| Airmen
host the Sailors
The Sri Lankan Air Force will be playing their last match in the
first round at their home grounds in Katunayake when they take on
the Navy. Last weekend the Airmen had an unimpressive 17 points
to 8 win over the Kurunegala RFC. While being placed at seventh
position they have won three matches this season scoring 175 points
and giving away 299.
Meanwhile the
sailors had an impressive win over the wooden spoonist Old Zahirians
by 43 points to 10 points at Welisara last week. The sailors are
in eighth position having scored 133 points and given away 234.
The Airmen led by former Pathana hooker Sanjaya Fernando had good
support from players like Ruwan Chandrasekara, Ranjith Anthony,
Prasad and Burah.
Their best performer this season is undoubtedly their full back
Ranjith Anthony. He proved to be a good place kicker and a safe
full back and should get the attention of the national selectors
for the Hong Kong tour of Sri Lanka for the IRB-ARFU game to be
staged in Kandy later this year.
Navy will be
expecting to win the Plate this year too. They have some quality
players in their line up. Ruwanthilaka who learned his rugby after
joining the Navy have shown good form despite his serious knee injury.
Ruwan Jayasuriya experienced Panda Wijeratne and Noordeen are all
out to give their best in order to secure a win against the Airmen.
-Shamseer Jaleel
WICB
and ICC clash over scheduling of Lankan Test Match
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the ICC have begun blaming
each other for the scheduling of the first test match between West
Indies and Sri Lanka after nearly two days of play was lost due
to rains.However according to a ICC media release issued this week
the responsibility of where and when teams play their matches are
decided and agreed between the two teams taking part in the series
and it is purely the responsibility of the two individual Boards.
Responding
to comments made by WICB President, Wes Hall, regarding the scheduling
of the First Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka, ICC Chief
Executive Malcolm Speed said that it came as a surprise to see the
WICB suggest that the ICC had scheduled this game.
"The details
of how, when and where matches take place are agreed between the
teams taking part in any series," said Mr Speed. "The
only role the ICC has in scheduling is to make sure that all teams
fulfil their commitment to play each other in a series of not less
than two Test matches and three One Day Internationals both home
and away in a five year cycle.
"In this
year's West Indies schedule, the West Indies Cricket Board, for
sound cricket and commercial reasons, decided to play four Tests
and seven ODI's against Australia and this decision obviously impacted
on their ability to schedule the Sri Lanka series.
"The previous Chief Executive of the WICB raised some concerns
about the timing of this tour with the ICC last year and we indicated
that there were alternative times available for the games to be
played within the five-year schedule but no alteration to the schedule
was made."-MF
Jayakody,
de Silva impress in the rain
Golfers
over the weekend ran into unfriendly spells of pelting showers typical
of the South West monsoons and despite the inclement weather the
scoring was good with Rusi Captain and Amrith de Soysa - our most
talented bringing back below par rounds on both days.
First
Day
That massive not so young man Sunil Jayakody cracked an
amazing gross 74 net 64 on the lst day to take an excellent lead
in the 4 round encounter closely followed by Nimal Wettimuny who
sparkled with a flashy nett 68. 'Black Stone House' Kalugalgedera,
Narendra Wijemanne & Sanjeeva Wickremanayake pleased themselves
immensely with below par net rounds on the first day. H. Samaranayake,
Saman Premasiri, Sunil de Costa, R.L. Dias and L. Jayasekera raised
hell in patches.
Wasantha
Excells
On Sunday - the 2nd day Wasantha de Silva came back into
excellent form with a stunning 5 under par nett 66 to give him a
competitive total of 140 for the 2 days. Bandula Weerasinghe soon
after a recent victory in the Audi Championship was consistently
good over the 18 holes to collect a praiseworthy nett 68. Nimal
Wettimuny, Rajiv Chadda - my friend from across the Palk Strait,
Rusi Captain, Amrith de Soysa and Rohana Withanachchi who found
himself in good company played impressively.
Disaster
Zone
The zonal area was loaded to almost capacity with a harvest
of centuries studded with massive contributions to the boys handling
the ponds. A few of those who were chaotic were Rajan Joseph, Padmasiri
Dias, Chamath Kulasinghe, Denison Sparamdu and Natraj Ramiah. To
add to this bunch of happy cavaliers there were those who preferred
making confetti and those who contributed lavishly were Norma Gunewardena,
Shelton Jayasinghe, Rahula Seneviratne, Ajantha Mylvaganam &
Vivek Chand.
In this area
of 'no returns' or confetti making Rahula Seneviratne is outstanding.
A delightfully pleasant personality he is happiest hitting the ponds.
Extremely popular in 4 ball encounters he is unmatchable at the
19th. He claims his best stroke is his practice swing. His inseparable
friend at the Ridgeways is the "Candleman" Maurice Mcpherson
without doubt the most popular expert at the R.C.G.C. in recent
years.
In the old
days this mantle was worn by James Capper, Captain & President
but today Maurice far eclipses Capper's popularity. Sadly this man
leaves us soon seeking greener and fresher pastures and we all wish
him well. |
