Sports
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Lanka deprived of warm-up facilities before crucial match In the game against India which they had to play with only a day's rest in between and a ground not familiar to the Lankans, they had requested for a practice session which was totally refused by the officials and the persons in charge of the venue. The coach said the way the boys performed, that he was positive that they would have beaten the Indians and that there was no doubt about that. Their opponents on the other hand had played all their five matches at this venue and were familiar with the grounds, they had the advantage. It was practically like their home. Manager de Silva said it was unfair towards the Sri Lankans to be meted out this sort of treatment. We were one of the contenders for the title besides India, Pakistan and England. Another aspect that the umpires and match referee failed to take action was when they were chasing a massive target of 317 to win and were a scoring above the required target, the Indians skipper Ambati Rayudu changed the style of play by delaying play. He was warned on two occasions by South African umpire B.G. Jerling but New Zealander John Morrison who was the match referee, turned a blind eye. Two days after the Sri Lanka team arrived in Bangladesh they had to travel another 350 kms from capital Dhaka to Bogra where they had to play their first game against Zimbabwe. And again they had to travel another 150 kms further to Rajshahi to play their match against Australia which was tiring to the boys. The match against Zimbabwe was due to start at 9.00 a.m. but even at 8.30 there was fog and nothing was visible to anyone but the grounds man took off the covers and they were told to play, but they requested to delay the game for a few minutes as the grounds were not fit for play even that was turned out and with the result both the teams had tough time as the pitch was uneven. All the matches played there after in that ground ended in low scoring affairs. The boys got unsettled and lost their confidence said the coach, it was a fact as the scribe too was there and saw the conditions that the games were played. The crowd was there in thousands but what matters is the fitness of the grounds for the players to play, after all this is an international tournament which the future cricketing stars who will don the national colours were participating. The International Cricket Council should treat all teams participating alike and not with different spoons. The Indians were given a prominent spot as their games were telecast live even the host team Bangladesh had to go to another venue to play one of their matches but not the Indians which is totally unfair on the part of the ICC. Nevertheless the performance of the Sri Lankan juniors were satisfactory according to the conditions they had to play. When they were coming back to form after a strenuous journey in the early stages of the tournament they settled down but were deprived of getting qualified to the semi finals due to the blind eye turned when requesting for the boys needs. The first semi final of the Super League will get underway today between India and Pakistan under flood lights at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. The second semi final between West Indies and England will be played on March 1 at the same venue. The first Plate Championship semi final between Australia and Ireland will be played today at the M.A. Aziz Stadium and the second semi final between Bangladesh and Scotland will be played on March 1 at Chittagong. The Super League final is scheduled to be played on March 5 at Bangabandhu which will be preceded by the Plate Championship final on March 4 at the Fatullah Stadium. |
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