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| Saturday, 8 September 2001 |
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Sports | |
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Lanka save face with Test win over India by Sa’adi Thawfeeq To Sri Lanka, their 2-1 Test series victory over India meant a lot. It was not only their first home series win in two years, but it also reduced the pressures the captain Sanath Jayasuriya and coach Dav Whatmore found themselves under, of the team not being able to show the same consistency in the longer game as they have been doing in the shorter version of it. Had Sri Lanka lost the series, who knows, there would have been a witchhunt. Thankfully, they didn’t, and especially against an under strength Indian side. The fact remained that whether India was at full strength or not, they were quite a competitive side as Sri Lanka found out for themselves at Kandy when they levelled the series 1-all. “We would have taken a win from anyone here, but India is something special,” said coach Dav Whatmore. “It was not easy, but it was a terrific performance by the boys, which is pleasing for everyone”. “At the start of the series, our objective was to win it. It is important for us in this region to have a presence. To be able to stand up and be counted,” said Whatmore. Apart from planning to beat the Indians, Sri Lanka also made some experimental moves with the future in mind. For the first time in a home series they played four medium-paced quicks in the first two Tests at Galle and in Kandy. “We needed a bit more practice in getting familiar with that formation. The captain needs a little bit more time. We’ve got the talent to do it. It is just a little bit more confidence in trying the bowlers in the third and fourth spells, instead of solely relying on Muralitharan, who is an out and out match-winner, a champion,” said Whatmore. “We will from time to time need him to bowl long spells at the right time. But when it’s not the right time, then we have enough of these other guys to come and get a wicket and keep the pressure on. That is the pleasing thing that has started to emerge. For Sanath to feel more comfortable with it and for the rest of the players, it will take a little bit of time. But I think we are on the right track,” he said. Whatmore said the new experiment also placed a greater demand on curators to prepare pitches with grass and bounce, unlike in previous years when the surface was shorn of all grass to help the spinners. It seemed the ghosts of Asgiriya had returned when Sri Lanka lost the second Test at Kandy, “When we lost in Kandy, we all thought oh, he we go again. Something that we were so painfully aware of happened again. When we lost, we really let ourselves down. We should have done a little bit better. We really did learn from the mistakes in the third Test,” said Whatmore. “Clearly, what happened with our batsmen in Kandy, the same thing happened to India in the third Test at SSC. The classical example was Kumar Sangakkara gettting out to Sourav Ganguly in the morning of the third day. After all the hard work he looked really set for a big one. He was hitting the ball beautifully and then he lost a bit of concentration almost before the lunch break. Marvan Atapattu got out one over later and, we were three wickets down whereas we should have been one down for 97. “At the SSC, in the first morning of third Test when they were none for 97 at lunch and Das’ wicket soon after lunch when he lifted his head and got bowled by Murali was a classic example that ‘we are gonna get 400 runs anyway and I am gonna try and belt them’ and he gets out. The result was that they were bowled out for 234. “People take a little bit longer to understand when it’s your turn to get runs you make sure you get a big one. It can be from the most junior player. Ganguly and Dravid can get out like they did. They are also human. But when it is your day you do well. That’s why we did so well on day 2 and 3 of the SSC Test, and didn’t do well in Kandy. India did well in Kandy, but they didn’t do well at SSC, despite four of them getting starts,” said Whatmore. “You can see that it is crystal clear that it is upto the player to really understand that great example of what we are trying to achieve. If we can really instil it, we are on to a good thing,” he said. Whatmore said that such things happen when a batsman tries to change the tempo of the scoring rate and tries to take risks. Whatmore said Tilan Samaraweera’s century in his maiden Test, reflected the amount of good cricket that he had played at Sri Lanka ‘A’ team level. “It came because he had to fight his way in and played some really good cricket in ‘A’ teams and excelled,” said Whatmore. “When he finally got his chance at international level, he reduced the amount of percentage that he might fail. The more he qualifies to come into the team, the more he qualifies that he will do well,” he said. Whatmore said that if other players like Tillekeratne Dilshan, Indika de Saram and Chamara Silva also came through the same way their chances of performing at international level will be greater in the majority of cases. While a lot of focus was laid on the Sri Lankan batting and the magnificent bowling of Muralitharan, an area which is often overlooked - fielding, played a big part especially in Sri Lanka’s win in the decisive third Test at the SSC. “We strived like hell to get a wicket (in the Indian second innings) with Dravid and Ganguly at the wickets. But we never discounted the chance of getting a run out as a mode of dismissal and we saw three of them, one very important one, where Marvan threw the stumps down and broke the partnership running out Dravid,” said Whatmore. “You can’t discount or underestimate the value of fielding in the longer game. If you drop catches you got to get more than 20 wickets to win a Test. You can be better off getting 20 wickets rather than 25 if you snap up everything that comes along. It’s a huge bonus,” he said. Whatmore said the catch Hashan Tillakaratne took to dismiss Dravid in the first innings at the SSC was ‘an absolutely brilliant effort’. “Dravid jumped down the wicket and was caught round the corner with his hands in the right position. Those catcehs are often taken for granted. There are certain times the catcher should get credit more than anyone. But the score book shows the wicket is credited to the bowler,” he said. CENTURIES (7) Sri Lanka (7): 139 - D.P.M. Jayawardene (3rd Test, SSC) FIFTIES (7) India (6): 98* - S.C. Ganguly (2nd Test, Kandy) Sri Lanka (1): 67 - M. Muralitharan (2nd Test, Kandy) CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS (4) Sri Lanka (3): 1st wkt - 101 - M.S. Atapattu/S.T. Jayasuriya (1st Test,
Galle) India (1): 1st wkt - 107 - S.S. Das/S. Ramesh (3rd Test, SSC) TEN WICKETS OR MORE IN A MATCH (1) Sri Lanka (1): 11/196 - M. Muralitharan (3rd Test, SSC) FIVE WICKETS IN AN INNINGS (5) Sri Lanka (3): 8/87 - M. Muralitharan (3rd Test, SSC) SCORING RATES Sri Lanka scored 1473 runs for 36 wickets off 425.4 overs scoring at 40.91 runs per wicket and 57.67 runs per 100 balls. India scored 1396 runs for 53 wickets off 519 overs scoring at 26.33 runs per wicket and 44.82 runs per 100 balls. =============================== Rohith - fastest Mini driver in the world by Bernard Perera It was a dream come true for Ace Mini driver Rohith de Silva in the United Kingdom when he recorded the best time to become the fastest Mini driver in the world. He achieved this feat participating in the famous “Mallory Park” circuit in Leicestershire. He says that it is a pleasure to bring honour to his motherland. He further said that it was a surprise to see Lankan migrants gathered to greet him after his victory. Rohith born and bred n Katana was a motor racing fan from his tender age. He was always there at races along with his uncle and his brother who are leading drivers in Sri Lanka. This prompted him to take to the sport he said. His school friends used to play cricket in paddy fields during holidays but he was never with them. Instead he was seen with his uncle in his garage looking at engines being tuned for racing events. Rohith was so interested that the noise of these engines and fumes that emanates from them was never a nuisance to him. Following in the footsteps of his uncle and brother he took to motor racing in 1983. Since then he has won many major events in driving “Mini Cooper 1000”. These trophies were not his dream. His main target was the World Championship for “Minis” he said. I knew that it was a long way from me, but I never wanted this idea to fade away from me. I kept on praying day after day with this as my Intention. Little Mini was everything for me. Whenever I am on the wheel of my Mini it gave me confidence, I knew it was not possible to keep driving here and win a world championships England the producer of the Mini is the only country that holds World C’ships for these vehicles. To enter this championship was a costly thing which troubled me a lot, but I did not want to turn back and forget the idea of participating. To achieve this I had to overcome many obstacles, he added. The first was to get the machine in topping condition, followed by finance and a team of mechanics for running repairs. He had to seek help from his relations, friends and well-wishers to overcome these difficulties. It was Petco Lanka, Swarnavahini and Insurance Corporation which came forward to sort out some of the problems of Rohith. This gave him more courage he said. While the work on his machine was in progress his phone rang him to disturb him. He ignored this but his mother took the receiver and shouted to Rohith saying one Roger from England was on line. He ran to the phone forgetting everything on hand. It was good news for Rohith as it was the confirmation of his participation. Roger the man behind all organising arrangements in England wanted Rohith to be there in time for the event. Roger wished me good luck and told that you are sure to do well here, and cut the line. I am taking part in this event and driving but I must have the confidence over my team attending on my car. Everything depends on them he said. Soon after reaching London and finishing all homework here, I had to face more problems as the car needed many modifications to suit the English conditions which also needed finances. Sri Lankans in U.K. came to my rescue, says Rohith. This gave me more encouragement. When the event got off to a start my engine produced everything what I need from it. I sped through two laps at a terrific speed at this stage the battery gave problems but my mechanics atteneded to it quickly. I was back in the race. On my return I had to chase all the other drivers which also made me the fastest driver. I was raising the engine to get to the first slot, but alas the power problems arose again not allowing me to become the overall champion said Rohith. I intend going again but not to bring honour for me but for my country. De Saram and Ismail quite impressive Free Lanka Trading Company have been supporting the progress of Golf abundantly over a period of time and just last week they came back into the picture with another lavish sponsorship of the September Medal round. Joseph Kenny their Chief Executive a golfer himself has been behind the scene moving support in the right direction. “A” DIVISION CLASSIC Jehan de Saram came good again with an extremely rewarding round of one under par nett 70 playing off a handicap of 3. He takes a handsome Free Lanka Trading medal winning the “A” Division Classic from Murad Ismail who collected the same nett score but had to concede defeat as his back nine score could not defy De Saram’s score. SERASINGHE EXCELS Harris Serasinghe also known as “Buonasera” walked tall in tremendous form. Lalin Samarawickrama who marked Serasinghe’s card was quick to volunteer that the man looked possessed. He was striking massive tee shots and on the greens all of omnipotency was behind his putter. Nett 66 the lowest for the day was Serasinghe’s score which shocked Mahes Hirdaramani in the “B” Division and pushed him into 2nd place with nett 69. Dilanka Pieris quite a neat and tidy player struck nett 69 too but had to surrender to Hirdaramani who had a better back nine. Serasinghe’s handicap has been sliced from 15 to 13 and Dilanka Pieris gets a cut of one stroke to stay on 12. PINTO WINS “C” Susantha Pinto still new to the game and quite “lupperty” was beaming all through up to late Saturday night over his heartwarming effort and victory in the “C” Division. Nett 58 was great by all standards and he comfortably took the medal beating Noordeen Sethwala by one stroke. Rohan Fernando had to be recognised too with nett 69 but his back nine score was not adequate to oust Sethwala. JAMEEL AGAIN M. Jameel is now getting known as Mr. Senior. Once again he shone bright winning the Seniors Medal with consummate ease with an excellent score of nett 67. K. B. Ambanpola came 2nd but far behind. GOOD PERFORMANCES In the “A” Division Arjun Fernando and Anel de Silva were quite impressive. In the next category K. Imasaka, S. W. Lee and Ferin Careem brought in excellent cards of nett 70 each followed by Hemal Fernando, S. V. Jayakody, Patrick Dias and Rathven de Livera who brightened their games with well compiled par rounds. In the “C” Division there was a very happy crop of bright performances and those who sparkled were H. A. Herath, Sunimal Salgado, J. Nareshkumar, S. Subramaniam, T. Akbarally, Bandula Weerasinghe, M. Mevanapalana, Gerrard Fernando and Manjula Despite lush fairways and honest greens 34 players raised absolute hell. Some of them outshone our majestic cricketers on their way to scintillating centuries many of them before lunch. Those who exhibited stunning stroke play were Tony Cooper, Sunil de Costa, Elmo de Silva, Jit Wanigasekera, P. L. Samarasinghe, Caeser Fernando and Christopher Hatherley. Then in the far end of the Clubhouse a Steward was collecting confetti made from torn up score cards contributed by a dozen players. The most colourful came from Suranjan de Silva, Kumar Rajendram, Christopher Maloy and Ajantha Mylvaganam. In a week from now the glory of the new re-designed Course will be open to all and at the end of the month Oneworld Alliance will sponsor the grand official re-opening of the Ridgeways. =============================== Kandy Sports Club-worthy winners The Oval Ball by Y. C. Chang Last weekend we saw the prestigious Caltex league tournament coming to an end. The Winners of this was the Kandy Sports Club. Kandy Sports must be congratulated for their magnificent performance. Although they may have had a couple of hiccups at the tail end of this arduous tournament, they were invincible with their pile up of points. Equally, congratulations must be offered to the Army Sports Club for their spirited endeavour. I always looked at with awe at every match this team played. No names to talk of, but for the sheer fighting spirit this team displayed the maturity that none of the other teams could have emulated. The two men behind the scenes are none other than P. G. Gunewardena - the veteran ex-flanker now turned ‘Trainer’ and Asanga Seneviratne the coach. Asanga I have known from his toddler days and I am indeed happy that he is taken up coaching and a very keen interest in the game. This may be the first step in the ladder, and we hope that he will also be in the Union Administration in the not too distant time. We need people of this stature. If readers will remember my article of coaches and clubs at the beginning of the season. I commented on how long drawn this tournament was going to be, and how coaches will be at the butt end of criticisms. Looking at it now from hindsight I was not far from wrong. The CR and FC, the CH and FC and the Havelocks had the worst of this experience. These are three of the leading clubs. How is it that they were unable to come up with aces up their sleeve, and perform consistently through the season? Through my eyes, I can see no dearth of players. I can however see apathy everywhere. Why? These are critical issues the clubs must ask themselves and set the tone right immediately so that they can fight the next two battles with their morale high. Readers please note that there are two more Knock Outs to be played and these will be held at the end of this month and thereafter and not any earlier as suggested in my last article. Whilst talking to some pundits of the game last week, the topic of professionalism in rugby was on the agenda. Most of them think that very soon payment to players will definitely end, as the clubs do not have the financial resources to meet this very high expenditure. In that case we will have come the full circle and at first base like in the good old days where one plays for the sheer love of it and loyalty to the club. The Club in return will nurture the player ensuring him of a sound job and a very good future. Let us hope that this will be true, as the games do need a completely new outlook and attitude. In the pipeline I am told that the services are gearing to get approval from the Defence Ministry to allow service personnel’s children enroled as members of their clubs. This is indeed laudable and I hope the Ministry will grant permission. There are enough servicemen’s children playing very good sports and this is one way that they can continue to improve their disipline given a chance. The Kandy Sevens Talking to Malik Samarawickrema last week I was told that all the teams are coming. This would mean that we would be having a ‘hellova’ tournament. There will be the parallel tournament for the schools, which precedes the main one. From the information that I have gathered, it appears that our Sri Lanka team is hell bent on creating some upsets. They are already camped and training under the strict supervision of Nimal Leuke the National Coach. I too hope Sri Lanka will show up well. A very noteworthy selection is in the Manager of the side. He is young Chaminda Rupesinghe who has come of age to administer the Union affairs. He was a National player in the eighties. Played as Lock (second row). This tall and genial personality, timid as a mouse but hard as granite, has the experience of National duty and Club affairs and can oversee the proper inputs being administered to the team with no shortfall in protocol, I say this as I have seen the erosion with many of our administrators in recent times. To illustrate one. The Union having appointed this person as Manager was sent to the Kandy ‘Sevens’. The Officials of Kandy, to their dismay found that the Manager had brought along with him his whole family - a retinue, which included wives, children, and servants. Despite the officials protesting that they were unable to accommodate the family with extra rooms - our manager decided that the team could take the consequences. Therefore, he finally billeted the team with three players to a room instead of two to a room, against the requirement of the organisers. Hardships were faced by the team but in a ‘who cares’ attitude the Manager was allowed to getaway with these misdemeanours. Temperaments like this still continue to hold office, craving for more positions especially when teams are on tour. This is where the young Councillors must ensure people who have had the experience take these jobs up. At the end of the day it is the Union and the Country that suffers. We may lose due to lack of physique or skills but why add extra burdens on the team due to the lack of perception by our administrators. Carnival in Galle 09.09.2001 News filtering from Galle indicates that all are in a carnival mood, as their Club, the Galle R. F. C. will be playing the finals of the ‘B’ League Caltex Trophy - in Galle itself. Hoodvian Group, the main sponsor is ensuring that the public gets its money’s worth by having the ground barricaded and tents erected for their convenience. ‘Papara’ bands are also being provided to keep the toe tapping supporters in permanent gyration. All rugby supporters are invited and most are welcome to meet and greet the great ‘Son of Ruhunu’ Kumar Abeywardena, who will lavish heavy Southern Hospitality. Australia-New Zealand Tri Nation Final Whoever missed this game missed excellent rugby. The previews of the game were that Australia always creates a reason as to why they must win. In this instance it was because their Captain was playing his last game before retirement. The New Zealanders knew this and they worked hard at overcoming this psychological disadvantage. As the game went it looked as if they had overcome this problem when they led the Aussies at half time and would be sure winners. The psychological advantage proved too superior for the New Zealanders, when after having led and defended bravely on their goal line to be given a penalty at the last minute would have thought that to be the end of the match with a win for New Zealand. It was not to be, when a kick by NZ was taken to touch and with NZ throwing Australia contested won the ball and scored the winning try. This is psychology at its highest level and worth learning. =============================== Law 33 - handled the ball Umpiring with Cammie This law states that either batsman shall be out if he wilfully handles or touches the ball when in play with his hand or hands not holding the bat. He shall not be out if he does so at the request of the fielding side. He shall also not be out if he handles the ball to shield himself from injury as a result of the ball being directed towards him. The law on “Handled the ball” is virtually not applicable in general today in context with the current code which will be understood with the under-mentioned explanations. Firstly the hand or hands referred to are those if he is not holding the bat since if otherwise the hand or hands are deemed to be part of the bat. Secondly on seeing the ball coming towards his body he may involuntarily put his hand out possibly to shield his body and cannot be out under this law. It is therefore clear that the action of the batsman should be wilful for an appeal to be answered in the affirmative. There may be instances when a striker will take one hand from the bat in order to stop the ball from striking the wicket as was evidenced recently when Steve Waugh was ruled out for such a contravention of the law. In the higher echelons of cricket such as Test matches one could see batsmen picking up the ball to return it to the fielding side or push it towards a fielder with the bat. One would have seen very often our own Aravinda de Silva doing this. The fielding side normally does not appeal in such instances as they consider it to be an action of goodwill but the batsman is taking a grave risk in doing so although his intention is well meant. If however the batsman picks up the ball and hands it over to a member of the fielding side on request, he shall not be deemed to be out. As mentioned earlier under the present code the batsman in such instances will not be ruled out. “Handled the ball” but will be out “obstructing the field”. This law although simple as it appears could create complications to the umpire. If therefore an appeal is made it is desirable if the umpire ascertains from the captain of the fielding side about the seriousness of the appeal and also consult his colleague to verify whether a request was made by a member of the fielding side before answering the appeal since the request could be made verbally or by some action of his. Finally it must be made clear that a batsman may handle the ball after having completed a couple of runs. In such an instance the runs completed will be credited to the batting side although the batsman would have been given out. Any penalties too will stand and it will be the duty of the umpire to indicate to the scorer the method of dismissal as well as the quantum of runs to be scored. Next week: Law 34 - Hit the ball twice |
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