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Ponting a great century, but Lanka in sight of historic series win
by Jatila Karawita
Australia’s star middle order batsman Ricky Ponting hammered his fourth test century, and his first ‘ton’ against Sri Lanka as Australia amassed a total of 342 all out, before the heavens opened up in all its fury shortly before lunch, for the umpires to abandon any further play on day three in the third and final cricket test at SSC grounds yesterday.
The prospects of further rain during the remaining two day’s play in this test, increased the possibility of Australia suffering their first ever test series defeat to Sri Lanka, following Sri Lanka’s 1-0 series lead after its 6 wicket win in the first test in Kandy. Play was officially called off for the day at 1.30 p.m. local time by the two umpires K. T. Francis and Peter Willey with only one innings being completed thus far in this rain marred test.
Australia resuming at their overnight score of 318 for 7 wickets, added a further 24 runs before losing their remaining three wickets in the 43 minutes of play possible in the prelunch session, as the weather gods intervened sharp at 11.00 a.m. to put pay to any chances of further play for the day, leaving the SSC outfield resembling that of a lake as a result of the heavy downpour. Only 506 minutes of play have been possible out of a total of 1,080 minutes during the first three day’s of this third test match.
Ricky Ponting and Damien Fleming continued their overnight partnership and swelled it to 80 runs for the eighth wicket, before Fleming trying to hit Muralitheran over the top, holed out to Atapattu at Long on with the score at 335. Fleming’s useful contribution of 32 comprised 3 fours while facing 78 deliveries.
Following Damien Fleming’s dismissal Australia’s tail failed to offer the Sri Lankan bowlers much of a resistance and finally the visitors were dismissed for 342. Ricky Ponting who held the Australian middle and lower order batting together resumed on 90, and in the end was left unbeaten on a well crafted 105, made of 222 minutes of batting, and off 171 balls, cracking 10 scorching boundaries in the process.
Paceman Chaminda Vaas ended with the most impressive figures of 4 for 54 in 23.4 overs, to help the home team to polish off the Aussie tail by picking up the last two wickets of Colin ‘Funky’ Miller and Glenn Mcgrath both without troubling the scorers. Besides Vaas off spinner Muttaih Muralitheran sending down a marathon stint of 52 overs enjoyed only partial success on the slow turning wicket, claiming 3 for 150. His spin partner Ranga Herath gave him good support from the other end with figures of 2 for 98.
Steve Waugh’s unofficial test world champions down 0-1, will in all probability have to win this crucial test, with a view to squaring the three test ‘rubber’ or thereby suffer their first test series defeat against Sanath Jayasuriya’s men, and join former skippers Kim Hughes and Greg Chappell as the only three Australian captains who have failed to lead Australia to test series wins in the Sub Continent.
Scoreboard
Australia first innings (overnight 318-7)
G.Blewett c Atapattu c Herath 70
M.Slater st Kaluwitharana b Arnold 59
J.Langer c Ranatunga b Muralitharan 32
M.Waugh c Arnold b Muralitharan 13
S.Waugh c Kaluwitharana b Herath 14
R.Ponting not out 105
I.Healy C Jayawardene b Vaas 7
S.Warne lbw b Vaas 0
D.Fleming c Atapattu b Muralitharan 32
C.Miller lbw Vaas 0
G.McGrath c Atapattu b Vaas 0
Extras (nb-10) 10Total (all out 136.4 overs) 342
Fall of wickets: 1-126 2-147 3-182 4-183 5-221 6-253 7-255 8-335 9-342
Bowling to date: Vaas 23.4-5-54-4 (1nb), Zoysa 10-4-23-0, Herath 35-10-98-2, Muralitharan 52-5-150-3 (9nb), Jayasuriya 9-2-14-0, Arnold 7-4-3-1
Titanicby Srian Obeyesekere
A few months back, nobody in Sri Lanka would have given its cricket so much as a second glance. The game had ‘shrunk to such low measure.’ But then who coined such a gloriously lively game, ‘the glorious uncertainties of cricket?’ Whoever did must surely have known the rudiments of it by his finger tips.
For Sri Lankan cricket has all of a sudden risen titanic like from the hollowcast it had shrunk to in the months just before and during the World Cup 99’. When a jaded and deflated Lankan outfit, smarting from that humiliation, disintegrated, making their return home in units to what were mournful homecomings, would one have thought just three months hence Sri Lanka would be on the threshold of history in the making - its first Test series win against mighty Australia. The mightiest in the Test cricket firmament. But on the threshold of celebrating just that over the characteristically warring, steel as steel Steve Waugh’s Australians is exactly what Sri Lanka is set for. A dream which is but two days away from being realised, come tomorrow with the fickle weather guiding the destiny of the third and final Test match which enters its fourth day today at the Singhalese Sports Club grounds. With just two days of play left and only one innings completed inside of three days, bar a miracle, the Test looks almost certainly destined for a draw which would see all of Sri Lanka get back to its act of celebrating its countrymen had got so well used to fours years ago on winning one-day cricket’s world cup in the sub-continent shores.
Of course, fickle has been the weather throughout Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka and Waugh and his men would no doubt be cursing their bad luck for factors other than cricket that have dented their tour. But at the same time, they could thank the rains as well. In reflection, in Kandy they were well and truly beaten. In Galle, the rains did intervene in the second Test match. But then again it was the rains that came to their rescue with Sri Lanka, 112 runs on with all 10 second innings wickets intact almost scenting victory after Australia had folded for 228. Of course a few adverse umpiring decisions have gone against the Australians. Like for instance the Waugh brothers being adjudged caught behind when the bat was nowhere near the ball. The bad decision against Mark in the first innings in the third Test was by senior most local umpire, K. T. Francis who would no doubt be hanging up his coat in his farewell match with a heavy heart. In the same innings, twin brother Steve was dubiously given caught behind by English umpire and former Test cricketer, Peter Willey. A batsmen himself in his hey days.
And as Sri Lankans once again get ready to make it a champagne occasion, surely the toast would be that village boy from the hamlet of the Southern coast of Matara, Sanath Jayasuriya. The village boy, who took to cricket in the backyard of his home and honed his talents at a little known school known as St. Servaitus College in his village, has indeed brought that sudden transformation of fortunes from gloom back to winning ways. The captaincy reins were thrust at him at a juncture when Sri Lankan cricket was looking more for survival than conquests soon after the world cup with the home Aiwa Cup one-day triangular that included India and the Test series against Australia. And it is to 29-year-old Jayasuriya’s credit that he restored the country’s one-day image on a victorious note which he is set to round off with a series win at Test level against the world champions at that level.
Jayasuriya has indeed shown remarkable drive with the acumen to read the game quite well. Above all handling his bowlers where he tries everything in the book. Wringing in the necessary changes, sometimes at random, making the necessary field placings while winning the faith of his men by his simplicity on the field.But Sri Lanka will owe much of its anticipated Test series win to master batsman, Aravinda de Silva whose batsmanship struck one of the highest notes in his career in ensuring that his side got there with some solidifying innings in the first and second Test matches. Significantly, an artist tragi-comically nearly written off for withering age, but in the maturity of his best years yet where shot making comes so selectively.
Last but not least the high class bowling of off spinner Muttiah Muralitheran, paceman Chaminda Vaas and new find, leggie Rangana Herath and the whole unit of a well knitted team. And ofcourse, coach Dave Whatmore whose return as coach has begun to yield what he sowed when Sri Lanka won the world cup and its first away Test series win against Pakistan in 1995 while becoming one of the strongest one-day teams in the world. While defeating India and Zimbabwe in home series, Sri Lanka has also beaten New Zealand away.
Sri Lanka, titanic.
Australia beat NZ 42-41 in World Netball final
Susil Premalal reporting from Christchurch, New Zealand
Australia defeated hosts New Zealand by a close 42 points to 41 to crown themselves the world netball champions at the 10th World Championship held in Christchurch yesterday.Yet for all,Australia’s victory in the final marked the continuation of a long era of domination by Australia of the world netball scene.
This was the contest of the tournament,full of all the action packed drama in a final and all the suspense as both countries fought it out for supremacy.All credit to the Australian lasses who slugged it out to seal victory by a single digit in a game where fortunes kept fluctuating till the final minute.
All in all,26 countries competed in some 138 matches.The stages of scoring read Australia 13-13,8-10,7-11,14-7.
Dhammika Ratnaweera reporting from Nepal
The Sri Lankan athletic contingent will return home today with eleven gold medals which they annexed at the 8th SAF Games here in Kathmandu,Nepal.
The national athletic coach,Derwin Perera,speaking to the ‘Sunday Island’ said that Sri Lanka had hoped to win 15 gold medals but were content to have gone as far as 11.
Said Perera,"We are satisfied considering the fact that we were without three key athletes in Susanthika Jayasinghe,Chintaka de Soysa and Sugath Tillekeratne.We missed a few golds by narrow margins due to certain mistakes.Anyhow,we had the satisfaction of setting up six new SAF meet records.
The Lankan contingent which will return by a Thai Airways flight at midnight today, will be welcomed by Sports Minister, S. B. Dissanayake and Deputy Minister of Sports, Jeevan Kumaratunga.
sp
Should batsmen have right of appeal to third umpire?by Mahinda Wijesinghe
The progress in human locomotion can be viewed from the day somebody thought of the wheel. Then came the day, many moons later when Wilbur and Orville Wright succeeded in putting man into the air in a machine called an aeroplane at Kitty Hawk, a sleepy village in North Carolina. That was in 1903. Now man was equal with the birds. In 1961, man went still a step further when Russian Yuri Gagarin, dared and succeeded in orbiting the stratosphere in his Sputnik.
Cricket too can be separated into three phases in its progress. According to Englishman, Bill Frindall, historian, statistician and journalist of repute, "the first probable reference to cricket appears in the Wardrobe accounts for the 28th year of the reign of Edward I (1299-1300) published in 1787 by the London Society of Antiquaries, and first brought to notice by ‘H.P.T.’ (P. F. Thomas) in old English Cricket, a collection of five pamphlets issued between 1923 and 1929." However, Frindall does concede that the "first certain reference to cricket is contained in a document dated December 1478 and refers to ‘criquet’ near St. Omer, in what is now north-eastern France." So, Frindall whilst giving credit to his own people for the origins of the game as a probability, does admit that the certain reference to the game has been made across the Channel. Something which may not be too palatable to most Englishmen - but, that is another story!
Importantly, during this formative stage, umpires if any, may not have played an important role. After all, umpires have to be armed with Laws as much as a batsman needs a bat. The printed word would not have been that accessible to start with and, even if available, literacy may have been a problem! Anyway, according to current information, it was not until 1727 were any written instructions given to umpires. The earliest known documented playing regulations, according to Frindall, are to be found in the Articles of Agreement between the Duke of Richmond and a Mr. Brodrick. However, the first known Laws were issued in 1744 as a result of a meeting of the London Star and Garter Club, the forerunner of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
So, it may be assumed that, in the first instance, umpires played a lukewarm role in the game. Resembling a diverticulum, a mere appendage like the appendix. However, with the proliferation of this wonderful game, umpires played an increasingly important role, until the universal cry, from the street games in Bombay to their counterparts on the beaches, whether played at Barbados or Beruwela, reverberated that "umpire’s word is Law". This second stage continued merrily for sometime, nay, for quite sometime.
Indeed, during this time, if an umpire erred to the detriment of a batsman, he would console himself that the next time round he would ‘benefit’ by yet another error! Anyway, it was a widely held belief amongst cricketers that umpiring errors ‘balance out’ during one’s career. Of course, nobody had kept accounts to prove the veracity or otherwise of that belief, but it was a consoling thought - for both players and umpires. In fact, umpiring errors became an accepted part of the game when the gentlemen in the white court too were not only respected but considered human.
Then came the third stage. Like Gagarin, this era really took off to space! What propelled Gagarin to the stratosphere was rocket-fuel. The rocket-fuel that launched the third stage was big money in cricket when the players’ livelihood mattered. Cricket became a profession.
When a sport becomes an industry, trouble begins. Into the third stage came the Third Umpire. Now matters of dispute are referred to a third umpire armed with technology. Not that third umpires were absent during impromptu games played across the maidens and the meadows of the cricket-playing world by schoolboys and urchins. In those games, either the owner of the bat or ball - playing the role of the self-appointed Third Umpire - quite often over-rules the decision of the appointed umpire and the latter, along with the rest of the participants have no choice but to accept such rulings, lest the game be abandoned!
Now, perhaps the time has come for the game to reach even above the stars. For the game to reach for the planets. How about letting the batsman, unhappy and unsatisfied by the decision given by the field umpire, be permitted to make an appeal to the Third Umpire? For instance, take the occasion when Mark Waugh was ruled out caught during the first innings of the third Test. Waugh certainly knew that the ball did not touch his bat. Yet, umpire Francis ruled him out. As much as a batsman makes a glaringly foul stroke or a fielder drops a ‘sitter’ or when two fielders in a Test match collide by not ‘calling’, the umpire, in this instance made an error of judgement. In such cases when the batsman is fairly confident of the situation and the camera could clarify the situation, why not let the batsman have the opportunity of calling for the Third Umpire intervention?
At the same time, to prevent the abuse of such practices by batsmen, there must be a condition. If the Third Umpire reaffirms the field Umpire’s decisions, the batsman would lose the whole or part of his match earnings. That should curb the abuse. If a condemned man in the death row has a right of appeal, why not a batsman be given a similar opportunity?
spex
‘KT’ and ‘Sobers’ on the need for fast pitchesBy Mahinda Wijesinghe
Sri Lanka’s senior international umpire K. T. Francis, who is turning 60 years of age shortly, will be hanging his coat after officiating in what will be his 25th Test match currently on at the SSC grounds. Very few appreciate the stress and the pressure an umpire undergoes. He may be just standing there but what goes on in his mind reminds me of the analogy of the graceful swan. Almost skimming the surface with such fluid grace maybe, but beneath the water - and not seen by the onlooker - its feet are moving frenetically. The umpire is doing just that. At least in the case of the swan none are screaming appeals nor are cameras trained to see whether the poor animal is swimming straight or otherwise! Then, the swan can rest when it wants to, the umpire has no such opportunity. Sometimes I am sure people like ‘KT’ must be wondering why they cannot do a less stressful job such as testing second-hand parachutes!
On the other hand, umpires do gain satisfaction after a job well done. It maybe like the mountaineer who risks his life scaling a cloud-covered and an ice-bound peak. Reaching the top, that is what it is all about. ‘KT’ has done just that. A few years ago, just to imagine that a Sri Lankan umpire would officiate in an Anglo-Australian Test match would ensure a strait-jacket and a padded cell. Yet, ‘KT’ achieved that among other accomplishments. It was also magnanimous on the part of ‘KT, to have paid a tribute to the late Mr. J. M. C. Jayasinghe as the person who encouraged him in the early part of his career. In fact, dear ‘JMC’ attempted to lure me into the fraternity of umpires as well, but, gently declined because I did not possess the attributes necessary for this job. Especially in the hurry-burly of modern cricket what with TV cameras, Third I Umpires and a media that questions every decision, umpiring is indeed a hazardous job with very little mental rewards. So, well done ‘KT’, you have earned your retirement.
A comment made by ‘KT’ has stirred a thought that I have aired many times before, but thanks to ‘KT’ I shall repeat it.
It is the matter of preparing fast, bouncy pitches for local cricket. True, on our spinning tracks we have had the better of many a touring side including the world champions, Australia. But, when we have to face the music on fast tracks, those bowlers make mincemeat of our batsmen.. Mention the word Perth to our cricketers and they would wince. One cannot blame them either, after ale they simply do not experience such surfaces when playing local cricket. So, how can they suddenly adjust their game to those bouncy, fast pitches? There was a time when the pitches at the P. Saravanamuttu stadium, then known as The Oval, had the reputation of being fast and true.
A fast, true pitch is the basic ingredient for entertaining cricket. A true, fast pitch encourages exciting stroke-play. The game hots up. When the game hots up, the fielding too has naturally got to keep pace. Result? Entertainment - and that’s what the spectators pay for. On fast, true pitches the fast bowlers can see the ball fly. The pseudo-spinner, literally, cannot make any impression on such tracks and falls by the wayside. The genuine spinner emerges. So, overall the game benefits from all angles.
As, Sir Garfield Sobers who was in Sri Lanka over a decade ago as Coach consultant had this to say on this subject: "Cricketers from my home-town in Barbados have a wonderful opportunity to develop their cricket - possibly better than any other place. Not many people there are born with silver spoons in their mouths, although the sugar they produce keeps plenty of spoons busy all the time!
What we have are nature’s wonderful privileges. A marvellous climate, brilliant and clear light and this love of cricket that grows because the opportunity is there to play and enjoy it.
Most important of all, perhaps, we have pitches on which we can seek to practice and make perfect. We have them because we work hard to prepare them. The climate helps, but you can never get a good wicket, unless it is concrete or matting, without a lot of elbow grease and sweat.
These wickets are obviously good for the batsmen because the ball comes through fast and true and encourages a player to pick up his bat and really let it go through. It is good for bowlers because they learn the first essentials of control, length and direction, and also the right philosophy of the game. It is better for the fielders because firm strokes are being played and there is an exciting challenge, not only to cut down the runs, but also to pick up the more frequent chances that follow stroke-play.
We get the best pitches in the world simply because the groundsmen at home always has plenty of men to help him with his preparation and because they are up at six in the morning and carry on rolling, rolling, rolling, and rolling."
It may sound homespun philosophy, almost Lincolnesque. But, just as the boy from the log cabin became the US President, the boy from Barbados captured the world of cricket. And, when they speak their mind, the intelligentsia must take heed.
The inaugural six a side cricket tournament conducted by Haburugala Sports Club Bentota will be held on October today at Dharmaraja Central grounds.
Over 24 teams will quest for glory in this event which will be on a knockout basis. The winners will receive the S. Kumarasinghe challenge trophy. In addition the victorious team will be presented Rs. 4000 while the runner up will be awarded Rs. 2000. The best bowler, best batsman and the man of series too will be awarded.
Entries will be accepted until October 2, 9 a.m. with the President Haburugala Sports Club, Piyal Wickramanayake. The event is open to teams from the Bentara Elpitiya electorate. (S.O.S)
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