• On the green baize with Susantha Boteju
• No fluke Weerakkody
• Olivia calls it a day
• Stewart and Warne are the men of the nineties
• Cruising on River Thames
• Karachi, where cricket passions run high
• Shane Gould, 11 world records
• Martial arts or nothing
• Next cricket fiesta for Sri Lanka in May, June, July
• Shane Warne is highest wicket taker for Aussies
• Test cricketers who were sent home - Part I
• Test matches of by-gone days
• Donald and Pollock, the pride of South Africa
• Millfield School on tour here
• Money spent on Astro Turf, A waste ?

On the green baize with Susantha Boteju

By Udena R. Attygalle

Trying to get my cueing action right, I was struggling to hit the white ball on the green velvet. The fact that I had Sri Lanka's Snooker champion of five years to guide me didn't make my game any better. He together with his father form an odd combination. While Susantha Boteju (30) is the country's Snooker champion his father Henry Boteju is the reigning Billiards champion.

It was at the Snooker Association Headquarters inside the old Race Course pavilion complex that we met Susantha. Walking with an upright gait he looked like any other ordinary person. Yet he was the champion of a game ranked number 3 in the money earning sports list worldwide. But "rich" would not be a word that could be used to describe him. An indication of the way things are with a game that produced Sri Lanka's lone individual world champion is M.J.M Lafir.

Tagging along with his father to the YMBA Susantha recalled, "My father didn't really enjoy a small kid bothering him and his friends during tournaments". But that was before Henry recognized the talents of his son. Henry was his talented son's first teacher at Snooker although Billiards was more his game.

The road to Snooker success was hard. As Susantha himself says, "It takes at least 5 months to get your cueing action correct and then it would take around 3 to 4 years of regular practice to become an average player".

"But I always wanted to be a top player," Susantha says. And he was ready to make the sacrifices. "I used to practice 8-9 hours a day," he says. And that's what made him the Junior Snooker champion in 1990, beating Indika Dodangoda, Sri Lanka's number 1 player of the time, in the final, just 2 days after Indika had won his senior title.

But the senior title itself eluded Susantha's grasp for the next 5 years. It was a disappointing period. And then suddenly in 1996 things started changing. The title that had eluded him for so long was his. And the championships of 97, 98, 99 and 2000 was a repeat performance. "Right now there is nobody to even give me a proper fight," says a proud Susantha. And he doesn't plan to give away his title as long as he is in the game.

Talking of his game Susantha says, "In my early days I used to play a very open and attacking game but I've matured now and my game is more tactical". Although having achieved his goal of being the best in the country, Susantha languishes at the delay in entering the professional international circuit.

With Indika Dodangoda, his long time rival and friend moving to England, competition for the Snooker title took a nose- dive in Sri Lanka. Susantha recalled, "Those days Indika and I used to show the people good Snooker".

Although playing facilities like Snooker tables are provided by the Snooker Association, a cue (the stick used to strike the ball) alone would cost around 250 pounds. The lack of a sponsor and a back up team for Susantha is a big drawback.

Yet Susantha who was seeded number 4 in the Asian rankings believes he is good enough to be in the elite circle of professional Snooker players. He will be moving to England soon to train as a professional. "If you want to be a good player you have to play with the best," Susantha says.

Henry meanwhile is a disappointed man, he gave a lot to the game of Billiards and got very little in return. Born in another country and things would have been very different for him.

And what happens when father meets son in competition. Says Susantha, "I just can't play against my father. Something happens and I lose my game completely". And so the battle of words continues with son promising to beat father.

With "pool" a derivation of Snooker increasing in popularity Snooker too is going to be introduced to the schools. An addictive game, if handled properly it would no doubt be a hit with the schoolgoers.

Winnings six events in one year...

No fluke Weerakkody

By Annesley Ferreira

To win six events in one year and all that in the rough Indian Ocean, with improved performances cannot be a fluke by any chance, as proved by twenty-year-old Ajith Weerakody, presently of the Navy.

Hot on the heels of these Ambalangoda swimmers who have shown remarkable guts to cut through waves, has helped Ajith to win his hometown swim - the Ambalangoda classic - for the last four years running and the Mount Lavinia swim for the last three years running, which has enabled him to be the owner of the two prestigious trophies according to the rules governing it.

Ajith, the eldest of three brothers, has today become the sole breadwinner for their family, since his father is very ill and hospitalised at the Karapitiya Hospital for the last three months.

An electrician by profession, without a steady income had seen them come through the hard times through the good management of their mother.

His second brother 18 years old Giman is not like him, he is a cricketer now turning out for Sri Devananda first XI team while his younger brother Sanya who is 14 years old is following in his footsteps and finished in third place at the 36th Kinross 6 sea swim only 13 minutes being the difference between the two.

Ajith had scored 6 wins this year 2000, having won the Sea Eagles 2 mile, Sisira 2 mile and Ambalangoda 2 mile held in Ambalangoda, the Fishtail 2 mile, the Mount Lavinia 2 and last week, the six mile swim, all with no sort of competition whatsoever.

Ajith said that joining the Navy last August and the support rendered to him by his superiors has helped him to make him much secure and enable him to give of his best.

He thanks the Navy Commander and specially Lt. Commander Upul de Silva who is a non-swimmer but recommending his employment to the Navy and kept swimming going with the enlistment of nine other males and 6 female swimmers.

Ajith will be brought down to Colombo, where he will be trained under a coach to be recruited soon at the pool at Welisara, Lt. Commander de Silva said. The determination of Ajith has no doubt seen him go places in training in the sea and the river.

His only ambition is now that he has got employment, to secure it to build a house of their own since his father is a very sickly person.

Talking about the most unforgettable moment in his swimming career, Ajith signalled out his selection to represent the country at the Asia Pacific meet where he went to the extent of finding funds to do so as requested, but eventually not being sent.

Another point he stressed was that he was dropped from the SAF Games team, even though selected which goes on to prove the discrimation of the outstation swimmers, which is his personal opinion.

One would wonder if it's pointless taking swimming to the outstations if the controlling body cannot assure those talented of foreign participation.

Olivia calls it a day

Olivea (Malini) Gamage has called it a day on March 7 as the Director of Sports of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

She received her education at St. Anne's Convent Matale and excelled in sports activities in Netball and Athletics trained by Rajes Nadarajah and was the School's games captain.

Later on she followed a course in Physical Education at the College of Physical Education in Saideper, chennai in 1960.

She was appointed as a Physical Training Teacher in 1962 at Sri Medhankara MV Boossa and joined Sri Sumangala Panadura in 1967 which won the championships all Island in Netball, Athletics, Badminton and Physical Training competitions.

In 1972/73 Olivia followed the Teachers Training Course in Physical Education at the Training College Maharagama and represented the College teams in athletics, netball, volleyball and badminton where she won her colours too.

After that she worked as a Producer, Sports at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.

Olivia then started lecturing in Physical Education at the Teachers' Training College Katukurunda, Pre-Vocational Teachers' Training College Mattakkuliya and Teachers' Training College Maharagama.

Joined the Ministry of Education as an Education Officer and Project Officer in netball, and developed netball in schools.

In 1985, the British Council Scholarship to United Kingdom, Leeds University, was awarded to her where she became the first Sri Lankan woman to receive a Masters Degree in Physical Education from the University of Leeds.

In 1986, Olivia participated at the VII Commonwealth and International Conference on Sports, Physical Education, Dance, Recreation and Health in Glasgow.

In 1990, she represented Sri Lanka at the Conference, "Role of Women in Sports" held in Thailand, and was instrumental in organising the opening and closing ceremonies of the physical activities display at the South Asian Federation Games (SAF) held in Sri Lanka.

Olivia was successful as a National Course Director of the National Olympic Committee and in the field of netball she was well-known as a coach and umpire.

Olivia represented Sri Lanka as an umpire at the Asian and World Netball championships in Hong Kong and Australia.

In 1992, Olivia was made the Director of Sports at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and was instrumental in the organisation of school sports activities at national level and conducted the National School Games which was an all-Island competition.

Being the President of the Sri Lanka Schools Sports Council, she organised the colours award ceremony.

Olivia contributed to design the curricula in Health and Physical Education in the Primary and Secondary Schools in collaboration with the National Institute of Education, Maharagama.

Last year, in November Olivia represented Sri Lanka at the World Summit in physical activities held in Berlin.

At the time of retirement Olivia completed 38 years of service in the field of Sports and Physical Education.

Stewart and Warne are the men of the nineties

Statistics, whether they give a definitely correct picture or not, still makes interesting reading. Also, achievements which are recorded in the statistics books are there to stay. Cricket, like everything else around, progressed and developed vastly over the past century. Although one day cricket has done much for the game in popularizing the sport, Test cricket provides the ultimate test in unearthing the ability of both team and player.

The nineteen nineties established cricket as a completely professional sport. Players, administrators and everybody involved have full-time roles to play. All the test playing nations are striving to discover something different, something new, to outdo their opponents. All the major playing nations have an absolutely busy schedule. The game has emerged into the new millennium providing varied job opportunities for vast numbers.

I came across some statistics that give credit to the top bowlers and batsmen of the past decade and also the top performers from each of the decades since the game originated.

The Test-Match Decade
             Most runs - 1990's                          Tests      Avarage

6407 Alec Stewart (England)                  93      40.81
6371 Mark Waugh (Australia)                99      41.64
6306 Mark Taylor (Australia)                 93      40.95
6217 Mike Atherton (England)                91      38.37
6213 Steve Waugh (Australia)                89      53.10
5626 Sachin Tendulkar (India)                69      58.00
5573 Brian Lara (West Indies)                65      51.60
4448 Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka)    62      46.82
4425 Michael Slater (Australia)               58      45.15
4303 David Boon (Australia)                   62      45.29
4176 Graham Gooch (England)               45      51.55

Most Wickets -1990's                       Tests      Average
351 Shane Warne (Australia)                80           25.67
309 Curtley Ambrose (West Indies)      71           20.14
304 Courtney Walsh (West Indies)       78           25.97
289 Wasim Akram (Pakistan)               62           21.44
284 Allan Donald (South Africa)           59           21.83
273 Waqar Younis (Pakistan)               56           21.71
266 Glen McGrath (Australia)              58           22.87
264 Anil Kumble (India)                       58           27.80
227 Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)   48           27.04
221 Craig McDermott (Australia)         47           26.52
Men of the decade, ever since Tests began

Most Test runs                                                     Most Test Wickets

1870's 239 Charles Bannerman (Australia)          17 Fred Spofforth (Australia)
1880's 963 Arthur Shrewsbury (England)            77 Fred Spofforth (Australia)
1890's 1139 Joe Darling (Australia)                     88 Tom Richardson (England)
1900's 1953 Victor Trumper (Australia)               89 Monty Noble (Australia)
191O's 2031 Jack Hobbs (England)                   122 Sydney Barnes (England)
1920's 2960 Herbertt Sutcliffe (England)             118 Maurice Tate (England)
1930's 5144 Walter Hammond (England)            169 Clarrie Grimmett (Australia)
1940's 2664 Denis Compton (England)                89 Alec Bedser (England)
1950's 4573 Neil Harvey (Australia)                   165 Richie Benaud (Australia)
1960's 6397 Ken Barrington (England)                238 Graham McKenzie (Australia)
1970's 5647 Sunil Gaveskar (India)                    202 Derek Underwood (Australia)
1980's 7386 Allan Border (Australia)                 323 Malcolm Marshall (WestIndies)
1990's 6407 Alec Stewart (England)                  351 Shane Warne (Australa)

Shane Warne and Alec Stewart who began their careers early in the last decade walked away with the highest number of wickets and runs. Averagewise Sachin Tendulkar stood out with 58 runs per each visit to the crease. He must rank as the best batsman of the decade. Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and Graham Gooch also averaged over 50 underlining their value to the respective teams. Considering that Sri Lanka were still babes at international cricket and they were getting few full series, Aravinda de Silva's achievements both in terms of runs and average are commendable.

Amongst the bowlers, Curtley Ambrose boasts of the most miserly average 20.14 per wicket which is outstanding for any era. Ambrose and Walsh, Akram and Waqar did yoeman service for their teams. Sri Lanka's lone warrior Muttiah Muralitharan battled through many trials and tribulations. He has a lot of cricket left in him and should be near the top of the ladder this decade, should he remain fit.

The batting score of 7386 made by Allan Border and the bowling performance of Shane Warne ( 351 wickets) will be hard to beat even in a future decade, with the amount of cricket being played increasing.

Only Sunil Gaveskar and Malcolm Marshall have invaded into the lists otherwise dominated by the English and Australians. With most countries getting more test cricket, there will be more players getting the opportunity to perform consistently. The monopoly of the two nations who originated test cricket is bound to be broken during this decade.

Cruising on River Thames

My Police Memories
By S. Sivendran
(Retd. Snr. Supdt. of Police)

During my training days at the Metropolitan Police Training School we were taken to several Police Institutions in London and out of London on educational tours which were of immense help to us.

On Wednesday June 28th we were taken by coach to the Metropolitan Police Kennels which was in the South of London, a two-hour drive and we spent the day there and had lunch.

There, the dogs are bred and looked after by the handlers who take the dogs in charge of them to their homes. This is a huge complex.

On Thursday July 20th we were taken to the Metropolitan Police Mounted Division in Surrey and spent the day and saw some of the best horses I have ever seen.

On Wednesday July 26th we went and saw the Royal Tournament at Earl's Court Exhibition Building where the best of horses in England took part.

It was in the evening under lights and which was attended by huge crowds and admission was by tickets but we were given complimentary tickets and watched the Royal Tattoo from the VIP Balcony.

On Sunday August 1st saw England beat New Zealand by 7 wickets.

On Sunday 8th August we were entertained by the Rotarians of Hendon to dinner at Mill Hill.

Thereafter the Rotarians of Hendon invited us regularly to dinner to their homes or to spend a day with them as they liked to hear about our countries.

Thursday August 10th we were taken to the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court and saw the Court procceedings which was a great experience.

On Friday August 18th went to the Road Research Laboratory in Crawthorn which is out of London and a long drive from London and very far from our Police Training School and we spent the whole day as this is the place that plan out the latest traffic and road technology.

On August 22nd we were taken to Police Training Centre at Eynsham Hall in Leicester in outer London and which is housed in an old palace where Senior Police Officers from several countries attend a Command Course for 3 months.

When we went there 12 Senior Police Officers were following the Course and from Sri Lanka there were Mr. Douglas Ranmuthugala and Mr. J.D.M. Ariyasinghe who were then both Superintendents of Police following the Course.

Each of these officers was requested to look after two of us each during our visit and they took us around the huge complex. Mr. Douglas Ranmuthu–gala looked after me and Miss. Maggie Pillay from Seycelles Police.

We spent the whole day with lunch provided and we returned to the Metropolitan Police Training School in the evening after a long drive as our trip that day out of London was a very long drive.

On September 3rd we were taken to the Vauxhall Motors and spent the day there watching how cars were manufactured and had lunch with the executive staff.

On Thursday September 7th we were taken to New Scotland Yard and were given an opportunity to watch their Photo Bureau and the Criminal Record Office at work. This is situated in the heart of London.

On Saturday 8th September watched the Men's Wimbledon Tennis Finals where Bijorn Borg of Sweden and Jimmy Connors of America. Bijorn won by 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

On Monday September 11th we were again taken to New Scotland Yard to study emergency traffic operations which were all computerised.

Tuesday September 19th we spent the day taking boat rides on the River Thames arranged by the Metropolitan Police and we were able to see all the beautiful landmarks whilst cruising along the river including the House of Commons and Lords, the London Draw Bridge, Big Ben etc.

It was a pleasant outing. On Monday September 21st we were taken to the Shell Refinery and had lunch there.

This too was a long drive into the outskirts of London.

To be continued.

Karachi, where cricket passions run high

By Bernie Wijesekera

The Karachi National Cricket Stadium with a tradition has many firsts in the annals of Pakistani Cricket. Here the passion for the game among the fans from whatever quarter is unbelievable.

Being a commercial centre it's the hub among the business community, who is also helping the game for its further development and promotion.

The Karachi National stadium is one of the best in the world. It's also one of the main nurseries for harnessing young prospects in Pakistan. The legendary Mohammed brothers Hanif, Wazir, Mustaq and Sadiq (now an international cricket umpire), Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal, and many others were products of Karachi.

The youngest Test player Hassan Raza, Shaid Afridi who holds the fastest one-day 100 world record made against Sri Lanka also hail from Karachi. He made his Test debut against Australia at Karachi in Oct. '98. Today Afridi is a great crowdpuller and an idol of Karachi fans. The present President of the Karachi CCA Musrat Azim and his Committee is a glutton for work. The enthusiasm of the Karachi fans has always remained alive irrespective of the final outcome. The Sri Lankan teams are popular here, be it past or present under Sanath Jayasuriya for their heroics and more so after Sri Lanka won the World Cup in Lahore in 1996 under Arjuna Ranatunga.

Rich Heritage

Karachi enjoys a rich cricketing heritage.... This attributes to their organising and promoting the game at grassroots level. Coaching camps for juveniles and under-19, with talent hunting programmes are organised. This was revealed by Haroon Rashid, the chief executive of the United Bank Sports Complex, in Karachi.

The talent scouts even harness talent from the streets too..

Here in Sri Lanka its not happening though there is much talk about promoting the game. It is even being played in paddyfields (after harvesting).

The chairman of the PCB ad-hoc Coomittee Lt. Gen. Taqir Zia, paid a glowing tribute to the Karachi City Cricket Association for their commitment and for the promotion of the game. In the process the Karachi National Stadium has witnessed some exciting finishes where Pakistan cricket has come on top to maintain - their unblemished record of not losing a Test match at this venue which itself is a world record.

No other venue could come on par unlike the Karachi National Stadium. Pakista defeated Sri Lanka in the third Test handsomely by 222 runs with a day to spare to bring their tally to 17 Test wins at Karachi. Before this Test Pakistan has won 16 tests and drawn 17.

Last-ditch stand

The only time they came close to losing a test here was in the 1994-95 Test series against Australia. Pakistan was set to make 314 and was tottering with last man Mustaq Ahamed, joining Inzamam-ul-Haq at 258 for 9... But a dour unbroken 57-run stand helped them to win by one wicket. It was a thrilling last-ditch stand which helped them to maintain their unbeaten tag at this venue.

The test record at the national stadium was started in 1954-'55 against India. At this ground Pakistan's record is as follows: Australia, wins (5) West indies (3) , New Zealand (3) India (2) Sri Lanka (3) and England (1) - 17 test wins with 17 being drawn. There are batting and bowling feats, too, Javed Miandad the present coach 211 against Australia in 1988-'89. The best partnership for any wicket - the opening stand of 298 against the West Indies in 1997-'98 by Aamir Sohail (160) and Ijaz Ahamed (151). Bowling: Imran Khan 8 for 60 in an innings against India in 1982-'83. Fazal Mahmood's 13 for 114 against Australia - 1956 -57 has a special place.

The highest score - 565 for 9 by Pakistan against the Kiwis in 1976-'77. The lowest score in a completed innings, 80 by Australia in the inaugural Test between the two nations in 1956/'57.

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