| Sports |
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Cricket goes to cleared areas |
| By S.R. Pathiravithana |
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| SLC bowling Coach Anusha Samaranayake with some budding Muralitharan’s in Trincomalee |
Now its rehabilitation time for the once troubled zone. Sri Lanka Cricket is there in a big way to infuse the cricket madness once again to the North and the East.
A team led by the SLC Interim Committee Chairman D.S. de Silva has already made two visits – one to the Jaffna peninsula and the other to the Trincomalee area – to distribute cricket goods and to ascertain how well and how soon the game could be developed in these two areas.
Commenting on their latest mission, Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said, “It’s like taking cricket to China. As a result of years of negligence, there is little or no infrastructure in most of the places and we have to start from scratch.”
The SLC secretary said children in these areas had not been playing the game. “So we have to take one step at a time. As an initial step, we have decided to give softball cricket equipment to some of the centres and once they are back in the fold, the talented players will be gradually brought to the hard ball stream.
“In other areas, we will develop whatever the existing facilities and also provide the necessary back-up assistance such as providing coaches and masters-in-charge with cricketing background. At the same time we will also have to educate the parents about the benefits of their children getting involved in the game.”
Ranatunga said they were expecting some positive results from these areas within the next 3-5 years and they would be able get some players who are good enough to climb the cricketing ladder.
However, he said their ultimate goal would be to add the Northern Province and the Eastern Province to the Provincial Cricket Tournament. Once they reach that level, SLC would give them a stipulated amount and expect to run their provincial cricket on their own.
The SLC team visited Jaffna in April and distributed cricket material to 18 schools in the district and then followed it up with a visit to Trincomalee in May.
Two tri-series in pipeline
Meanwhile, Ranatunga also confirmed preparations for a cricket triangular involving New Zealand Sri Lanka and India.
New Zealand will be in Sri Lanka in September this year to play three Tests and an ODI series. However, Sri Lanka is trying to make this a precursor to the Champions Trophy that will follow soon after. Ranatunga said, “That is our selling point to India for this proposed triangular and once India confirms their participation, we will talk to New Zealand and make the necessary alterations to that leg of the FTP tour”.
India has no engagements during this period in September.
Sri Lanka are also scheduled to be involved in a Triangular with India and Bangladesh in January 2010. This tournament will be in Bangladesh with the teams playing each other twice before the final. This will be Sri Lanka’s FTP tour to Bangladesh where they also will play two Test matches. |
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