• Wrecked Lankans seek a revival
• Tri-Star upset CH &FC
• Sri Lanka team for Davis Cup
• Rover Pinpoint....
• No regrets in joining the Lanka Army, says Brig. Jayawardena
• The South African Experience
• South Asian Tennis starts today
• Joes cling on to draw
• Nadika called for throwing
• In Brief

Wrecked Lankans seek a revival

By Wasantha Siriwardena

Sri Lanka after a 5-1 drubbing by South Africa will face another tough battle against New Zealand starting this week. They flew from South Africa to New Zealand last week in time to be prepared for the first One-dayer at Napier on Wednesday.

Kiwis - without the feather in their cap - the star batsman Chris Cairns - are still a dangerous side with the players of the calibre of skipper Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Chris Harris, Adam Parore and Roger Twose etc.

Allrounder Chris Cairns is the key player in the successful series in Sharjah recently. He will be out of action for sometime due to his knee injury.

Sri Lankans should make use of this opportunity to redeem their lost prestige. Our batsmen should be able to click this time and put up some big scores and keep the opposition under pressure. They failed to do this in South Africa and South Africans were never under pressure except the last One-dayer which Sri Lanka won. Their bowlers never had a good score to bowl at.

The reason for the failure of our top batsmen was the fast and bouncy pitches. They lost few early wickets and the rest batted with tremendous pressure against a steady and hostile bowling attack of Pollock, Ntini, Kallis and Co. In addition to their fast outswing deliveries they used surprise slow deliveries. Skipper Jayasuriya was a victim of these slow deliveries in the fist two innings in the tour.

Failure of Atapattu was another decisive factor. Although he scored two fifties in the one day series he was never in full control of his shots. Sri Lankan fans are hopeful that he will get back his lost touch in this series and play the sheet anchor role.

Mahela Jayewardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara and Romesh Kaluwitharana were among the runs but they should avoid the habit of throwing their wickets away unnecessarily. After doing their hard work at the initial stages in the innings, many occasions they got out for careless shots when they were well set for big scores.

But Arnold should be commended for his unbeaten knock of 65 in the sixth One-dayer which Sri Lanka won. His powerful straight hits using his long feet were the clear-cut answer for the genuine bowling. With few hits of that type he was on top of the bowlers and took full control of the game.

Late entry of master batsman Aravinda de Silva added confidence to the side. With two brief innings he showed he has not lost his class and still can do a little bowling too when it was necessary. But he should show his worth by playing a good long innings in this tour as he used to play.

Muralitharan, Vaas and Zoysa should be able to do better on slow and seamy pitches in New Zealand.

The inclusion of Kumar Dharmasena seems to be a welcome move by the selectors as his type of bowling suits well in the conditions of New Zealand. Dharmasena was in brilliant form with the bat and ball during the recent Kenyan tour.

According to Sri Lanka coach Dave Whatmore this will be an ideal opportunity to regain their confidence. Playing in different conditions he expects pitches to be conducive to our type of game. He is confident that the team will bounce back strongly during this series and give Kiwis a good run for their money.

The New Zealand: Stephen Fleming Capt., Nathan Astle, Mathew Sinclair, Roger Twose, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Andrew Penn, Chris Martin Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya Capt., Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardena, Russel Arnold, Arvinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Avishka Gunawardena, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Ruchira Perera, Erik Upashantha, Kumar Dharmasena,

Tri-Star upset CH &FC

By Bernie Wijesekera

Tri-Star apparel indulging in running rugby, outplayed CH&FC 29-14 to remain unbeaten in Group A in the inaugural Western Province RFU Under 24 Sevens Tournament which began at Longden Place yesterday.

MTV and Yes FM have come forward to be media sponsors of this competition in order to promote the game islandwide whilst J.L. Morrison Son and Jones Ltd, (Sustagen) are the co-sponsors.

Fifteen teams, in four Groups figured in the first day's play. Two teams from Ratnapura District took part in the competition for the first time. They are: Kelani Valley and Balangoda Rugby Club.

The matches were keenly contested. Other teams to impress were the Navy, Army along with seasoned clubs, Havelocks 'A' and CR&FC 'A' who are expected to figure prominently in the championship event. For the first time two referees from Ratnapura Rugby Referees Society - K.S.P. Karunaratne and Amal Priyantha - officiated in a major tournament.

The President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union, Anton Benedict will be the chief guest while the Marketing Manager Sustagen, Jayasiri Yapa will be the Guest of Honour. Today's matches will commence at 9 a.m.

The losers in the Cup Championship will take part in the Plate Competition.

Today's line-up: (Cup Championship): Tri-Star vs Army; CR&FC 'A' vs CH&FC; Havies 'A' vs Old Zahirians; Navy vs Police.

Bowl: Colombo University, Old Cambrians, Three Roses, Havelocks 'B' and CR&FC (bye).

Amrith on top

Thirteen-year-old Amrith de Soysa with 39 points won the A Division Stableford Tournament for the first time sponsored by Ominbis at the RCGC greens worked off in ideal conditions last morning.

Michael Perera Magala was second with 32 points. (BW)

Sri Lanka team for Davis Cup

Sri Lanka will play their Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group 3 league play-off in Philippines from Monday February 5 to 11.

The Lankans will meet Bahrain, Singapore and hosts Philippines.

The Sri Lankan team will comprise Renouk Wijemanne, Dinuka Ranaweera, Ganendran Subaramaniam, Chamara Wijesinghe, Non playing captain Asiri Iddamalgoda, Manager Roshan Razick.

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