• Lanka fit for next World Cup?
• The Aussies are good in playing the game
• Sathasivam stands out as king of batsmen
• SLTA strives to develop tennis
• 53 days to the opening ceremony
• When Sir Jack was at his best
• Dalmiya has done a lot for Asian cricket

Lanka fit for next World Cup?

Being upbeat about the performance of the Sri Lankan team in the Singer Triangular is pardonable excess. As the tournament was taking place on home turf, the local team was quite clearly expected to do well. What surprised many was the manner of their triumph. Seldom stretched, they won in a canter. Klusener and Rhodes may have induced a few doubts during their exhilarating partnership. Yet, by then, the writing was well and truly on the wall and all they did was to go down with guns blazing.

Selectors the world over are much-maligned men. By common consent they seldom get it right. However, Messrs. Kehelgamuwa and Kuruppu (and Whatmore?) did get the combination right and for that, many thanks. While the above-named bask in glory (reflected or otherwise) let's not forget the former chairman of the panel, Sidath Wettimuny. Quiet in demeanour yet firm in conviction, Wettimuny who had the required courage and vision to bank on youth with an eye on the next World Cup in South Africa come 2003.

Shed a tear or two for Kaluwitharana, a player who has served Sri Lankan cricket with great distinction in the recent past.

A terrible slump in form ensued and "little Kalu" had to go. A hard decision but one that had to be taken in the interest of both the team and the player. Make no mistake, Kaluwitharana will be back. When, is the question.

The emergence of Sangakkara bodes well for the future.

Seemingly nerveless, he plays his shots with good timing and a refreshing air of freedom. One hopes he will not be typecast as a batsman who keeps wickets and be restricted to the shorter game. With more exposure, Sangakkara could be regarded as a batsman pure and simple at Test level.

Three forties and an eighty in five innings bespeaks a batsman of rare consistency. More than the runs scored, it is the manner in which Gunawardena scores them that evokes admiration. Outpacing Jayasuriya is no easy task. Yet, Gunawardena seems to do it easily enough. Happy is the team that has two such dazzling smiters of the launch of their innings.

Dharmasena came in from the cold and simply continued from where he had left off. He does have his limitations as a bowler at Test level (as does Chandana). However, in limited over cricket where bits and pieces cricketers come to the fore, he is almost irreplaceable.

A cricketer who plays hard and does not like giving any quarter, Dharmasena's presence gives the one day side a far more balanced look. It also gives the skipper more options.

Interestingly, Sri Lanka does have two left-handers and two left- armers opening the batting and bowling respectively. Effectiveness and potence are sometimes deemed to be the end product of different skills. But the success of the Jayasuriya/ Gunawardena and, to a certain extent, of the Vaas/Zoysa combinations gives the lie to this theory. Or, is it that two swallows do not make a summer?

Now for players from foreign fields, the man of the tournament, Kallis, a player of resplendent skills, produced a couple of innings of outstanding merit.

But, did he bestride the narrow world like a colossus? One would think not. His run out in the final came on top of a poor bowling performance (10 -1 - 64 -1). Possibly the diehad been cast by then.

Up one moment, down the next, that was the fate of Terbrugge. He could seemingly do no harm in the game against Pakistan. Yet the wheels came off in the final. Sri Lanka's openers took him to the cleaners and the end result was figures of 4-0-38-0.

Jaunty (the word is used deliberately) Rhodes put a first ball duck behind him to come good with a marvellously innovative (though not always elegant) innings of 43 in the final. No hanging about when the umpire's finger went up, Rhodes' behaviour, like his fielding, was impeccable.

Kirsten and Hall came good as a pair, while Pollock and Klusener showed by the end that they were coming to grips with the conditions. In Pollock's case it wasn't metaphorically only!!!

Excessively talented but infuriatingly disappointing. The Pakistani's certainly lived up to that description and allowed both teams to wipe the floor with them. Their lack of success has prompted an inquiry back home.

Inzamam was the pick of the batters and his impressive bulk lent itself to some power hitting.

Anwar seems to have lost his appetite for big scores. Where hundreds abounded, Anwar now settles for much less, Yohana, elegant and charming, disappointed, having far more lows than highs.

Moin, Azhar and Razzaq underperformed with the bat. The revelation was the young Imran Nazir whose 80 against the South Africans contained some shots not often seen. If he can ally consistency and a touch of discretion to his undoubted talent, the sky could be the limit.

It was a good tournament, well organised. For that, the sponsors and the Board deserve a pat.

- Aubrey Kuruppu

The Aussies are good in playing the game

By Ramesh Joseph

The Australians are the official world champions in limited overs cricket, and the unofficial Test champions. And some of Aussies are training other teams to stop their own men from completely dominating the international scene as few teams have done in the history of the game.

The team led by Sir Don Bradman had swept everything it confronted and came to be regarded as an all-time great combination. And next came the invincible West Indians, who gave a new dimension to the meaning of domination. Nothing could shake their confidence, and their supremacy under Clive Lloyd's leadership was unmatched.

In contemporary cricket, no team has looked as professional, as committed, and as innovative, as Australia. Whether led by Allan Border, Mark Taylor or Steve Waugh, the Australians have rarely allowed the situation to dictate terms and have often found their way out with some sterling, gusty performances.

There is something about Australian cricket which stands out. They are quite organised. They are fierce competitors and once again there can be no doubt about that. The two tied Tests involving Australia and the only tie in a World Cup match confirm the famous Australian resilience. They are also very transparent about their approach, and their deeds on the field speak for their abilities.

Much was made by some critics about former Australian Bob Simpson, in his capacity as consultant, aiding India to try and conquer his own team of yesteryear. Simpson was not one bit amused. Neither were the Australians. On the eve of the Super Six World Cup match at the Oval, there was an attempt to whip up the emotions of the two teams by trying to highlight the Aussie versus Aussies angle - Simpson masterminding an Aussie debacle.

The plot achieved little success because whatever Simpson had in mind, the Geoff Marsh-coached Australian team nullified through some superb homework which was put to practical use by Glenn McGrath and Mark Waugh. That Australia went on to win the World Cup is history now but the fact that emerged from the great success was that it was a team which had been prepared by a bunch of committed people.

Similarly committed people are now engaged in the sub-continent to boost the quality and confidence of teams like India and Sri Lanka.

The Indians might have terminated the contract with Simpson but there will be merit in the veteran Aussie concentrating on the juniors. A season with Simpson will no doubt enhance the performance level of the junior cricketers because the friendly Australian is said to be a tremendous motivator, and also possesses a great eye to spot the potential and hone it.

One cannot forget the efforts of Dennis Lillee, who has been involved with the MRF Pace Foundation in a sincere effort to provide quality training for budding fast bowlers. Not only just Indians, youngsters from countries like Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa have come to seek guidance from Lillee at the MRF camp in Chennai. The West Indians too cannot ignore the contribution of Dennis Wright, the physiotherapist who has been with the team for two decades now.

The Indians had their Australian connections in Simpson and Andrew Kokinos, the energetic physiotherapist, who probably proved too hot for some of the pampered cricketers. Whatever be the case, the association with Simpson and Kokinos would only have helped the indians.

Take a look at Sri Lanka and you would soon realise the importance, and the fruits, of having an Australian connection. When the team won the Aiwa Cup, a fan wrote an instant banner "we have won the title, what more do you want?"

There was a subtle reference to the man responsible for the Sri Lankan revival - Dav Whatmore. The former Test cricketer from Australia was recalled by the administrators in Sri Lanka for the precise reason that he knew best how to motivate. He does not claim to be a great coach but he has his own way of getting the best out of the players.

"Man management," Whatmore was said to be concentrating on this aspect a lot when he took over the side, which had been low on morale after the World Cup debacle, when it failed to even quality for the Super Six. The Sri Lankans knew from where the best counsel would emerge and soon the process of resurgence was triggered off by appointing Whatmore as the coach.

Is it not ironic that Sri Lanka's worst cricketing relations are with Australia and it is men from that very country who are engaged by the Lankan administrators? The Sri Lankans have also engaged the services of Trevor Chappel as the fielding coach and Alex Kontouri as the physiotherapist.

There was a very significant statement that Sanath Jayasuriya, the newly-appointed Sri Lankan skipper, made. "We are not treating Whatmore, Kontouri and Chappel as Australians. For all practical purposes, they are Sri Lankans and are an integral part of the team and its revival," he had said on the night of the triumph which saw Sri Lanka overcome the mighty Australians.

The success story of Australia is being scripted by Australians but the trend is no different with the other teams too. Sri Lanka and India have discovered the advantage of looking up to an Australian to show them the way. Calibre apart, there are a few other reasons for the Australians being in such demand.

The sound cricket upbringing in Australia, based on scientific lines, is the primary reason why an Australian cricketer looks at the game with a different attitude. He is not satisfied easily and learns quite early the benefits of hard work. If the players take five rounds of the cricket field at the end of the day's play, a Kokinos or a Kontouri shall take one more. Just to set an example.

The cricket academy plays a significant role in shaping the career of a youngster and similarly the other aspects of the game also command great application from its students. The levels of coaching are tough to attain and that is one reason why the cricketers are good in the basics. The Aussies are good in playing the game and also in teaching it.

Those were the days............

Sathasivam stands out as king of batsmen

By Rex Wijewardene

When I compare the great Sri Lankan cricketers of the past, with those of the present, they were very much ahead of the present lot in all departments of the game, with a few exceptions of course.

Going down memory lane, I recall names such as M.K. Albert, Earnie Kelaart, Sargo Jayawi-ckrema, D.S. Jayasundra, M. Sathasivam, L.E. de Zoysa, C.H. Gunasekera, C.I. Gunasekera, F.C. de Saram, Gamini Goonasena, Stanley Jayasinghe, Laddie Outschoorn, Clive Inman and Mahes Rodrigo, to name a few.

Each of them were a legend in their times. The irony is when they were out in the playing fields, Ceylon as it was then known, had not gained Test status, so their brilliance, was lost in the desert air.

These players at the height of their careers, could have found a place, in any of the Test playing countries of the world. Their talents surfaced during the many whistle stop matches played against Australia and England, en route to their destinations. These teams brought to our shores, the cream of world cricketers, such as Sir Donald Bradman, Woodful, Ponsford, Stan McCabe, Bill O' Rielly, W. Hammond, J. Hobbs, H. Larwood, D. Compton, Ray Lindwall, K. Miller, N. Harvey, Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, F. Trueman, F. Tyson, B. Statham, Lindsay Hassett, J. Laker, Tony Lock and R. Benaud to name a few, and the stars from the Caribbean Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers, E. Weekes, C. Walcott, C. Hunt, and India's legendary Vijaya Merchant.

Our cricketers certainly impressed these greats, with their all round brilliance in the game. Picking up a few at random, M. Sathasivam, stands out as the king of batsmen, Sri Lanka has produced the likes of him will never be seen in the cricketing fields of the country. His approach to the game had the Caribbean touch. He showed no mercy to the world's greatest bowlers of his time. He would walk up to the middle in a carefree manner, and set about his act in a masterly fashion. Batting came to him naturally. His strokeplay had the artistic brilliance of Sir Frank Worrell.

Sargo Jayawickrema had a tremendous appetite for runs, he did play many a memorable innings for his country, against the leading bowlers of his time. F.C. de Saram, the brilliant Oxford Blue, his great achievements with the willow, could be best seen in the score cards of the past. Gamini Goonasena captained Cambridge University, as a brilliant allrounder, as a leg spinner, he was the best the country has produced.

Chippy Gunasekera, was a brilliant fieldsman, and could be classed with the great Australian fields Chipperfield, who was the world's best in his days. C. I. Gunasekera, was cast in the mould of that great Australian allrounder Keith Miller. He was powerfully built and was a great hitter of the ball. When we recall the great men behind the sticks, Ben Navaratna, will be remembered as the greatest of them all. Even the great Sir Don Bradman, paid a glowing tribute to his brilliance behind the stumps. H.I.K. Fernando was another who excelled as a keeper. These are some of the great cricketers of the past that Sri Lanka produced, they will remain as legends of their times.

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