Ananda
in box seat at 74th Battle of Maroons
By Bernie Wijesekera
Ananda skipper Kularatne's gamble in sending arch-rivals Nalanda
to take first lease of the pitch paid off when they crawled to 152
for 8 dec. at tea off 67 overs on day one of their 74th 'Battle
of Maroons' at Maitland Place yesterday. Ananda in reply hit back
strongly to make 125 for one at close.
To focus interest,
this year's match is being played on a new formula, to make it more
result orientated - ending in listless draws - due to a joint effort
by the old boys of both schools. The side batting first has to declare
at tea within their allotted 67 overs, stemmed the rot with a dour
third wicket stand of 51 runs. Left hander Gangodawila displayed
more aggression into the run rate.
Bowlers did a fine job - Jayasuriya
Daminda Wijesuriya reporting from Cape Town
Batting had been Sri Lanka's greatest strength in cricket over the
years but after a rare show of good bowling performances in the
world cup tournament, Sri Lanka skipper Sanath Jayasuriya admitted
that "batting is going to be a worry" in the next few
matches. Sri Lankan bowlers excelled well to defend a modest total
of 228 against the West Indies on Friday night and virtually threw
them out of the World Cup 2003.
The two time
world champions surrendered for mere 222 runs at Newlands, cricket
ground, Cape Town. The islanders will meet the host nation South
Africa tomorrow (Monday) at Durban, which will decide which team
will head the Group 'B'. The win against West Indies was a big relief
for Jayasuriya and his boys after disappointing performances in
Nairobi, where they lost to Kenya for the first time. Yet it was
the bowlers who did the job for their captain.
"The bowlers
bowled really well even though we dropped few catches. It's good
to see them winning matches" Jayasuriya said after their dramatic
comeback at Newlands.
"It was not an easy wicket to bat on. The ball was not coming
to the bat earlier on. We got 228 and that was a very good total."
"With
our bowlers, we thought that we could defend that total" Jayasuriya
said.
The captain's confidence was such at his bowlers. However it was
after a long time that a Sri Lankan captain was commending his bowlers,
rather than the batsmen. In the ICC World Cup 2003, Sri Lankan players
won four man of the match awards and three of them went to the bowlers.
The 28 year-old left arm seamer Chaminda Vaas, won a gold watch
twice as man of the match and the other went to rookie Prabath Nissanka.
Meanwhile Chaminda
Vaas had become the leading bowler in the tournament with 16 scalps
to his name. Wasim Akram of Pakistan follows him, with 12 wickets.
It was a team decision to call Pulasthi Gunaratne to deliver the
final over of the match against West Indies and it worked well for
them to pull off a narrow win. Chaminda Vaas said that there was
no change in the South African wickets But he didn't forget to pay
a tribute to his bowling coach in Colombo.
"I went
back home and I worked with the bowling coach. My rhythm is coming
well in every game and that is why I am bowling well at the moment"
Speaking of his chances in the game against South Africa on Monday,
Jayasuriya emphasised that his batsmen should score more runs if
they bat first. It was another way of expressing his disappointment
with the middle order.
"Still
we need to get some runs on the board. The middle order is still
not in good form. We have a good chance since the bowlers have been
bowling well and I think the worry factor is the batting,"
Jayasuriya said. Sri Lanka has a great chance of becoming the table
leaders in Group 'B' if they beat South Africa on Monday
Women
to emulate men
By Annesley Ferreira
Sri Lanka women in the not so distant past took the headlines in
the Asian Region by more having its first women President and Prime
Minister. And now they are on the threshold of hitting bigger headlines
by winning the Women's World Cup, down for a decision , this year
and early next year.
Under the presidency
of Gwen Herath they have sewn up a tidy sponsorship with Singer
in their quest of emulating their men who won the World Cup under
the Captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunge in 1996. Bata has come forward
to sponsor their footwear.
Joe-Pete
a stalemate
By M. Shamil Amit
Peterites retain the Rev. Fr. Maurice Legoc Trophy. The 69th Battle
of the Saints between St. Joseph's and St. Peter's concluded at
the P. Sara Stadium yesterday ended in another stalemate draw with
no positive approach being made by either sides to enforce a result.
An early declaration by the Petes would have made the match more
interesting and the slow batting by them killed the game.
The Joes were
given an impossible target of 254 runs to be made in 47 overs and
the match was called off with seven overs remaining to be bowled.
The Petes had a healthy lead of 77 runs and they should have gone
for quick runs and make an early declaration and give challenging
target to their opponents but when they declared their innings at
tea on 176 for 4 the writing was on the wall of an inevitable draw
unless something extraordinary took place. But the Joes too were
not willing to lose their wickets and played a better game in the
second essay.
Play resumed
yesterday morning with the Josephians on 138 for 4 hoping to make
a reasonable score. But the Peterites made short work dismissing
overnight batsman Shamal Warnakula with only two runs added to his
score and then Angelo Mathew got himself run out for 61 and the
score read 161 for 6. Two more unnecessary run outs within five
runs Ranesh Perera for one and Niroshan John for two sent the Joes
reeling to 166 for 8. The next two batsmen Rukshan Perera and Rajeew
Weerasinghe did not last long and they were bowled out for 178 facing
just 13.3 overs in the morning session.
The Peterites
openers Dinesh Panditharatne and Prajeev Jansz gave another good
start when they went into bat the second time putting on a 43 runs
stand before Prajeev was clean bowled by Sandun Dias for 28. They
went to lunch at that score. When play resumed after lunch Dinesh
and Hans Fernando put a stand of 31 runs for the second wicket when
Dinesh was caught behind the wicket by Tharindu Ariyawansa off the
bowling of Rajeew Weerasinghe for 25. First innings centurion Gihan
de Silva did not last long being caught by Tharindu again off pacie
Angelo for one with the score on 83. Samiddha Gallage joined Hans
and a partnership between them realised 60 runs when at 143 Angelo
took a catch off his own bowling to dimiss Samiddha for 21.
Trinity force a draw
By Shamseer Jaleel
The Inter-School cricket match between Royal and Trinity ended in
a draw at Reid Avenue yesterday. Royal continuing from 234 for 6,
declared at a huge score of 307 for 9 with skipper Wijeratne scoring
107.
In reply Trinity,
taking lease for the second time, batted almost the entire day to
finish at 229 for 9. Trinity skipper Clifford Fernando led from
the front with a superb 82 and ever reliable and consistent performer
Ishan Ratnayake scored 75.
Trinity - 134
(M. Munaweera 52, C. Punchihewa 30; T. Kottehewa 6 for 42) and 229
for 9 at close (Ishan Ratnayake 75, Clifford Fernando 82; H. Morawake
3 for 43).
Royal - 307 for 7 dec. (R. Wijeratne 107, T. Edirimanne 68; H. Mendis
3 for 75, S. Pathirana 2 for 30) |