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 16th August 1998 |
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Lanka look for Lord's prayerArjuna says they are confident but not complacentEngland's newly restored cricketing image will be tested today when a confident Sri Lanka take them on in the second match of the Emirates Triangular tournament at cricket's historic home of Lords. Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, boosted by his team's resounding victory over the powerful South Africans at Trentbridge on Friday, said he hoped the Lord's prayer would be answered for him and his team today. "We are keen to play England. The boys are all keyed up as the game is at Lords. I am certain if we play to our potential we will make a good contest of it," the Lankan skipper said. Sri Lanka are likely to make one change from the team that beat South Africa, bringing in Hashan Tillekaratne in place of Mahela Jayawardene. Ranatunga who did not field on Friday after being hit on the right knee is confident that he could take the field today. It will be the first One-dayer between England and Sri Lanka at Lords. Sri Lanka have previously played only two One-dayers against the host country in England and have lost both. Thus winning this match will be of paramount importance for Sri Lanka, as it will reinforce their position as the world champions and also ensure the team's place in Thursday's final. For most English cricket fans, Sri Lanka's World Cup glory was a shock. Apparently, they are still to recover from the thrashing that the World Cup's most valuable player, Sanath Jayasuriya gave England in the quarter final at Faisalabad. Jayasuriya exploded with a whirlwind 82 in 44 balls to knock out England, and teach the one-time masters how to play the one-day game in the revolutionary Sri Lankan way. Jayasuriya and the other top batsmen such as Aravinda de Silva will certainly be eager to once again try out that tested formula on the Englishmen on the hallowed turf of Lords. The-34-year old Ranatunga, now a veteran regarded as the most mature captain in the world, said his side was confident but not complacent. "We are aware that England have comeback strongly and won a Test series. They have the home advantage and conditions that suit them best. And also that we have played very little cricket against each other," he said. Ranatunga was full of praise for his dazzling opening pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana who revived golden memories of Sri Lanka's World Cup fame with a match-winning opening stand against South Africa. "They batted brilliantly to lay the foundation for a big total. But I thought we fell short by about 30 runs at the end. Yet, birthday boy Pramodya Wickremasinghe made a spectacular come back with a three wicket burst." South Africa's captain Hansie Cronje said Sri Lanka had proved they could bat well under any conditions. He said he had put Sri Lanka into bat as he felt their batsmen would not be able to cope under difficult conditions. "I was 90 percent confident our bowlers could rattle them. But they played surprisingly well," he said, apparently basing his estimate on the manner in which Sri Lankans often crumbled before the pace of Alan Donald and Shaun Pollock during the recent South African tour. Cronje said the explosive opening stand between Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana in cold, gloomy and windy conditions was the main difference between the two sides. He also praised Lanka's bowling attack. Wickrema-singhe and his partner were spot on for most of the time, while Muralitharan and Dharmasena both of whom are world class One-day bowlers troubled all our batsmen, except Rhodes and Symcox, he said. When asked what England would have to do to stall a Lankan victory march, Cronje said they will first have to target openers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana, then Ranatunga and De Silva have to be dealt with. Champs smash SpringboksNOTTINGHAM, England, Aug. 14 (AFP)- One-day kings Sri Lanka crushed a lacklustre South Africa by 57 runs in the opening Triangular Tournament limited-overs match at Trent Bridge on Friday. The world champions thrilled the Nottingham crowd with a typically cavalier 85-run opening partnership between Sanath Jayasuriya (36), who was dropped first ball by Pat Symcox, and Romesh Kal-uwitharana (33) in just 11 overs to lay the foundations for a formidable total. But they were restricted to a relatively 258 after Shaun Pollock claimed three for 54, while Allan Donald continued his prolific tour by grabbing two for 40 to end their innings with 2.1 overs remaining. South Africa, who lost the Test series to England on Monday, suffered a disastrous start to their reply with Gary Kirsten playing on to Pramodya Wickremasinghe off the second ball of the innings. They then slipped into further trouble at 66 for five. Jonty Rhodes (54) and Symcox (58) briefly lifted South African hopes of clinching a surprise victory with a century partnership off 90 deliveries but a late collapse ended their innings for 201. "We were outplayed in all three disciplines: batting, bowling and fielding," admitted South African captain Hansie Cronje. "We expected them to be extremely strong in every department and they thoroughly deserved their victory." In the morining, Sri Lanka's openers sprinted to 85 for no wicket from 69 balls, shrugging aside fears that they would be unable to shine in English conditions. Their captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, played a responsible innings of 59 from 91 balls, batting through 33 overs, before being run out by a throw from Gary Kirsten. The other batsmen, in true Sri Lankan fashion, went for their shots as South Africa stuck to the task and picked up wickets. Marvan Atapattu contributed a 60-ball 40 for Sri Lanka's second main innings before being stumped by Mark Boucher after Symcox had beaten him in the flight. He thrust back his left foot and it took a long time for third umpire Barrie Leadbeater to make his verdict after studying the television replays. Pollock finished off the innings with a spell of three for 11 in 15 balls - after seeing Jayasuriya escape off his first ball of the match when Symcox could not hold a low, hard chance at extra cover. Sri Lanka now face England on Sunday at Lord's while South Africa face England at Edgbaston next Tuesday. Score Board Sri Lanka Innings S. Jayasuriya c Boucher b Donald 36 R. Kaluwitharana c Cronje b Kallis 33 M. Atapattu st Boucher b Symcox 40 P. de Silva c Kirsten b Donald 12 A. Ranatunga run out 58 D. Jayawardena c Boucher b Cronje 5 C. Hathurusinghe lbw b Cronje 14 G. Wickramasinghe b Pollock 8 H. Dharamasena c Boucher b Pollock 9 S. Perera not out o M. Muralitharan c Elworthy b Pollock 4 Extras ( b4 1b12 w16 nb7) 39 Total (47.5 overs) 258 Bowling: Pollock 8.5-0-54-3, Elworthy 5-0-43-0, Donald 8-0-40-2, Kallis 7-0-22-1, Rindel 2-0-12-0, Symcox 9-3-42-2, Cronje 8-0-29-2 South Africa Innings G. Kirsten b Wickramasinghe 0 M.R. Rindel c Sub b Wickramasinghe 18 J.Kallis c Atapattu b Wickramasinghe 6 D. Cullinan b Perera 2 P. Symcox c Sub b Dharmasena 58 H. Cronje lbw b Muralitharan 21 J. Rhodes c Hathurusinghe b Dharmasena 54 S. Pollock not out 11 M.Boucher run out 2 S. Elworthy b Jayasuriya 0 A. Donald b Dharmasena 13 Total ( 49 overs) 201 Bowling: Wickramasinghe 7-2-20-3, Perera 7-0-22-1, Hathurusinghe 6-1-33-0, M. Muralitharan 10-1-42-1, Dharmasena 10-0-41-3, S. Jayasuriya 9-0-37-1 Kandy win but Airmen add fire and sparksBy Bernie WijesekeraThough the defending President's trophy champions Kandy S.C. beat the Airmen by 46 points (four goals, three tries and a penalty) to 25 (two goals, a try and two penalties) played, in semi darkness the Airmen who gave a gritty display added some fire and spark, at Longden Place, last evening. At the short-break the KSC led 17-5. Rugby-wise there wasn't much in the initial half where the ball moved about pendulum-wise with the respective forwards fighting hard in the loose to gain possession. On paper the Hill Capital team, looked the superior team with several national players in the scrum. The Airmen, who won the Segment 'B'' league title, sans big names, played well within themselves to match the skills of their opponents with their hardy set of forwards. Evergreen Tony Wimalasuriya, found his touch with his spot kicks. His 45 yard kick in the second half found the direction, which was most eye-catching. Kandy indulged in slow motion rugby and took control in the second half with the advent of Priyantha Ekanayake who took the field, when they piled on 29 points, one of the tries being a penalty try. The first was for obstruction which was awarded to the Airmen. But ironically the second was for playing the ball from a off-side position, when the Kandy forwards were on the offensive. But Ref. Chang was the best judge. The Airmen tackled furiously in the loose and spoiled many a KSC three-quarter move. It was during the dying stages of the game that they melted under pressure. It was the Airmen, who scored first through 'lock' Chandralal Weerasuriya off a forward (W) rush, which went unconverted to lead 5-0. KSC reduced the lead when scrum-half N. Ibrahim fired a penalty 5-3. Inspired by this effort KSC scored their first try through prop Malith Silva, which was converted by fly-half Nalin Dissanayake. -10-5. Just before the short whistle Kandy scored again off a short tap close to the line when burly Suranga Weerasinghe barged over. Scrum-half N. Ibrahim added the extra points - 17-5. After the turn around with Priyantha Ekanayake on the field, KSC got their act together when Imethie Marikar scored a corner-flag 'special' for an unconverted try. Then came the best of the match by the Airmen after several phases, which added some spark to the arena which was covered by a black blanket. Second-rower N.M. Motha bull-dozed his way to the line. Wimalasuriya added the extra points. -22-12. In its wake came Marikar's second corner-flag try. Nalin Dissanayake fired it over for KSC to lead 29-12. Despite this big lead the Airmen, were not found wanting. Wimalasuriya fired two penalties in quick succession to make it 29-18. KSC scored their fourth try through Champika Yapa, which went unconverted. This was followed by Priyantha Ekanayake, who scored off a 5-yard scrum to make it 39-18. The Airmen, who were awarded two penalties close to the KSC line, finally succeeded with a penalty try - to make it 39-25.Just before the long whistle KSC, too earned a penalty try to make the score 46-25, when Ref.S.W.Chang blew no-sides. Today the CH&FC take on the gutty Peterson's SC at Longden Place. Kick-off at 5 p.m. This match should be keenly contested. Top seed Rohan goes downBy Annesley FerreiraThe top seed on the men's singles, Rohan de Silva was toppled in a five-setter by youthful unseeded Asiri Iddamalgoda on the penultimate day of the 83rd Senior Junior Nationals worked off at the National Tennis Centre Courts at Greenpath last evening. Asiri the former President's College and D.S.Senanayake student back here on holiday from the United States won the third, fourth and fifth sets, while De Silva gaining the top seed, won the first two sets. The marathon match went on for over an hour with Asiri, a former pupil of Neville Senaratne, showing much staying power than De Silva. In another men's singles final, in the over 45 section the unseeded G. Indrakumar beat Dijen de Saram 7-6, 7-3 to clinch the title. Today the men's doubles final and the women's singles final will be played at 3.30 p.m. In the women's singles final, the top seed Sobhini Wickremahewa will meet the bottom seed Shalini Perera in the final The Mayor of Colombo, Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya will be the chief guest and give away the prizes. In the other matches played - Open mixed doubles-finals - Arjan Perera/ Shalini Pereira beat Lahiru Jayasuriya/ Dinali de Silva 6-2, 6-1. Over 40 mixed doubles quarter finals - C. Werkminister/Oosha Chanmugam beat Daya Bandara/ S. Kotakadeniya 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. Over 40 mixed doubles semi finals - Dr.B.J.C.Perera/ C.. Gunasena beat David Malden/ Caron Carniff 6-1, 6-1. South Africa 'A' in a smashing 7 wicket winBy Saif IzzadeenA swashbuckling unbeaten 121 by Martin Van Jaarsvald, helped South Africa 'A' to make up for their seniors defeat by Sri Lanka in England, as they pulled off a smashing seven wicket win over Sri Lanka 'A' at the De Zoysa Stadium Moratuwa yesterday. This win by South Africa 'A' enabled them to take an unbeatable 2 -0 lead in the three match One-Day Series, with one more match to be played today at the SSC grounds which will be of academic interest. Chasing a victory target of 239 in 50 overs the visitors reached their target in 40.1 overs. Earlier Sri Lanka A batting first after winning the toss made made 238 in 49.4 overs. Martin Van Jaarsvald's unbeaten innings of 121 had fourteen sweetly timed boundaries and two towering sixes. Crooks' innings of 60 was studded with ten hits to the ropes
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