Under 19 team in fine fettle says Brendon
By M.Shamil Amit
The Sri Lanka Under 19 cricket team led by Dhammika Niroshan left the island
to New Zealand at midnight on January 11 to participate in the Junior World
Cup which will be conducted from January 19 to February 9. The entourage
consists of 14 players and 4 officials. The opening is scheduled to be
held on January 14 with the tournament proper scheduled to start on January
19 with Sri Lanka pitted against the host nation New Zealand.
Sixteen teams divided into four groups will be seen in action. Sri Lanka
is in a tough group along with New Zealand and Zimbabwe the latter has
three national players who will be doing service for them and two other
players who have international experience.
The Sri Lanka squad was seen practising hard at the NCC nets where the
Sunday Times went to speak to the manager and coach to get their views
on the chances of the team in the tournament.
When the coach Owen Mottau was approached he was reluctant to speak
about the squad and dodged the question directed at him and sent the ball
rolling to Brendon Kuruppu, who accompanies the team as manager. Brendon
speaking to the Sunday Times said that the team is in high spirits and
have been training in Radella for four days as the climate in New Zealand
is almost similar to that area over there the team was fine tuned by Darrel
Foster a top class fast bowling coach from Australia. Former Sri Lankan
fast bowler Champaka Ramanayake and spinner Ruwan Kalpage who is also a
fine fielder lending their assistance to the squad. Regarding the palyers
Brendon said we have only one player who has international experience in
vice captain Jeewan Mendis much will depend on him with allrounders like
Farveez Mahroof, Kanchana Gunewardena, Gamini Chandrakumara and Dhammika
Prasad to support the batting. The bowling will be spearheaded by skipper
Niroshan and Omesh Wijesiriwardena with Eshan Abeysinghe and Kanchana to
support them.
Their first aim is to qualify to the Super League stage and from there
onwards it will be taken match by match. Sri Lanka came second best at
the previous tournament which was held in Sri Lanka two years ago losing
to the Indians in the final.
Lanka: attractive sporting destination for Englishmen
By Peter Casie Chitty
Tourists friendly Sri Lanka has now become the most attractive sporting
destination for English schools, clubs and even county cricket teams to
day . The cricketing prowess of Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Muttiah
Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, the year long sunshine and the golden
beaches is now luring tourists from Europe and the British Isles away from
the Caribbean Islands that had gained popularity since the fifties when
the famous Worrell, Weeks and Walcott, Ramadin and Valentine were on top
of the sport.
Eric Gauder journalist and entrepreneur told in an exclusive interview
that Sri Lanka is the most attractive place for cricket loving English
men, women and children because of the high standard. "Everyone is now
looking at our success story and hoping to build their futures similarly".
Till very recently English county academia and schools sailed and flew
in the direction of the West Indies hoping to find Richards, Richardson
or Lara to give the Englishmen a few tips on how to make runs and get wickets
. But with the decline and a struggling Board of Control in the West Indies
, European adventurers are looking towards Asia for magic portions that
would make them super heroes like Murali and Sanath.
Sri Lanka boasts some of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the
world - Radella in particular. It will give the young Sri Lankans a chance
of playing away from the stifling heat and humidity - like in an English
summer. It will help the surrounding area where the setting is beautiful
and promotion of tourism can be facilitated. There is Nuwara Eliya that
can be developed for cricket and rugby.
"It seems that the West Indian teams can't sometimes field a full side
and it is preposterous to have to fly miles to play against minnow opposition.
In Sri Lanka they have realised that the system is better , the opposition
is stronger if not stronger than the visitors. This makes the whole trip
worth the while. They have the added bonuses of a year of sunshine, cultural
and historic attractions, scenic beauty and excellent and affordable food".
Is there a negative side to the story?
Yes there is. Everyone talks of improving the cricket outstations. That
is to give the lesser known state schools exposure to visiting teams and
this can only be done if the Schools' Cricket authorities get involved.
These Cricket Officials however do not seem to appreciate the fact that
visiting teams have a limited amount of time to spend here and a programme
will have to be prepared well in advance for them. Unfortunately none of
it seems to invigorate the Schools' Cricket Association because the last
time they were asked to prepare a program they took six months and did
nothing at all.
Fortunately we could rush to some of the cricket playing schools at
the eleventh hour and they obliged to fix matches for the touring sides.
If this is the attitude they are going to take then we might as well forget
promoting sporting events as part of the tourism calendar. If they come
here to swim and there is no water they will feel disappointed and go to
places they will be treated better It is for this reason they do not go
anymore to the West Indies. These are cricket teams, rugby teams, football
teams on a sporting holiday looking for competition. They are not coming
here to sit with their feet up and enjoy the sun, we have to remember that.
What encouragement will you need to give these people?
They are coming here to improve their knowledge and gain experience.
The boys and girls here can gain from this too so all we have to do is
to give them a good team to play against and treat them well. We have the
natural resources otherwise, the infrastructure too.
That could make this the ideal sports and tourism centre for all cricket
playing countries.
Big yawn at Maradana
By Bruce Maurice
The second day of the Ananda-S. Thomas' Lemonade Trophy Inter-School cricket
match was one big yawn yesterday at Ananda Mawatha. If there were any spectators
who were unfortunate to be present at Ananda Mawatha yesterday, they would
have gone home with lockjaw.
Continuing from their overnight score of 15 for the loss of two wickets,
the Anandians put the crowd to sleep by scratching, scraping and dawdling
the whole day to score 207 for eight at close.
The Thomian pop gun bowling that cannot say 'boo to a goose' was also
unable to capture eight wickets in a whole day's play.
S. Thomas' - 253
Ananda - 207 for 8 (M. Udawatte 52 n.o, N. Jayakody 48, D. Kularatne
40; T. Fernando 3 for 38, D. Williams 3 for 14).
Dharmapala held
The Dharmapala-Sri Jayawardenapura Inter-School match which was continued
at Pannipitiya yesterday ended in an exciting draw.
Sri Jayawardenapura - 160 and 104 for 9 (R. Jayasinghe 61 n.o; R. Ranasinghe
2 for 7, V. Indika 2 for 10, D. Egiliyage 2 for 24, S. Bowela 2 for 45).
Dharmapala - 275 for 8 dec. (Eranda Lakmal 92, C. Sampath 63, D. Egiliyage
36; S. Fernando 2 for 79) -BM
Bens draw with Joes
St. Benedict's drew their inter school fixture with St. Joseph's at
Kotahena yesterday. Having captured the last two Benedictine wickets without
any further addition to the overnight score, St. Joseph's were dismissed
for 213 and the Benedictines were 106 for four at stumps.
St. Benedict's - 256 and 106 for 4 (M. Imran 51, L. Jayampathy 35, J.
Sabreen 2 for 17)
St. Joseph's - 213 (S. Gunawardena 47, R. Perera 77; J. Priyantha 3
for 72, L. Perera 2 for 53, M. Imran 2 for 22). -BM
Bore at Reid Avenue
The spectators at the Royal-St. Anthony's match at Reid Avenue yesterday
would have been gone to sleep. Their whole day would have been spoiled
by watching the Royal-Antonian match which ended in a boring draw.
St. Anthony's - 266 for 9 dec. (N. Ratnayaka 36, M. Rizak 69 n.o., T.
De Silva 51; C. Vidanapathirana 2 for 55, T. Kottanhewa 3 for 36, G. Ratnayaka
2 for 50).
Royal - 226 for 8 (D. Arulprakash 21, P. Chamikara 52, R. Wijeratne
42, G. Ratnayaka 35, D. Abeygunawardena 32 n.o; A. Ariyaratne 4 for 56,
T. De Silva 2 for 61)- BM
St. Peter's held
The St. Peter's- St. Sebastian's Inter-School game ended in a draw at
Moratuwa yesterday.
St. Peter's - 168 for 4 (D. Faux 54, G. De Silva 53 n.o, A. Herath 23,
R. Fernando 28; D. Abeydeera 2 for 11)
St. Sebastian's - 215 (M. Fernando 68, N. Silva 58, M. Fernando 21,
B. Amarasinghe 21; N. Cooray 7 for 69, N. Wijeratne 2 for 29) BM |
