Navin proves his mettle
Capt. Navin de Silva, a versatile sportsman to hail from Wesley College has excelled in ball games - cricket and hockey for the school and later for NCC and CCC with much success. He has added another ball game - golf and was a cynosure in the RCGC greens. Taking to the sport only last year (within ten months) proved his mettle.

Slowly, but surely with his powerful drives and meticulous putting he mastered the skills. Firstly,he won the NoBride trophy, partnering Wimal Wijenayake. It was no looking back since then and has been a consistent performer. Despite exigencies of duty during his spare time he took to the greens and trained with resolution and determination. The hallmark in him, was that he was willing to learn from whatever quarter - the rough and smooth.

He won the popular Mercedes Benz 'B' Div. title to earn a berth to represent the country, in the Asian 'B' qualifying golf championship to be held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, in August 2002.

Two hundred and fifty golfers teed off - among them were seasoned campaigners. He did proud to Wesley and to the National Carrier, SriLankan Airlines. As a schoolboy, De Silva led the Sri Lanka Schools team in 1981 for the tour of England. Incidentally his deputy was former Sri Lanka skipper, Arjuna Ranatunga. Had he continued in cricket he could have played in the national team as an utility all-rounder.- BW

Police are now playing at their best
Old Zahirians Vs Air Force Air Force won (12-10)
In a close game Sri Lanka Air Force beat Old Zahirians at Longden Place. This win will give the Air Force confidence as the Old Zahirians have also improved in their play. Next week the Air Force plays Kandy Youth and this will be a close encounter with the Air Force depending on their Forwards and Kandy Youth on their exciting three quarters.

CR&FC Vs Army
CR won (25-14)
The CR have improved with every game. They still need to attain peak fitness. Their Forwards used their weight to advantage with Savantha De Saram leading the way scoring 2 tries. Roshan Peiris was on target this time with fine conversions. Army full back T.A. Silva once again had a good game. The CR also played with more purpose for this game and had a well mapped out game plan. The Army had scoring opportunities but made mistakes at critical times.

NB: Off scrums and mauls: there were a number of occasions when both the CR and Army three quarters were guilty of being off side but the Referee was not in a position to see these infringements.

Galle RFC Vs Police SC
Police won (101-6)
A totally one sided game with Police crossing the Galle goal line 17 times. The Police are now playing at their best with 3 relatively easy games to follow - against Old Zahirians, Kandy Youth and the Navy.

Kandy SC Vs Havelocks
Kandy won (56-13)
Another set-back for Havelocks, this time at the hands of Kandy SC. Kandy went on the rampage playing cohesive rugby and outplayed Havelocks in all departments. As I said before Kandy possess an excellent team which is well balanced - both in respect of their Forwards and their threequarters. The next three games for Kandy SC will be much tougher. Their final game for the season will be against the CR&FC where they will be tested to the full. As for the Havelocks, possession is most important. Secondly, their Forwards need to be solid in scrummaging. The front 5 are vital for a team's success.

Navy vs Kandy Youth
Navy won (44-13)
Navy Forwards and threequarters combined well to score 44 points against Kandy Youth. Although the Navy was not at full strength they were able to overcome Kandy Youth by running the ball. Kandy Youth possesses a good team but they were outplayed for lack of options. Their sturdily built standoff and No. 8 shouldered too much responsibility and many moves seem to originate from them. As a result continuity was lacking. They should have more variation in their ploys, and be able to change their tactics in the second-half in order to counter their opponents game-plan.

Another Reminder: Referee's Society - Please give some thought to the Role of a Linesman with regard to "Off-Sides" from rucks and mauls.

Chuck the Chuckers!
Sri Lanka Cricket has once again exposed itself to another chucking controversy. Looking at this aspect historically, are we the breeding ground of bowlers with suspect bowling actions.

The present crisis is even more surprising, for the fact that the current Sri Lanka Cricketers unlike their predecessors have had the professional help of reputed Coaches like Lillee, Dav Whatmore and Darrel Forster to guide them through the technicalities of their profession. Yet we are surrounded by controversial exposure to the legality of that very profession that haunted Sri Lanka Cricket in the past.

If the Cricket Board thinks it can bury its head in sand and hope the controversy to go away then I think they will be doing the biggest disservice to Sri Lanka Cricket.

During my playing years from the late sixties to the mid eighties I came across many fast slow bowlers who had suspect bowling actions who went on to represent Ceylon and later Sri Lanka. The fault should be placed squarely on our Coaches and Umpires, and of course, the Cricket Board that turned its back on the obvious.

The damage has been done, now is the time for us to put our house in order and ensure young cricketers with suspect actions are corrected before they are exposed to the international arena.

Now, we have the Australian Vice Captain Adam Gilchrist going public on Muralitharan's controversial bowling action and calling it a 'throw' according to the Law set by the ICC. Adam also refers to the bowling action of his own teammate Bret Lee, quote, "I am sure there are other people that say Bret throws the ball at different times - it is a fine line" refer to The Age Newspaper dated 27/5/2002.

The Australian Cricket Board should have shown better leadership and taken stronger action against Adam Gilchrist for his comments.

Here is a bowler cleared by the ICC and yet the ICC did not respond to the comments made by Adam Gilchrist. The ICC should bite the bullet and take steps that will put the Independent Referees in charge together with the Umpire of the day to determine the legality of a reported bowler's action.

If in the opinion of the Umpires a bowler has a suspect action, he should immediately convey that doubt to the fielding Captain and to the Independent Referee. With the available Technology the Referee should be able to view the bowling action in slow motion and in consultation with all concerned determine the legality of the offending bowler's action. If a decision is reached that the bowler's action is illegal he should not be allowed to bowl in that particular innings or match. -Kumar Ramanathan

Tehani bags two titles at Junior Squash Championship
By M.Shamil Amit
Tehani Guruge fresh from her success abroad continued her winning streak when she bagged two titles in the recently concluded Junior National Squash tournament 2002 which was held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. Tehani clinched the Under 15 title defeating Vachira Karunaratne and went on to win the Under 19 title overcoming Menusha Hettiarachchi.

Yasin Issadin too won two titles when he bagged the Under 11 category and went on to take the Under 15 title. The Boys Under 19 title went to Kyle Conrad who beat Kavin Jayawardena. A large number of junior players participated in this tournament which was held for five days.

Results:
Under 11- Boys - Yasin Issadin beat Binura Jayasuriya 9/10, 9/6, 9/3, 9/7.
Under 11 - Girls - Sharya Guruge beat Sherangi Wijekulasuriya 9/7, 9/2, 9/6.
Under 13 - Boys - Chakkanga Rajapakse beat ThejakaWijeweera 9/3, 0/9, 9/0, 9/1.
Under 13 - Girls -Nirasha Guruge W/O from Charindri Jayaratne.
Under 15 - Boys - Yasin Issadin beat Eranga Alwis 3/9, 9/6, 7/9, 9/5, 9/1.
Under 15 - Girls - Tehani Guruge beat Vachira Karunaratne 9/2, 9/0, 9/0.
Under 17 - Boys - Harin Perera beat Manojith Weerasuriya 9/6, 5/9, 3/9, 9/2, 9/2.
Under 17 - Girls - Menusha Hettiarachchi beat Nihara Guruge 9/2, 9/1, 9/1.
Under 19 - Boys - Kyle Conrad beat Kavin Jayawardena 10/8, 9/2, 9/4.
Under 19 - Girls - Tehani Guruge beat Menusha Hettiarachchi 9/6, 9/0, 6/9, 9/2.

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