DSS hold slight edge over St. Benedict's

By Saif Izzadeen

The eighth inter-school big match between St.Benedict's and D.S.Senanayake will be played at the R.Premadasa International Cricket Stadium next weekend.

From the seven encounters played so far none of them have produced a result. The series started in 1992 where St. Benedict's were led by Russel Hewage and D.S.Senanayake by Yasas Tillekeratne, younger brother of Sri Lanka cap Hashan Tillekeratne.

For this encounter St. Benedict's will be led by right hand batsman and wicket-keeper Joel Saverimuthapulle.

Joel has 45 victims behind the stumps. His deputy is the stylish right hand opening batsman Chinthaka Perera.

D.S. Senanayake will be skipperd by the dazzling right hand opening batsman Sasahi Lafir. The vice captain of the D.S.Senanayake side is left hand batsman Muditha Maduwantha.

D.S.Senanayake played 10 games during the season and won one against Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda. The rest of the games ended in draws.

St.Benedict's played 12 games during the season and lost one match to St. Joseph's Colombo. The remaining games ended in draws. Both D.S.Senanayake and St.Benedict's have produced some great national cricketers. From D.S.Senanayake the national cricketers to be produced were Aravinda De Silva, Hashan Tillekeratne and Pubudu Dassanayake. Present manager of the Sri Lanka team Ranjith Fernando is one of the finest cricketers to step out from St. Benedict's.

Looking at the two teams for this year's match D.S.Senanayake with an unbeaten record will be going in with a slight advantage over the Kotahena school.

The Wijerama school's innings in the big match will be opened by skipper and right hander Shashi Lafir (500 runs) and vice captain and left hander Muditha Maduwantha (650 runs).

This left hand right hand combination have given good starts during the season and will be hoping to get their innings to a flying start in the big match as well. Skipper Lafir is also the wicket keeper of the side and has 33 victims.

The rest of the batting line up comprises of right hander Malintha Gajanayake (500 runs), Rukshan Gunasekera (350 runs), Nalin Pradeep (500 runs), Namal Abeywickrema (400 runs) and Suranga Rajakaruna(350 runs).

The bowling will be opened by right arm pace bowlers Nalin Pradeep and Muditha Maduwantha. The first change fast bowler will be Mevan Bandara.

These three fast bowlers will be helped by a strong spin attack. The spinners who will be doing duty are Lassana Dias(left arm leg spinner with 35 wickets), Amila Dharmapriya (right arm off spinner with 20 wickets), Rukshan Gunasekera (right arm off spinner with 15 wickets), Namal Abeywickrema(right arm leg spinner with 50 wickets), and Malshan Alwis (left arm leg spinner with 50 wickets).

Speaking to The Sunday Times skipper Lafir had this to say about the coming encounter: "Our side is a very balanced.We are going into the match with a positive frame of mind with the idea of scoring the first win of the series."

He went onto say: "Our batting is very strong. I am expecting good scores from batsmen like my opening partner Muditha Maduwantha, Malintha Gajanayake, Rukshan Gunasekera, Nalin Pradeep, Namal Abeywickrema and Suranga Rajakaruna.

We have variety in our bowling too with the right-arm leg-spinning duo of Namal Abeywickrema and Malshan Alwis taking over 50 wickets. I hope they will be able to continue their good work in the big match as well."

St. Benedict's will open their batting with right handers Jerome Adams and vice captain Chintaka Perera. Jerome has scored 600 runs with Perera contributing 250 runs.

Skipper Saverimuthupulle will be hoping that these two openers will lay a good foundation from which the rest of the batsmen could build a match winning score.

The rest of the batting line-up will be made up of skipper Joel Saverimuthupulle(400 runs), Shane Perera (200 runs), Asiri Gunatillake (300 runs), Chanaka Devabandu (650 runs), Suranga Fernando (450 runs), Rushan Munasinghe (350 runs) and Ganashamurthi Teeban(350 runs).

The Benedictine bowling attack will be spearheaded by fast bowlers Asiri Gunatillake (50 wickets), Chanaka Devabandu(15 wickets), Rushan Munasinghe (15 wickets) and Susith Eranda (15 wickets).

The spin bowlers who will support these opening bowlers are Shane Perera (left arm leg spinner with 35 wickets), Malka Fernando (right arm off-cutters with 40 wickets), Pasindu Liyanarachchi (right arm leg spinner with 13 wickets) and Jerome Adams (right arm off spinner with 20 wickets).

Speaking to The Sunday Times St. Benedcit's skipper Joel Saverymuthapulle said: "Our team is a blend of both youth and experience and we are confident of tasting victory for the first time."

With both the skippers confident of their sides performing upto expectations the match will be played very fiercely and spectators of both schools should be able to see a close contest.

The match will also see the return of former Naladian Palitha Perera to the commentary box to keep the Sinhala listeners entertained. The English commentary will be handled by Eric Gauder.

Dhanasiri was my room-mate

My Police Training began on April 1, 1958 along with twenty six other probationary sub inspectors at Police Training School, Kalutara.

On the first day we all reported at the senior staff mess where we were received by the Asst. Director of Training Fred Brohier, chief lecturer K.D.C. Ekanayake and Sgt. Major Nalawanse and were allocated our residential rooms. Two of us had to share one room.

My room-mate was Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, a cricketer of repute who had his early education at St. John's College, Panadura and joined Ananda College where he blossomed into a fine cricketer and captained his ''Alma Mater'' at cricket in 1955 in which year he was selected the best all rounder in schools and Ananda College became the unofficial champions in school cricket.

Dhanasiri having left school played cricket for Panadura Cricket Club in the Division III tournament and later played for Bloomfield Cricket Club in the Saravanamuttu Trophy Tournament and went onto play and captain the national cricket team. He was also the chairman of the Cricket Selection Committee.

His brother Hema Weerasinghe too joined the Police as a sub inspector and retired as a Snr. Supt. of Police heading the Narcotics Division.

As I said earlier the sub inspectors who had joined the Police then were from all leading schools. But today sadly they opt to join the Mercantile sector for better prospects.

We had in our batch a record six sub inspectors from S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, namely Edmond Wijeyawardane, who was the Prefect of our batch, T.K. Jayasinghe, Percy de Silva, K.J.A. Perera, Rodolph Jayatileke and Tassie Seneviratne. The others were P.B.G. Alwihare and A. Selvarajan from St. Sylvesters College, Kandy, Nizam Cassim from St. Joseph's College, Colombo, Chandra Amaratunge from St. Benedict's College, Colombo, Harold Gunawardane from Thurstan College, Roy Gunawardane from De Mazenod College, Kandana, Shelton Perera from Marie Stella College, Negombo, Carlyle De Silva from St. Sebastian's College Moratuwa, S.M.H.B. Seneviratne and T.N. Meedin from St. Anne's College, Kurunegala, George Mathangaweera and Sarath Borelessa from Richmond College, Galle, Lakshman Wijetileke of Mahinda College, Galle, W.S. Pathirana from Sri Paleee, Horana, Shelton Almeida from Holy Cross College, Kalutara, I.T. Canagaratnam from St. Michael's College, Batticaloa, C. Navaratnam from Hartley College, Point Pedro, K. Thirunavukarasu from Jaffna, M.P.T. Jayasinghe and Dhanasiri Weerasinghe from Ananda College, Colombo and yours truly from St. Peter's College, Bambalapitiya.

At the commencement of our training course as customary we all were assembled at the lecture hall and Fred Brohier, the Asst. Director of Training lectured to us giving an outline of our training programme and what was expected of us as trainees and thereafter called upon each of us to introduce ourselves to the class including the school that we attended and the games we played.Thereafter we were questioned on general knowledge to test our IQ. One was asked, "What is the young one of a bird called?" He promtly answered without batting an eyelid, "Birdie''!!! To the laughter of everyone, as he was comparing it to a baby and not nestling. Thereafter he was called 'Birdie'' even to date.

Running reflections...

By Ismail Khan

Nick Littmoden, the trainer with the magic touch, who nurses horses both for Flat and National Hunt provided the winner of the principal event at Wolverhampton's Evening Flat meet Saturday last when his 3-year-old sprinter Sounds Lucky clipped two seconds off the course record of Wolverhampton for six furlongs. It was a breathtaking performance as Sounds Lucky ridden by John Tate had to come through at the last moment to pip the runaway Avondale Girl almost on the post.

Having won over the minimum of five furlongs at this same course on 3/3 Sounds Lucky got herself cut off as the box opened out with a few horses veering out towards her. But her rider young John Tate kept her going nevertheless and once the heat was applied half-a-furlong from home the 3-year-old came through from the inside like a bullet and passed the post locked together with Avondale Girl the final outcome being a win by a whisker for Sounds Lucky.

Horse to follow from this event - the winner herself but keep a tab on the vanquished too - Avondale Girl who though beaten was not disgraced. She will find a nice race given to her on a platter soon at the same course.

Saturday's stint at Wolverhampton began on a shocking note as formless Approachable ridden by Martin Dwyer drew first blood winning the opener - the 7 furlongs Bavarian Maiden Handicap at 8/1 from Noble Patriot and scintillating sound. The favourite Legend Falls was not too well away but towards the end of the race was travelling well. Follow him for an early win maybe at Lingfield.

Race number two went to Ultra Calm from Miss Take and The Last Word. The well backed Miss Take looked to be having an off day. Therefore next outing there won't be a mistake.

The Bookmakers Handicap over 9 furlongs went to Ken Morgan's Saguaro at 13/2 from the Wild Widow and Areish. Out of this run I liked Areish who shaped up will upto one mile. Follow him over a mile on any AWT track.

Race number four went to Lost Spirit from Rayware Boy. One to follow - the winner Lost Spirit who looks to be an out and out stayer.

Race number five the Venice Seller was won by 12/1 chance Cameo from Chaluz and Dande Times. Follow Littmoden's Chaluz who with a little drop in weight could go far in winning a sprint.

The day ended at Wolverhampton's All Weather Track with 4/1 Sounds Lucky breaking a course record for 6 furlongs winning the £ 5000 Oompah Band Handicap at 4/1 from Avondale Girl and Done And Dusted. Horse to follow from this event the winner Sounds Lucky and the vanquished Avondale Girl.

That ended another Flat All Weather stint at Wolverhampton.

More next week. Watch out for further details on All Weather with the oncoming Flat (turf) in mind.

Snippets..

Viv Richards - Knighted

Former West Indies Captain Vivian Richards received a knigthood form his native Antigua. Under a new honours system started by Antigua, Richards was created a Knight Grand Collar of the most distinguished order of the nation.

The masterblaster who scored 8540 runs in his 121 Tests for the Windies was quoted as saying he would get involved with the West Indies team again when the time is right.

With Brian Lara's team lurching from defeat to disaster the call might come soon for Richards, who won 27 of his 50 Tests as Captain. (MF)

Rice as Notts Manager

Clive Rice, the former South African skipper has been appointed Cricket Manager for English county Nottinghamshire for a period of 3 years.

Rice 49, played for Nottinghamshire and led the county to the championship in 1981 and 1987 and later led his country out of the wilderness for the first 3 One-day Internationals in India in 1991/92.

Rice has a tall task ahead as Notts finished 16th in last year's championship. He has also been a national selector and was in charge of the South African Cricket Academy. (MF)

Karu for Tour de Saudi Arabia

The President of the Cycling Federation of Sri Lanka N. Karunaratne has been nominated as the President of the Commissaire panel for the Tour de Saudi Arabia.

His nomination has been made by the International Cycling Union - UCI.

This will be the very first time that a Sri Lankan has been chosen to officiate in an international cycling event from March 14 to 20.

Meanwhile the annual general meeting of the Cycling Federation of Sri Lanka will be held on Sunday (March 21), for which nominations will close on March 13.

Ismail brothers excel

Brothers Ismeth and Nilam Magdon Ismail won the Open Pairs Bridge championships sponsored by S.Saranavapavanathan at the Bridge Federation Headquarters at the Race Course.

Dr Dilanjan Soysa and Asoka Jayasinghe were the runners up with Dr. Keerthisena and Paul de Neise finishing in third place.

S. Molligoda and Nihal Silva finished in fourth place followed by Anton Selvanayagam and K.P. Baskaran, Mrs. Rita de Alwis and Mrs Chandra Selvaratnam, Kiran Mody and Gajan Thillainathan.

Fourteen pairs participated in this championships.

An open pairs tournamet will be held on March 21 at the Bridge Federation Headquarters at Reid Avenue commencing 9.15 p.m.

Senaweera is Sec. of Gampola FL

Sunil Seenaweera was re-elected Secretary of the Colombo Football League at the Annual General Meeting held at the Town Hall Gampola. Al Haj A.Razak was elected as the President with Edward Weerasinghe as the Treasurer.

The others elected are: Vice Presidents - G.A. Piyadasa, H.G. Premaratne, M.Jayaratne, Saheed Salih and A Vadivel; Assistant Secretary - B.J. Ariyatilleka; Assistant Treasureer - H.M. Jayantha.

Danger seen to sports

By Namal Pathirage and Ravi Nagahawatte

A recent statement made in all its seriousness by the Sports Minister who said that our footballers could be the world's best if the authorities find fast runners, not only gave our sporting public the opportunity to have a good laugh but also depicted the depths that the sport has fallen to.

And at a time where the sport has begun a slide yet another stumbling block seems to be on the way on the course the sport is travelling in the form of their sponsor being undecided whether to continue with the sponsorship deal or not. This sense of uncertainty in the sports world which has broken the bonds between sports organisations and sponsors resulted, following a statement made by the Sports Minister.The statement which was made at a recent felicitation ceremony spelled danger to all sports after the minister banned sports bodies from taking funds from companies which manufacture liquor and tobacco products.

We who had the opportunity to see an invincible performance by our cricketers, have yet to see a pleasing display from our soccerites. However it would not be justifiable if one were to compare the two sports.

The reason being the huge number of countries amounting to 205 which have tried out football, which has left cricket a less popular game with only 12 nations being involved in international (Test) cricket.

The sport though being established in the country since 1939 , has not reached dizzy heights in the local nor international scene. Recent statistics reveal that 184 active clubs which once participated in the countries F.A.Cup has dropped to 154 by the year 1997.

Football lovers see the lack of good grounds, qualified coaches , people who can offer proper guidance and financial difficulties as the brunt of problems which are facing most footballers .

Topping the list on the problems which have crippled the sport is the shortage of grounds with the required playing standard. It is known that the fifty odd football clubs in Colombo have only about six grounds where matches can be played. And this poor man's sport also does not seem to be treated fairly when it comes to the booking of grounds like the Sugathadasa Stadium - which was built specially for football - being the most difficult venue to get bookings with sports like rugby being given the preference ahead of football. Another stumbling block which has contributed to the downfall of the sport seems to be the lack of the technical knowledge of the game.

Our administrators might not succeed in getting this sport out of the rut into which it has fallen into. But one has reason to believe that problems could be minimized if the administrators were to look more deeply into problems such as the lack of proper ground facilities and the financial difficulties of players. The Football Federation is probably second only to the Sri Lanka Cricket Board when the financial stability of the two sports bodies were to be compared. But sadly , even with the football headquarters coming up at Reid Avenue with a cost of 20 million rupees , the administrators seem to be losing its member clubs though spinning in wealth.

Looking into the world ratings Sri Lanka seems to be nowhere near of even getting any attention with the country being rated far below as 126th in lineup which has 205 other countries. The country which took to the game in 1939 has been left to be contended with only one trophy , the SAARC Gold Cup won in 1994.

However the sport took the plunge again within a period of just two years and ended a disappointing fourth in the same tournament .The team was then coached by the experienced P.D.Sirisena .

The sport even took a further tumbling when our soccerites failed miserably in the Bristol Independence Cup Tournament losing to junior teams which represented most of the participating countries.

The team's weak points were made visible in this tournament and what really added to the Lankans woes was drawing with Maldives , a team which the locals had beaten several times before. And what is disheartening to see in the midst of this sad situation which the sport is experiencing is how the officials are prospering through the posts they hold in the international bodies.

The Lankans who were both battered and humiliated in the recently concluded tournament which was a part of their fiftieth independence celebrations will take wing to Nepal in April for the South Asia Coca Cola Cup Football Tournament. The organizers have put on offer for the winning team a handsome prize of US $ 150,000. This will also be the first time that the country will participate in a tournament with such big prize money.

And in May it will be time for our juniors to prove their skills with qualifying rounds for the junior Olympics being held in Korea.

The football calendar for the year also includes the SAARC Tournament and the Asian Football Tournament's qualifying round fixtures.

American envoy to play basketball

The Ambassador for the United States of America will be seen in action whilst turning out for the Embassy team in five-a-side cager tournament for veterans conducted by the Sri Lanka Veterans Basketball Association.

The tournament sponsored by Scamwell Freight Express Colombo Private Limited, will be held from March 22 to 27 at the Otters Kings Courts at Bauddhaloka Mawatha.

The other teams taking part are: Orients (last year's winners), Army, Police, Old Bens, Overseas Realities, Gampaha, Moratuwa BC and Otters. This tournament will be conducted for men and women over 40 years and entries will close on Monday March 15 at 5 p.m. at the Captains Enterprises at No 138, Havelock Road, Colombo 5. The draw will take place the same day.

Return to Sports Contents Page