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Chicken farmer rules roost as Zimbabwe stun Sri Lanka SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Nov 7 Chicken farmer Eddo Brandes inspired Zimbabwe to a handsome seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the Sharjah Trophy on Saturday. The 35-year-old seamer rocked a surprisingly tentative Sri Lankan top order with a fiery three-wicket haul as the world champions looked completely out of sorts against the enthusiastic Zimbabwe attack. Brandes’s efforts reduced Sri Lanka to 196 all out and Zimbabwe, ably led by Grant Flower, reached their victory target for the loss of just three wickets in 46.1 overs. It was Zimbabwe’s third victory over Sri Lanka in 16 matches. Brandes began the demolition job in his second over, trapping Aviska Gunawardane, and then went on to remove Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya in the similar fashion to put Sri Lanka firmly on the back foot. Aravinda de Silva (55 of 68 balls) and Roshan Mahanama (51 off 69 balls) did provide some respectability to the stuttering Sri Lankan innings with some intense application. But Craig Evans, introduced in the 45th over, hastened the end of their innings, removing Tilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas and Mahanama without fuss. Zimbabwe built their innings around Flower and Murray Goodwin after losing two early wickets for just 31 runs. The two put on over 100 runs for the third wicket before a well-set Goodwin (54 off 64 balls with six four and a six) ran himself out, failing to beat a direct throw from Atapattu. Flower remained not out with 87 off 127 balls with four fours while brother Andy was unbeaten on 26 off 57 balls as Zimbabwe achieved the target comfortably. Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga blamed the defeat on a "sudden loss of form" by their premier batsmen. SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka S.Jayasuriya lbw b Brandes 22 Extras (lb-3 w-9 nb-2) 14 Fall of wickets: 1-10 2-11 3-24 4-49 5-97 6-126 7-171 8-171 9-188 Bowling: Brandes 7-2-19-3 (w-1), Johnson 6-0-32-0 (w-4, nb-1), Streak 9.4-0-53-0 (w-4, nb-1), Whittal 10-1-30-1, Strang 10-0-36-0, Goodwin 4-1-12-1, Evans 3-0-11-3 Zimbabwe A.Campbell c Ranatunga b Zoysa 5 Extras (lb-2 w-7 nb-7) 16 Did not bat: Craig Wishart, Craig Evans, Heath Streak, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Andrew Whittal. Fall of wickets: 1-7 2-9 3-121 Bowling: Vaas 10-1-38-0 (nb-2), Zoysa
10-0-33-1 (w-5 nb-3), Result: Zimbabwe won by seven wickets. WORLD CHAMPS SINK LIKE TITANIC The Sri Lankan cricket team has taken much bruising at the ongoing champions Trophy Championships in Sharjah. So much so that there was a conspicuous banner shaming Sri Lanka during their match against Zimbabwe on Saturday. This is how the banner read, ‘WORLD CHAMPIONS SRI LANKA SINK LIKE THE TITANIC’. Not so long ago Sri Lanka was basking like in the apex of cricket having completed a whitewash of the English and the South Africans in the one-day triangular and the one off test match against England. But Sri Lanka’s downfall in Dhaka at the Mini World Cup where we lost badly and in its wake two consecutive defeats to India and lesser known Zimbabwe in the ongoing triangular in Sharjah has raised much conjecture. So much so that fans over there in the Sharjah desert country deemed it fit to liken Sri Lanka’s downfall to the sinking of the Titanic ship. Tendulkar (117 n.o.) guides India to
victory India restricted Zimbabwe to a total of 196 in 49.5 overs in their Champions Trophy fixture in Sharjah yesterday. Zimbabwe openers Grant Flower and skipper Alistair Campbell put on a 46 run stand. After the introduction of Indian spinners the run rate slowed down considerably and the wickets fell at regular intervals. At one stage Zimbabwe were reeling at 83 for 6. Heath Streak and Graig Wishart halted the slump with a noteworthy seventh wicket partnership worth 68 runs. This association helped them pass the 175 run mark. Heath Streak scoring 59 runs registered his first oneday half century. His fifty came off in 71 balls. Nickhil Chopra, Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi claimed two wickets each. SCOREBOARD Zimbabwe A.Campbell run out 25 Extras (lb-3 w-2 nb-2) 7 Fall of wickets: 1-44 2-47 3-49 4-72 5-80 6-83 7-151 8-175 9-190 Bowling: Srinath 10-0-37-1 (nb-1), Agarkar 9.5-0-57-1 (nb-1, w-1), Kumble 10-0-31-2, Chopra 10-0-21-2, Joshi 9-0-43-2 (w-1), Tendulkar 1-0-4-0. New Zealand’s Taradane win
Singapore sevens title The Rugby Football Club of Sri Lanka put up a superb performance before going down 40-10 to "Hammer Heads" of Papuwa New Guinea in the Plate semi-finals at the Golden Jubilee International Club Sevens organised by Singapore Cricket Club Rugby section at the Padang yesterday. The Lankan team led by Indrajith Bandaranayake, proved that they are improving match by match. The tournament enabled the team gain more experience playing against top ruggerites representing their clubs. Before suffering defeat in the semi-finals, the Lankans overcame the SCC’s "Barberians" with a scintillating performance. The PNG team defeated the Lankans, and later clinched the Plate Championship crushing the Vatanbasi Pace Setters of Kenya by 36-15. It was a all New Zealand final in the "Ablitt Cup" Championship. Taradane retained the title for third consecutive year. They pulled off a close 29-21 win over Patone. The bowl was won by Beijing University of China trouncing SCC 31 points to 5. The Chinese and PNG sides requested a player each for their finals from the Lankan camp. M. J. M. Mushtaq played for PNG and scored a try. Radika Hettiarachchi playing for Chinese University planted two tries for them. The second annual Quadrangular Rugby Tournament is to be held in Malaysia in mid October next year. Defending champions Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and hosts Malaysia are the countries participating. Singapore has pulled out from the Asian Games Rugby Tournament in both sevens and XV tournaments. Their Olympic Committee refused to grant permission to take part at the Asian Games. Sri Lanka Basketball Federation will be conducting Sri Lanka Basketball Junior and Senior National Championship sponsored by "Lifebuoy" Unilever Ceylon. The Lifebuoy Cup ‘98 Junior National Championship will be conducted in outstations and Colombo. The Senior Nationals will be conducted in Colombo. Nearly 18 affiliated member associations are expected for the above Championship. The schedule Lifebuoy Championship Press conference, - November 25, 1998. Lifebuoy Cup Senior National Championships Men and Women, December 03-12.1998. Lifebuoy Cup Junior National Championships, 18 and Under (Men & Women), 22 and under (Men & Women) - January 16-30, 1999 Bangladesh pulls out of SAF Games The Bangladesh athletic team pulled out of the Second Annual SAF Athletic Championships which commences today at Sugathadasa stadium. A good number of 15 athletes were down for competition from Bangladesh. Ariya Kannangara President Amateur Athletic Association said that Bangladesh has given no reasons for their pull out. "We were expecting Bhutan but they too have not arrived upto last evening" added the AAA President. The games sponsored by Caltex and co-sponsored by Hatton National Bank and Frosty Ice will conclude tomorrow. Minister of Public Administration, Plantation Industries and Home Affairs Ratnasiri Wickramanayake will be the chief guest at the opening ceremony today while Sports Minister S. B. Dissanayake will be chief guest at the closing ceremony tomorrow. India is fielding a very young team of athletes and Maldive’s teams arrived last night for the Games. School cricket serves the game in a big
way Sri Lanka has a well structured cricket foundation at school level and that is one factor that enabled Sri Lanka to attain Test cricket status in 1982,said the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), Thilanga Sumathipala. He made these observations at the opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association’s headquarters at Reid Avenue recently. Speaking further Sumathipala noted that the school cricket tournaments were well organised which was why the country’s school cricket structure was so firm in feeding the game at national level. He further said that the opening of the new headquarters for the SLSCA was noteworthy for the fact that this year it celebrated its golden jubilee 50th year anniversary.Considering the service rendered by the School Cricket Association towards further developing the game at national level, the BCCSL was everready to give a big hand to the SLSCA towards its work, the BCCSL President said.He added that he had taken steps to issue identity card numbers to every under-13 cricketer. "This is very important because when a player joins a club, we can identify his capabilities and support them in building up their careers.We also intend collecting data on such cricketers through the computer system with the help of the Moratuwa University", he added.He went on to thank the Sports Minister and all officials present at the opening ceremony. Sports Minister, S. B. Dissanayake, who was the Chief Guest,observed that the Cricket Board assists the SLSCA in a big way in building up school cricketers to national level.However, a retarding factor was that most of the schools associations and national associations did not work together. This was because some schools associations did not like to work with national associations.If this relationship was bettered it would serve the cause of cricket very much. The Secretary of the SLSCA, B. S. Perera said that in his 22 years of service with the SLSCA this was an unforgettable occasion. He was very appreciative of the assistance given by the BCCSL President and Sports Minister towards the upliftment of the SLSCA. The other guests who graced the occasion were Dammika Ranatunga, Chief Executive Officer, BCCSL, Nuski Mohamad, Treasurer and T. B. Damunupola, acting Presdient, SLSCA. |
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