• Match Referee blunder
• Lanka's Test hopefuls not far behind Aiwa champs
• Cricket in the right hands
• 'Steve Waugh Poor Children's Foundation'
• Rover pinpoints
• Dream to nightmare
• Briefly
• ACC spreads its wings
• Dickie never depended on electronic eye
• Two neutral umpires for home Tests soon
• Apprentice Beech comes of age
• Promotion drive for veteran cyclists

Match Referee blunder

By Marlon Fernandopulle

A grave mistake by Match Refree Cammie Smith in the calculation of Net Run Rates could have nearly left Sri Lanka out of the Aiwa Tri Nation Cup finals on Tuesday.

According to ICC regulations One Day Internationals matches which are decided on the Duckworth-Lewis system are not taken into account when calculating the Net run rates of respective teams.However Match Refree Cammie Smith has ignored this fact in his calculations of the Net run rates at the Triangular tournament.Strangely the Sri Lankan and Indian Team Management (Two teams which were to be affected by the NRR) were also unaware of the law governing the Net Run rates.

Accordingly both matches played in Galle(Sri Lanka-Australia and Australia-India) could not have been accounted for as it was decided on the Duckworth -Lewis system.This means that the Actual Net run rates before the crucial Sri Lanka-India game were (-0.12) for Sri Lanka and (-0.54) for India and not (-0.40) and (-0.77).

More Importantly it would have also meant that if the D/L came into play in the crucial Sri Lanka-India game(as it happened) Sri Lanka would have entered the final even if they did not reach the revised Duckworth Lewis target of 232.But Luckily for Sri Lanka and for Cammie Smith Sri Lanka reached the revised target and entered the final.If Sri Lanka did not reach 232 they would have been unfairly out of the final,and you could have imagined what a chaos it would have been if the Sri Lankan Management realised that a blunder by the match refree robbed them from a place in the final.

It's high time that the ICC seriously looks into these important aspects and brief their Match Refrees adequately with the Laws of the game.

Lanka's Test hopefuls not far behind Aiwa champs

If Sri Lanka's new youthful one-day side showed much promise with their triumphant one-day victory earlier this week, their Test hopefuls were not far behind following the same footsteps.

On the second day of their four-day game the Board President's Eleven stunned the visiting Australians by bowling them out for 175 runs to take a healthy 53 run first innings lead.

Resuming on 65 for 2 the Board XI were soon in trouble with the pace and swing of Glen McGrath. The lanky Aussie removed overnight batsmen Rusell Arnold, Hashan Tilekaratne and Chamara Silva in the space of eight deliveries to have the Board XI reeling at 101/5. But a solid half century from Indika de Saram (67) pulled the home team to safety. Saram added 28 runs for the 6th wicket with Nimesh Perera and a further 52 with Prasanna Jayawardene (23) to help the Board XI to 228 all out.

Australia started off well with openers Greg Blewett (23) and Matthew Hayden (24) putting on 46. But with the departure of the openers and Justin Langer in quick succession Australia slumped to 55/3.

At this stage Steve Waugh (42) joined Ricky Ponting (35) and added 76 for the 4 th wicket before leg spinner Rangana Herath broke through the defence of Ponting. From here on spinners Rangana Herath (4/54) and Nimesh Perera (2/49) combined well to strangle the Aussies and bowl them out for 175. Regular opener Michael Slater did not bat as he was having an upset stomach.

Board President's XI: 228 all out in 79.3 overs (Pradeep Hewage 17, Russell Arnold 67, Hashan Tilekaratne 15, Indika de Saram 67, Prasanna Jayawardene 23, Mario Villawarayan 10 n.o; Glen Mcgrath 4/52, Colin Miller 1/70, Shane Warne 2/37, Stuart McGill 2/42)

Australia: 175 all out in 55.3 overs (Greg Blewett 23, Mathew Hayden 24, Steve Waugh 42, Ricky Ponting 35, Shane Warne 18; Mario Villawarayan 1/39, Rangana Herath 4/54, Nimesh Perera 2/49) MF

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