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Sri Lanka bid to rediscover their winning secret

by Amal Jayasinghe
COLOMBO, April 30 (AFP) — Few expected Sri Lanka to win the 1996 cricket World Cup. Few expect them to defend their title successfully in England in the coming weeks.

Arjuna Ranatunga’s team re-invented the one-day game three years ago in dramatic fashion but the innovation have since dried up, as have the trophy award ceremonies.

Off the pitch, they continue to talk a brave game. There is secret "new strategy" to be unveiled during the tournament. The players, say officials, have been "re-focused" following sessions with a sports psychologist.

On the pitch, however, recent results have spoken for themselves.

In March, Sri Lanka failed to reach the final of a tri-nation tournament against India and Pakistan. A month before, they had missed the final of the World Series involving Australia and England. A few months before that, in Sharjah, they were beaten by India and Zimbabwe.

During the period, they won four games out of 18. Hardly the stuff of champions.

There have been compensating factors, however. Several of the side’s top players have missed games with injury. A battle for control of the Sri Lankan cricket board just before the team’s departure for the World Cup has been unsettling.

A good start to the tournament - against England at Lord’s in the opening fixture on May 14 - could rapidly lift the gloom.

Crucially, opener Sanath Jayasuriya will be back after recovering from breaking his forearm in Australia.

It was Jayasuriya in 1996 who had made a mockery of traditional one-day wisdom by throwing his bat from the very first delivery, taking advantage of fielding restrictions during the first 15 overs.

His lightning scoring - 82 off 44 balls against England in Faisalabad, for instance - often left opponents so shellshocked that they never recovered. Barely known outside his own living room before the World Cup, he ended it as player of the tournament.

The only worry, however, is that such an approach on seaming English wickets and a swinging ball could prove suicidal.

Muttiah Muralitharan is also likely to feel more like his old self.

The off spinner with the bent arm and rotating wrist was jeered and heckled in Australia at the start of the year after being called for throwing.

Muralitharan, however, due to be signed by Lancashire, has never had problems with English umpires or crowds. He also had fond memories of Lord’s, where he recorded match figures of 16 for 220 - the fifth best of all time - in the one-off Test against England last August.

Batting virtuoso Aravinda de Silva, who scored a century in the 1996 World Cup final against Australia, is also a favourite among English crowds after his spell with county side Kent.

If these three, plus Ranatunga, can hit form in unison, Sri Lanka may yet surprise themselves.

Overall, however, the team, while extremely strong as a batting unit and capable of chasing down almost any score, still looks too light on top-class bowlers to upset the very top teams.

Attempts to introduce new players into an ageing team have also failed.

Ranatunga says: "When we tried new players we did not do well... that is why we have very senior and experienced players in the squad"!

The 1999 squad in eerily similar to the class of 1996. Only batsman Asanka Gurusinghe (now living in Australia), all-rounder Kumara Dharmasena (suspect bowling action) and paceman Ravindra Pushpakumara (poor form) are missing.

For Sri Lanka, selective memory may be the best approach. They should remember 1995 and forget the last few months.

And it would also be worth remembering the last time they played one-day cricket in England, in August last year. They won that triangular tournament by beating South Africa and then overturning England.

Arjuna ducks controversy

From Sujeeva Nivunhella in London
Arjuna Ranatunge refused to be drawn into controversy in the British media and said that he would not be provoked to enter into an encounter that would only serve to demoralise his team.

"We won’t get demoralised by any of this stuff. The team will only get tougher,’’ he told this correspondent.

On arrival at Heathrow, the British press bombarded the skipper with questions, most of them dealing with what happened in Australia and what Alec Stewart had to say in his just published book.

Ranatunge was unflappable saying he was not planning to air any dirty linen and that Stewart should look after his own team without bothering about others. His remark that our culture was different from that of the west saw the newspaper, Sports First , seizing on the phrase questioning whether the captain was talking of "gun culture.’’ The allusion was to the recent Cricket Board elections.

Manager, Duleep Mendis said that while the ICC had cleared Muralitharan’s bowling action, there was no guarantee that the umpires would not ‘no ball’ him.

The team arrived here early on April 24 to get acclimatised to the weather conditions here. They are practising at the nets and playing friendly games with clubs in Leicester.

They were received by Asitha Jayaweera and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board representatives in England. At the moment our cricketers are being looked after by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board representatives in England and Sri Lankan businessman Sarath Abeysundera who owns his own cricket ground in Leicester.

Our players are staying at Stakis hotel in Leicester and they will be taken over by the official World Cup Cricket Committee on May 3. Then they will be put up at Stakis hotel at Northampton. Northamptonshire County is hosting the Sri Lankan cricket team until the world cup commences.

Our team will play three warm up matches against Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire cricket clubs on May ,9 and 11.

Arjuna speaking to‘Sunday Island’ said the boys are in good spirits and all are well. Trevor Chappell who also spoke to the ‘Sunday Island’ said that the boys were improving in their fielding and eager to learn new and easy methods.

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board representatives had a dinner dance for the cricketers to cheer them up and music was by the Gypsies yesterday at Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Sri Lankan cricket fans living in England are already getting ready to enjoy the festival. Most of them have obtained tickets and those who did not succeed in getting tickets have arranged to gather in friends’ houses to watch matches on television. Women have undertaken to cook different dishes and men have already purchased their Sri Lankan arrack and beer to create the atmosphere.

As the first match is being played on a working day, most of the Sri Lankans had applied for leave and those who find difficult to get leave are planning to be sick on that day.

On January 1 a soothsayer in England had forecasted that on May 14 when the World Cup kicks off at Lords with the match between Sri Lanka and England, it would rain and the match will be a ‘reduced over’ match and that Sri Lanka would win. Let’s wait and see whether it will come true.

COMMENT
Sri Lanka underrated

By Srian Obeyesekere
Instant cricket’s biggest extravaganza unfolds in but a few days time. For the money raking bookmakers who seem to have turned to cricket for instant money like the thriving horse racing business, there cannot be a better time. Already South Africa and Australia are 3-1 joint favourites while Pakistan is third at 4-1 and hosts England fourth at 5-1.

Ironically, defending champions Sri Lanka lag behind fifth at 8-1.

And as statistics go, England show a better track record than Sri Lanka in the World Cup’s 21-year long history with 25 wins from 40 matches as against the Lankans 12 wins from 34 matches with 20 losses.

But funnily, statistics can mean nothing in cricket as did Sri Lanka make a mockery of it at the last World Cup when she thrashed Australia to lift the cup. And as Ranatunga’s team did it again in a triangular in England last August when they outclassed both hosts England and the much talked of South Africans. For the record, England are yet to win the cup.

As it is come the 7th edition of the World Cup and again Sri Lanka has been highly under-rated despite being defending champions. The bookmakers, like the Western media do not seem to give Arjuna Ranatunga’s team much of a chance. England ahead of Sri Lanka in the ratings? Is it because the old masters are favoured on home soil?

But for that matter Sri Lanka was not given much of a chance even in 1996. But Ranatunge’s men defied all odds as they did last year on English soil. And just as statistics can mean nothing, in comparisson, Sri Lanka certainly outweighs Alec Stewart’s Englishmen. While the English are yet groping to come to terms with instant cricket, it is Sri Lanka that converted the short version of the game into a new dimension.

Interestingly, while the fuss is being made around Hansie Cronje’s South Africans and Steve Waugh’s Australians, it is Ranatunga’s Sri Lankans who have made one-day cricket what it is today where run making in the first 15 overs has taken an electrifying turn.

Despite the recent decline, Sri Lanka does have the type of combination capable of upsetting any team. The batting department still revolves around the explosive run machine, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluvitharana while yet in its ranks is the genius with the bat, Aravinda de Silva who can swing a match as he did at the last Cup final at Lahore with a brilliant century.

Perhaps, Team Manager, Duleep Mendis summed up Sri Lanka’s chances best when he said on the eve of departure that ‘we have worked on a fairly containing bowling attack’. In strike bowler, Chaminda Vaas,- who before emplaning said he had worked hard to get back to his old best, and the in-form Pramodya Wickramasinghe who can swing the ball on seaming English wickets, are two seasoned campaigners.

With key off spinner Muttiah Muralitheran ,who mesmerised the English batsmen last August backed by Sanath Jayasuriya who has proved to be quite a wicket taker in one-day cricket and leggie Upul Chandana, the utility player, the bowling department does measure to standard. Sri Lanka’s dark horse could well be pacie, newcomer Eric Upashantha who in limited outings improved in leaps and bounds with an ability to generate considerable speed as well as swing.

The defending champions do have the formula to lift the World Cup for another 4 years.Above all,the team seems to have got the motivation with the entry of a Chappell-despite the Aussies being Sri Lanka’s arch foes- and the re-entry of Mendis.

Introducing para gliding

By Shirajiv Sirimane in Ella Wellawaya
Para Gliding, a sport fast catching up in the world, is to be introduced in a big way in Sri Lanka. Ella Adventure Park, a picturesque hotel in Wellawaya is the focal point for this sport. The hotel is located close to Ravana Ella (Falls).

As in the case of the sport, which was introduced only 15 years ago by two brothers in France, in Sri Lanka too, two ex Army Para Troopers Vijith Welikara and Jayavi Fernando are the two key figures behind the sport, being introduce to Sri Lanka.

Welikala’s father Tudor, an avid nature lover too had a major part to play towards the introduction of the sport in Sri Lanka. Tired by the set and busy life in United States, he gave up his citizenship and came back to Sri Lanka to reside in a remote mountain in Ella.

Vijith, who had retired after serving 12 years in the Sri Lanka Army Commando’s Para Unit was looking for an investment opportunity. The timing was right and there was a 40 acre land at Ella and he invested on it. "Cultivation was not in my mind when I bought the land. One aim was to give a better living condition for my father but he preferred to be in his own," recalled Vijith. It was at this time I got the idea of putting up an adventure resort and Ella Adventure Park was born. Para Gliding is one main feature at the Adventure Park" he said.

The duo Welikala and Fernando then flew in an Indian expert in Para Gliding and he was instrumental in finding a perfect mountain for the sport. "The Kurulangala mountain in the Punagala Range has an ideal surferce of nearly four kilometrs which is very rare to find for the sport. This range is suited to hold any international event, "said Fernando.

After guide lines were laid by the Indian expert, G. K. Chandra Cyril, G. M. Sugath, Hewagamage Saman and Nandipala Munasinghe too joined the Ella Adventure Park, Para Gliding team. Many under went advanced training abroad.

"Some people may think that we are trying to introduce a very expensive sport catered for the elite class in Sri Lanka. That is not true. To learn Para Gliding you only need an open mind and four of five days of free time", said Fernando. "It is designed for the age groups from 7 to 87," he added.

There have been a 7 year old and a 87 year old taking part in international events.

Welikala said that if a person is interested in taking to the sport he or she has only to come to Ella Adventure Park. "We will provide them with expert guides for training, transport and all the equipment needed," said Welikala. "You do not even have to stay at our hotel to train" he added.

Globally caught up

The sport Para Gliding which is a mixture of para jumping and hang gliding has made a steady progress in the world sport circuit. It has a world governing body and has held many world championships as well. Last year an international event was held in Nepal and it was a tremendous success.

Many such events are held in regularly in India as well and the sport is a great boon to tourism. "Since Sri Lanka has a lot of mountains the government could promote this event as a major tourist attraction" said Fernando.

When the sport catches up in Sri Lanka we too are hoping to form an Association for the sport and get international recognition. We are hoping to get the sports ministry involved in this project as well said Welikala.

Easy to learn

"The sport is very easy to learn according to Fernando. "If a person is healthy and does not have air sickness, Para Gliding is as easy as running a 100 meters race since you do not need any expert skills," he said.

"You come to the mountain top, put on the para kit, run a few spaces towards the precipice, take a leap and simply take off." It is as simple as that!" said the chief instructor Fernando.

‘While on air there are few manouvering moves you got to do, to land at the intended spot, he said.

Fernando also said that the risk of accident in the sport is almost zero. "Accidents if at all, had taken place had been to senior and experienced gliders. The reason is they become over confident, forget all the rules and try to experiment sommer-saults and so on. When they do this they land at the wrong place", he said.

It was also disclosed that the Ella Adventure Park has specially flown down Para Gliding kits from Europe each costing fifteen hundred thousand. "We want to give the best for the Sri Lankans".

The J. M. Kumaradasa Central and the adjoining paddy field which is at the foot of the mountain are the landing sights for Para Gliding. It takes around 20 minutes to land from take off. This covers 35000 feet.

Many more sports

In addition to Para Gliding, the Elle Adventure Park, is an ideal location for a family holiday, offers facilities for canoing, rock climbing and many other sports. In addition bird watching and tracking too are only a few other attractions at the Elle Adventure Park.

The reasonable rates in the Hotel wrapped up by delicious Sri Lankan food and fruits and the large comfortable rooms too is a great attraction for Para Gliders, and the travellers.

Lemonade Cup final
Lumbini seek to undo Ananda

by Dhammika Ratnaweera
Ananda College will meet Lumbini MV in the final of the Lemonade Cup Inter-School Knock-Out Limited Over Cricket Tournament today at SSC grounds starting at a 9.30 a.m.

Ananda, the defending runners-up, lost to S. Thomas’ by one run last year. They were champions eight times in this 15-year long tournament. They last won the tournament in 1993.

This is the first time Lumbini MV has entered this tournament,and much of their fortunes will depend on Skiper Ranil Dhammika who is capable of having the Ananda batsmen in a spin with his wily legspin. In a short period Lumbini MV has shown improvement under the guidance of their Coach Dinesh Weerasinghe.

Ranil Dhammika, was ‘Best Bowler’ in the Group "A" Division. In the semi-finals, Ananda beat S. Thomas’ by seven wickets, while Lumbini MV defeated Prince of Wales by 15 runs.

Ananda is led by Jitendra Perera. Ananda will depend on a big score by stroke makers Tilina Kandambi, M. Pushpakumara, Dinesh Bandara, Lakshan Fernando and last year’s skipper Lahiru Chaturanga. A. Ganegama and Mohammed Ramzie are the Anandian pacies with the spinners being Pushpakumara and M. Mallawarachchi.

Lumbini also has in its fold last year’s skipper Nilakshan Abeyratne, who is an all-rounder and the experienced Sajith Dilantha, Manjula Priyantha and Upul Indrasiri.

However, the promising Lumbini side will have to contain the strong Anandians.

Ceylon Cold Stores is sponsoring this tournament for the first time.

Ananda team performance in this tournament: beat Aluthgama MV in first round, beat Raddoluwa MV in the quarter-final, beat St. Peter’s in quarter-final, beat St. Thomas’ in semi-final.

Lumbini MV team performance: beat Asoka MV in first round, beat Joseph Vaz in the quarter-final, beat St. Sylvester’s in quarter-final, beat Prince of Wales in semi-final.

The teams:

ANANDA: From — Jitendra Perera (Capt.), Tilina Kandambi (V. Capt.), Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Maduranga Mallawarachchi, Lahiru Chaturanga, Lakshan Fernando, Akalanka Ganegama, Mohammed Ramzie, Eshan Abeysinghe, Dinesh Bandara, Kasun Fernando, Rukshan Fernando, Yohan Wickramage, Thilantha Senaratne, Lahiru Senaviratne.

LUMBINI MV: From — Ranil Dhammika (Capt.), Nilakshan Abeyratne, Manjula Priyantha, Sajith Dilantha, Mohan Wickramasinghe, Sandun Senanayake, Dinusha Elvitigala (V. Capt.), Chamara Perera, A. H. Krishantha, Upul Indrasiri, Damith Indrmal, Rahesh Maduranga, Ranil de Alwis, Thilak Harsha, Hasantha Ranesh, Malintha Fernando, Nuwan Costa.

Kandy should have things to liking

by Hafiz Marikar
Kandy Sports Club should have things to their own liking, when they play host to the Air Force Sports Club , in their second game of the interclub league rugby tournament match at the Nittawela grounds. Kick off is set for 5.00 p.m. today. Kandy Sports Club scored a convincing 32-5 win over the Police SC in their opening game, thanks to efforts of their senior players like Lasantha Wijesuriya, Nalaka Weerakkody, Nilufer Ibrahim, Pradeep Basnayake, Suranga Amarasinghe and skipper Haris Omar.

Airmen in their opening game went down to the CH & FC lads. So today the Airmen are hoping to give off there best. Their coach Kitti Raturdrara a former Kandy SC player who helped the Nittawela club to win several trophies, is giving off his best.

Kandy SC should thank the former Hongkong and the present China’s National coach George Simpkin who was giving advice and was correcting the Nittawela boys. Mistakes by sending chits to their coach from the pavilion end most of the players were heard saying George gave us the much wanted help before the Police game.

So, today the Kandy SC ruggerites are expected to run round the Airmen.

Some interesting snippets from the World Cup

by Mahinda Wijesinghe
With Sri Lanka’s first World Cup game - against England - just 12 days away, it is an appropriate time to dwell on some of the highlights of the history of the World Cup which would be of interest to cricket lovers especially in Sri Lanka:

Despite winning all games during the 1996 World Cup tournament, only Zimbabwe (22) has lost more World Cup games than Sri Lanka (20). Currently, according to International Ratings published in the May 1999 issue of the London Cricketer magazine, Sri Lanka, defending their title of WC champions, is rated at the bottom of all Test-playing nations.

• Present record of Sri Lanka in World Cup games is: Played 32, Won 10, Lost 20, No result 2. It is also interesting to note that before winning the title in 1996, Sri Lanka has not gone past the first round in each of the 5 previous World Cup competitions.

• Sri Lanka’s score of 398/5, against Kenya at Kandy in 1996, is the record total in World Cup history and so is the match aggregate of 652 runs for 12 wickets in the same game. Sri Lanka’s lowest score was 86 scored off 37.2 overs against West Indies in 1975.

• All Test-playing nations, except Sri Lanka, share the batting partnership records. In fact, the records for the 5th and the 6th wickets were established against Sri Lanka. Surprisingly Zimbabwe leads with three records, while the balance seven records are shared one each by the rest.

• Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga holds the record for the fastest fifty - in 29 balls against Kenya in 1996 - while Kapil Dev holds the record for the fastest hundred - in 72 balls against Zimbabwe in 1983.

• When Aravinda de Silva scored an unbeaten century (107*) and captured 3 wickets, against Australia in the WC finals in 1996, he joined three other players - Viv Richards, Chris Cairns and Dave Houghton - who had achieved the feat of scoring a hundred and capturing three wickets. Highest individual scorers for Sri Lanka in WC games are: 1. Aravinda de Silva (145 & 107*). 2. Roshan Mahanama 89.3. Arjuna Ranatunga 88*. Best bowling feats are by Ashantha de Mel 5/32 & 5/39 in 1983.

• Anura Ranasinghe, the former Nalanda College captain, who died prematurely last November, was the first schoolboy to play in a World Cup, when aged 18 years he represented Sri Lanka in their first-ever WC game, against West Indies in 1975 at Manchester. S. P. Pasqual, the former Royalist, at 17 years and 238 days is the youngest to play in the World Cup when he represented Sri Lanka against New Zealand at Nottingham, England in 1979. The oldest player to make his debut in the World Cup was Nolan Clarke of the Netherlands when his side took on South Africa at Rawalpindi in 1996. Clarke was 47 years and 256 days.

• Sri Lanka, playing in Group A, has to meet England (May 14), South Africa (May 19), Zimbabwe (May 22), India (May 26) and Kenya (May 30) in this World Cup competition.

• Most appearances and most runs scored in World Cup competitions are held by Pakistan’s controversial Javed Miandad. He appeared in 33 games and scored 1,083 runs at an average of 43.32 with a highest score of 103. West Indian Viv Richards is second on the list with 1,013 runs at an average of 63.31 and a highest score of 181 having appeared in only 21 games. Richards also has the distinction of scoring three centuries in WC games (one each in 1979, 1983 and 1987) but Mark Waugh is the only one to score 3 centuries in the same tournament, a feat he achieved in 1996, when he notched 130 against Kenya, 126 against India and 110 against New Zealand.

• Trevor Chappell, Sri Lanka’s new fielding coach, and compatriot Geoff Marsh have the distinction of scoring World Cup centuries on their respective World Cup debuts. Coincidentally, not only were their scores identical (110), both scored their runs against India (!), Chappell in 1983 at Nottingham, England and Marsh in 1987 at Madras.

• The only hat-trick in World Cup history has been achieved by India’s Chetan Sharma, when he claimed the wickets of Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield of New Zealand in 1987. With his current form, maybe, Pakistani skipper Wasim Akram will be itching to be the second to do so!!

• English umpire Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird has officiated in most WC games — 18. Pakistan’s Khizer Hayat is a close second with 17 games.

• World Cup 2003 will be hosted by South Africa, while the West Indians have won the right to host the tournament in 2007.

Lankan cagers stranded following visa refusal by embassy

The Sri Lanka Women’s Basketball Team which is to participate in the Asian Women’s Basketball Championships has run into snags in obtaining visas to travel to Japan where it is to be staged. The team has found its visa requests turned down by the Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka, ’The Island’ understands. Following this development, it is understood the local basketball authorities have appealed to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, his Secretary and the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Japan to intervene. The 18th Asian Basketball Championship commences today at Sushiyoka and while Sri Lanka was down to meet Uzbekistan in the second match of the day, the organisers have rescheduled the Lankans matches following the delay in obtaining visas.

Meanwhile, hectic last minute efforts were being made by the local authorities concerned to expedite the obtaining of visas for the Sri Lankan team to take wing for Japan tonight. The team is down to fly courtesy Air Lanka. It is understood that the Japanese Embassy had indicated it was not in a position to issue visas for the entire Lankan contingent.

India trounce Bangladesh 2-nil

By Asoka Goonetilleke reporting from India
India stamped her superiority in the SAAF region when they drubbed Bangladesh 2-0 in the final of the SAAF Coca Cola Cup Soccer Championship here at the Nehru Stadium on Saturday. It was the individual brilliance of ace striker Baichan Bhutia and I. M. Vijayan and Bruno Courtinhu in the mid field that took India to this convincing victory.

Baichan was adjudged the ‘Most Valuable Player of the Final’ and the ‘Man of the Championship’. India first scored in the 27th minute through a razor sharp pass from Bhutia after failing to score in the fourth and sixth minutes. India’s second goal, a minute from the break was scored by Bhutia who displayed his wizardry to score off a rebound. This was after Vijayan, finding a crack in the strong Bangladesh defence, made a low level volley which rebounded off the hands of custodian Aminul Haq. Bangladesh could make inroads into the Indian territory only once which sailed past the goal.

Sri Lankan cricketers in easy win

By Sujeeva Nivunhella our London Corr.
Leicestershire, May l -– Sri Lanka completed a comfortable 155-run victory over a Hently Town Invitation XI here at Leicester on Saturday. Batting first, Sri Lanka made 266 in 50 overs with Upul Chandana top scoring with a breezy 74 runs. He was well supported by Hashan Tillekeratne(54) and Romesh Kaluvitharana (43). The Hently Town Invitation XI batsmen were at sea against the Lankan bowling attack and folded up for l0l in 38.3 overs. Paceman Eric Upashantha, medium pacie Chandika Hathurusinghe, off spinners Muttiah Muralitheran and Aravinda de Silva claimed two wickets apiece.

CHIEF SCORES:

Sri Lanka 266 all out in 50 overs. (Romesh Kaluvitharana 43, Hashan Tillekeratne 54, Aravinda de Silva 21, Roshan Mahanama 16, Upul Chandana 74, Patrick 3/44,Fisher 3/73,Pollock 2/53,Watson 2/35).

Hently Town Invitation XI 101 all out in 38.3 overs. (Akram Raza 12, Upashantha 2/25, Hathurusinghe 2/27, de Silva 2/l0, Muralitheran 2/12).

Busy squash calendar for 1999/2000

The newly elected Sri Lanka Squash Federation Executive Committee has chalked out a very busy calendar commencing in April 1999 to March 2000 in its ambitious plans to popularise the game during their tenure of office.

The new SLSF Executive Committee with stalwarts of the game Brigadier Ananda Sooriyabandara, Wing Commander Ranjan Samarasinghe and Christopher Dias as Vice Presidents and renowned national squash players such as Gehan Fernando and Padmini Samarasinghe and the rest of the members being senior personalities from leading mercantile establishments and the armed forces has the correct blend for fruitful cooperation to ensure maximum participation and the introduction of proper skills and correct rules of the game to the younger generation.

Having being associated with the game from the inception of the Squash Federation, the new President of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation Colonel Sarath Jayawardhana is no stranger to the Sri Lankan squash fraternity. He is determined to ensure that all squash players in the country are provided an opportunity to take part in the 6 to 7 ranking tournaments which are scheduled to be conducted in Colombo, Bentota, Waikkal and Kandy, and in the two inter-club league tournaments which are planned for this year.

Squash is an all weather game ideal for the maintenance of off-season fitness for all sportsmen and women at very little cost of playing equipment and attire. In this day and age when medical advisors stress on the better eating habits and fitness, squash provides sufficient exercise in the shortest possible time.

During the past few years the game of squash has gradually spread to most clubs and hotels in Colombo and the suburbs. However the game has not had the same popularity in the outstations. The SLSF is therefore hoping to encourage and provide the technical knowledge and all assistance to the outstation clubs and schools to build their own squash courts.

Their plans include popularasing the game in schools by assisting the Schools Squash Association wherever required in the conduct of an inter-school tournament and even to conduct inter house tournaments in schools. They have also committed themselves to provide similar assistance to the clubs in conducting open or closed club tournaments.

The season opener will be an inter-club league tournament, which will commence early May and completed in mid June 1999. The inter club league concept is been followed by most countries to encourage players who are shy of participating in ranking tournaments to get accustomed to competitive squash. This concept was introduced to Sri Lanka by Sarath Jayawardhana on his return to the country after several years of squash abroad in 1996 and was acclaimed by all the clubs who participated. This year too more than 12 teams are expected to be nominated notably from the Sri Lanka Army, Navy, Air Force, SSC, CCC, Otters, Ladies Squash, Hilton, Kotelawala Defence Academy, Military Academy Diyatalawa and STC. Closing date for nomination of teams is 3rd May 1999. Clubs are allowed to enter more than one team and will be grouped into two or three divisions according to the ability of the players. The club league will be concluded with an awards ceremony and dinner hosted by the SLSF for all the participants. A second league is planned for January 2000 to terminate in March 2000 to coincide with the end of their term on office.

The SLSF also propose to conduct an open tournament every month dependent on the number of sponsorship packages obtained for each tournament. The Junior Nationals and the Nationals tournaments will be held as usual in the months of August and December. The SLSF has also decided to keep all the players well informed of their plans by issuing squash calendar to all affiliate clubs to be posted on their notice boards. Players rankings taking in to account the performance of the players during the last 12 months will also be distributed to all the affiliate clubs and updated at the conclusion of every tournament.

The Sri Lanka Squash Federation has also been invited to conduct the junior age group under 19, 17,15 and 13 Asian Junior Squash legs in Sri Lanka in September 1999 so that we fall in line with the Asian Squash Federation plans to ensure that junior players in all the Asian countries have a chance of being recognised and ranked in each age category in Asia. Countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, China and Singapore will be represented at this tournament. The SLSF committee hopes that with the blessings and approval of the Minister of Sports they could muster the large amount of funds required to successfully conduct such an international tournament of this nature in Sri Lanka.

A series of training programmes especially for school children will be worked out by a Training and Coaching sub committee headed by Wing Commander Ranjan Samarasinghe who is a level 1 qualified ASF coach. In this context, the coaching experience of Mrs. Padmini Samarasinghe who recently has successfully completed a course in Malaysia as a Grade 2 coach, Mr. Gehan Fernando and Mr. Lakdasa Cooray who have been associated in training on previous occasions will be co-opted to improve the standards of the players. In order to inculcate and improve the knowledge of the rules of the game, squash clinics are planned to be conducted by Mrs. Samarasinghe and Mr. Gehan Fernando both of whom have a wide experience of refereeing and were referees at the Commonwealth games and Asian Games in 1998.

The squash executive committee also endeavours to set up a permanent headquarters and squash court complex for the SLSF which problem has sadly not been resolved after all these years of the existence of the SLSF and is an absolute necessity for the growth of the game and the development of the younger players in the country.

The SLSF will be examining several options amongst which the possibilities of jointly developing the existing squash courts in a club would be seriously examined. Other options available are the possible of obtaining the Sports Ministers approval to use the facilities already available at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium or in a site allocated by the Ministry.

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Sportsmanship in cricket — is there still hope?

By Mahinda Wijesinghe
Recently, there was a letter to the editor of ‘The Island’ newspaper that during the Ananda/Nalanda annual encounter, an Anandian batsman and a ‘star’ at that, whilst going for a sharp single, slipped and fell. A fielder’s throw hit the stumps with the batsman well out of his crease. However, the Nalanda skipper "not only did not appeal but requested the batsman to continue his innings". Well done Nalanda! During the Bloomfield v Sebastianites Division I game there were further reports of good sportsmanship displayed by the Sebastianites. Well done Sebastianites! So, in times of gloom when sportsmanship appears a thing of the past, there is a silver lining in Sri Lankan cricket.

During the 1964 Ashes series, Fred Titmus, the England off-spinner, was used as a temporary opening batsman. Whilst taking a sharp single, Titmus collided with Australian opening bowler Neil Hawke and fell heavily on the middle of the pitch. The ball was whisked back to the wicketkeeper, Wally Grout, with Titmus still sprawled on the ground. However, Grout did not take the bails off end permitted Titmus to regain his crease. That was sportsmanship displayed at Test levels.

On the other hand, when the West Indies played England at Queen’s Park oval in Trinidad during the 1973-74 series, an ugly incident marred the beginning of the 5-Test series. It happened as play ended on the second day. England, under Mike Denness, had been bowled out for a mere 131. West Indians were making a sound reply with Julien and Kallicharran at the crease. Julien played the last ball of the day gently down to Tony Greig fielding close to the batsman. Assuming that the day’s play was over Alvin Kallicharan (142*), at the non-striker’s end, simply took his gloves off end was walking towards the pavilion when Greig turned round and threw the stumps down and appealed for a run out. Umpire Sang Hue (there were no international umpires then) had no choice but rule Kallicharran ‘out’. Naturally, there was pandemonium amongst the volatile West Indian crowd. However, after lengthy off-field consultations overnight, the appeal was withdrawn, and Kallicharran was allowed to continue the next day which eventually resulted in a West Indian victory by 7 wickets. Tony Greig, I am sure, would not have won a popularity poll in the Caribbean during that time.

Then, there was a similar incident of poor sportsmanship involving Greig’s team-mate, and now a fellow TV commentator, Geoff Boycott. It happened during the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the Indian Cricket Board, in 1980. A single Test was arranged against England, and it was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Bombay. Finally, England had to score 96 runs to win the Test. Gooch and Boycott opened the batting. During the run-chase Boycott was ruled out, caught behind by Kirmani, but Boycott simply ignored the umpire’s decision and continued batting! Mind you, in a Test match, ignores the ruling of the umpire, in India at that, and continued to bat! Since it was a goodwill match the Indians led by that gentleman cricketer Gundappa Viswanath, did not make an issue and England eventually won by 10 wickets.

During a recent one-day International game between Sri Lanka and India, Sri Lanka was in a bad position when the umpires rightfully offered the light to the Sri Lankans. Aravinda de Silva who was batting at that time, was nearing his personal hundred, but had no hesitation in accepting the offer made by the umpires (of whom one was an international) in order to save his side from a possible defeat. Not for Aravinda to go for a personal milestone, the team came first. Boycott who was commentating at that time on TV was critical of Aravinda accepting the offer, adding that "ten wild horses would not have got me off the crease". For Boycott the personal milestone was seemingly more important than the safety of the team. It is a great pity that such types, who can influence the thinking of millions of youngsters the world over, are permitted to comment on TV.

Getting back to the same Test match at the Wankhede Stadium, a game replete with many milestones. For instance, Ian Botham, the England all-rounder became the first to score a century and capture 10 or more wickets in a Test. Wicketkeeper, Bob Taylor, established another world record by holding 10 catches in the match, and his sixth-wicket partnership of 171 runs with Botham was a record for the series. When the pair had added 85 runs, umpire Hanumantha Rao upheld an appeal for a catch by wicketkeeper Kirmani against Taylor. The batsman protested - possibly Boycott was influenced later by Taylor’s conduct? - and the Indian captain Vishwanath persuaded the umpire to revoke the decision. England who were 58/5 - in reply to a modest Indian total of 242 - when the pair came together, rescued England with their 171-run partnership. India lost the Test by 10 wickets but that was sportsmanship at its best displayed by the Indians despite something to the contrary by the Englishmen.

Today, fair-play and sportsmanship in cricket is fast becoming a rare commodity. Just the other day, Australian fast bowler, Glenn McGrath, was fined for spitting on the pitch during the final Test against West Indies - and he was not having betel juice in his mouth.

When the sun goes down he will be remembered

By Suresh P. Perera
It was a paradoxical quirk of fate that young Jens Baudisch came to Sri Lanka to die.

An accomplished German table tennis player, Sri Lanka and her people were so close to his heart and if death had not so cruelly intervened, he would have come back to our midst to play another round of that game he loved so much.

But, Baudisch opted to die rather than watch life drag on in a meaningless drift. For he was paralysed and death was perhaps the only way out for a man whose legs refused to move any longer. The great sportsman that Baudisch was, he faced death valiantly and was gone in a silent departure which left behind a wall of grief.

The huge wave which swept him away at Marawila that tragic evening has translated the infinite ocean into a sea of tears for those who were near and dear to him. Some local youths rescued the drowning youngster, but it was too late. He had broken his vertebral column and later breathed his last in a Colombo hospital.

In the true spirit of sportsmanship, Baudisch didn’t retract in fear. Not even in death. A vibrant life he had led during his 21 years and when on the hospital bed he found his limbs lifeless, he knew the worst had happened.

‘I want to die’, he told those who battled to save his life. He had resolved to bid adieu. Everything around him, in the world which brought him honour and fame, had suddenly turned empty and meaningless. Fate had decreed otherwise and Jens Baudisch’s journey had been ruthlessly disrupted.

When the shocking news reached his parents, it left them shattered. It was September and for a brief moment, the distraught family thought that a dismal autumn dream had been so unkind to their only son. But unfortunately, it was not so. "He has been seriously injured while sea bathing", they were told.

The parents knew that time was running out. The entire town of Steinheim where Baudisch lived joined hands to help save the life of the sportsman they all adored and admired.

With $50,000 they hastily mustered, two German doctors were sent to Sri Lanka aboard a special flight to bring the injured man home for medical attention. But what they didn’t know was that Baudisch had made an appointment with death.

The German medical men examined him, but in the condition he was in, it was thought inadvisable to move him. The end was at hand.

‘Jens Baudisch has died’, Chairman, Asian-German Sports Exchange, Dietmar Doering was informed. The young player had come to our shores on a tournament organised under this exchange programme.

His team mates waited outside their hotel rooms in a silent vigil for news of their dear colleague. The sandy shores had abruptly turned murky and the roaring waves leapt into the heavy sky, resembling a cascade of tears.

A silent grief erupted as the sad news was broken and the grim reality that Baudisch was no more, came into focus. Young, energetic and bubbling with life, he made an impact within a short span. That would have been his wish. Lying paralysed, his final wish to die was also granted.

By the sea-front at Marawila, they are now building a multi-million, ultra-modern indoor stadium in memory of Baudisch. ‘We will be inviting his parents to open it on September 9 this year’, Peter Martens, Director of the project said.

A tournament dedicated to his memory was played in Sri Lanka, but his grief-stricken parents couldn’t make it as they still cannot come to terms with the untimely demise of their son, Doering said.

‘I visited Steinheim to console the family and for two days slept in Jens Baudisch’s room’, he recalled.

The stadium that’s taking shape close to the stretch of sea where this dynamic sportsman was drowned is the greatest honour that can be bestowed on a compassionate human being who had dedicated his life to the game.

‘A sportsman is a vibrant individual who is always on the move. To be paralysed signals the ‘end’ of life and living. Perhaps, that’s why Baudisch wanted to die’, Doering explained.

Martens, a table tennis chief lecturer from Hamburg, has joined hands to make the memorial stadium a reality. A portrait of Baudisch will also be unveiled on the day of its opening.

Equipped with 12 table tennis tables, 4 badminton courts and a volleyball and basketball court each, the proposed entity will have all modern amenities, Martens said.

‘We intend conducting international tournaments and championships as well and a selective 200 local members will be enrolled’, he added.

‘To dedicate this stadium to the late Baudisch is the greatest tribute we can pay him as he loved Sri Lanka the way he cherished table tennis, Doering said, his eyes turning misty.

‘There is no such facility within a radius of 50 km from here. This in itself is a salute not only to the fallen hero, but to the people of this area as well, he explained.

Returning after a visit to the Pinnawala elephant orphanage, the star player was all smiles as he dived into the sea for a refreshing bath. Blissfully unaware of what fate had in store for him, he cut across the turbulent waters fearlessly as he was not only an excellent table tennis player, but a fine swimmer as well. What followed was unimaginable and is now a tragic part of history.

His death has given birth to a concept of an ultra-modern stadium in honour of this genial sportsman who departed leaving behind a wave of pain and anguish. What is now taking shape at Marawila to perpetuate his memory will go a long way to offer solace to the grief-stricken that Jens Baudisch died, but he didn’t die in vain.

With the going down of the sun and in the morning they will remember him............

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