Rover Pinpoints

Rules changed to suit whom?

The qualifications of players being under age for tournaments conducted by the TT Association has been changed on three occasions. Rover wonder to suit whom. The rules have been changed by the minister to suit the requirements of a VIP's son who stands to gain by this, move.

Gift for post

A top notcher from a sport played at a faster pace was seen presenting a porcelain set to a foreigner, hoping to be rewarded by appointing him to a post to suit him in the Asian Region. How low can one stoop!

How Come?

A person held in high esteem in the swimming circles has been proposed by an outstation club and seconded by a leading club in Colombo, has been told that they need the sports minister's permission for him to serve on this committee. Is this democracy?

No more in Sri Lanka

Rover learns that an international umpire was heard saying that he would file a report to the ICC to the effect that he doesn't want to umpire in any cricket matches in Sri Lanka. The reason given by him is that the wickets are underprepared and turn so much from the first day itself.

Ordered out

A former NOC official had visited the new NOC office stationed at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium Complex to meet the Administrative Secretary, who was not in. Walks in a present official and asks the former official to leave. Not done Ole Boy!

Funds not settled

A principal of a leading school in Colombo is due to retire very soon, but Rover learns that this Principal has not settled the final accounts as yet. Are the accounts to be written off?

Expose on the NAASU

This is on the Waterpolo tour that was made to Hong Kong from the 26th of July to the 4th of August 2000. 1. As far as selection to the Pool was concerned, a host of good players were left out by an unknown, not transparent Selection Committee. The Pool selected included players who were not even skilled in ball handling, while better players who did not belong to either Royal College or the RCUAC were left out. 2. The initial pool was to be short listed to 20, but it was eventually short listed to 23 to accommodate a young cricketer and others whose attendance at practices did not justify their inclusion. 3. A Selection Committee made the selections for the final 13. How much they observed the players before selecting is worthy of questioning. At no point was the entire panel present, and the reason for inclusion or exclusion was not known or made public. 4. The inclusion of a player is questionable since his skills as a Waterpolo is far below National Team standard. The basic skill of passing or collecting the ball was beyond him as well as his swimming speed was not up to requirement. 5. The last week of practicing was spent playing matches against combination school players from Royal and S. Thomas'. The under strengthened National Team basically lost all the matches. 6. In the tour itself the players had to finance themselves. The total cost of the tour was Rs. 50,000 and there was no sponsorship brought in by the management to sponsor the team. 7. A sponsorship requisition letter was given to the players to look for sponsors. The letter was signed by Farzan Sikkander and had some grave spelling errors like 'Sports Funs' for Sport Funds!! Which made presenting the letter an embarrassment. 8. The Manager appointed by NAASU Nethru Nanayakkara did not accompany the team on the tour!! 9. The Coach - Mahinda Liyanage and Chef de Mission - ASP Dayananda did not accompany the team on their way back. They left to Bangkok soon after the conclusion of the tournament. Thus leaving the team headless and without guidance. Who gave them permission to do so?

Basketball National Coach

Who appointed the national coach for the under 21 boys team? When was the Exco held to appoint this coach? Why is that this coach who is also the Vice President of the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation insist to go on all the foreign tours undertaken by young boys? Basketball in Sri Lanka has reached the lowest level in Asia. Why are we sending teams abroad for participation without raising the standard of the game in Sri Lanka? We have been rated as one before the last in all the tournaments participated to date. What are our so called national coaches doing to raise the standard of playing?

Foreign tours

The Vice President with dual citizenship has been going on all foreign tours. The latest tour to Qatar with the under 21 boys team for the ABC championship from 22nd of this month as National Coach. He just returned from Malaysia where 12 players & 12 officials went on the tour.

Sri Lankan Airlines Golf Classic

Just placed on the planning Boards are some of the details that will go once again to make the Sri Lankan Airlines Golf Classic the best ever in Sri Lanka. Handling the preparations at this point of time are the topline Executives Victor Abeysekera and Manuela Motha - their plans are quite elaborate and their organizing skills quite exceptional.

This year the scene moves to Digana where the Victoria Golf Club is located. The Chief Executive of that posh location is Tony Whitham and much success is assured through his forceful dynamism. The course and its neighbourhood combine to make a breathtakingly beautiful setting which no doubt will be another star attraction for the numerous visitors expected from many parts of the golfing world.

Award Galore

Winners of the SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic will receive super awards most of which will be business class return tickets to chosen exotic destinations. Additionally there will be handsome trophies and holiday packages to Sri Lanka resorts. The Earl's Regency Hotel in Kandy will be the host hotel particularly for the foreign visitors and the plan is to hold the award ceremony followed by a Banquet and Dance in their beautiful ballroom.

Much is being done for our foreign visitors and they will be introduced to the star attractions of a Sri Lanka destination during their visit and participation in the SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic 2000.

Flies to Germany for Finals De Silva Qualifies in Australia

An 8-member team from the Royal Colombo Golf Club qualified to participate in the Mercedes Benz Asian Finals in sunny Brisbane Down Under. Lead by Sunil Jayakody the rest of the team comprised Chulaka Amerasinghe, Romesh Abhayaratne, Elmo de Silva, Joseph Kenny, Dhiran Nirmalalingam 'Joe Boy' Perera and that absolute raw rookie Wasanthha de Silva. They played first on the Hope Island Course and then shifted to the Pines Golf Course both fabulous and up to international standards. Our golfers were lost completely just unable to cope with the hellishly long fairways, racey greens and awesome bunkers. De Silva and Perera choked and all but Wasantha de Silva staggered and fell by the wayside through both rounds.

De Silva Outstanding

Wasantha de Silva was moving earth with most shots off the fairways of the Ridgeways 10 months ago and then quite suddenly he found a groove and with practice, following practice he was calling the shots, beating the course and collecting awards. He was exceptional on the massive 'Hope' Island Course collecting 46 points to win the 'D' Division in the 1st round. His 24 handicap was promptly clipped to 20 before he went for his 2nd round on the Pines Course on which he collected another formidable score of 32 stableford points. His aggregate was a commendable 78 points averaging 39 points and totally adequate to trounce the field of competitors in his Division. He won the title amidst resounding applause and now qualifies to fly to Stuttgart for the International Mercedes Benz Final. Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Brune, Singapore and Sri Lanka competed in the Asian Final and those picked for the International final will be made up by 3 from Malaysia, 2 from Taiwan and one each from Thailand and Brunei and Wasantha de Silva the absolute raw rookie from Sri Lanka.

Favourites reign at Le Kandyan

By Aubrey Kuruppu

Favourites Navin Samarasinghe, Hirantha Gunasena and Yasmin Zarook continued to make headway when the Le Kandyan Open Squash Tournament was continued in Kandy yesterday.

Samarasinghe and Gunasena had contrasting passages to the final. The former conceded a set to Jayanath Marambe in the semi-final while Gunasena received a walk-over. Gunasena has got the better of Samarasinghe on many occasions this year and their final meeting tomorrow is looked forward with great interest.

Meanwhile under 13 player Shehani Guruge, who has been making waves, caused a big flutter by upsetting Rasansi Loukage in a four setter.

Navin Samarasinghe also entered the final of the men's open event where he is billed to do battle with the hardened Janaka Suwaris.

Results:

Girls U 19 semi-finals: Madara Dayasiri bt Randika Dissanaike 9-1, 9-1, 7-1; Tehani Guruge bt Rasansi Lankage 9-4, 1-9, 9-4, 10-8.

Girls U 17: Menusha Hettiarachchi bt Sashika de Silva 9-0, 9-0, 9-0.

Tehani Gamage bt Randika Dissanaike 9-2, 9-2, 9-1.

Girls U 15: Menusha Hettiarachchi bt Tehani Guruge 9-0, 9-7, 9-0; Madani Dayasiri w/o Indiwari Herath.

Boys semi-finals.

Under 15: Haren Perera bt Akhita Gunasekera 9-2, 9-2, 9-2; Seshan Zaheer bt Gisath Jayasekera 9-4, 9-4, 9-5.

Under 17: Kavin Jayawardena bt Seshan Zaheer; Kyle Conrad bt Haren Perera 9-4, 9-2, 9-1.

Under 19: Hirantha Gunasena w.o P. Ganeshan; Navin Samarasinghe bt Jayanath Marambe 9-1, 9-3, 7-9, 9-4.

Men's Open semi-final: Navin Samarasinghe bt L. K. Manjula 9-8, 9-0, 7-9, 9-1; Janaka Suwaris bt Kavinda Cooray 4-9, 9-7, 7-9, 10-8, 9-2,

Men's Intermediate: S. Deen bt Manoj Pieris 9-1, 9-5, 9-6; Yee Woo Hong bt Tissa Jayasuriya 7-5, 9-3, 9-4,

Men's Over 45: Lakdasa Cooray bt David Flood 9-4, 9-7, 9-2; Sarath Jayawardena bt Asoka Amunugama 9-2, 9-7, 9-0.

Girls U 15 final: Menusha Hettiarachchi bt Madani Dayasiri 9-2, 9-0, 9-0.

Easy for Prestige

By Bruce Maurice

A superb all round performance by V. Fernando of Prestige Motors was the feature of their win over David Pieris Motor Co. in their Mercantile 'F' Division cricket match played at the M.C.A. Grounds yesterday.

Having taken 3 for 14 with the ball V. Fernando, followed it up with a match winning unbeaten 64.

David Pieris Motor Co - 120 all out in 28.3 (G.De Alwis 33, D.Siriwardena 26, C.Bandara 19, K.De Silva 14, S.Peiris 3 for 20, V.Fernando 3 for 17, D. Soysa 1 for 10)

Prestige Automobile - 121 for 3 in 24.2 overs (V.Fernando 64 not out, N.P.R. Karagala 20 not out).

Singapore out

Singapore RFU has pulled out of the Singer International Rugby Sevens scheduled to be held on September 2 and 3 due to technical reasons.

This was revealed to The Sunday Times by Izwan Omar, the Organising Secretary of the Tournament.

Omar said that the organisers have decided to field a Barbarians 'Seven' in its place. The Barbarians team will be picked after the ten-member national team is chosen.

The schools tournament will get underway on September 1. Sabaragamuwa Schools will also be included on a request made by the President of the Sabaragamuwa RFU Arjun Dharmadasa. - (B.W)

England rout West Indies

LEEDS, England, (Reuters) - Darren Gough and Andy Caddick shared nine wickets on a day of England triumph and Yorkshire joy as West Indies were trounced by an innings and 39 runs inside two days in the fourth test at Headingley on Friday. England, leading by 100 on first innings after being dismissed for 272 midway through the second session, skittled out the touring team for 61 in 26.2 overs to take a significant 2-1 lead in the five-test series.

How the Sri Lankan cricketers fared

As a team effort Sri Lanka's three Test series against the South Africans could be summed up as the local team not taking advantage of home conditions to win the series. The South Africans would have returned a satisfied lot. In Shaun Pollock's first assignment as a leader, his team came back with solid performances after the drubbing they received in the opening Test. The third Test was evenly contested. Had there been another two sessions of play then it could well have ended in a nail biting finish.

It is always a worthwhile exercise to assess how the individuals fared and make a few comments on their play. This is how I marked them out of ten. Sanath Jayasuriya: Eight marks. He made a genuine effot to graft for runs and play a long innings on most outings. The century in the first Test gave him a lot of confidence and stability. Handled the team well most of the time. He will have to give some thought to inserting the opposition in on winning the toss. It must be remembered that, that action should be an attacking move and not a defensive one.

Marvan Atapattu: Eight marks. His batting technique is now as good as that of any player in the world. Atapattu is reaching the peak of his powers. Continued with his good form of this year. Only lapses in concentration caused his dismissal. Overall he was as solid as a rock at the top of the list.

Muttiah Muralitharan: Ten marks. The enthusiasm and hunger that Muralitharan has to dismiss batsmen drives him on to great feats. Selected as "Man of the Series" the off spinner was amongst the wickets in all three games. The tracks did give a lot of assistance but his accuracy and variation remained supreme. Chaminda Vaas: Six marks. Toiled hard in the first and second Tests without reward, on unresponsive tracks. When the opportunity aross he bowled effectively in the first innings of the third Test. His batting showed, much improvement, being prepared to bat more patiently, waiting for the correct delivery to paly attacking strokes.Mahela Jayawar-dena: Seven marks. The century that Jayawardena scored on the final day of the final Test, on a worn pitch, underlined his class as a batsmen. Has come out of the bad patch that he went through for a while. Now he must not look back. He continues to play a attacking brand of strokes. What he must remember is not to throw the wicket away like he did in the first innings of the SSC Test match. Arjuna Ranatunga: Seven marks. It was a series of good byes for the legend. None of the emotions of the farewell got to his cricket. He batted with authority as he has always done. Arjuna Ranatunga delivered the goods for his team, his country, up until the last ball that he faced. Aravinda de Silva: Six marks. The champion batsman was drafted in to play in the final Test match. It is not easy for any player to make sudden appearances and perform at best in this age when the competition is very high. Also, weighted against a batsman is the fact that the pitches were more bowler-friendly. In the second innings Aravinda played an innings more reminiscent of the past. Russel Arnold: Six marks. Continues to threaten to play that attack playing innings. Somehow seems to loose concentration along the way. Should use the experience gained both in the Pakistan and South African series to reach out for greater heights in the future. Nuwan Soysa: Four marks. Soysa did not stretch himself that much extra to succeed on unhelpful conditions and was more or less a passenger in the two games he played. Should the local pitches continue to assist the spinners in the future then he must arm himself to bowl successfully in such conditions. He must ensure that he is maximum value as a fielder. Upul Chandana: Six marks. Chandana fielded brilliantly as he always does. His bowling in the long game showed much improvement but still lack consistency. He is a player capable of scoring more runs. Should he be able to produce more with the bat then he can sneak into the allrounder category. Kumar Dharmasena: Five marks. Dharmasena looked rusty after the long lay off from International Cricket. He will never be a match winner, but an adequate performer. For that he must be making sufficient contributions with both bat and bowl. Kumar Sanagakkara: Six marks. Stood up adequately well to this baptismal period in Test cricket. He certainly has the mental makeup and the cleverness to succeed at the highest level.

Should brush up his keeping technique against spin bowlers. Did not value his wicket sufficiently when batting in these Test matches.

That should come with experience.

Sri Lanka will not be engaged in a Test series for a few months from now. When they do it will be again against the South Africans. That will be a ding-dong battle.

Ranil Abeynaike

Susanthika all-the-way

By Champika Fernando

The courageous sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe continued to write her name in the records book as she broke her six-year-old meet record in the 100m heats with a new games record of 11.44 seconds to be the first Sri Lankan to achieve a unique feat of establishing three new record consecutively at the 26th National Sports Festival at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.

Susanthika running in the second heat had no problem in getting through to the finishing line as D.I.C Nawaratne of North Central province was almost eight metres behind her to take second place.

Susanthika who established a new Sri Lankan record in the 200m final with a timing of 22.95 on the third day predicted another record in the 100m heats, which she achieved with ease.

The confident Susanthika even went to the extent of predicting another record in the final today.

Susanthika holds the Sri Lankan record for the 100m with a time of 11.27 seconds established two years.

A five-year-old Sri Lankan record for the 10,000m men's final was shattered when Anuradha Indrajith Cooray established a new Sri Lankan record with a time of 29.33.60. The former record stood at 29.51.0 established by Saman Weerawardana .

Nimmi de Silva of Western Province earned the first place in the first heat with a timing of 12.08 seconds. Interestingly a Maldivian national, Shamha Ahamed who participated in the 100m 3rd heat obtained the first place with a time of 13.01. The present Sri Lankan record holder in the 400m men Rohan Pradeep will be challenged by the Asian Record holder Sugath Thilakaratne today.

However there will not be much of a competition in the 400m women's finals as it will be an isolated battle for Damayanthi Darsha. Sriy-antha Dissanayake running in the 100m heats failed to impress with his timing as he failed to reach the final. Disanayake had announced his retirement from athletics after the meet.

In the finals of the Javelin throw men's A.B. Pradeep Nishantha of Western Province secured first place with a distance of 64.16 metres while Prabatha Kumara of North Central Province bagged the silver medal with a distance of 63.54 meters.

S.D.C.S. Weerasinghe of North Western Province bagged the gold medal by leaping a distance of 15.30m in the finals of the Triple Jump while Nelan Siriwardana grabbed the silver with a distance of 15.22m.

In the other finals' shot putt M.N.D Mutunayake of North Western Province took the first place with a distance of 12.64 while L.R. Siribaddana of Southern Province had a distance of 12.05 to take the silver.

Keshani Samarakoon of the Southern Province took the gold with a time of 17.44.02 while U.Udagedara of Central Province clocked 17.49.69 to secure second place. The Sports Festival will be continued today.

WP bag cager titles

By Leonard Ratnayake

Western Province captured the glamour in the court when their two teams - men and women - clinched the championships in the basketball tournament at the XXVI National Sports Festival which concluded yesterday.

In the women's final Western Province outplayed the North Western Province team beating them 65-28. The winners led the first half 43-13. Nirosha Dilrukshi of Western Province was adjudged the best player of thecompetition.

The men's final was a thriller with Southern Province going down to Western Province 68-58. At half time the winners led 38-23. The best player's award in the men's tournament went to Heshan Premachandra of Western Province.

Gibbs and Williams admit to Cronje cash offers

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 19 (Reuters) - South African cricketers Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams admitted on Saturday they had accepted an offer of cash from disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje to fix a one-day international in India.

The players made the confession before the United Cricket Board (UCB) disciplinary commission into the match-fixing scandal involving Cronje and the South African team. A lawyer for the UCB called for a tough exemplary punishment, while the players' lawyer asked for a suspended penalty when the two hear their fate on August 28.

Gibbs and Williams admitted to accepting an offer of $15,000 each from Cronje before a match in Nagpur earlier this year.

However, they did not perform as required and no money changed hands.

"They plead guilty to the charges," said Mike Fitzgerald, senior counsel for the pair.

The plan was for opening batsman Gibbs to score fewer than 20 runs amd for medium-pace bowler Williams to concede more than 50 runs in his 10 overs.

Kandy nudge HavelocksBy Bernie Wijesekera

It was fascinating rugby at Havelock Park last evening. Kandy SC trailing 30-22 during the last two minutes of injury time, stormed their way to a heart-throbbing win when their entire back division ran the ball with magnetic precision for winger Sameera Silva to score two spectacular tries to win on the post : 34 (three goals, two tries and a penalty) to 30 (three goals, three penalties) in a second leg-league match.

At the break Havies led 23-19. This match was undoubtedly one of the best seen this season. It produced running rugby to avid fans when eight tries were scored by both teams. In the initial half 30 points were scored in the first 23 minutes - Havies leading 16-14.

There were injuries to both sides. Suranga Amarasinghe had to be carried out and was replaced by Dias Da Singhe. KSC suffered further setbacks when burly prop Shantha Rohan, too hobbled out. Havies lost fly-half Jeffry Saheed. He was replaced by Arosh Fernando, who did well to score two fine tries through sheer power.

Schoolboy Gladwin Georges from St. Peter's playing as 'lock' had a good outing winning their throw-ins against seasoned Asoka Jayasena and Pradeep Basnayake.

KSC had a strong and heavy 'eight' but the Havies were equal to their task, tackling them to a standstill in the loose.

Havies were fortunate to have in their fold Ansari, who earned them valuable points with his spot kicks. Ansari scored 15 points with his kicking boots.

For Kandy Nalaka Weerakkody in the last line was a tower of strength in defence and was the play maker. He constantly formed the overlap while Havies skipper Alex Nishantha in the last line formed the overlap. It was a great team effort by the Havies. But 'Lady Luck' deserted them on the post.

Within the first eight minutes Havies took the lead with two penalties: 6-0. Undaun-ted KSC penetrated the Havies defence. Off a long throw in their opponent's '25' Nalaka Weerakkody joined the line and gave an inside pass to winger Indrajith Bandaranayake to touch down.

Weerakkody added the extra points: 7-6. KSC scored again off a second phase attack. Sajit Mallikaratchchie with a deceptive run rolled over. Nalaka added the extra points. Havies hit back with an unbroken back-line move for winger Sajeewa Jayasinghe to plant the ball. Ansari added the extra points: 14-13. With the penalty Kandy took the lead: 16-14.

Substitute Arshad Fernando scored a try for the Havelocks which was converted by Ansari: 23-14. Kandy skipper Asoka Jayasena with one of his 'specials' make it 23-19 at the short whistle.

After the break Weerakkody with a penalty made it 23-22.

From there onwards it was a titanic struggle for supremacy. Mallikarachchie dropped a sitter in front of the line, followed by Weerakkody missing a penalty. In this half KSC dominated but lacked finesse.

Arosha Fernando scored a dandy try which was converted by Ansari - Havies were sitting pretty at 30-22. But high drama was enacted during the last two minutes for KSC to win on a thrilling note when Sameera Silva scored two corner flag tries.

Anura Jayasekera refereed.

Sailors dump Air Force

By Jatila Karawita

Navy led admirably by veteran flanker Panda Wijerathne underlined their new found dominance among the service teams this season, as they dumped Air Force by 27 points ( two goals, two tries, one penalty) to 7 ( one goal) in a one sided Caltex second round rugby union match played at Welisara yesterday.

At lemons the winners led 12-0.

A wonderful display of cohesive rugby churned out by the tireless Navy forwards coupled with excellent tackling was a feature of their play last evening and the Airmen had no answer to it.

Sailors opened scoring in the seventh minute when winger M. Sheriffdeen having gathered the loose ball jinxed his way through a hapless Air Force defence covering some 50 metres to go under the posts unchallenged for what was to be a peach of a try.

Fullback Shiyam Pradeep converted to put them ahead 7-0.

Navy forwards combining with the three's attacked and counter-attacked for the remaining 16 minutes when right winger Colonne repeated his co-winger Sheriffdeen's try in similar fashion to fall over by the right corner flag.

The try was unconverted as the home side took lemons with their noses in front.

Following the turn-around Navy scored a further 15 points in between, to which Air Force replied with a consolation goal.

For the sailors prop U. K Ranjith and skipper Panda Wijerathne scored two push-over tries in identical style while for the visitors prop Ajith Prasantha scored a try from a forwards rush.

Hussain wants series win to confirm improvement

LEEDS, England, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Nasser Hussain is buoyed by England's dramatic two-day victory over West Indies in the fourth Test but says his team needs a series triumph to confirm their improvement.

"We have never turned the corner until we have won the Test series," captain Hussain said after England trounced West Indies by an innings 39 runs at Headingley on Friday to lead the five-Test rubber 2-1. "All that our boys were celebrating here was a good win. We know it's only 2-1 and we know how good Ambrose, Walsh and Lara are. We've known that all summer and we've just got to make sure we finish the job off," Hussain said.

"Now we must really concentrate and focus on the next five days (in the fifth test at The Oval starting on August 31) because, after all the hard work this summer, they are the most important."

Hussain took over the England captaincy last year and began inauspiciously by losing a four-test home series 2-1 to a workmanlike New Zealand side, followed by a 2-1 defeat in five Tests in South Africa on the 1999-2000 tour.

Now, however, Hussain is beginning to see signs of a transformation in England's fortunes with a comparatively settled side this season.

"We are starting to formulate a team and starting to get some consistency, getting people bowling at the right time, knowing where they are fielding, which comes from winning," England's skipper said.

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