This is Lara country. There is a Brian Lara Boulevard. It has a very modern shopping centre on it and so does attract visitors. He is building a home on the hill with a nice view of the Queen’s Park Savannah. He drives his fancy cars around at well over the speed limit. But he is not king of the island as Viv Richards is at Antigua where the traffic policeman would put his hands out to stop all the traffic if the king is spotted. Lara is a Trinidadian treasure. Lara is so popular in his country that a senior journalist of Jamaica says he has to be put in a room and locked up on Test match evenings so that he may perform. The girls of Trinidad are said to get hysterical at the sight of Lara as their counterparts in the western world do when they see pop stars. He is the idol of the Trinidadians who now back him unabashedly for the captaincy. This may be viewed differently in other parts of the West Indies where Lara is received with suspicion. He does not come through yet with a Richards-like domination of men and events. But then he has a long way to go. Viv was more than an idol. He was an icon. Lara may have done greater deeds so far as the record books are concerned but Viv is Viv because he was not just Viv of Antigua but a proud black man with a sense of destiny to him.
It’s time to move on from Trinidad & Tobago. While no one may have felt like singing Jamaica Farewell in the style of Harry Belafonte when leaving Kingston, the heart was somehow heavy when the time to leave T & T came. The Prime Minister’s party at his lovely residence on the Savannah on the previous evening which stretched into the little hours of the day was a glittering one. The best of entertainers from the world of Soca were there, so too Indian singers and danceuses and limbo dancers. The team must have felt at home at a party in a lovely setting by the swimming pool. The welcome was from young people walking on stilts in the garden which by itself was an awesome sight, considering each one stood about 20 feet from the ground and seemed comfortable enough walking around on those thin, tall sticks. Being of Indian origin, the Prime Minister Basudev Pandey, must have had another good reason to invite the cricket teams over. He could also personally convey to Brian Lara that he had not said anything on the captaincy issue and that the whole thing was a funny misunderstanding. Apparently the issue had got blown up politically in the West Indies because the Antiguan PM, Lester Bird is supposed to have said at a meeting with Pandey that he had to support Lara for the captaincy. Right from colonial days, the West Indies captaincy has been complicated hotbed of political intrigue.
There was a sigh of misery from the seasoned travellers as the flight out to Bridgetown had to come back to its bay at the Piarco International airport for an engineering check. Mercifully, the flight is only an hour late into Grantley Adams Airport where landing without a visa could have been a tick lish issue if not cricket being such a passport and the Indian High Commission in Port of Spain and its acting High Commissioner Y. P. Singh having done a good job of informing the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Barbados to expect a planeload of cricket players and media, all without a visa.
They could be a little touchy about visas and an entry into a country which has not been invaded by any power except Great Britain. Considering the history of marine wars and of conquest and reconquest and destruction in the whole region, Barbados may have been lucky to have had a stable history in which it was linked only to one maritime power of the time. The other islands could not have asked the Genoese sailor flying the flag of Spain if he had a passport and a visa. While recording the voyages of Christopher Columbus, history may not bring out emphatically the death, mostly by small pox which is a white man’s disease, and destruction of colonisation. There is a cause for some worry when the Immigration Officer beckons the captain of the team, Sachin Tendulkar to the cabin to meet his superior. Surely, we are not going to have a Robin Jackman episode all over again. The immigration chief merely wants to wish Sachin and his team well for the Test and on his visit to Barbados. The Bajans are really friendly. The chief is also smart enough to find out from the passports that it is the birthday of two people in the media party. If the two chose to remain silent on this day, maybe it had something to do with the fear of being saddled with the bar bills this evening in Bridgetown. Since the Adams airport is still one of the places in the world where they insist on opening the suitcases of each of the arriving passengers, we are worried whether we will ever get out in time. But the customs officer is all charm when he sees a foreign passport. He waves us through with cheery good wishes and an invitation to enjoy Barbados. Apparently, only the locals suffer the indignity of having all their bags searched. But then this is not an unfamiliar product of a long colonial history.
The team is at the Rockley Resort, in villas along the fairways of a golf course. We go to where the West Indies team used to stay in days past because it is right on the beach and offers a spectacular view of the Caribbean Sea out west towards the Leeward Islands. It is hard to choose between the charms of a nine-hole golf course and of the ocean gently breaking out into waves that almost lap our rooms.
The sportsman may be happy staying in a golf course and hear the ball whizz past while the poet might much prefer the ocean front with the sound of the waves singing their lullaby at night. What is the use of coming to the West Indies and staying on top of the hill at the upside down Hilton in Trinidad and on a golf course in Barbados when the sea beckons? But then the golf course also has its own private beach even if it is some way off and one has to make an effort to get to the Rockley Beach. Venkatraghavan, the manager on the last tour, enjoyed himself immensely on the links because he is a regular with the golf clubs. The Rockley Resort’s contribution would have been to get others interested in the game if only it managed to attract any of the youngsters to the fairways. Players who are nearing the end of their careers are generally more inclined to take a look at other games. Being such good ball players, they should have no trouble in taking to other sports, but there is always a reluctance to take to any in the course of a career except, of course, in a casual way and in search of fitness.
Kapil Dev is one cricketer who has taken to golf like a fish to water. And he has become so good at it that he has time for little else but rounds of golf and appearances in pro-am and celebrity events. There might be budding golfers in this team who might have been tempted to try their hand at a round of golf if not for the Rockley being a resort where you have to just go out and play.
There is very little by way of guidance and the club pro might be inclined to take full charges which are all US dollar denominated fees.
And it costs about 100 Barbadian dollars (about $50) to play a round. But that could not have been the only reason why there were no takers.
All hell is breaking loose in the West Indies. The West Indies Board has this rule that all players must be available for domestic cricket in the Red Stripe and Shell Sandals cup events. But Brian Lara has not turned up with the Trinidad & Tobago team today in Guyana and the newspapers merely say that he did not get to the game. By evening Courtney Walsh, leading Jamaica against the Leeward Islands, had pulled up with a hamstring injury. The pace bowlers would be risking a lot if they are to play first class cricket between Test matches. If they so much as miss a Test, they can lose out on the appearance money which for professional cricketers means a lot. It may not matter to people like Lara who can live on endorsements alone. But there are average cricketers who are rather more dependent on match fees to make both ends meet.It appears Lara had a reason to skip the match. At least his doctor said so. As a medical certificate it was a bit daring.
- R. Mohan
When he returned
from England, Navjot Singh Sidhu came in for a lot of flak. He did not
react barring a letter to the Board explaining the reasons for his action.
He stayed away from the media unlike many who use the platform to hit back at the system and justify their stand. Sidhu has always been a different character and not difficult as many happen to portray him.
He is very emotional, very religious and very dedicated. “This double century is dedicated to all my countrymen who believed in me and who were a source of great inspiration during my times of turmoil. I am really indebted to them and could perhaps never repay their love and affection. I am a proud man today,” he said at Port of Spain and added “but above all I am a very, very proud Indian.”
The best thing about Sidhu is his temperament. He rarely loses his cool and that is his asset, really. It has enabled him to stage so many comebacks.
He has had many 18LABELs but, always proved his detractors wrong. The willow spoke for his deeds. His century against New Zealand at Bangalore in 1988, in his first Test in five years, proved that his prowess was not restricted to just limited overs cricket.
The year 1989 only reaffirmed his worth to the team and enhanced his reputation as a batsman for the big occasion with a lot of guts against genuine pace. In Pakistan he made 300-plus runs in the four-Test series. His match saving knock of 97 at Sialkot on a green top and his hundred against the West Indies at Sabina Park, again on a fiery wicket, made him the most dependable man in the team.
He could look the best of fast bowlers in the eye and take them on like a true warrior, never backing away. Time and again he has reminded the critics of his class and tenacity against genuine quick bowling.
In this interview with The Sportstar, Sidhu talks about his attitude and approach to the game and life in general.
Question. How do you feel, getting a double century on your comeback?
Answer. It was a great feeling really. Believe me, I never went in with any such thoughts of getting a double hundred. I had aimed to stay there as long as I could and help the team get a big total.
Q. How was this innings different from any of your previous hundreds?
A. It was a very demanding situation for me. I owed it to all those people who believed in me. God gave me the strength to come up with a big one as a small token of gratitude.
Q. How would you compare this double hundred with the century you got at Sabina Park during the 1989 tour?
A. No comparison. That century came on a fiery track where the ball was doing a lot of things. The attack then was much better and I still sometimes get the feeling that knock was just a dream. I can’t explain the joy that innings gave me. It was something to be treasured.
Q. How much of a chance did you give yourself to play for India after being dropped for the South African tour?
A. I am an eternal optimist and a firm believer in destiny. I believe in God and His justice. My consciene is clear and I believe in working hard and sincerely and leave the rest to the Almighty.
Q. You have earned quite a few labels in your career....
A. Yes, I know.
Q. They say you are a shirker.
A. I know. I really don’t understand what people mean by calling me a shirker. If I was so, I wouldn’t have made this trip. I wouldn’t have made my debut in 1983 and stood the challenges of international cricket for 14 years. I wouldn’t have played domestic cricket this season. People have a right to their opinion but my conscience is clear and I know I have pursued a sincere path.
Q. There is also the talk that you often have fitness problems.
A. No man is perfect. I have my own limitations and I don’t deny them. Broken bones have been one of the biggest thorns in my flesh, but then it was unavoidable.
Q. You are a loner....
A. What does that mean? Just because I like to stay in my room after the game doesn’t make me a loner. I come from a small town where simplicity is the name of the game. We retire to bed early so I am not used to late night parties and that is why I avoid them. I am very attached to my family and given an opportunity would always rush back home and make up for the time that I spend away from them. But I have always intermingled with my teammates whom I consider my family. I read a lot on tours and that has a distinct advantage because it puts your mind off the game.
Q. Can you think of any other labels?
A. Yes, I was called a strokeless wonder when I arrived on the international scene. It hurt because it was not true. It took me sometime to get rid of that tag although I didn’t really work hard on removing it because it was not justified.
Q. You seem to remember all the criticism....
A. I am giving instances because you have asked me to. I don’t get worked up about criticism because it helps. I firmly believe that self-criticism is the best way to improve.
Q. So how do you approach your task today?
A. I live for the moment. I don’t think about what is going to happen tomorrow or what happened yesterday. There is no room for the past in my life of day-tight compartments. Shut out the past and the future is today. I believe that our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand. The best possible way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your enthusiasm on doing today’s work today. That is the only possible way you can prepare for the future.
Q. Then what happened in England?
A. As I said, I am a man of the future and not of the past. I have buried my past and will never look back. England is a closed chapter. I am a man of the future. - Vijay Lokapally
Dr. Maiya Gunasekara
who has been elected president of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union for
the second year in succession uncontested at the Annual General Meeting
held on February 7 was very optimistic about the future of Sri Lankan Rugby
and was proud of the achievements in 1997 in his first year of presidency.
Last year Sri Lanka became the South East Asian Rugby champions when they beat Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in the inaugural quadrangular Rugby tournament held in Bangkok. Dr. Maiya gave the much needed foreign exposure for the Sri Lanka team by inviting the Northern Territories of Australia last year and the Sri Lankan team gave a very good account of themselves against these heavily built Australians in the two Tests played in Kandy and Colombo. This trip will be reciprocated by Sri Lanka this year in October who will play two Tests against the Northern Territories in Australia and in addition play one match against a Melbourne rugby team on this tour.
According to our rugby chief, this year is going to be a busy one with a crowded rugby calendar and he with his Rugby Council, will be gearing to meet all the challenges with confidence and make the year a memorable one.
The curtain raiser for our rugby this year, will be the Inter Club Seven A Side rugby tournament to be held on February 28 and March 1 at Longden place.
This will be followed by the Hong Kong International ‘Sevens’ at the end of March where we are drawn into a tough group consisting of Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.
This year the domestic tournament will be cut down to the Carlsberg Inter Club League Tournament and one Knock-out Tournament which will end by August so that our national team will be able to train for the international tournaments commencing in October.
For this year’s local tournaments, several players have switched clubs. Dr. Maiya says it does not really matter as the players must choose the club they are happy with, and must play in a position they are needed to play in the Sri Lankan team. With so many international matches on the cards the players will meet more often to do national duty, and this will help them to get over petty club rivalry, and direct all their energies purely to build a strong and healthy national team.”
With the advent of foreign players in our domestic tournaments, our rugby techniques have advanced especially in tackling and attacking. For this he has prescribed the continuation of foreign players participating in our club tournaments, whilst adhering to our Sports Ministry rules of not playing foreign players in our national teams.
In September the Commonwealth Games which are to be held in Malaysia, has introduced the discipline of rugby for the first time in its history. Sri Lanka too will be participating at these games in the Seven-A-Side and the Five-A-Side tournaments.
November will see Sri Lanka participating either in the Asiad against Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore or in the Quadrangular against Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He is also making arrangements to play internationals against Korea or Japan during this month on an yearly basis.
In December Sri Lanka will participate in the annual Under 24 tour of Hong Hong and also the Under 19 junior Asiad to be conducted in Singapore. The Asian Games that is to be held this year in Bangkok too has introduced Rugby for the first time and Sri Lanka will be fielding a team at this tournament in December this year.
According to Dr. Maiya, he is exploring the possibility of organising an Asian Seven A-Side rugby tournament against the Asian and the West Asian countries in February this year and he is currently negotiating with TWA and Carlsberg International. If his efforts bear fruit, this will be an annual affair.
The president was thankful to his vice president Anton Benedict, Coach Ana Saranapala and the chairman of the coaching society. Ajith Abeyaratne and the players for their commitment and dedications which has elevated the standard of Sri Lankan rugby for helping to improve the sport.
During the fifties, the sixties it was only the All India tournament in which we participated against Indian teams and the Combined Services team playing in the Adams Bridge trophy against Pakistan. Later in the seventies and eighties it was the Annual Hong Kong International Sevens and the Asiad every two years. But today Dr. Maiya has arranged an array of international fixtures which will uplift our rugby.
Dr. Maiya also stressed that the composition of our rugby team should be changed where the physical build of our players are concerned.
The practice of playing hefty players as forwards. should be done away with and the burly players should be encouraged to play in the three quarter line and made to work on their speed. For this he called upon all the school coaches to rope in big made boys to play both in the pack and the back division.
The president also said that a rugby foundation on the lines of Sri Lankan cricket foundation is to be launched this year mainly to look after the development of rugby in the outstations. For this he hopes to solicit the services of former rugby greats and present corporate giants to form the board of trustees such as Minister C. V. Gooneratne, Kavan Rambukwella, Stanley Unamboowe, Ken Balendara, Hemaka Amarasuriya and Y. C. Chang to name a few.
Isipatana MV last year’s ‘triple’ champions in Rugby have been rewarded with a tour to participate at the four-nation annual ten-a-side schools Anchor Beer - Blacks tournament to be held in Singapore. The other participants for the 25th annual championships are- Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
This was revealed at a press briefing held on Tuesday, chaired by M.W. Rajasingham, Chairman Rajasingham Industries (Pvt) Ltd,. the main sponsors of Isipatana rugby for five years and also main sponsors for this tour too.
The others who attended the confab were :- Upali Goonasekera (Principal Isipatana) Dilroy Fernando (Chairman rugby committee) Kelum Gunaratne (coach) and Shamily Nawaz, who will lead the green shirts for 1998, rugby season.
Dilroy Fernando, addressing the media thanked Rajasingham Industries for joining the Isipatana scrum for five years with a lavish sponsorship package which has greatly helped the school to become one of the main nurseries for producing national players.
Mr. Fernando further stated that it was not the first time Isipatana M.V. has embarked on an overseas tour. First they took part in the Asian Schools championship in Thailand in 1980-82 and were placed third in the same tournament. Schools like Royal took part in the Anchor Beer- Blacks 10’s tournament and won the championship.
Earlier, St. Peter’s and Ananda, too took part. On the first day it will be played on a league basis and the final round will be a knock out, he added. It will be played on the lines of H.K. ‘sevens’. Shamrath Fernando will be one of the referees, who will officiate. “It will be a 22-member squad - a just reward for all those players who did proud to Isipatana in its historic year 1997 by winning a ‘triple’, he added.
Mr. Rajasingham said that his firm was happy to sponsor Isipatana rugby and it has borne results for its development at national level. Determination plus discipline, has paved the way for Isipatana to hit the top in schools rugby.
Earlier, they sponsored their cricket, too. Incidentally Mr. Rajasingham, is a senior member of Colts CC and has helped the Park Club to go places in the willow wielding sport.
The tournament will be played on Feb, 21 and 22.
Air Force with a total of 35 points became champions at the Weightlifting Nationals sponsored by National Insurance Corporation held at the Kandy YMCA.
Kandy YMCA and Army tied for the second place with 11 points each. Powerworld was third with 8 points. The meet was conducted by the Weightlifting Association of Sri Lanka.
Women- 48 Kgs- M.J.K.Abeysekera, T.K.Kularatne; 53 Kgs- Niluka Abeyratne, S.K.Rajapaksa; 57 Kgs- Thanuja Wijenayake, Nirosha Kumari, T.C. Dharmasena; 60 Kgs- R.K.Abeyratne, E.K.Phalagama;
69 Kgs- Nimanthi Perera, Sunandika Kularatne.
75 Kgs- Lakmini Kumari. Best Lifter - A.C.B.K. Abeysekera.
Men
56 Kgs- D.S.Senadeera (Peradeniya University), S.W.Rupasena (Army), T.B.Hunapolagama. 62 Kgs - P.K.Herath (Kandy YMCA), T.J.Thushara (Army), D.N.Anuradha Parakrama Bahu, 69 Kgs- D.P.K.D.Liyanage (Anuradhapura), R.C.Abeyratne (Air Force), J.M.Priyaratne (Army). 77 Kgs- D.R.Kumara (Powerworld), D.I.Nicholas (Powerworld), D.S. Jayaweera (Air Force). 85 Kgs - Asela Wijewardena (Kandy YMCA), S.K.Jayatilleka (Anuradhapura), G.K.D.P. Kodituwakku (Air Force), Tilan Wijesinghe (Dharamaraja), C.Coonth (Colombo University)
105 Kgs - N.N. Authokorale (Air Force), J.A.N. Dusthamantha (Air Force), L.K.Jayakody (Dharmaraja).
Over 105 Kgs - K.P. Bandara (Air Force), H.M.Yaseen (Air Force).
Best Lifter -D.P.K.D.Liyange (Anuradhapura).
“Singer Inter Club Hockey Tournament’’ has reached its second stage where matches will be played on a league basis in two Groups.
A Press Conference to release details of the arrangements for the matches took place on Thursday at 6.00 p.m. at the Booomfield C & A.C. Board Room, Reid Avenue, Colombo 7, where the details of the second phase was spelled out.
Roshan Abeysinghe
is a right handed batsman and an off spin bowler who played for St. Joseph’s
College, Kotte CC, Ragama CC, Greenfield CC and Gampaha.
He is the immediate past president of the Gampaha Cricket Association and the U-17 Coach of Basilica College, Ragama.
Thirty four year old Abeysinghe was the liaison officer to the Australian, Pakistani and the India-Pakistan combined teams.
He is making a name for himself as a cricket commentator in both Sinhala and English. You can hear him on Yes FM and Sirasa and see him on MTV.
“I was crazy about cricket from my young days. I listened to BBC’s Tony Cozier, Christopher Martin Jenkins, Brian Johnston, Allan McGilvrey. They were greats. I also watched and read cricket but never got the opportunity until I met Brian Thomas of MTV/YES FM.
Roshan has never looked back since then. He has travelled to Lahore for the World Cup Finals to provide up-dates, Sharjah, New Zealand, learned from Moshin Khan, Tony Greig, Glen Turner, Jeremy Cooney, Sir Richard Hadlee and Ian Smith. He remembers with gratitude Tony Greig and Ian Chappel who taught him the art of giving live commentaries. They said, “Chum assume your listener to be somebody who is seated next to you. Forget that you are speaking to millions, only to one person, a close friend. Only then will it be a pleasure to the listener.”
However he is a great admirer of our own Ranjith Fernando who keeps the Lankan flag flying high round the world with his commentaries.
Roshan says that he wants to be the best commentator in the one-day game. He receives tremendous response from his fans across the country. People like his casual approach.
As a commentator, seeing the grounds at Lahore and Basin Reserve in New Zealand had been a pleasure, says Roshan. He laments that facilities provided for the local media are well below standard and the administrators should take up the responsibility and make the mediamen’s life during matches, much better.
Roshan who was the liaison officer for Indo/Pak combined team which played the solidarity match with Sri Lanka, says that it was a fantastic experience. It was very moving and emotional and the whole country admired them for their courage. They were very tense but wanted to support Sri Lanka and prove to the world that Sri Lanka is not a lost paradise. India and Pakistan wanted to keep the trophy in the region.
Kieran Fallon who was in the Island last year as a special guest of the Sumathi Group’s Sporting Star affording the rare opportunity to his many Sri Lankan fans and followers to meet him personally, is in hot water.
He has been pulled up by the Jockey Club for failing to ride Top Cess with sufficient effort in the NGK Spark Plugs Swaffham Handicap at Newmarket on April 18, 1995 where his run was subject to a Stewards’ enquiry. No action was taken at that time. But the pot boiled over later and now Fallon stands at High Court indicted.
After that poor run Top Cees won a spectacular race at Chester running away with the Chester Cup, the most prestigious of races run at the Northern Cheese Meet.
This upturn and reversal of form blew the lid off the boiling cauldron months later though the Stewards smelt something fishy immediately. It came out subsequently after some people saw the running of the race on television and the recorded version of it televised over and over again. And also after some sections of the press whipped up the case after seeing the recorded version telecast on channel 4 television programmes.
It is interesting to note that even after two years of the offence being committed the British racing authorities have seen it fit to reopen the ease and charge the errant wrong-doer. This calls for the high sense of discipline and order that the British authorities lay not only in sports but also in all walks of life.
The Jockey Club had decided to reopen the case after the horse’s victory in the Chester Cup. According to the Secretary of the Jockey Club, Nigel McFarlane: “Fallon should not assume that the Stewards were satisfed with his efforts”. He continues: “ You will be aware that the Stewards of the Jockey Club have reviewed the running of the said race, the Swaffham Handicap at Newmarket in April 1995 and decided not to instruct the Disciplinary Committee to hold an inquiry into a possible breach of Rule 151 concerning the riding of Top Cees.
“However, it should not be assumed from this decision that the Stewards were satisfied with the riding of that particular horse”.
In reaching their decision, the Stewards had particular regard to the problems encountered in prior to the furlong pole. However they considered that once the gaps eventually appeared, Fallon failed to ride Top Cees with sufficient effort and therefore in similar circumstances, an offence under Rule 151 must be a likely outcome.
If found guilty of the offence the trainer Mrs. Ramsden gets a fine and a suspension. And so does the rider of Top Cees - Kiren Fallon.
According to John McCririck one of the many commentators on Channel 4: “How can punters back horses with confidence after this case. Just compare Fallon’s strength in the saddle at Newmarket to that he used to good purpose at Chester. This looks to be a clear case of non-trier.”
What we all should admire is that the British Horseracing Authorities at the Jockey Club of England is trying hard to keep the game of horse-racing clean and to this effect they are not leaving any stones unturned in weeding out the bad ones who tend to bring disrepute to the game in the Mecca Of Horseracing that is Britain.
Fallon or no Fallon, the racing game has to go on in England because it is the biggest money spinner. It reaps back millions into the coffers of the British Treasury.
So our punters who indulge in this Sport Of Kings need not worry a wee-bit. The bets laid out by them on races run in England and even Australia, where stringent rules are laid out are in perfect order and are in good hands. They get their worth in return for a good run. At least Fallon’s case should open the eyes of the severest critic of this paying and enjoyable pastime.
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