• Sri Lanka slated alongside NZ and Malaysia
• BCCSL on Hemasiri's comment

• Will Asoka Jayasena lead rugby team to Australia?
• Rugby pool selected purely on merit says Almeida
• Economics of cricket

Zimbabwe and Gambia had pulled out of the Sevan-a-side Rugby Tournament at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia at the last minute. This pull out has warranted the organisers to reschedule the groupings once again.

According, to new schedule Sri Lanka will be slated along with New Zealand and Malaysia in Group D. Lankans take on New Zealand in their first encounter today at 7.00 p.m. Malaysian time. Later in the day they will confront Malaysians.

Lankans face stiff opposition in the first game against New Zealanders who are favourites in this group.

If Sri Lanka overcomes their opponents in this game it will be an event which will enter the history books.

It was reported in the above articles that Mr. Hemasiri Fernando, Chairman - Sri Lanka Olympic Committee has made certain comments with regard to the composition of the Sri Lanka Team taking part in the 16th Commonwealth Games being held in Malaysia.

The BCCSL has already written to Mr. Hemasiri Fernando on 9th September, seeking confirmation whether he did in fact make such comment. We are yet to receive a reply from Mr. Fernando.

In any event, whatever Mr. Hemasiri Fernando's reply maybe, the said comments are both per se false and defamatory, and as such, warrant immediate action.

However the BCCSL wishes to inform the Media and the Public that the composition of the National Team is wholly a matter for the BCCSL and the National Selectors, and that such decisions are always taken in the national interest of the game.

The decision to send the team which eventually went to Malaysia was taken after much deliberation between the Officials of BCCSL, the Tour Management and the National Selectors.

The BCCSL also informs the Public that payments made to players for services rendered are made by the Board irrespective of whatever prize money offered by the organisers. In this instance, the BCCSL has undertaken the full cost of the players including their travel arrangements, etc., without any assistance from the National Olympic Committee, as was afforded to other sports personnel participating at the said games. This has incurred a substantial cost to the BCCSL.

We take pride in stating that both in the past and the present, all our players have selflessly played for their country irrespective of what monetary benefits they stood to gain. This is amply demonstrated by the fact that, many of our senior players to whom many lucrative offers have been made to play in foreign soils, in spite of these offers have nevertheless continued to play for Sri Lanka. If in the instance these players could be motivated by mere monetary gain, most of our star players would be lost to us.

In the circumstances, the comments made by the Chairman of the National Olympic Committee are totally uncalled for and regrettably out of context.

by Hafiz Marikar, Our Kandy Sports Corr.
Will Asoka Jayasena, the most senior ruggerite in the Sri Lanka squad, be given the chance to lead the Sri Lanka team on their tour to Australia.

Jayasena, a product of Ananda College, is one of the finest forwards in the sport. He has been playing for the country for more than a decade. He made this debut for Sri Lanka while playing for Police.

This year, he led Kandy SC to second place in the two major tournaments of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union.

With him, there are eleven players in the Sri Lanka pool from Kandy SC. Lasantha Wijesuriya crack center three-quarter, who gave a fine display in the local tournaments, Manjula Pathirana, also a center three quarter and a good thinker of the game. Indrajith Bandaranayake, an excellent wing-three-quarter, Pradeep Basnayake and Suranga Amarasinghe, two fine forwards, Dunstan de Silva, a solid prop, Haris Omar, a superb forward. All of them have donned the Sri Lanka jersey. The others are Nalufer Ibrahim, Ranmal Weerasekera and R. Hettiarachchi.

Sri Lanka rugby selection committee chairman Lionel Almeida airing his viewes to 'The Island' on the selection of the thirty five member rugby pool for the forthcoming tour of Australia where the national rugby team is due to scrum-down in two rugby tests against Nothern Territories in Darwin and another friendly match against an Australian XV said that all ruggerites who have made into this pool have done so purely on merit and no discrimination of whatsoever was allowed to creep into the selection process. He said that the selection committee headed by him which also includes Michael Jayasekere, H. K. Sisira, Lanil Tennakoon, and Brig, Jupana Jayawardena have selected a preliminary pool to which either the rugby fans or the rugby pundits here can level the finger of accusation at them to say the selectors have blatantly discarded any deserving players from representing the country during this impending tour of Australia.

Almeida said 'we have given an opportunity to all players who excelled during the Carlsberg Premier league and the Presidents Trophy tourney to make their way into this pool which will be pruned-down to twenty five that will finally take wing to Austrilia on late October. Furthermore when we sit down to pick the final squad we will in all probability take into account the performances of these players who makes the biggest impacts in the on-going Western Province under-24 knock-out tournament, the Commonwealth Games sevens, and the Singer Cup rugby tournament and therefore for anyone to say the worthy ruggerites who deserve a break to play for the country will in the miss out of a berth in the team squad is to me pure eyewash.'

When queried as to why not many ruggerites from the service teams were chosen to this pool Almeida said 'We have given players of the calibre of Kapila Knowlton and N. Dharmapala of Army, Weerasinghe of Air-Force and K. Thilakarathne of Police to show off their prowess and further impress the selectors and book their berth in the final squad. As to why others besides these four were not chosen it was mainly due to their being more than one quality player who were vying for a particular position. In an instance like this when so many equally good players clash for positions we have to most certainly give the nod to the best player irrespective of their club affiliations or the standing in local rugby circles.'

Asked to comment on who would lead the final twenty five member rugby team to Australia he said they have still not made a decision in that regard but were hopefull of handing down the leadership reins of the rugby team to the most experienced rugby player in the country after the recent retirement of former Sri Lanka Skipper Priyantha Ekanayake from the Sri Lanka Rugby Scene. The final Sri Lanka squad of twenty five will be chosen by early October 'The Island' reliably understands.

The selection committee chairman also did not fail to show bouquet to his other co-selectors for going through in minute detail of all the performances of count players in such a gruelling season and playing in for thirty five of the best in choosing this initial pool of will the final squad will be selected.

H. M. T. N. R. Herath, B.A. (Econ.), M.A. (Econ.)
Senior Lecturer in Economics,
Department of Social Statistics,
University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Nugegoda, writes on the economics of cricket.

Up to recent past, Sri Lanka was famous only for lucid Buddhism, not for technology or academic work or any other subject. But during past three years Sri Lanka has acquired several highest achievement in sports. In 1995, she won the cricket World Cup, in 1997 won the silver medal for Athletic Championship, and the gold medal for Asian Netball Championship. These achievements have ushered the country in a new horizon, increased Sri Lanka's fame and goodwill for sports, and entailed lot of benefits for the country. Out of all these sports, cricket possesses the greatest popularity, for which Sri Lanka still stands at the apex. This article attempts to review some economic aspects of cricket.

Cricket as an item in production process
Cricket is considered to be a beautiful attractive sport which creates higher utility and pleasure for both on-ground-onlookers, admirers, other watchers and listeners, without any difference in age, sex, profession, race, or any other characteristic. It is internationally telecast, broadcast, as a result heavily used in advertising and includes in day-today discussions. Cricketers are especially used in advertising in many countries. Cricket network includes a lot of people or groups. First, it requires cricketers and supporting staff (e.g., umpires, cricket Controlling Board and other government officials etc.) all who can be considered to be producers of cricket as a service. Second, sponsors for tournaments extend supportive role for producers. Third, sponsors for media transmission and media personal link the producers and consumers (watchers and listeners). Fourth, advertisers (both on media and on-stadium), traders and suppliers intervene as middlemen. Finally, the network end up with watchers and listeners (consumers of cricket). Thus a lot of economic activities are undertaken in the cricket network. Therefore, consideration of its economic aspect is of timely importance.

Costs and Opportunity Costs
Costs of cricket is two pronged - cost of cricketers and nation, and the costs of consumers. Cricketers should dedicate their individual time (labour) for training, have to buy equipment (bats, hats, pads and so on), sometimes bear transport costs. Cost of development of cricket is borne by the nation or government. It includes several items such as salaries for government officials, their transportation and other costs, costs of instruments and so on. These two can be identified as the production costs of cricket. As the opportunity costs cricketers have to forego their higher education, and other occupational opportunities. the next group, consumers have to pay for their tickets (cost of consumption), become depressed if lost. Moreover, on one hand of producers' side, for producers, cricket is a private good, since they can exclude on stadium consumers. But on the other hand, cricket is a public good for TV watchers and radio listeners, since they cannot be excluded from consumption.

Benefits
Cricketers are offered monetary benefits by sponsors (sometimes even if they won or lost) and on the other hand popularity which entails higher advantages for them. The nation or country gains monetary benefits (foreign exchange) as well as international recognition or goodwill especially for the winning country. Consumers acquire higher utility levels if won and disutility if lost.

Since recent past Sri Lanka was famous for nothing other than Buddhism. But after winning of the world cricket cup 1995, it received attention of other countries and reaped a massive fame. But only thing is Sri Lanka is considered to be a developing country. These type of her valuable achievements are not taken into account in measuring development.

Is Cricket Profitable?
Since Sri Lanka is a developing country, internationally profitable ventures are economically advantageous for her. Profitability of cricket can be discussed in two ways by using benefits and costs. First, cricket is definitely profitabe for upper level cricketers because they personally can earn much rather than they spend, by participating in international matches, and selling their popularity. They can visit foreign countries and have useful foreign contacts.

Determination of profitability of nation is somewhat difficult, because it needs to compare benefits with costs. Present benefits may be due to past dedications. For a long time the country spent much money on sports. But its benefits were relatively very low. Presently, acquired benefits may be due to long term dedication. Therefore, to examine whether we have received profits from cricket, it is essential to compare costs from the very beginning of cricket that with benefits.

At present, cricket is profitable for the nation. But likewise other products profitability of this particularly commodity cannot be retained because this is a volatile comparative advantage. To accomplish this, it is required to take necessary actions to train competent new cricketers. This may incur additional cost for the nation.