the sports committee of the Kandy Municipal Council, objected this ground, being used as a car park, but some officials who went for meetings, has given it and now it is worse than a paddy field.

Paddlers end tour on winning note
By Dammika Ratnaweera

The visiting Maulhausen SV team from Germany gained a thrilling 6-5 win over Friendship Table Tennis Club Veteran's team at Albert F. Pieris Stadium Wennappuwa.

Thomas Baier skipper cum manager of the visiting team won his singles event and the doubles event partnering Juergen Mischok to bring victory for his team.

Baier former German Division one paddler defeated M. Lafir in straight sets, 21-16, 21-7. Later Baier and Mischok beat Lafir and Fida Hussain 21-12, 21-8.

Dietmar Doering playing for the visiting team managed to beat former national champion Jothipala Samaraweera 21-9, 21-17.

Chairman of Selection Committee veteran paddler Sunimal Fernando lost his singles title to 62 year old Wolfgang Zimmermann in a 3 setter. Wolfgang won the first set while Sunimal won the next. However Wolfgang using all his experience won the final set 22-20.

Lafir playing two singles won both games against Juergen Mischok and Anja Baier in straight sets.

Anja Baier defeated L. Piyadasa 21-16, 21-7 while Fida Hussain beat Zimmermann.

In the doubles Sunimal Fernando and Jothipala Samaraweera overcame Dietmar Doering and Zimmermann.

The tour was arranged by Asian German Sports Exchange Programme. Chairman AGSEP Dietmar Doering speaking said that this was the first occasion a veterans team from Germany arrived in Sri Lanka and said he intends to send a veterans team to Germany in the near future. He further added that this will be made an annual affair between these two countries.

Jothipala Samaraweera National coach told 'The Island' that he hopes to form a Veterans Table Tennis Association and to participate at international events with great assistance coming from AGSEP.

Manager of the visiting team extended an invitation to local veterans to visit Germany next year.
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