| Sports |
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| ‘Go
Havies go’ In recent times Havelocks took a turn, lost their spirit and enthusiasm for reasons best known to them. There are many factors financially or otherwise. In the past the players played for the right reasons not for mere material gains. Even sitting on the Havies bench was an honour to them. Today this is not confined to Havies alone, but to other clubs, as well. The present hierarchy of the Park Club headed by Jayasekera, is striving to bring the game back to surface with a concerted effort said Peter Jayawardena, manager rugby, in an interview with The Sunday Times. The club has been a nursery for producing some outstanding players at grassroots level drawn from all schools. Playing opportunities were given to them to improve their skills, but some of them have migrated, apparently for material gains. Still Havies with the available talent will play the game in the right spirit. Names do not matter, but one must be totally committed, disciplined and are prepared to learn. The club is not going behind players. The gates are opened, they could join and we will assist them in whatever possible way to go places on and off the field - including accommodation for the outstation players. Two of them are from K'gala. The club is striving to build a permanent dormitory within the precincts. What's your rugby budget for the season? It's 4.5 million. Mobitel is our main sponsor. Others, too have joined the pack to make it more healthy. We are prudent with regard to expenses - with proper planning will utilize some of the money for re-development, Peter said. There are three foreign players from Tonga. Joseph Waka, the centre, has played for their national team. Mafilio (No.8) and Kaufishi (stand-off). The trio are reasonably good and have added spark to the squad. The Havies may not hit the top, but certainly will give a better performance than last year. The team is led by strongly built old Zahrian, prop Sheffine Hassan, 7s National player Lakala Perera. Leonard De Zylwa (still on the injured list). Names do not matter - on their day Havies will run over any club. This was proved by them against the tough and 'never-say-die' Army. At the turn around the soldiers were leading 13-3. The Havies rallied well with a do-or-die battle, to nudge them 18-16 in a thriller and had all the 'Park' aglow. It was a good win and in its wake boosted the morale of the youngsters. A big crowd was there to cheer them. 'Go Havies, Go'. Mild mannered Ana Saranapala, former national Level II coach is coaching the team. He has dissected the shortcomings with well planned strategy. It has already borne fruit. Burly Chaminda Rupasinghe is assisting him and helping the forwards. Chaminda with his charming ways was nursed and nurtured by Quentin Israel whilst at S. Thomas' and was seen spending much of his time with the youngsters despite late evenings. If the game is to make headway at national level, then it has to be developed at club level. Havies are striving to achieve this objective and help uplift its image which has hit a new low. The
strange composition of junior cricket As the Head Coach of a school team I could say that the game has spread and is being played in a vast number of schools around the island. Of course there isn't too much happening in the North and East. There are on-going moves to resurrect the game in those parts too. The ideal age to introduce kids to the game, playing with the leather ball, is between seven and eight years. The tournament cricket at present starts from the under 14 age group. This is ideal as it gives time for the youngsters to learn all aspects of the game. Simultaneously playing practice games does not put pressure on them and helps develop natural talents. At present the under 14 and under 16 tournaments are underway. The format is to play 100 overs in the day, with the team batting first permitted to face up to 60 of those overs, leaving the other team to close the target in 40 overs. This happens in the first round, consisting of four to five games and the second round consisting of two games. From thereon in the quarter final stage games are over two days and on a knock-out basis. That stage is fine as it gives an opportunity to bat for long periods and also bowl sufficiently long spells. In my opinion, should tournament cricket be the format decided upon, two months should be given to schools to fix their own fixtures, against teams in their own division. Should May and June be set aside the schools should be requested to play eight games up to a maximum of ten games. Since these are one day games the number of overs should be 100, with the side batting first getting a maximum of 50 overs. The top twentyfour teams could be divided into eight groups and a league tournament will give teams two games. These games should be of two days duration and so too the knock-out games from the quarter final stage onwards. That should provide balance and ample cricket for all teams. At present the format of playing 100 overs in a day and permitting the team batting first to face sixty of them can be lopsided, should a team bat second in three or four games! Their middle order batsmen may not get a hit in the entire tournament. What is required to stay abreast the top nations in cricket is to have quality cricket at junior levels. All international cricket playing nations realize this. The under 19 World Cup being conducted on a regular basis is a further indication. It has come to a stage where international cricket at the under 19 age group has come to stay. Tours and tournaments are bound to increase and this level will produce the players for first class and international cricket. This required school cricket at under 16 and under 14 age groups to be of quality. The foundation and ground work has to be completed when a player reaches fifteen years of age. From then on it should be a case of progressing with performances. Batsmen scoring 75 runs or more regularly and bowlers capturing four wickets or more regularly. There is quantity in terms of the members playing but it is not quality cricket at our junior levels. Can
Police stop gutty Kandy's winning spree? What was especially pleasing about Kandy SC's last effort was that it was a team effort. Police have suffered a few defeats and last Sunday's CR game was no exception. Relying as they do entirely on local talent, police is finding it difficult to withstand the blasts from the big guns. Their gutty displays consequently evokes much admiration. Scrum half Sudath Sampath (who had links with Kandy SC) needs watching. He may not quite be the quick-silver player that he was a few moons ago. Yet he can think on his feet. He pairs off with Harshana Wijeweera who possesses sound kicking ability. Centre Nilusha Fernando and Skipper Sampath Galewala, a winger, are the other stand-out players in the back division. In the pack, TD Herath, hooker Asela Muthumala and number eight Nishantha Welagedera are bound to offer stiff opposition to the marauding Kandy eight. It is difficult to see the Kandy apple-cart being upset by the Police who lack the spectacular talent that their opponents possess. Yet police would do well to keep Kandy to manageable proportions. One hopes that Kandy SC will give a fairly full run to players such as centre Vithanage and Winger Liyanage instead of relegating them to the bench. Sri Lanka players both, their talent should not be wasted in the desert air. |
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