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willow wielders on show Cricket is emerging as a global sport. The staging of the ICC Trophy 2002 is a stepping stone to spread its gospel worldwide. In turn it will help Sri Lanka to become the hub (centre) in the cricketing world. Ten Test playing nations, plus two affiliate members - Holland and Kenya (12 teams) - will play in four groups. Sri Lanka in Group 4 along with Pakistan and Holland. In Group one defending W.C. Champions Australia will be at full strength. New Zealand, too play in this group along with Bangladesh India, who won the Nat-West series final over England recently are in the same group with Zimbabwe. In group 3 - S. Africa, Kenya and much improved West Indies. Windies who won the inaugural World Cup, under Clive Lloyd (1975) defeating Australia in an absorbing final at Lords; repeated it in 1979 under Lloyd again defeating England. On both occasions Sri Lanka team as an affiliate member was led by Anura Tennakoon, now the CEO of the BCCSL. ICC Champions Trophy - the biennial prestigious tournament (one-day), it was initially played in 1998 in Bangladesh when S. Africa remained unbeaten to defeat West Indies in an enthralling final. In year 2000 it moved to Kenya - a fast developing cricketing nation. The Kiwis emerging as a front-line one-day cricketing nation. The Black Caps, showed their abundant appetite for the overs game, with a superb win over India, in the final at Nairobi. Without doubt Chris Cairns, the best bowling all-rounder in the game overcoming a knee injury smashed a blistering 100, after his impressive performance with the cherry. The win against India inspired the Kiwis to reach greater heights, sans super stars. Winning a major ODI Trophy in Kenya is a feather in his Black Cap for skipper Stephen Flaming. Stephen, as a youngster was groomed to lead the Kiwis, by the Australian coach Steve Rixon for the future. Stephen is proving his mettle as a leader. The Kiwis did well to beat Pakistan by four wickets in the semi-final when the game was in the balance, 187 for 6 chasing 252. Scott Styris, the Brisbane-born stubborn batsman joined Craig MacMillan. Giving all support to his senior partner he held on to remain 28 n.o., to steer them to victory when the game was on the knife's edge. Styris had a long wait to gain recognition. Today he is yet another useful addition to the team - along with Cairns, Chris Harris, Nathan Astle, Daniel Vettori, Dion Nash. They work as a team, where they put the team, before individual glory. The late entry by Styris gives the team more muscle to their aspirations. The Kiwis are the ICC Trophy defending champions. Sri Lanka open the tournament on September 12 against Pakistan at the R. Premadasa International Stadium, while the Australians take on the Kiwis at the SSC grounds on September15 (Sunday). Rusi
Captain strikes a gem Captain has captured this title event nine times out of 12 contests and in the other 3 he has been runner-up. Tenacious Gyi has had no answer to Captain's skill and cool temperament. Beaten 5 times in the finals Gyi has come to be known as Mr. Runner-up comparable with Mike Robinson who was beaten by Maestro Pin Fernando 7 times in finals in Colombo and Nuwara Eliya in the years gone by. The 36 hole final was keenly contested and at the end of the forenoon on Sunday Alain Gyi was 2 up winning the 5th and 7th holes with Captain wilting under pressure. Through the 2nd round of 18 holes in the afternoon you saw a stronger and more determined Captain winning 2 holes in the process to go all square on the 15th. They halved the 16th and 17th bringing high drama on the 18th. Both settled on the green with their approach shots with Captain yards and yards away from the pin and Gyi well thin bridle distance. Captain took aim, had a chat with the omnipotent and coaxed the ball which careered away from the pin and suddenly took a change of course to move into the cup and shock his system. Gyi was shattered and missed the birdie putt. Captain has been our very best in recent years after the doyen the late Pin Fernando and from the records before me I see him inching his way to match the Fernando records. Rusi's style does not match the elegance of his father Sohli who was a tremendous striker of the ball in his early youth. Apart from winning several title events he held the course record at the Royal Colombo Golf Club with 67 preceding the recent extension. It was heartening to see Stuart Ritchie back at the Royal Colombo and the Ridgeways. An excellent Golfer Ritchie was a regular at the RCGC with his pretty petite wife some years ago. He excelled in many outings and won a few title events. He was beaten in the semi-final by Alain Gyi. The Ridgeway Course isn't playing true. It requires urgent nursing with knowledge and the sooner the better. Some fairways are parched, dry and divot riddled with a few greens desperately in need of repair. Sri
Lanka Open I was in Thailand, Hongkong and China recently and spoke with a few enthusiasts and officials in each area and they showed absolute disinterest in silence of match play. The match play competition envelopes about 10-12 days for an overseas player and few can afford that luxuary. Six days is all you require for 4 rounds of play and participants are assured of 4 rounds of golf against the risk of being eliminated in the first two days of match play. Go for stroke play and the Golf Union will find at least 12 countries supporting with participants. Match play is old fashioned. Ashar
Hameem in record feat at Negombo Motor Rally Hameem supported by young and talented navigator Rizmin Razik was denied of a better achievment due to the negligence of a irresponsible check point marshall who miscalculated Hameems timing which resulted in the debit point being added. Hameem who is also the President of the Southern Motor Sports Club had later complained that the check point marshall made a delibrate mistake which was accepted but it was turned down and was not taken seriously because he had already won the title. The rally which was of 700 kilometres long, run through the Wilpattu jungles and the ancient cities of Anuradhapura with as many as 47 checkpoints was flagged off in Negombo by the Speaker Joseph Michael Perera and ended at the Beach Park, Negombo watched by a large crowd of over 10,000 which the competitors and organisers estimated as the largest ever assembled to witness a finish of a rally. Many of the 47 rally drivers consisiting of the very best in the country which included Rizvi Farouk and Pubudu Wickrema former rally winners was very optimistic about the plotting of the route which had been done with the right sort of terrain which made the rally very exciting. They said that the plotters would have taken immense hardship to do such a wonderful route where checkpoints were brilliantly positioned. Naufal Nizar who is one of the most experienced rally experts in the country was in charge of the plotting and has used his experience to the maximum. Hameem and his navigator Razik won both stages of the two stage event with Pubudu Wickrema and Prasad Wickrema being joint winners of the second stage. Another feature was that the rally was dominated by members of the Southern Motor Sports Club with the first four finishers coming from Matara. Navigator Razik was again responsible for the four finishers as he helped all the four competitors to use the computer programme to do the calculations. Results:
Overall - Overall Standard
Class: Katukurunda
Motor Races on September 14-15 |
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