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Sri Lanka 'A' restrict Bangla
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Bangladesh found the going tough as they had a glimpse of what they were in for in their short tour of Sri Lanka when they were bundled out for 228 against Sri Lanka 'A' at the end of the second day's play at the Moratuwa Stadium yesterday.

The vistors reply to the home teams 382/9 dec. began on a positive note, however the lack of application andconcentration by their batsmen to play a long innings saw them slump from an imposing 152 for 3 to 228 all out, giving Sri Lanka 'A' a first innings lead of 154 runs.

Only their 19-year-old opening batsmen Hannan Sarker was able to effectively counter the Lankan medium pacers and spinners.

The right hander who has not played a test for his country was in good touch as he reched his half century in 68 balls and completed a fine 92 before being adjudged lbw. He faced 128 balls and helped himself to 16 boundaries and a six.

With the departure of the opener the Bangladesh innings fell apart as the Lankan spinners led by Muthumudalige Pushpa-kumara (3/43) and Kaushal Lokuarachchi (2/30) skittled the visitors middle order. Earlier left arm medium pacer Sanjeewa Silva bowled well to pick up two crucial wickets in a tidy spell.

Sri Lanka enjoying a lead of 154 were 73/3 wickets at the end of the days play with opener Ian Daniel unbeaten on 35.

Kick off to the Women's World Cup 2004
The Women's Cricket Association of Sri Lanka has launched the kick off to the Women's World Cup 2004 to be played in South Africa well in advance in a bid to find new blood into their team. The President of the WCASL, Gwen Heart who is determined to take a young team for the World Cup also believes that the experienced ones too must be included.

"We have learnt a lot from the current National team playing in England watching their mistakes and how the young and the experienced should play and not play. There is absolutely no difference of play between the sexes except the women use a ball little less in weight. We also play under ICC rules," Heart said.

All new clubs and players who have not registered with the WCASL are invited to join them before their annual tournament in August from which the Pool will be drawn. They will be eligible to take part in all international tournaments as well as the World Cup 2004. To make themselves avail this opportunity they will have to contact the Secretary, Mrs. C. Munaweera on 077 763150 before 31st July for registration or the President, WCASL, 9/2, Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7 by letter.

With a series of tours before the run-up to the World Cup, the girls will be exposed to more experience and physical build-up in the coming two and half years at the hands of their head coach, Nihal Kodituwakku.

Sri Lanka along with England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia are already the Finalists competing in 2004 while there would be mini World Cup tournament in Netherlands next year for the bottom two Finalists that will make up the eight for the women's most prestigious title that will be fiercely fought at high competitive level.

The WCASL is the official member of the International Women's Cricket Council with full voting right and Test status.

Comfortable win for Old Duthians SC
The inaugural annual cricket encounter between Old Duthians Sports Club and Old Uvites Sports Club saw the former winning by 4 wickets played at the Vincent Dias Stadium in Badulla on Sunday 7.

This encounter was organised immediately after the conclusion of the 47th Battle of Uva between Uva College and Dharmadutha College. These two clubs are formed from the Old Boys of these two schools. Accordingly the inaugural match was played last Sunday where Old Uvites SC batting first were all out for 127 in 28.5 overs. Thusitha Pathum who received the best batsman's award scored 42 runs.

Old Duthians SC reached the target in 25 overs losing 6 wickets. Sanath Palitha Atthanayake of Old Uvites SC won the best bowler's award while Chamila Weerasekera of Old Duthians SC won the best fielder's award. Pala Wijesekera of Old Duthians SC was awarded the Man of the Match trophy.

Chief Scores:
Old Uvites SC 127 - (Thusita Patum 42, S. Aruna 14, K. Tharaka 16; Chaminda 2 for 7 and Thilan Gunasinghe 2 for 15).

Old Duthians SC 128 for 6 - (T. Gunasekera 29, D. Gajanayake 22, Pala Wijesekera 23, E. Dissanayake 13 n.o.; Thusitha Pathum 2 for 32 and Sanath Palitha 3 for 25). -VTR

S.Thomas', Mahamaya excel at Age Group swim meet
S.Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia (STCML) and Mahamaya College, Kandy (MCK) emerged overall champions at the 26th National Age Group Swimming and Diving Championships concluded at the Sugathadasa Stadium Pool last evening.

The Thomians topped the points table in the boys category with 226 points followed by Ananda College (213 Pts) and Royal College (192 pts), while Mahamaya Kandy collected 272 points ahead of Ladies College (251 pts) and Musaeus College (206 pts) in their respective category.

In the diving events Asian International School and St. Joseph's College emerged joint boys champions with Visakha Vidyalaya clinching the girl's title.

The meet also had seven records of which Mayumi Raheem, swimming for Otters Aquatic Club, broke two records. Menaka de Silva of St. Bridgets' Convent swam into record time in the heats of the 50m Freestyle and improved her timing to 29.61 seconds in the finals. Raghvan Madawala (STCML), Uma Kavya Dharmadasa (Museaus), Chatguri Abeykoon (Ladies College) were the other swimmers to set new records.

The first meet to be run by the new committee of the National Amateur Aquatic Sports Union (NAASU) saw a renewed atmosphere and a better timing in the organisation. Bank of Ceylon were the main sponsors. (A.A)

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