      |
||
|
||
Inter-school cricket
preview Two leading Kandy schools Trinity and Dharmaraja will play their inter-school cricket matches against Kingswood and Mahinda College Galle respectively, today and tomorrow over here in the hills. Sad to say, some of the schools here in Kandy do not play matches according to their fixtures and they also don’t inform the press. Cricket fans go to the venue and return disappointed Trinity led by Kaushaliya Weeraratne will go all out to gain a decision which has eluded them in their previous matches. Their strong batting line-up of skipper Kaushaliya Weeraratne, R. Gamage, R. Vanderkoon, I Gamanpila and M. Samath, should make an effort to build a challenging score against the varied attack of the Kingswoodians. Trinity’s attack comprising of M. Azeez, R. Gamage and I Gamanpila can trouble the Kingswoodians. Kingswoodians, who are not performing up to expectation, will go all out to give a stgrong challenge to the Trinitians. Much will be expected from L. Ekanayake a steady bat, B. Ekanayake, C. Senevirathne, H. Mawzoon and V. Senevirathne. In the bowling department, Malith Mallawarchchi, should get some quick wickets. Fielding from both sides should be at its best. At Lake View, the Rajans will play Mahindians. The forte of the Rajans is their strong batting line-up. Skipper Pubudu Senevirathne and deputy Asanka Marapone are both centurians. Opener Sunil Ranasinghe who has scored nearly 400 runs, Yasa Jayasundara and C. Wickremanayake are in good form, and should pile on the runs. Asanka Marapana the first bowler to pocket a hat-trick should keep the Mahinda side at bay. Mahinda lads too will be at full strength. There were upsets galore on the third day of the 16th ITF under-18 Junior International Tennis championships at the SLTA courts, Greenpath Wednesday. Thailand’s Sanchai Ratiwatana toppled the No. 1 seed Kader Tembe of India 6-3, 6-3, while India’s N. Mukunda detected his compatriot bottom seeded Akshey Vishal Rao 7-6, 6-2 in the Boys Singles. Sri Lankan-born Rishan Kuruppu representing Canada also caused a major upset when he defeated third seeded Karen Doctor of India in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. Results GIRLS SINGLES: Shital Gautam (Ind.) bt. Nona Wagh (Ind.) 6/3, 6/1, Sonal Phadke (Ind.) bt. Radika Manke (Ind.) 6/3, 7/6, P. Ratnakrong (Tha) bt M. Senaviratne 6/0, 6/0, Lai Yi Ying (Tpe) bt. Chen Yi Ting (TPE) 6/0, 6/2, Nida Wasim (Pak) bt. Chiang Yun Han (Row) 4/6, 6/4, 6/1, Liza Pereira (Ind.) bt. P. Chairerg (Tha.) 6/1, 6/0, Radika Tulpule (Ind.) bt. Sonia Shellar (Ind.) 6/3, 6/4. Three Sri Lankan boys in final 16 Three Sri Lankan junior squash players Hirantha Gunasena, Navin Samarasinghe and Kavinda Cooray reached the final 16 in 9th Asian Junior squash championship in progress at the National Squash Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Padmini Samarasinghe, the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation said this was a creditable achievement for Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, two boys Eranga Amunugama and Panindu Lankage won their first round matches in the plate event but they lost in the second round. In the Womens Plate event, Kushani Daluwatte reached the quarter finals where she lost to Hong Kong’s Francies Ito. Earlier she beat Japan’s Nagisa Miyagishima in three straight games 9-2, 9-6, 9-6. In the Consolation Plate for boys, Jagath Marambe entered the final and he will meet Malaysian Ahmad Rizal. Earlier Marambe beat Goh Kobayashi of Japan 3-0, Jordanians Blitabalt 3-0 and Hijazi Badar 3-1. (DR) Hillwood inter-House meet
today The annual inter-House Sports Meet of Hillwood College, Kandy will take place today at 9.00 a.m. at the Bogambara Stadium. The Sports meets in schools, whenever they were held from early days, were occasions of general entertainment, almost excuses for social gathering, where the old and the present meet. Hillwood College, under the stewardship of their principal S. Ratnayake, has done well in sports, with their teacher-in-charge Malika Perera too should be given a big hand for keeping sports alive at this school. Hillwood has produced some top athletes over here in Kandy. They have organised games such as net-ball, table-tennis, badmintion and swimming. At one time lawn tennis was the most popular sport. Tennis was the first sport to be introduced at this school. So, today there will be some top athletic competition at this meet which will be held under the distinguished patronage of former Mahamaya Girls College sportwoman Jayantha Bulummula, who is the Municipal Commissioner of Kandy. Josephians brimming with
confidence St. Joseph’s College, Colombo under-19 cricketers are brimming with confidence as they play in the schools under-19 tournament. They are one the strong contenders to win the schools crown. Led by experienced fifth year coloursman Roshan de Silva, Josephians so far have won three matches. Their first win was over Kingswood and they also went on to beat De Mazenod and St. Benedict’s College comprehensively. Roshan is their main strike bowler and opens the bowling for Josephians. He claimed 58 wickets last season with a best of 6 for 18 against Kingswood. Apart from his bowling skills he is also a useful batsman, playing some match winning knocks. He scored 600 runs last season with five half centuries. Third year coloursman Johannes Jayasuriya is the deputy skipper of the side. Jayasuriya, an attacking left handed opening batsman has given them some cracking starts. He has become the scourge of rival attacks. He had immense success last season by aggregating 800 runs which included one century and eight half centuries. So far this season he has managed to keep up his form and to score 350 runs with two half centuries. Josephians possess a well balanced side with plenty of youngsters in their ranks. The majority of the present side is capable of playing for at least another two more years. The team also consists of players who represented the national youth team which had plenty of success abroad. Ian Daniels, a promising cricketer toured with the Sri Lanka under-15 squad for the mini World Cup in England and to Hong Kong with the under-17 team. At present he is in the under-19 pool which is in preparation for a tour of India. Skipper Roshan de Silva is also in the under-19 pool. Deputy skipper Johannas Jayasuriya and Ian Daniels open the batting for Joes. This left hand-right hand combination have given them solid starts which eventually helped them to post match winning totals. Daniels a talented and stylish batsman has scored 650 runs so far in just nine innings. He has three half centuries and two half centuries to his credit. They have plenty of depth in batting with the middle order revolving around Dilan Ramanayake and Danuka Pathirana. Right arm seamer Ishan Hettiarachchchi will share the new ball with his skipper. Hettiarachchci has captured 24 wickets so far with a best of seven wickets against Mahinda College, Galle. Gavin Vansanden is another promising seamer who at times shares the new ball when needed. He had accounted 21 wickets so far in 11 matches with best figures of 5 for 12 against S. Thomas’, Mount Lavinia. Daniels too is capable of bowling few valuable spells when needed. The spin department is spearheaded by Dinraj Fernando and Anuk de S. Wijeratna. Leg-spinner Fernando is their leading wicket taker so far this season having captured 35 wickets with a best 6 for 9 against Kingswood. Wijeratne is the other leg spinner. He has taken over 20 wickets so far. He returned career-best figures of 7 for 26 against Prince of Wales. Following is a pen-pix of their squad: Roshan de Silva (Captain) - Fifth year coloursman. Right arm opening bowler. Claimed 58 wickets last season with best figures of 6 for 18 against Kingswood. Scored 572 runs with five half centuries. He has taken over 20 wickets so far with best figures of 4 for 29 against Raddoluwa MV. He has scored 200 runs inclusive of a half century against Kingswood. He has been selected to the Sri Lanka under 19 pool which is preparing for a tour of India. Johannes Jayasuriya (vice captain) - Third year coloursman. Left hand opening batsman. Aggregated 800 runs with one century and eight half centuries last season. So far has scored 350 runs inclusive of two half centuries with a top score of 80 against St. Sebastian’s. Ian Daniels - Third year coloursman. Right hand opening batsmen. Aggregated 950 runs last season including one century and nine half centuries with a highest of 152 against Royal. He has scored 650 runs so far with three centuries and two half centuries. Bowls right arm medium pace and returned best figures of 4 for 36 against De Mazenod. He toured Hong Kong with the Sri Lanka under-17 side. At present, he has been chosen to the Sri Lanka under-19 pool. Dilan Ramanayake - Third year coloursman. Right hand middle order batsman. Aggregated over 600 runs last season with five half centuries. Has scored over 350 runs so far with 59 against De Mazenod being his highest. Dinraj Fernando - Second year player. Left hand batsman. Bowls leg spin. Captured 31 wickets last season with a career best of 8 for 40 against S. Thomas’, Mount Lavinia. He has taken 35 wickets with the best figures of 6 for 9 against Kingswood. A good fielder. Ishan Hettiarachchi - Second year player. Right hand batsman. Also opens the attack. Captured 10 wickets in six matches last season. So far he has taken 24 wickets with a best of 7 for 7 against Mahinda. Has scored over 150 runs with a top score of 65 against Thurstan. A good fielder. Dilanka Perera - Second year player. Middle order batsman. Good fielder. Dhanuka Pathirana - Second year player. Middle order batsman. Off spinner. Toured Hong Kong with the Sri Lanka under-17 team. Good fielder. Baby of the side. Gavin Vansanden - Second year player. Opens the bowling. Mark de S. Wijeratne - First year player. Right hand batsman. Left arm leg spinner. Has taken 22 wickets so far with a best of 7 for 26 against Prince of Wales. Glen Perera - First year player. Wicket-keeper of the side. Has claimed 20 victims so far. Sanka Rupasinghe - First year player. Right hand batsman. First change bowler. Good fielder. Asanga Fernando - First year player. Bowls right arm off spinners. Has taken over 10 wickets. Seren Perera - Second year player. Reserve wicket-keeper of the side. HAVE YOUR SAY I cannot understand the buffoonery of some of the Australians who insist on shouting "No Ball" whenever Muttiah comes to the crease to bowl. These louts are behaving as if they have just landed from a convict ship. Muttiah is participating in the Carlton and United one day series as an invited guest. A sane man would not have invited him if he was an impostor whatever Hair and his cronies may have to say. An ICC panel that included Michael Holding, the highly regarded, West Indian test bowler has declared Muttiah’s action to be legitimate. Another review which some misguided individuals, are demanding is therefore unnecessary. The problem is not Muralitharan but umpiring. Some of the Australian umpires are so incompetent they remind me of the man who mistook his wife for a hat. It is a weird but persistent paradox that in all spheres of life inferior human beings are continued to be given responsibilities beyond their capabilities. Ephrem Fernando. That No-Ball Call That response has upto now been characterised by a naive knee-jerk ad hocism. As the TV coverage when Umpire Emersons’s outrageous ‘call’ came clearly showed, the Sri Lankan cricket authorities had simply not anticipated it, and worked out a decisive contingency plan to be applied by Arjuna Ranatunga on the field. His was the entirely justifiable gut reaction of a decent individual, but it has now left him having to answer to the villains themselves. A conspiratorial campaign which had begun with David Lloyd’s odious remarks had then been played out through the Australian media’s coverage of the Darrell Hare book launching, and of the reported remarks of match Referee Van der Moewe. Then, following the Sri Lankan victory over Australia at Hobart, there was the appointment of the two biased Australian umpires from earlier times to stand in the Adelaide match. Yet through it all, the Sri Lankan Cricket authorities merely kept complaining about the unfairness of it all. There was no attempt to read the situation in the light of realities, and to take a principled stand based thereon. The realities are two-fold: first, the English-Australian attempt to maintain their traditional primacy and dominance in international cricket, and second, the fact that the ICC clearance of Murali has been accepted by all others. A principled stand that could have been taken the moment the conspiracy became evident would have been to state clearly that Sri Lanka would not countenance any attempt to revive a controversy which had been laid to rest. If this required cancelling a tour at any time, so be it. ‘Cricket Lover’ The Emerson Fiasco It is by no means difficult to conclude that the conspiracy to stalk and destroy Murali, arguably one of greatest spin bowlers of all time, was hatched and insidiously orchestrated by part of the Australian media who are supportive of Darrel Hair whom all Sri Lankans would like to call as the devil incarnate who dared to describe Murali’s action as ‘diabolical’ in a book he is supposed to have authored. The match itself, notwithstanding all the unsavoury incidents that took place, was a cliff hanger with Sri Lanka notching up the highest winning score on the Adelaide grounds. One particular fact that was ludicrously evident during the match was the reluctance of the umpires to refer dubious decisions to the third umpire. It was clear to the viewers that Mahela who stroked his way to a dream century was indeed lucky when Emerson did not refer the appeal for a run-out to the third umpire. Ofcourse England centurian Hick too had Dame Fortune smiling on him when a confident appeal for a catch behind which Tony Greig insisted should have been upheld, was turned down by umpire Macquillan. We viewers had a share of fun too, when Captain Arjuna commanded Emerson to stand at the point foot marked by him behind the wicket and Emerson did just that like a humbly submissive lamb would. All Sri Lankan viewers no doubt savoured it as a moment to be proud of, notwithstanding what the Sri Lankan skipper would be heading for at the ICC code of conduct hearing. It was however that irrepressible yester-year cricketer Ian Botham who slammed umpire Emerson without any reservation when he said inter alia that the Emerson show was ‘one man’s moment of glory and that a mere club cricketer was telling the ICC throwing committee that they didn’t know what they were talking about’. He further said ‘ that all Muralitharan’s twists and turns are with his wrist, not his arm. There is nothing at all wrong with his action". Well said Ian Botham, and it is hardly doubted that you are vociferously echoing the silent thoughts of millions of cricket fans all over the world. Bandula M.
Abeyewardene |
||
 |
||