Mahela's rise is no bed of roses
By Kasturiarachchi Warnakulasuriya
Mahela Jayawardena a gem of a boy in character, one of the crest jewels
in our national team, did it once again at Asgiriya to pile up a massive
106 not out, clean and hard.
His maturity to international arena in both versions of the game was
not a bed of roses.
A product of Nalanda, Mahela Jayawardena look to cricket when he was
just a five-year-old tiny tot. Playing for the school Under-13 and Under-15
teams, he quickly went on to represent the college XI, when he was just
14 or 15 years old. His first international appearance was against a visiting
English Under-19 team where he scored a century at the R. P. stadium, as
a schoolboy cricketer.
At this tender age he cut his teeth under the able guidance of Mr. Lionel
Mendis - man of so many facets in sports arena. If my memory serves me
correct, he was then attached to NCC.
In both club cricket and school cricket he was lucky enough to get the
best use of our finest coaches of the day, in Jayantha Seneviratne, Leslie
Narangoda, Chan-drasiri Weerasinghe, Bandula Warnapura, etc., etc.
It is at this stage that Premasara Epasinghe got a fine chance to polish
his cricketing career by sending him to Bombay Gymkhana Club for a South
African tour on a request made by Sunil Gavaskar, on a sponsorship package
generously offered by Sri Lankan Business Doyen of Ceylinco Group - Deshamanya
Lalith Kotalawala. I am sure the experience gained on South African unusual
wickets, has proved the way, to Mahela, for what he is today.
He first made his mark, making an impressive entry to international
Test arena on his very debut Test against India, where he was helpful to
his seniors Sanath, Mahanama and Aravinda to pile up that historical world
record of 952 by scoring 66 not out.
It is this inaugural success that drives him to so from strength-to-strength.
From that day there was no turning back in piling up centuries and double
tons against mighty Indians, Paks, Kiwis and Englishmen.
Note the word Gem of a Boy - I started with. Having realised his talents,
commitment and above all his sincerity to this noble game Arjuna Ranatunge
- one of the greatest cricket captains of world cricket, took him under
his wings at SSC - the cradle of Sri Lankan Cricket to enable him to mould
his career through first class club cricket - Sri Lanka's stepping stone
to achieve greater heights of world cricket at SSC he was able to deepen
his abilities within domestic cricket, gaining further experience.
Another contribution for his success, is, his grit, determination and
guts to overcome the usual ups and downs, this game of cricket is famous
for. Right in the middle of his career, he has had bad periods, at times
he failed miserably, having being out cheaply in many an innings consecutively;
as a result his vice-captaincy was taken away!
But his determination saw the maiden century of the historic Galle Stadium,
against the mighty New Zealanders. It was a hurricane 167.
His courage, grit determination and guts in Test cricket were amply
demonstrated in his marathon 465 ball-knock to pile up the maiden double
century against the mediocre Indian bowling, in the Asian Test Champion
game played in February 1999.
He was just 21 years of age. That day, he made use of surprisingly sloppy
Indian bowling of Indian greats of the day - Kumble, Harbajahn Singh, Prasad
and Tendulkar.
With every chance dropped, he grew in confidence and stature and showed
how to bargain from dropped catches to the tune of 5, as I can remember.
Dropped catches did not matter him, to his gusto, to punish the ball thirty
times to the boundary and a couple of sixes, as he had to chase an Indian
total of 500 odd runs, that day.
Another disaster fell upon this young guy, when his only brother, who
was also a Junior Nalandian Cricketer at that time, passed away after facing
two major brain operations in England.
Deeply saddened by his great loss, however he made up his mind, to once
again to settle down, on his commitment to cricket.
His 106 not out played at Asgiriya, was a delight to watch. Mahela dished
out on array of strokes, that were perfectly placed and immaculately timed.
The sizzling boundaries and the mighty sixes showed how he has matured
into a world class batsman. Millions of viewers were endowed with some
first class batting full of firecrackers, that day. Now, he has six ODI
centuries under his belt.
At a time when greater nations like Australia is talking of separate
teams to be employed for Tests and ODIs, our young Mahela has displayed
well above average, that a technically correct talented batsman can perform
both assignments, equally well. That's the outcome of his success in both
versions of the game.
May this wonder boy make SL proud at their final encounter in 2003.
Royal(U 14) soccer team off to Bangalore
The under 14 soccer team of Royal College, Colombo which won the Colombo
District Milo Football Championships left for India on Friday to take part
in several matches against schools in Bangalore. The tour has been undertaken
to improve the standard of football at Royal.
The team pictured right is as follows: (seated from left): Mr. M.H.
Dayaratna (official), Mr. K.R. Sugathadasa (Master-In-Charge), M.M. A.
Nisthar (Capt), Mr. H.L.B. Gomes (Principal), Mr. M.H.M. Farouk (Co-ordinator),
Mr. H.D.R. Hemachandra (Master-In-Charge Under14), Mr. K.J. Fernando (coach).
First row (from left): Lahiru Tharaka, K. Rajiv.Nilanga Silva, A.M.N. Perera,
Mithun Janodara, Shinas Aleem, K.A.S.M. Wickremanayake, R.J. Kennedy.Second
row (from left): S. Madhuraganan, Sameera Bolanghe, A.G.Y. Arafath, Suranga
Sampath, Isuru Gallawattege, Rusiru Ediriweera, N.B. Aravinth.Third row
(from left): Gayan Laksiri Perera, K.R.V. Jayanath, J. Nirojan,Dimuthu
Hemachandra, Chanaka Jayasinghe, Malinda Embuldeniya, Yadava Prasath, Thilanga
Sumathipala.
Vaas, master of the reverse swing
By Rex Wijewardena
From the portals of that prestigious School by the Beira Lake, St. Joseph's
College, Colombo comes Chaminda Vaas, one of the most dynamic left arm
fast medium bowlers, in the annals of Sri Lankan Cricket.
His recent performance with the cherry, has taken the cricketing world
by storm.
Young Vaas at school was a pupil of my late wife, who was on the staff
of St. Joseph's College. I still recall her telling me, that Chaminda was
a highly disciplined and god-fearing boy, and that he would be a great
success in life. Her vision has blossomed into reality.
He made his debut in the national squad, at the age of 24 years, as
a left arm fast medium bowler.
In his 5th Test match, he had the rare instance of being the first Sri
Lankan to have a match. bag of 10 for 90 against New Zealand at Napier
in 1995. Since then he has never looked back.
His 14 wickets for 191 runs, in the final Test against the West Indies,
was a brilliant performance, which made the whitewash, against the magical
spell of bowling where he captured eight wickets, against Zimbabwe, thus
establishing a world record in the cowboy game, and made way for another
record when Zimbabwe were bundled out for just 38 runs, the lowest total
in a O.D.I.
Cast in the mould of that dashing Pakistan bowler, Wasim Akram, he has
mastered the reverse swing to perfection. In this aspect, he is bound to
be a thorn in the flesh among the best batsmen in international cricket,
in the years to come.
Police CC beat Matale CC
Police CC registered an outright win over Matale CC in the P. Sara Trophy
Cricket encounter played at the Police grounds, Bambalapitiya over the
weekend.
Police CC batted first and scored 311/7 declared. In reply Matale CC
were able to score 102 all out in the first innings and 209 all out in
their second innings. S. Wijesekara's superb 133 was the highlight of this
match.
Chief Scores:
Police CC 1st innings 311/7 declared (S. Wijesekara 133, C. Silva 31,
S. Wijeratne 25, R. Jinan 26; J.C. Welagedara 4/66).
Matale CC 102 all out (D. Rangana 27, I. Abeyratne 13; R. Jinan 2/17;
N. Tennakoon 2/30, D. Gunasekara 3/33, S. Wijeratne 2/4).
Matale CC 2nd Innings 209 all out (D.L. Wijewardhana 76, S.L. Amunugama
30, P.K. Aluvihare 26, M.B. Tilakaratne 21; S. Soysa 6/39, R. Jinam 2/44).
- LDC, Matale.
Academy qualify
By V.T. Rajah
Sri Lanka Military Academy from Diyatalawa qualified to play in the second
round of the Division III tournament when they crushed Cosmo Sports Club
Bandarawela by 110 runs in the semi-finals played at the Badulla Esplanade.
Competition to pick Lanka's Rally King
By M.Shamil Amit
The Motor Racing Association (MRA) and its committee spearheaded by Chairman
Richard de Zoysa will introduce to Sri Lanka the first ever Federation
Internationale De L' Automobile (FIA) standard rally at Palwatte Sugar
Industries on February 2 and February 3, 2002.
The rally which will consist of four legs of 60km each, totalling to
240km will be run on five different classes encouraging the top rung of
racing drivers and the novices to run a fast and furious event on a terrain
which will hardly need even a sump guard and without doubt will proclaim
the 'King of Rallying' in Sri Lanka.
Run to FIA standards this breathtaking ground breaking rally will attract
top riders in the calibre of Pradeep Jayawardena, Nishan Weerasuriya, Nalin
Perera, Dan Dissanayake, Dinesh Deheragoda and Aravinda Premadasa who will
run in the Group 'A' event which will largely consist of Subaru's and Mitsubishi
evoloutions. They will be started off on even keel with a limit of 300bhp,
having to install specified restrictors.
The Standard event will see drivers in the calibre of Romani de Silva,
Dushan Dinamitra, Danuka Nadeera and Zackie Ismail with a host of other
talented drivers eagerly awaiting the opportunity to prove their skill.
The event will be run in conjuction with the Sri Lanka Army Motor Sports
Committee with the blessings of the Palwatte Sugar Industries Ltd. The
Sri Lanka Association of Motor Sports has approved this event that is bound
to be the event of the year and the rally of all time in the history of
Sri Lanka motor sports. Entries open at Colombo Prokart, Millienium Park
from December 10 onwards.
Meanwhile the MRA after reviving Go Karting three yeras ago will work
off round 6 (final round) of the "Colombo Prokarts Go-Karts championship
2001, at the Empire circuit, Braybrook Place on December 16.
Of the events worked off so far the fight for the top berth in the premier
event which is the International class.
There are four competitors in contention with Randy Batcho, Romani de
Silva, Yoga Perera and Thomian schoolboy Dejan de Zoysa battling for the
honours. In the national class Romani de Silva has already clinched the
first place with Niroshan Perera and Randy Batcho fighting for the placings.
Wins for NCC, BRC, SSC, Colts and Bloomfield C&AC
By M.Shamil Amit
Colts CC, BRC, Bloomfield, NCC and SSC won their 50 over Premier Division
league tournament matches played yesterday.
Colts defeated Chilaw Marians at the Colts grounds, BRC defeated CCC
at the BRC grounds, Bloomfield defeated Panadura at Panadura, NCC defeated
Moors at the NCC grounds and SSC defeated the Sebastianites. This game
was decided on the Duckworth Lewis system as the match was called off early
due to bad weather.
At Colts:
Chilaw Marians - 178 for 9 in 50 overs (Ruchira Palliyaguru 41, Janaka
Guneratne 30, Priyanga Wickramasinghe 15, Dhammika Perera 15 n.o., Dinidu
Marage 30 n.o.; Dulip Liyanage 2 for 34, Eric Upashantha 2 for 16, Jaminda
Sigera 2 for 37)
Colts CC - 179 for 4 in 40 overs (Sajith Fernando 57, Jeewantha Kulatunge
33, Duleep Samaraweera 30, Shantha Kaluwitagoda 27; Dhammika Perera 3 for
46)
At BRC:
CCC - 184 in 43.3 overs (Jehan Mubarak 39, P.Seneviratne 31, M.Boteju
38; Indika Gallage 3 for 31, Sanjeewa Weerakoon 2 for 20, Suranjith Silva
4 for 44)
BRC - 187 for 3 in 34.1 overs (Nilantha Bopage 67, Dhammika Hunukumbara
65, M.Mendis 33)
At Panadura:
Panadura - 128 in 41.2 overs (Anjula Perera 22, Romesh Fernando 53,
Kapila Silva 13; Kumar Dharmasena 3 for 40, Dharshana Gamage 2 for 11,
Duminda Perera 2 for 22)
Bloomfield - 129 for 6 in 29.5 overs (Saman Jayantha 26, Kumar Dharmasena
20 n.o., Duminda Perera 26; Kapila Silva 4 for 35)
At NCC:
Moors - 115 in 43.3 overs (C.Hathurasinghe 21, T.Rambukwella 27; Ishara
Amarasinghe 4 for 23, Susantha Pradeep 3 for 20)
NCC - 118 for 6 in 32.3 overs (Aravinda de Silva 29, Naveed Nawaz 22,
Hashan Tilekeratne 21, Ruwan Kalpage 22; Omesh Wijesiriwardena 2 for 31,
C. Hathurasinghe 3 for 24)
At SSC:
Sebastians SC - 192 for 9 in 50 overs (Gayan Randiga 33, Hasantha Fernando
47, Nimesh Perera 24; Ranil Dhammika 4 for 40, Tilan Samaraweera 2 for
49, Malin Silva 2 for 20)
SSC - 167 for 6 in 41 overs (Avishka Gunawardena 41, Tilan Samaraweera
38, Suresh Perera 37, Tilina Ambuldeniya 15 n.o., Malin Silva 24 n.o.;
Ajith Cooray 3 for 36) |
