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13th August 2000

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CR Flanker Nalin Wijegunawardena, with ball in hand, looks to make a sharp break as Kandy lock Pradeep Basnayake looks on helplessly.
An incident in the CR-Kandy match wich CR won 19-17 at Longden Place yesterday.

Pic by Dunstan Wickramaratne.

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Pollock aims to restore confidence

SYDNEY, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Captain Shaun Pollock and his South African squad arrived in Australia on Saturday for a three-match limited overs series anxious to put the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal behind them.

Pollock said victory in the one-day internationals against Australia in Melbourne would help restore the South African public's confidence in the game. The first match is next Wednesday.

"If we can win this it will go a long way to help people who have been feeling miserable about what has happened," he said.

"I think it's only a matter of time before they can rally behind us 100 percent again. Maybe once the report is out it can be totally forgotten about."

Judge Edwin King handed the South African government his interim report into the scandal on Friday, stressing it made no recommendations.

Pollock said none of the players on the current visiting team had been involved in the scandal and team morale had not been affected.

Herschelle Gibbs, Henry Williams and Pieter Strydom have all been suspended after admitting during open hearings in June to having accepted bribes of $15,000 from Cronje to under-perform.

However, all three have also said under oath they did not receive the money because they had not fulfilled their part of the agreement.

Pollock said he was confident opening batsman Gibbs would return to the team after he accepted whatever the disciplinary panel dealt out.

"After their findings he can obviously concentrate back on his cricket and we'd love to have him back whenever he's ready," Pollock said.

Meanwhile, Melbourne's Colonial Stadium was transformed into a cricket oval on Saturday as workers lowered a specially-grown, one-piece turf pitch into place after it had been grown in a hothouse on the outskirts of the city.


Colombo win 2-0

By Champika Fernando

The Colombo Football League led by Chatura Maduranga overcame Kurunegala Football League comfortably by 2 goals to nil in their Eveready Junior Inter-League championship game at Kurunegala yesterday.

Sanjeeva Pradeep banged in the first goal in the 44th minute of the first half to give Colombo Football League a 1-nil lead at the breather. In the second half Chatura Maduranga scored the second goal for Colombo to win the game easily.

In the last few minutes Kurunegala tried to upset the rhythm of the Colombo lads to failed to do so. Kurunegala are the runners-up of the competition.


Access - HNB final tomorrow

By Bruce Maurice

Access Group qualified to meet Hatton National Bank in the Mercantile limited over A Division final tomorrow at the P. Sara Stadium.

In the semi-finals played yesterday Access Group beat John Keells by 113 runs and Hatton National Bank beat Sampath Bank by 58 runs.

At the P. Sara Stadium:

Access Group - 149 for 5 in 50 overs (G.Wijekoon 104, Indika de Saram 39, Aravinda de Silva 13, Anil Rideegammanagedera 35, Suresh Perera 27 n.o; R. Weerasinghe 2 for 50)

John Keells - 136 in 37.2 overs (Michael Vandort 35, S. Chanaka 21, R. Kalpage 24, D. Vithana 14, Anil Rideegammanagedera 4 for 9)

At the NCC Grounds:

Hatton National Bank - 217 for 8 in 50 overs (T.M. Dilshan 50, Kumara Dharmasena 46 n.o, Saman Jayantha 30, Prasanna Jayawardena 23, Russel Arnold 21; Indika Gallage 2 for 39, C. Hathurusinghe 2 for 34, C. Fernando 2 for 53).

Sampath Bank - 159 for 9 in 50 overs (C. Haturusinghe 21, Marvan Atapattu 17, Kumar Sangakkara 17, B. Perera 31, Rasika Priyadarshana 15; Chinthaka Jayasinghe 2 for 30,S.Dissanayake 2 for 8, Malintha Warnapura 3 for 37)


Halimdeen kicks CR to nail-biting victory

Missed kicks by Nalaka keeps CR's hopes of taking title alive

By Jatila Karawita

A spectacular 40-metre penalty converted, by substitute CR full back Zulfikar Halimdeen, two minutes from the long blast of referee S. W. Chang, and a similar penalty bungled, by his counterpart Nalaka Weerakkody of Kandy a minute later, catapulted CR & FC to a nerve wracking 19 points ( one goal, four penalties) to 17 two goals, one penalty win, over defending champions Kandy in a absorbing Caltex second round rugby union fixture, worked off before a appreciative crowd, at Longden Place last evening.

The winners led 10-0 at lemons.

CR trailing by 16-17, during the third minute of injury time, were awarded a penalty as a result of unwarranted dirty play, by a Kandy forward, during a maul ensuing from a line-out, and touch judge Orville Fernando drew the attention of referee Chang, who had no hesitation in giving the penalty to the home side.

Lanky Halimdeen then stepped in, to slot home the match winning penalty, to atone for their 22-10 first round loss, as Kandy was left to rue a missed penalty, soon afterwards by glamour boy Nalaka Weerakkody.

The red-shirts playing to a masterful game plan, mapped out by foreign coach Laga, played like a group of panthers, in the first half to completely outplay their rivals in the loose.

Forwards such as Viraj Prasantha, Shanitha Fernando, Roshan Perera, Shamly Nawaz, and skipper Savantha De Saram, were a thorn in the flesh for the Kandy forwards, as the lads from the hills were sent pack pedalling in the first half.

But true to their fighting spirit, Kandy having failed to score any points in the first half, got their act together to score all their points in the latter half, but poor goal kicking on the part of Weerakkody, who fluffed three vital penalties in the game, saw the defending champions saying adios, to the trophy this year.

For Kandy, their three quarters, were also to be blamed a large extent for this defeat, as they either dropped crucial passes, or were always tackled by the CR three's, whenever they enjoyed possession.

For CR, besides the heroics of their outstanding set of forwards, the incisive play of centres Asanga Rodrigo, Haren Perera,winger Kishin Musafer, combined with those booming kicks to touch by fly half Chirantha De Soyza, saw the lads from Longden Place, keeping the reigning champions at bay.

CR's prop Shanitha Fernando opened scoring, with a 40-metre penalty in the eighth minute,16 minutes later Asanga Rodrigo scored from a second phase move after skipper Savantha, had made a super break from a five-metre scrum.

Shanitha Fernando made a fine conversion, as the red shirts controlled play for the remainder of the first half, to go in for the breather, with the game swaying towards CR.

Shanitha then extended that lead further, through a 30-metre penalty in the sixth minute, for CR to lead by 13-0.

Kandy not to be outdone, replied four minutes later thanks to a good pair of heels, shown by winger Sameera Silva who scored by the right corner flag as Weerakkody converted to narrow the scores to 13-7.

Fernando put over a another 20-metre penalty in the 25th minute, as CR led by 16-7, with the game really hotting up at this stage.

Five minutes later Weerakkody scored unopposed, from a fine three quarter move, and he converted his own try to bring the crowd to their feet with the scores at 16-14.

From then on the two place kickers, pitted their skills against each other. With the seconds ticking bye on Chang's watch, Halimdeen managed to keep his cool when it mattered most, as CR kept alive their hopes of regaining the rugby title, with the key rugby showdown with table leaders CH, to come next Friday.


Antonians grab Schools Sevens

By Aubrey Kuruppu

The Antonians, despite having several injured players, did splendidly well to beat Vidyartha 7-5 in the final of the All Island Schools Rugby Sevens at Nittawela yesterday.

The Sylvestrians annexed the Plate while D.S. Senanayake did well to win the Bowl.

The Antonians entered the final after overcoming stiff resistance from Wesley. The winning points came in the second session of extra time.

Results of the finals:

Cup Championship: St. Anthony's beat Vidyartha 7-5; Plate: St. Sylvester's beat St.Peter's 14-10; Bowl: D.S. Senanayake beat Science College 24-14.

The matches were refereed by Anil Jayasinghe, Sam Samarasekera, Piyal Navaratne, Priyantha Gunaratne, Anura Ranko-thge,Sawan Edma, A.Bala-suiriya, A.C. Tennekoon, U. Weerasekera, P. Fernando, G. Rasiah, D. Darling and J. Fernando.


Madena guides Planters to win

Bernie Wijesekera reporting from Radella

A breezy 81 runs with two sixes and ten fours, by former Sri Lanka Schools all-rounder Denham Madena enabled the Up Country Planters to register a thrilling two wickets win over Colombo Tea Traders' Association (CTTA) in their annual cricket match played at Radella yesterday.

The game in the afternoon was marred by rain. Colombo Tea Traders Association electing to bat first in ideal conditions scored 179 in 40 overs. But subsequently the game was reduced to 35 overs.

The Planters were set a target of 161. The Planters after losing four wickets cheaply, fought back, thanks to an aggressive 84 runs sixth wicket stand between Madena (81) and Gehan Perera (25) to reach the target in 31.1 overs. The last time they won was in 1996.

Colombo Tea Traders Association - 179 in 40 overs (Sunil Fernando 27, H. Musafer 25, S.T. Silva 20; R. Ranasinghe 3 for 36, Chula de Silva 2 for 31)

Up Country Planters - 163 for 8 in 31.1 overs (D. Madena 81, Gehan Perera 25; Charmal de Silva 5 for 32)


Colts champs

A snap goal by Bodhi Gunaratne enabled Colts to beat Yasodhara BMV to emerge champions at the Devon Trophy women's hockey championships sponsored by Rajasingham Industries at the Colts Grounds at Havelock Park yesterday.

Visakha won the third place play-off defeating Sirimavo BMV.

In the semi-finals Colts beat Visakha 5-0 with Bodhi Gunaratne and A. Abeysekera scoring two goals each and Kaniskha Obeysekera scoring the other while Yasodhara BMV beat Sirimavo BMV 2-0 with Tharindu Poornima and K.V.Nodhani scoring a goal each. (BM)


Susi in trouble again

Susanthika Jayasinghe who had made a welcome return to the track, is now under pressure to run in the 4x100 metres relay at the Sydney Olympics, otherwise strict orders have gone out from the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, S.B. Dissanayake, to drop her from the Olympic squad.

Politics is the bane of sports as the saying goes in Sri Lanka and one wonders as to how the Minister has this power to do so as she has already qualified to run in the Olympics in the 100 and 200 metres events.

All in all, it could be that no medals will be won, but the only possibility is that Sri Lanka could qualify for the last 16 in their events Susanthika is participating if she does run and in 4 x 400 metres relay, and the others would merely be 'also rans'.

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