WELLINGTON, Dec 16, 2006 (AFP) - Sri Lanka took a firm grip on the second cricket Test against New Zealand here Saturday as they built an overall 363-run lead with five wickets remaining in a confident second innings batting spree.
The present affairs in national sports seem to be in total disarray. At present we are struggling for survival in the very sports that we were dominating and more than once produced world champions may be a decade ago Though we appeared to be a dominant force at the last SAG held in Colombo, we were similar to fish out of water at the Asian Games three months later coming home with an almost empty kitty of a silver and two bronze medals after flying out the biggest contingent to the games ever. That is in athletics. Then even in the sport that we are really good --- cricket the Lankans are struggling and have already lost the first of the two Tests in New Zealand while the other is in progress.
The first test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand ended under three days and a total of thirty five wickets fell during that period of time. The two questions to ask are: a) was the pitch that difficult to bat on? b) Was the bowling so unplayable that batsmen succumbed?
The council of the International rugby board has approved amendments to the scrum laws in November 2006. The intention is to have in place more policing of the safety of the scrum and more specifically the front rows.
