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Sebastianites has the edge over Cambrians
By M. Shamil Amit
Moratuwa will go gay again when the 53rd battle of the Golds between St. Sebastian's and Prince of Wales takes place on March 7 and 8 at the De Soysa Stadium in Moratuwa. This is another in the series where a result has not been produced for the last 25 years. The last win in this encounter was when the Cambrians led by Pemlal Fernando won it 1977 to record their sixth win while the Sebastianites have won on two occasions the last being in 1966 under Sarath Perera.

Both the teams are unbeaten this year with the Sebs registering three outright wins from the 14 matches they have played while the Cambrians have drawn all their 12 matches that they have played. This year the Sebs go out as favourites as they posses one of the best outfits in the school circuit led by that prolific allrounder Manjula de Silva with third year player Nuwan Perera as his deputy. The Cambrians are led by Shanaka Perumpuli with Kavinda de Silva as his deputy. Both are third year players.

Opening the batting for the Sebs will be fresher Neomal Fernando and second year player Dilhan Cooray. These two has put on over 50 runs on seven occasions.
Dilhan has a century against Isipathana and will be expected to give a good start followed by another fresher Tharaka Peiris who has five half centuries to his name and Dileepa Perera. Nuwan Perera a batsman who has scored over 850 runs inclusive of two centuries will be the player to watch. He is also a good bowler bowls off spinners taking over 70 wickets including five wicket hauls on five occasions.

To bolster the score in the middle order there will skipper Manjula who has scored over 500 runs, Suhada Cooray, Niresh Silva and Dunil Abeydeera. To curtail the Cambrians score will be in the hands of skipper Manjula and Warnaka Mendis supported by Geeth Silva along with spinners Dunil Abeydeera who could regarded as one of the best spinners, Lahiru Anthony and Suhada Cooray.

Third year players skipper Shanaka Perumpuli and Amila Sandaruwan will be expected to give the Cambrians a solid start. Last years big match hero Sahan Wijeratne who missed a twin century scoring 97 not out in the first innings and 103 not out in the second innings followed by another 116 in the limited over encounter, the cynosure of all eyes, will be the one down batsman. He led the Cambrians last year.

A player with immense experience, he was the only schoolboy to top the 1000 run mark last year and this year he has scored over 700 runs with an unbeaten 120 against Isipathana. He will be a headache for the Sebs if he is not sent back to the pavilion early. Sahan captained the Under 19 team against the visiting ECB Academy team from England and cracked an unbeaten century which enabled his side to beat them by five wickets. So watch out Sebs if you dont get rid of him early you are in for trouble.

To get the scoreboard moving the Cambrians have some dependable batsmen in Srimal Peiris, Thulanidu Thirimanne who captained the Under 15 team last year and was a member of the Sri Lanka Under 15 that participated in the Asia Cup in Sharjah, Thulanidu in time to come will be a player to watch and Asantha Chethana. The bowling attack will be spearheaded by deputy skipper Kavinda de Silva and Srimal with support coming from right arm spinner Sahan Wijeratne and left arm spinner Nisal Malinga. Both these players have taken over 50 wickets each.

The big match will be followed by the limited over encounter to be played on March 9 which will be the 18th in the series. Of the 17 matches played so far St Sebastian's lead with nine wins while the Cambrians have seven wins with one game being abandoned.

Survival of the weak teams
Globalisation of cricket has been a main theme of the ICC for the past half-a-dozen years. Vast sums of money are being spent on countries in Asia, Africa and Europe to promote the game. Currently the countries accepted by the ICC have been categorized into 3 groups (playing wise). The test playing nations, Associate and Affiliate. Promotion goes on until a country reaches the top level.

Until Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996 the governing body was never keen in opening the doors to welcome nations to play at the highest level. Now they are doing everything possible, but the gap is far too wide.

Commentators are satisfying themselves by saying that the experience and exposure is beneficial, the players will learn by playing against the top countries! Think about it seriously, will Canada, Namibia or Holland ever seriously challenge the nine major countries? Definitely not.

There are two factors that govern the progress and development of the game, breeding and infrastructure. Sri Lanka is the last team to be granted international status and progressed to be considered a force to be reckoned with. Of course South Africa was re-admitted subsequently.

The transition became reasonably quick for Sri Lanka because of the solid foundation they have. The game had been played for over one hundred years and cricket was in the blood of many people. The game has to be deeply rooted within two or three generations and only then, that naturally talented cricketers will be bred.

Bangladesh is a classic example. Although there was some cricket played there before they became an independent nation it was not a sport played or followed with any passion. There is much being injected to achieve short-term success. Almost forced down the throat, the results aren’t forthcoming. Their performances in the World Cup games indicate there has been virtually no progress since the last tournament in 1999.

Zimbabwe are perhaps in a worse situation. By the time the next World Cup comes along it is unlikely that Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Craig Wishart and Guy Whittal will be around. Even if they are they will be at the very tail end of their careers. There is not a hint of any players who could come in and fill in their positions. The cupboard is hugely empty!

Kenya who has been knocking on the door of the international empire are in the same predicament. Eight of their squad of fifteen are thirty years of age or more. Steve Tikolo, Maurice Odumbe, Kennedy, Otieno, Martin Suji, Ravindu Shah, have all been around. Their ìcricket life is going to expire in the not too distant future. Replacements none in the horizon!

Being the culmination of four years of the one day game the World Cup now draws huge attention. The viewing public, the prize money on offer have increased vastly and it matches with most top events in world sport. Could it have situations where a team could unjustly be edged out?

An example is the West Indies-Bangladesh game. When rain halted play the Windies were coasting along well enough to have achieved a victory. On form, the West Indies should on most given days beat this opposition quite comfortably. They had a great start to the tournament beating hosts and second favourites South Africa, playing good cricket. Then, playing a team that even Canada has beaten they lose 2 points! You could say hard luck! Be a part of that team and it becomes cruel and unacceptable.

It may get buried underneath the excitement and mayhem of the games, but due consideration must be given when the next tournament is formulated. I will forward my formula for the next World Cup when this one comes to an end.

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