The competition will be flagged off from the Kelani estuary at 6.30 am. and conclude at 2.00 pm. with a buffet lunch at Pegasus Reef Hotel, Hendala.

THE Mini World Cup moved closer to the shores of Sri Lanka with agreement reached on the financial aspects of hosting the tournament. "The ICC sent us a revised deal which is far better than what we had expected. All that's now left is to get the official okay from the ICC and I am expecting the ICC official in charge of the event to come here to conclude the final agreement," said Vijaya Malalasekera, interim committee chairman.

The tournament, officially titled as the ICC Trophy championship, is to be held during the last fortnight of coming September. Initially India was awarded the event, but withdrew over differences with its income tax department. Of the two standby host countries, Australia declined. The ICC then asked the Sri Lanka Board to put in an offer, reflecting its reservations over giving the event to the second standby host, Sharjah.

The tournament is to be fully financed by the ICC _ and, in return, the world body will take in all the revenue accruing from sale of television coverage rights and an assortment of sponsorships. Sri Lanka was to meet the expenses of staging the practice matches. For this the ICC had offered half the gate takings. Sri Lanka's countered by asking for a guarantee payment of US$500,000 rather than 50% of the gates.

Apparently, the ICC does not want to start the practice of paying guarantee fees to host countries. It didn't to the tournament's first two hosts, Bangladesh in 1999 and Kenya in 2001. Instead the ICC have agreed to pay each of the competing Test nations an appearance fee of US$ 625,000 (nearly Rs.58 million) _ a huge increase on the US$ 150,000 it paid for the last event in Nairobi. The ICC has told the interim committee that it would also foot the bill for the practice matches. "We won't have to pay for anything," said Malalasekera.

Being an ICC event, the tournament will be run under the supervision of officials of the world body; Sri Lanka provides the men and material.

The ICC Trophy championship was conceived of as a fund-raiser for the development of the game, especially in non-Test playing countries. Four years down the road, the impact of the project is being felt _ so vividly illustrated by some stunning results in the ongoing Under 19 World Cup in New Zealand. Minnows Nepal, Namibia and Bangladesh upset Pakistan, Sri Lanka and defending champions India respectively.

The biennial ICC Trophy tournament is considered the second World Cup. It fields the world's 10 Test-playing nations, but unlike the four-yearly World Cup, the ICC Trophy tournament is conducted under a knockout format, fertile ground for surprises. In Nairobi, for instance, the '99 World Cup finalists, Australia and Pakistan were eliminated prematurely as New Zealand and India won through to the final. The Kiwis were the eventual winners.

The September championship will be played at only two Colombo venues, expected to be the SSC and the Premadasa stadium.

Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders (SLARDAR) has announced the calendar of events for motor sports for the year 2002. The events scheduled are:

Katukurunda Circuit Meet on 24 February, Radella Hill Climb on 17 Aprul, Fox Hill Supercross on 19 April, Karandupone Hill Climb on 9 June, SLARDAR 1000 Rally on 5, 6, & 7 July,Gajaba Supercross on 18 August and a second Katukurunda Meet on 15 September.

A novel and innovative feature this year would be the SLARDAR Championship 2002 where the stage is set to identify the champion racing drivers and riders of the year. The selection will be based on a point system covering six events, which include circuit meets, hill climbs and Supercross events. Initially, - for this year the championship will be restricted to the following classes:

Motor Cars: Group A Over 12 Kg/Hp, Group modified and turbo over 2300 cc. to 3600 cc. and Formula Ford 1600 cc., and Motor Cycles Group Racing thoroughbred upto 125 cc. and Street Trail (Racing) upto 125 cc.

Approval has been granted by the Commander, SLAF to stage two meets at Katukurunda, for which the club is most thankful. This track will provide an opportunity for the fast cars to show their performance qualities and the skilled drivers to outmanoeuvre their rivals. The track too has been altered to provide greater challenge and interest and should provide greater fare for the spectators.

The committee is busy planning particularly the major events of the club such as Fox Hill, Gajaba and the SLARDAR 1000 Rally and assures the viewing public "racing and motor sports of the highest quality and standards."

ANY suggestion that Sri Lanka ought to bid for the World Cup Cricket tournament might sound over ambitious at this point of time. The hosts of the 2003 and 2007 have been decided upon anyway, South Africa and the West Indies respectively. The next bidding is for the 2111 event, and you can bet there will be more than one prospective taker. Sri Lanka too, can make a shout, if it wants to. Should it?

Ambitions have been stirred after hosting successfully the Junior World Cup of 2000.

That success encouraged at least some Sri Lankan cricket administrators to think that the hosting of the World Cup, cricket's Olympic Games really, is a climbable Kilamanjaru. All 15 overseas teams for the world juniors were unanimously complimentary of the way it was staged, as were the visiting ICC representatives. It was hailed as the best Junior World Cup ever staged, and held up as a model for future hosts to emulate.

No doubt this would be a handy credential if ambitions for the World Cup are pursued. But honestly, the real McCoy is a vastly different proposition.

Fortunately, however, an opportunity to examine whether we have or haven't the capacity for the job is to present itself in September. Sri Lanka gets the chance to play host to the I.C.C. Trophy tournament consequent to India's withdrawal. Australia was one of two standby venues, but declined.

The race was between Sharjah and Sri Lanka, who incidentally wasn't interested in the event initially. The fact that the ICC invited us to put in an offer is due as much to its reservations about giving Sharjah the event as to the faith the world body has in our organizational skills.

The ICC is to finance the entire event, but Sri Lanka would have to pick up the tabs of the practice matches. For all our troubles, the ICC offered half the revenue from the gates _ seldom a hand-over-fist moneymaker in Sri Lanka. The interim committee instead asked for US$ 500,000 guarantee fee.

The ICC, apparently, didn't want to set a precedent; no guarantee payments were made for the first two events in Dhaka and Nairobi. Besides, if the practice is started, then there's no saying what amounts will be asked for in the future. That will be going against the grain of the event's noble cause - to raise funds for the development of the game in lesser-known countries, cricket's third world countries, if you like.

But given that the ICC Trophy tournament is becoming something of a second World Cup, and so a huge money-spinner, the ICC are no doubt mindful the question of guarantee fee payment was going to be raised again by prospective future hosts. So, it has come up with a resolution that must please not just Sri Lanka but all the Test nations. It is to pay each US$ 625,000 a dramatic increase on the US$150,000 paid out of the Nairobi edition. Also, the ICC has agreed to defray the expenses of the practice matches.

Cricket Board interim committee's chief, Vijaya Malalasekera, says there's more than just the money in it for Sri Lanka, though the Rs.58 million ($625,000) is no small change.

The benefits accruing to the country is immeasurable. The most obvious will be the contribution to the country's tourist industry, yet trying to gather itself from the devastating reversal inflicted on it by the attack on KIA last July. The events of September 11 in the US have only compounded the difficulties. So, the arrival of 1) nine overseas teams 2) officials and dignitaries, 3) supporters and 4) the international media could be just what the doctor ordered for the ailing tourist industry. The contribution to the foreign exchange kitty hardly needs to be stressed, except to say it will be generous particularly as the ICC provides the funding. These will be the tangible benefits. The intangible: an opportunity to re-make the island's tattered reputation as a desirable tourist destination.

With all of the world's Test-playing nations competing, the event, also known as the Mini World Cup, will doubtless attract a worldwide audience. Television coverage will certainly be watched in the countries of the competing nine overseas teams and possibly in many countries where cricket is played, from Fiji to Canada. It thus presents Sri Lanka a window to project to the world an image different to what it is internationally identified by these days - "a blood drenched island", "land of tea and terror" and like gory descriptions. The tournament naturally lends itself to government's peace efforts, and with talk in the air of a possible extension of the truce to a year, hopefully, will remove the most serious impediment.

For the cricketing public, the event will be a gift from heaven. We might've witnessed all of the Test-playing countries in action, but this one brings them the unique experience of seeing a jamboree of all 10 Test nations in a single tournament - undoubtedly the next best thing to being at a World Cup.

The Sri Lankan team itself would be delighted at taking on the whole world in its own backyard - and beating them all. But a knockout format is fraught with pitfalls. If the day happens to be that of your opponent, well, that's your end. No second chances here, as World Cup champions Australia found out in Nairobi, put out in the first outing, by India. But Jayasuriya's men have reason to be hopeful. They have quite an enviable home record, beating Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, India, the whole lot, in the short game. In fact, since Jayasuriya assumed captaincy in 1999, Sri Lanka has not lost any one-day tournaments on home soil, albeit the competitions weren't under a knockout format.

To get back to our ambitions of hosting the World Cup proper, well, the September event would be the first bridge to cross. In terms of logistics, the Junior World Cup was more demanding:16 teams, 54 matches over three weeks. A two-week tournament of 10 teams, which after the first round is promptly halved to five teams, looks an easier job. But the demands of Test teams are going to be more exacting than those made by a bunch of teenage teams. If at the end of the day there aren't complaints from the competing teams, that should make the ICC happy. More importantly, the board would've won more trust of the world body that it can deliver any task given it - an essential should we be inclined to ask for the 2111 World Cup.

It no doubt is asking for an enormous undertaking. It will be foolish to think the present resources are adequate. Improvements to the stadiums will have to be made, and a few new ones built if necessary. There's no reason why the government too ought not to be enthusiastic and support the venture. There's a lot going for the country in this.

A look at the 1999 World Cup in England makes the arrangements for running the tournament itself not as frightening as it seems. What it comes down is staging 37 matches in five weeks; at most two matches a day. The difficult period is the first two weeks, staging 26 matches. Thereon the field is reduced to just six teams. After a short league involving the six teams, playing in two groups of three teams each, the tournament moves into its semifinals and then the final.

The cynics of course will trot out reasons why the job is beyond us. But there are some confident interim committee officials with a "can do'' attitude who think the World Cup isn't beyond them. As well, it won't be a case of us being thrown into the deep end. Being an ICC event, expertise from overseas will no doubt be made available.

Yes, hosting the World Cup is a far-fetched prospect, but no fantasy. But then, making fact of fantasy is likely to be less difficult than keeping at bay the sort of factionalism that has beset cricket administrators since 1996. There's just too much of personal ambitions to allow the game to be administered untroubled. Which remind us that there's no certainty that the September event will be insulated from the machinations of ambitious power seekers. News last week of a move to ask the anti-corruption men to investigate the interim committee's action of abrogating one television deal and signing a new one might be a coincidence. But it isn't wild imaginings either to suspect that the raising of what is really an old issue could be aimed at destabilizing the efforts of the interim committee to stage the September event.

It isn't a coincidence that the dissolution of the last interim committee, headed by Rienzie Wijetilleke, came not long after the 2000 Junior World Cup. Following the celebrated success of the event, the popular opinion was for that interim committee to continue in administration. But it was the influence of politics that had the final say on that occasion. This time there's too much riding on the September tournament for cricket and country - and it makes sense for the Sports Ministry to give protection to the event.

There's no shadow of a doubt, that Sri Lanka has abundant talent in cricket, which makes the selectors job a tough one when choosing the correct squad to represent the nation in international competition. But on many an occasion, one comes across a deserving chap who had been overlooked in preference to a lesser eligible person, who had been given the nod to wear the national cap.

In this game of glorious uncertainties, one exposure at international level will not be sufficient to prove one's prowess, either with bat or ball in the international arena. But if one analyses the in born talent in a certain individual, it's serves the player right, if he is given another opportunity to exhibit his capabilities.

Former Maliyadeva Kurunegala captain and Colts CC cricketer, Jeevantha Kulatunga certainly is one of the unfortunate, talented cricketers, who had failed to catch the eye of the national selectors.

Kulatunge who was one of the rare batsmen to score 1000 runs in consecutive seasons during his schools' career and also being adjudged as the schools best allrounder, later, representing Colts CC, (from 1993) had done tremendously well with the bat, scoring over eight first class tons and many half centuries. Kulatunga, an exciting right hand batsman with an array of fluent strokes on both sides of the wicket, had an eye catchy average of 60 plus in the Premier league competition in 2001. In nine matches, occupying the crease only on 12 occasions he had notched up 663 runs with a top score of 175 against Matara SC.

True, he had a couple of exposures in the international scene. Though failing to impress in the official Test against Pakistan, representing Sri Lanka 'A', Kulatunga had a note worthy performance against England during their tour of Sri Lanka in 2001. Representing the Board President's XI in the four day side game with England, Kulatunga batting at number three slot pulled his side out of the troubled waters that they were in, struggling at 20 for 4 wickets, with a pleasing 44 runs. In the same year, in the one day warm up match with India, batting at number seven, he piled up 38 runs, occupying the wicket within the last 13 overs of the Lankan innings. In the current Premier League tournament he has a batting average of over 40. But sad to say, he was not considered even for the Sri Lanka 'A' side who are to clash with Kenya. As a matter of fact, he is not in the Lanka's 'A' pool either.