The first unofficial Test at the P. Sara Stadium drew curtains early on day two as intermittent rains blocked way of the possibility of any

play during the post tea session. However, the national hopefuls of the host nation did no harm to their respective claims in consolidating a firm grip on the game.

Under much criticism and confusion as to the exclusion of Kaushal Lokuarachchi from the starting line up, the selectors would have been very relieved to see the young blooded Lankan paceman restricting the Kenyans to a moderate score. Left arm quickie Ruchira Perera stood out with a four wicket haul on a pitch lively with pace and bounce while comeback boy Kaushalya Weeraratne, recovered from a deadly viral bout, bowled purposefully to justify his selection. The 21 year old, banked by many a cricket expert as having all the makes of a genuine allrounder, would do well if proper guidance is focused on him. Although Prabath Nissanka enjoyed a solitary scalp, his ability to penetrate effectively is something rare to these circuits. Especially the extra bounce Nissanka extracts needs no explanation.

It is most circumspect as to how and why young Lokuarachchi could not satisfy the selectors with his extraordinary performance of quality leg spin bowling. What else can he do? Why should he be a victim of a puerile act and consideration of seniority or else captaincy for that reason. These are tours aimed at building up the future of Sri Lankan cricket and is not at all a race for statistical figures.

The Kenyans in their first essay toiled relentlessly to post a decent score in the backdrop of failures by the top three batsmen in the ranks. Skipper Maurice Odumbe, Steve Tikolo and Kennedy Otieno all fell cheaply after which Ravindu Shah and Hitesh Modi dug in determinedly. It is interesting to note that both Shah and Modi are of Indian origin.

The Kenyans in the island to play three unofficial Tests and a one day series with the Sri Lankan 'A' side led by Upul Chandana, who has taken over the job from Thilan Samaraweera, now a permanent figure in the Test side was a bit sloppy on the field and were guilty of grassing a couple of chances. In a sensible move, promising Prasanna Jayawardena has been given the job behind the stumps.

No bearing was brought about to the revelations involving the administrators of the game in this country as far as this fixture was concerned. The misdeeds contemplated on these honorary jobs done by a committee given the green light by two separate regimes died away through a professional explanation and evaluation which covered up the basic commercial factors involved in the transactions concerned, and a clear explanation on the comparison of two charts in question, which needed a constructive assertion and not a plain reading. Be that as it may, its a fact that the credibility of the present administrators of the game in this island was not something doubted at all at any stage by the cricketing fraternity.

Kenyans 1st innings

O Otieno c Jayawardene b Perera 13

D Shah c & b Chandana 94

O Tikolo c Vandort b Nissanka 00

M Odumbe b Perera 07

S Modi lbw b Chandana 52

M Odoyo b Pushpakumara 34

A Suji lbw b Weeraratne 05

O Suji c Chandana b Weeraratne 32

O Obuya lbw b Perera 16

M Sheikh not out 10

N Onyango c Jayawardene b Perera 05

Extras (b 1, lb 14, w 8, nb 1) 24

Total (all out, 94.5 overs, 418 mins) 292

FoW: 1-28, 2-46, 3-78, 4-137, 5-184, 6-197, 7-219, 8-264, 9-286.

Bowling O - M - R - W

Perera 20.5 - 3 - 70 - 4

Weeraratne 18 - 2 - 72 - 2

Nissanka 14 - 4 - 48 - 1

Chandana 24 - 10 - 58 - 2

Pushpakumara 18 - 2 - 29 - 1 

Sri Lanka 'A' 1st innings

A Gunawardene c Otieno b Odumbe 57

I Daniel not out 48

M Vandort not out 06

Extras (b 2, lb 3, nb 6) 11

Total (1 wicket, 43 overs) 122 

FoW: 1-106 (Gunawardene, 34.4 ov).

Bowling O - M - R - W

MA Suji 6 - 1 - 10 - 0

Odoyo 5 - 0 - 19 - 0

AO Suji 4 - 0 - 17 - 0

Onyango 4 - 0 - 17 - 0

Tikolo 12 - 6 - 25 - 0

Sheikh 6 - 1 - 20 - 0

Odumbe 6 - 1 - 9 - 1

This weekend will see plenty of action at the Victoria Golf Club with over a 100 golfers competing in the Donald Steel Trophy, the Ebert Pol, the Pam Fernando Cup and Victoria Bowl generously sponsored by Carlsberg, Merbok MDF Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., & Sri Lankan Airlines. Martin Ebert, the current holder of the Donald Steel Trophy, has flown in to defend his title and win one of the two tickets donated by Sri Lankan Airlines but will be facing fierce competition from Alian Gyi, Sidath Wettimuny, Noel Selvanayagam and a host of others on-form players. It is good to see the ladies so well represented this year. Sally Collins and Suwen Selvaratnam will be hoping to be at the receiving end of the Victoria Bowl and Pam Fernando Cup in which they both competed so well last year. The great lady herself will be on hand to present her Cup. Live updates can be heard on Gold FM or you can check out the results of all the competitions on www.eureka.lk. Teams are forming for the International Matchplay Event on Independence Day which is bound to provide some very interesting and competitive golf. In fact all the ingredients for a great three days of golf and camaraderie will be present at the Victoria Golf Club this weekend.

After a dull first day, it was a stroke-filled and eventful second day at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium when Pakistan amassed a mammoth 493 and proceeded to turn the screws on the West Indies. Yousuf Youhana, who looked good for his second double ton, fell on 146, while surprise package Rashid Latif top-scored with 150 - his maiden Test ton. Yet, with all the clean hitting and sensible batting, there were too few pairs of eyes to witness the action. For a second disappointing day, the fans stayed away from the ground, leaving the thump of willow on leather to echo in hollow fashion from the rows of empty stands.

In response to Pakistan's daunting score, West Indies managed 54/0 from 18 well-negotiated overs as the light faded, with Chris Gayle (41, 7 fours) playing some pretty drives through the off- side. Tomorrow, however, will require the West Indian batting to show a lot of character if they are to pull things back in this match.

Pakistan 1st innings

Taufeeq Umar b Hooper 24

Naved Latif bw b Dillon 00

Younis Khan c Gayle b Hooper 53

Inzamam-ul-Haq c Jacobs b Dillon 10

Yousuf Youhana b Cuffy 146

Abdur Razzaq c Jacobs b WW Hinds 34

+Rashid Latif b Gayle 150

Saqlain Mushtaq c & b Dillon 17

*Waqar Younis not out 25

Shoaib Akhtar b Gayle 20

Danish Kaneria c & b Gayle 00

Extras (b 6, lb 7, w 1) 14

Total (all out, 161.5 overs) 493  

FoW: 1-3, 2-45 , 3-80, 4-94, 5-178, 6-382, 7-438, 8-457, 9-493

Dillon 42 - 10 - 140 - 3

Collins 33 - 3 - 96 - 0

Cuffy 35 - 10 - 75 - 1

Hooper 32 - 7 - 85 - 2

RO Hinds 4 - 0 - 31 - 0

WW Hinds 8 - 1 - 26 - 1

Gayle 7.5 - 0 - 27 - 3

West Indies 1st innings

D Ganga not out 11

CH Gayle not out 41

Extras (nb 2) 02

Total (0 wickets, 18 overs) 54

Waqar Younis 7 - 2 - 27 - 0

Shoaib Akhtar 5 - 0 - 21 - 0

Abdur Razzaq 3 - 0 - 4 - 0

Danish Kaneria 2 - 0 - 2 - 0

Saqlain Mushtaq 1 - 1 - 0 - 0

Old Josephian's will meet Old Peterits on February 24 at Darley Road for the Gary Melder Memorial Trophy.

This trophy which was inaugurated last year was won by the Joes led by Roham Fernando who was Gary's last captain at St. Joseph's.

Gary started playing for the college first eleven cricket team as a 14 year old under the captaincy of Brian Obeysekera and blossomed into one of the great all rounders at St. Joseph's.

He played for the Sri Lanka Schools team under the captaincy of Asitha Jayaweera in 1972 against the Australian Schoolboys captained by Robert Golden and captained the Schools' eleven in 1973 and 74 in the Robert Senanayake trophy matches.

Gary's team mates of that great schoolboys side of 1972 were Asitha Jayaweera, Captain, Bandula Warnapura, Gajan Pathmanathan Roy Dias, Duleep Mendis, Flavian Aponso, Charles Raj, Kamal Samarasinghe. Ajith de Silva, Ray de Silva, Ranil Abeynaike, and his school mate Rajive Benedict.

He has won many awards at school cricket and capped it all by winning the School boy Cricketer of the year award in 1973.

Gary was a tower of strength for that great Josephian side of 1972 led by Rohan Fernando which included players like Rajive Benedict, Rohan de S. Wijeyeratne, Rohan Martin, Ajit Johnpillai, Sirimath Dep, Ranjan de Silva, Chanadana Fonseka, Turlough de S. Wijeyeratne and Nihal Wijewickrema. The Josephain team has seven outright victories including the drubbing they gave St. Peter's in their Big Match, and beat all the other sides on the first innings including Ananda College who had the honour of getting the best team that year under H.D.K. Subash.

Gary had an outstanding season of 1972 where he had three centuries and four 90 not outs as a declaration is a 'must' by tea those days and many a match haul of five wickets in an innings and not forgetting his fielding where the writer remembers getting rid of Gajan Pathmanathan of Royal College brilliantly caught by Gary's first ball off Rohan de S. Wijeyeratne.

Royal's fifth wicket pair, Ganganath Ratnayake and S. Perera shirked off an early shock to muster an unbeaten stand of 92 runs in a rain interrupted inter school fixture at Ananda Mawatha.

Ananda's Ishara Dias provided the early breakthrough, grabbing four scalps.

Scores: Royal College 1st innings 127 for 5 wickets. G. Ratnyake 53 (n.o.) S. Perera 40 (n.o.) I Dias 4 for 31.

- by Kumara Siriwardena

An afternoon of fun and fellowship is being planned for Sri Lankans over the age of 50, when the Sri Lanka Association of Senior Citizens hold their third annual All-Island Bridge Tournament on Sunday, February 10, at the GOH, Colombo.

The program will commence at 2 pm, and in order to provide entertainment for a wider circle of participants, competitions in Mahjong, Rummy, 304 and Suabbli will also be organised.

The ever-popular Tombola will also be played.

An American auction to raise funds for the welfare projects of the association will be held.

Tickets for this event can be obtained from the organisers, Mrs. Nimal Gunasekera, 12/1, Palm Grove, Colombo 3 (Phone: 573311) or Mrs. Nelan Mather, 30/9, Park Road, Colombo 5 (Phone: 589078).

Samat on Sunday

TO wander off into nostalgia was inescapable. Watching the National Boxing championships of last year, last Friday, old-timers were arrested by yearnings to turn back the clock to times better. W R M Vincent, his missing canine tooth and face resembling a crumpled old worn-out boxing glove, is a living relict of times more memorable. Last Friday he was one of three timekeepers, but there was a time in the late 60s. the ex-sailor was a fly weight national champion and had fought this continent's best at the Asian Games and Championships, as well as in numerous international duels with India and Pakistan.

Vincent hankers for the past, not to re-live his glory days but by his sadness at the apathetic descent of boxing. "I can't ever recall of a national championship being put off for the next year. It shows how indifferent boxing administrators are," says Vincent. Then pointing to the empty stands, he says, "More than half the crowd are Slimline supporters _ and they are here because the company transported them here. The ABA ought to be thankful that there's a company supporting the sport, otherwise I fear for the future of boxing," said Vincent. "There wasn't mercantile support of any kind when Eddie Gray was around, but his meets never went without pulling more than double the crowds you see here. This stadium itself is his creation. If Mr. Gray was around our boxing would've been right up there with the best of Asia."

Boxing's internal politics and the bigotry of Sport Ministry officials, incidentally, drove Edward Gray Down Under _ and Sri Lanka boxing has never been quite the same. No international meet has come to our shores since Gray upped and left in the mid-70s.

Rhapsodizes Vincent: "I still dream about the Asian Championships (of 1967). I wish technology had been as cheap as it is today because it deserved to be filmed and preserved for posterity. We had the Japanese, Koreans, the Filipinos for the Far east; the Iranians and the Iraqis from middle east, and from closer home, Pakistanis, Afghans and Burmese boxers. And how can I forget our own Karu (the late H.K. Karunaratne) winning the light-fly gold medal and promptly putting it around the neck of his coach, Dr Larry Foenander as crowds packed to the rafters erupted in joy." And adds: "We belong to a fortunate generation."

Karunaratne, by the way, won the country's only Asian gold without throwing a punch in the final. His Japanese opponent, with a badly cut eye in the semifinal, was medically ruled out from the final. But not all of Karunaratne's successes were sweatless and bloodless. "I thought Karu was a goner in the first round of his fight against Indian Kundhu," said Vincent, recalling the 1966 Indo-Lanka annual held at the old Bambalapitiya stadium in Station Road, where the present passport office sits.

Kundhu came for the 1966 international with quite a fearsome reputation, knocking out all of his opponents in three successive Indo-Lanka schools annual contests. The local press christened him K.O. Kundhu. "Kundhu's first blow hit Karu above the right eye and God, blood was spurting out like water from a tap. Karu somehow managed to stay on his feet in the first round, his face smeared in blood," recalled Vincent. "They cleaned and plastered him up and sent him to face the cocky, impatient Kundhu. He wanted to mess up Karu's eye really bad. But Karu was wiser -he made use of his advantage in height and reach. Making full use of the ring space, Karu moved and kept the charging Kundhu at bay with straight lefts and rights. Kundhu knew he had lost the second round. And desperate, he played straight into the hands of Karu in the third round-as he kept rushing into more of Karu's punches."

Vincent also remembers well the vanCuylenberg brothers, Winston and Geoffrey _ classy, stylish and unbeatable, both. But they were beaten, I think, just once each. Vincent himself accounted for younger brother Geoffrey's only defeat. And his Navy team mate, Lloyd Hope, brought down Winston, virtually indestructible in the 60s. "Hope had tremendous courage. Winston hit him with every punch in the book, but Hope, his eyes half closed, gave as much as he got. The crowd was on its feet. It was anybody's fight, but I think Hope's courage won him the day," said Vincent. "And when the referee raised Hope's hand in triumph, you could've heard the roar all way to the Bambalapitiya junction _ and a thousand sailors' caps flew into the air," Vincent remembered. "I'll give the rest of my life just to live again those days. Boxing was boxing then. ''

The call to timekeeper's duty sadly halted the Vincent-driven time machine. It was time to step down to the real world of boxing today: the 76th National Championships, 2001. Old memories and the present sightings provided a staggering contrast. The final day of a meet of the 60s and 70s, beginning at 6 pm, would normally end around 10 p.m. Last Friday the lights went out before 8 p.m. Reason: 10 of the 12 finals did not go the full distance. This sad catalogue was made up of one walkover, two first-round finishes, four in the 2nd round and three in the 3rd round. Scarcely a clean knock down punch was seen. The premature ends were all through stoppages by the referees at the behest of the computer. Boxing is called a bleeding business, but it wasn't last Friday.

To be fair though, amateur boxing these days bristles with safety rules. Unlike in the 60s and 70s, boxers tog all manner of safety equipment, heavily cushioned head-guard being the most conspicuous to eyes of the Vincent-vintage. Gloves these days are padded with foam whereas before it had been coir. Half the weight of a 10-oz. glove should be allotted to foam; no such equal distribution of leather and coir were specified for bygone gloves. Gum shields are compulsory now; optional then. A boxer stunned by a punch but still on his feet is promptly subject to the mandatory eight-count. In the days of Vincent, a groggy boxer continued till pole-axed to the canvas.

But why there were a plethora of premature ends was due to scoring by computer. The moment the points difference between the boxers reaches 15, basically 15 more punches than the other, the computer throws a signal to stop the fight. It is not unusual for a boxer to land 15 punches in the first ten seconds -_ not full-blooded ko-punches but the soft warm-up ones _ while the opponent goes through the motions of sizing up his opponent. Last Friday, all of premature finishes were declared by the computer.

It's a different world to the one old Vincent lived in. Tell Vincent it's now a safer sport and he's likely to snap: "It's better to do beauty culture than boxing _ at least you get paid for it."

Japanese rally driver Hiroshi Masuoka celebrated a dream maiden victory on the Arras-Madrid-Dakar Rally in the capital of Senegal today after winning the 9436 km 17-day rally in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. For Mitsubishi, it was a record seventh Dakar victory and the Japanese marque filled all of the top eight places and nine Mitsubishis were classified in the top 10.

Masuoka, delighted at putting last year's disappointments behind him when he lost the lead in the dying moments of the 2000 event, dedicated his famous victory to former Mitsubishi team manager Ullrich Brehmer who lost his battle with cancer last year. Masuoka spoke of his long, hard struggle over the past few years to reach the top, revealing; "At the beginning I had a problem with the language. I needed French to talk to the mechanics. For two and a half years I worked at a garage with the mechanics. I was very hungry and worked very hard. So now I am so happy to win the Dakar. I am on top of the world. Mr Brehmer looks down over me. He helped my programme at the start and I'm sure he is watching now".

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart The entire Mitsubishi team on the final podium in Dakar (13 January 2002)

Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Pajeros/Monteros filled the top four places at the finish with last year's winner Jutta Kleinscmidt of Germany this year's runner-up, and Japanese ace Kenjiro Shinozuka third. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay completed the Pajero/Montero quartet in fourth, while Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa was fifth in his Mitsubishi L200.

Kleinschmidt, although disappointed not to win, was delighted for her team-mate Masuoka, commenting: "We had problems with the transmission during the race and I am happy with second place under the circumstances. For sure, we will come back next year and try and take a second win on the Dakar. I am pleased for Hiroshi and for the team".

Former Downhill World Skiing champion Luc Alphand of France contributed to Mitsubishi's domination of the Dakar with victory in the Super Production Diesel class and seventh overall in his Pajero/Montero, while Dakar first-timer Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar brought his Mitsubishi L200 home in sixth place, despite rolling his vehicle just before the half-way mark in Atar, Mauritania. Completing the all-Mitsubishi top eight was Klever Kolberg of Brazil in his Pajero/Montero.

Although the Mitsubishis were hot favourites for victory from the start, their dominance was far from guaranteed. Stiff competition was expected from the Renault Kangoo buggies driven by arch-rivals Jean-Louis Schlesser and Jose Maria Servia. Nissan had also put up a strong entry with Gregoire De Mevius and ex-biker Stephane Peterhansel both capable of victory, while there was additional competition from Seat, Mercedes and Toyota among others. It was not a foregone conclusion, and before the rally reached Africa, de Mevius found himself in the lead for Nissan after two very muddy stages at La Souterraine in France and Madrid in Spain, and the dry bumpy stage at Chateau Lastours.

But once into Africa, Mitsubishi's gloves were off and Masuoka moved into an immediate lead on the 85km stage between Rabat and Er Rachdia in Morocco. And from that point on, the Japanese Mitsubishi driver led right to the finish.

The threat from the Kangoos never materialised, with Schlesser's buggy developing engine problems early on.

De Mevius wasn't about to give up, however, and the Belgian Nissan was constantly biting at Mitsubishi's heels all the way to Zouerat in central Mauritania. But after holding third position for most of the first half, his challenge died at Zouerat when the Nissan developed severe engine problems and dropped out of contention.

From that point forward, it was almost certain that a Mitsubishi would win the event, but which one? Fontenay's costly delays in Morocco meant that victory was almost certainly out of reach, but Kleinschmidt, Shinozuka and Masuoka soon became embroiled in an epic battle for victory. With no team orders, it was every man and woman for his or her self!

On the three stages leading to the half-way point in Atar, Shinozuka's attack was hampered by power steering problems, but once this was solved on the rest day, he was soon on the march to victory, hoping to catch Masuoka. Likewise, Kleinschmidt had had minor problems, but soon she too was on full throttle in an effort to take the lead.

By 'Center Forward'

The sports loving public could expect a very bright future for Sports in Sri Lanka as the Minister of sports last week made himself clear about his vision to the media. He stressed that all governing bodies should draw up their future plans and make them available immediately. There were so many hick-ups in many of the sports governing bodies for the last several months with considerable administrative problems witnessed during this period. Hockey is also another sport, which should be looked into seriously.

As a venue for international hockey, a ground in Matale was declared open in November 2000 with a view of promoting the game. However, it is disappointing to note that there has been no progressive development that has taken place. We hardly see any matches being played at this venue after spending millions of rupees. Apart from that the hockey turf in Colombo is also unusable due to poor watering of the ground as well as it has not been properly managed and maintained. It is reported that because of this the mercantile hockey tournament which is held at the beginning of January each year could not be properly held as previously planned. Added to this although the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation has selected a National squad, no arrangements have been made for practice sessions and for participating in any international tournaments so far since 1999.

In the recent past there has been a marked increase in suspending players as a result of a weak administration. SLHF has suspended two national players last year. One player for lifetime and the other for 10 years. It is necessary that discipline should be high on the agenda in any sport but punishing players like criminals could not be justified. We have witnessed many other punishments given to players in other sports but punishments have not been meted to destroy the players' future but as a deterrent to rehabilitate them.