Lanka 'A' heading for whitewash in Dambulla By Ranil Prematilake  The picturesque Dambulla cricket Stadium came out of isolation much to the concern of the future of the game in hosting the 3rd and final "Unofficial test' between the host country and the Kenya National side. The Venue neglected after its inauguard match due to complications needing to be sought out, suffered by way of non Utilization during the last few months.

A concept coming true of the former president of the BCCSL Thilanga Sumathipala, Dambulla drew into controversy over the implementation of funds in a accelerated move to host a one day international against the English. This monetary aspect of the project is being dealt by auditors price water house Coopers and the final report is not yet released to the media although completed by the professionals. Be that as it may as far as the game of cricket is concerned Dambulla was a very much needed entity in the long run of the game. As at present the Nation boasts of there test venues namely the SSC in Colombo, Asgiriya in Kandy and the Galle cricket stadium and by all mean and measures Rangiri Dambulu Stadium has all the requisites to become our fourth regular test venue. (A five test series is yet to be hosted by Sri Lanka.)

Not only this but also the development of the game in the provinces needs a destination such as the Rangiri Stadium for the younger generation to be exposed adequately and properly.

The wicket has to be made use of, for it to be suitable to host a international fixture or for that reason a first class encounter, or also the matches would have to go ahead on substandard wickets and the only way to overcome this barrier goes without arraignment. The ground must and should be used on a regular basis.

By stumps on day two a result looked inevitable under the circumstances as the Lankan 'A' batsmen built up on the 42 run lead on first innings. By clsoe the lead was a imposing 167 runs with seven second inning wickets in tact on a detiorating turf.

It was the same cause yet again for the Kenyqan downfall as the duo of skipper Upul Chandana and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara rattled the oppositon. Chandana enjoyng a marvellus series grabbed a five wicket haul to almsot make certain of a claim for the English tour in May, his all round abilities speaking from the facts itself. Meanwhile Pulasti Gunaratne, justified his slection by captuyring two scalps.

Lankans got off to a healthy start with the openers putting on 76 runs before Aviska Gunawardene fell when looking set for a big score to Obuya for a successive time in the game. Upeka Fernando plundered in his usual fashion before perishing for a well compield 61 runs.

With two full days of play remaining Lankans are well on course for a series whitewash of the test aspriants Kenya, who by now have realsied that they yet have a long way to go in making the dream a reality.

World Cup should be free of corruption-ICC

The head of world cricket's anti-corruption operation has confirmed that the international game is on target for a corruption-free World Cup in 12 months time.

Speaking at a media conference in Sharjah today (Friday, February 15th), Lord Condon, director of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), said: "I am very confident that the measures being put in place in South Africa and around the cricket world will ensure that the World Cup will be a tournament played entirely on merit. There will be a sensible but stringent security regime in place, which will act as a major deterrent to would-be corruptors. At the same time it will be as unobtrusive as possible as far as players and spectators are concerned. "

In June last year Lord Condon set a target date of the World Cup in South Africa for corruption to be at an 'irreducible minimum' throughout the international game.

"There is now much greater awareness of the problem among cricket authorities and players. That, combined with the work of the ACU and the series of preventative recommendations accepted by the ICC, have made significant inroads into the problem," he said.

The five full time Security Managers, about to be appointed by the ICC, will also add significantly to the world game's anti-corruption infrastructure. Their role will include attendance at all future international series, with each being responsible for two international teams. This allocation will see Managers paired with West Indies and England, Pakistan and Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe and Australia and New Zealand. Appointments are likely to be confirmed by the middle of March.

Lord Condon is visiting the United Arab Emirates to meet with leading cricket, security and diplomatic officials. He has also reviewed the new security measures implemented by the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series on the recommendation of the ACU. These include strict controls on access to players' areas at the ground, restrictions on the use of mobile phones, a confidential telephone hotline and CCTV monitoring of dressing room entrances and team hotel lobbies.

"Sharjah has acted swiftly and decisively in acting upon the security recommendations of my Unit. The lessons learned here are making an important contribution for security planning around the World Cup and future Test and One Day International series," added Lord Condon.

The new measures, designed to prevent corruption in an effective but unobtrusive fashion, will be discussed at the next ICC Executive Board meeting in March. Lord Condon regards them as an important part of the long-term solution for ridding the game of cheats and corruptors.

Senior members of the South African based World Cup Security Directorate have also visited the Sharjah stadium in recent months to assist with their planning for next February's tournament. As part of the build up to the event, members of the ACU team are to undertake security audits of venues hosting World Cup matches, during April.

Paul Strang released from contract

Paul Strang has been released from his professional contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.

The 32-year old requested the release to take up a commentating job during the Zimbabwe tour of India and, thereafter, a club contract in the Liverpool Cricket Premier Division in England.

Although Strang would have left tomorrow with the Zimbabwe Board XI to tour South Africa, the selectors replaced him with Dirk Viljoen, saying that experience should be given to someone who will use it locally.

Strang has therefore been released with immediate effect.

"It's a positive life decision for myself. I have had a couple of chronic injuries over the past two years, making every day a challenge" said Strang.

An all-rounder who will be remembered for his leg-spin bowling, Strang made his Test debut for Zimbabwe in the third match against Sri Lanka, in Harare in 1994.

He lists his personal highlights as scoring a century against Pakistan in a Test match, picking up five wickets in the same innings in Sheikhupura 1996/97 and 8 for 109 in the first Test against New Zealand in Bulawayo two years ago.

He said he also enjoyed the 3-0 whitewash of England in a one-day international series in 1996, and the World Cup in that country in 1999.

Vice-Chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers' Association, Strang says he will maintain the office.

Zimbabwe Cricket Union Chairman, Peter Chingoka has thanked Strang for his service to the local game.

"The union is grateful for his eight years to the Zimbabwe Test campaign", said Chingoka.

Get D.S. back on the youth job

By T.M.K. Samat

WORRIES over the future of Sri Lanka cricket aren't new _ a concern, perhaps, as old as the game. Each generation, after all, carries this incurable hang-up: things can never be good as they were in our times. Of late that old refrain is getting quite some play. Not that any prompting is ever needed, but with the Sri Lankan Under 19s making a wretched mess of things at the Junior World Cup in New Zealand last month, the cudgels are out.  The young Sri Lankans won just one of six matches. The nadir, no doubt, was the ignominious 4-wkt loss to Namibia, cricket's Timbuktu, really. Defeats, thus, at the hands of recognised nations like India, Pakistan and the West Indies shouldn't be of any great surprise. And thank heavens, rain ruled the New Zealand game as an unplayed draw.

A solitary win, over Zimbabwe, wasn't the sort of return anyone expected of a country that only 14 months before had finished world no.2 in the same competition. The senior equivalent of this would be the early elimination of the likes of Australia or South Africa, with a defeat at the hands of Bahamas or Hong Kong to boot _ an exceedingly fictional scenario, no doubt. But it does serve to point out the scale of our juniors' failure, unimaginable until it happened.

Not surprisingly, the air is thick with expressions of concern, as are the prescriptions. The popular call is for a complete overhaul of inter-school cricket. Arguments for a return to the old calendar of traditional fixtures come easily. Proponents point out the old scheme produced the sort of schoolboy talents that were fit for national duty, citing as examples, the likes of Madugalle, Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Gurusinha, Mahanama, and more recently, Jayewardena and Sangakkara_ all Test cricketers while at, or not long after, school.

The virtue of the traditional fixtures was that it provided a helpful climate for individual development, as against the compulsions not to lose under the present tournament system, from under 13 all the way to 19. With trophies at stake, coaches regiment teams so as to insulate them from defeat, breeding a negativism that scarcely encourages the full development of the potential of impressionable youngsters. Coaching is an occupation these days, and when future livelihood is dependent on the results of today, the negativism coaches teach is but a human reaction. Development of individual talents alone doesn't put food on the table; preparing 'safe' teams does.

Schools coaches of old, the Bertie Wijesinhas, Gerry Gooneratnes, George Ponniahs, P A W Pereras, W A N Silvas, et al., did their job for different reasons, financial profit wasn't one of them. It was customary that the responsibilities of school team be handed to an old boy with cricketing background. If no willing old boy were to be found, then schools could choose from a line of outsiders, all passionately eager and willing to be involved for the love of the game. Of course, the number of cricket-playing schools in the 1950s through to the 70s was nothing like the near 200 of today. The popularity was triggered in 1981 after the bestowal of Test status. The increase was quite dramatic; demand outstripped supply as far as coaches were concerned.

The Cricket Board, initially, rushed through willy-nilly to mass-produce the coaches. The system is far better organised now than it had been during those desperate early post-Test days, but obviously the quality of coaching isn't quite yet befitting of a Test-playing nation _ so flagrantly reflected in the performance of our juniors in New Zealand. So the argument goes.

To re-cap then the reasons for the dismal failure of our under 19s: 1/ competitions at school level have prevented the full development of young talent, and 2/ a level of coaching not quite becoming of a Test-playing country.

These are valid points, but are they the sole reasons for the debacle? One tour official makes out the team wasn't the best and the selection of a few deserving players would've made a telling difference. But the truth is that bar Jeevan Mendis, as batsman and bowler, and wicket keeper Charith Sylvester, for his world record, no one else quite justified their selections. Reasons of selections, thus, are just about as convincing as the fabled blame of the bad carpenter.

Admittedly, the re-structuring of our school cricket to suit the demands of Test-playing country is far from complete. But to place the blame wholly on the inadequacies of the system is to ignore a more comprehensive examination of our Junior World Cup calamity. Just as much as there are deep-rooted causes, so there are the immediate reasons. It is pertinent to question how our junior cricket, from a no. 2 standing of a shade over a year ago, could manage only one win from six and plummet to among the also-rans? Surely, there hasn't been a cataclysmic change in the ground realities to precipitate such a fall; the system that gave the world's no.2 juniors 14 months ago is the same from which the last squad was chosen. Of course, conditions in Colombo about a year ago were vastly different to what prevailed in New Zealand last month. But if blame is placed on conditions, then it is an admission of inadequate preparations.

There's one other seemingly crucial difference between the squad of a year ago and the present one: the coaches. D S de Silva handled the successful juniors and Sri Lankan-born Australian, Owen Mottau, the less successful squad. Whether the disaster could've been prevented had de Silva (hounded out of his job some two months after the Jan.2000 success) continued to stay on the job is a meaningless debate. Hypothesis leads not to definitiveness. But this much is certain: de Silva's experience from coaching the successful 2000 squad would've been a significant factor second time around. To be fair by Mottau, this was his first experience. And there was no question of de Silva being usurped by Mottau: de Silva had opted out of the job. Why he did so, of course, won't find inclusion in the Book of Fair Play. Suffice to say, he was harassed into tendering his resignation because he resisted pressures to include the nephew of a VIP into the final squad _ ironically, Mottau claims it is the inclusion of a few undeserving players (under VIP pressure?) that caused our routing in New Zealand. But that is another story.

This is not a witch-hunt for Mottau. The poor man was expensively hauled down from Australia around April, 2000, handed a bunch of young cricketers and asked to get on with the job. He's been at the job for well over a year and had the benefit of two tours in preparing for the recent World Cup. True the tours to Australia and Pakistan hardly produced encouraging results (losing all one-dayers Down Under and losing 1-4 to Pakistan), but the lessons learnt in defeat, one thought, would contribute to a better showing in New Zealand. A fat hope, that was. The alarm bells surely have been rung for the future of Sri Lanka cricket, currently sitting at no.3 in the world cricket's senior chart. The fact that numbers 1 and 2, Australia and S.Africa respectively, took identical placements at the World juniors too, while our u.19 was unseen in the frame, surely represents a gathering of dark clouds in our horizon.

Mendis and Sylvester probably warrant thought for future representation at the senior level_ a poor return in comparison to the numbers de Silva delivered at the door of the national selectors. Four of de Silva's products won places in the national team within a year of playing in the junior team: Kaushlaya Weeraratne, Prabath Nissanka, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara and Akelanka Ganegama. Four more won Sri Lanka A caps: Ian Daniel, Gehan Mubrak, Kaushlaya Lokuaratchchi and Ranil Dhamakeerthi.

This is not to infer that Mottau's credentials for the job are inferior to de Silva's. They both are qualified professional coaches. But in these hard-nosed times, coaches are judged by results. De Silva wins by a mile here.

The Cricket Board has been warned of the future. Restructuring school cricket and improving the standard of school coaching will all take time, but it's a pre-requisite that capable young replacements should be perennially available to the national team. A sample of the young who did duty in New Zealand doesn't nourish much hope for the future. Clearly, the need is for accentuating youth development. The logical choice for the job will be De Silva, whose 11-Test experience and countless years in the professional English league have made him the shrewd, hard-bitten coach he is. His best qualification is his proven success with the Sri Lanka u.19's of 2000,

Emmanuel, Nishendran on top of S. Asian heap

By T.M.K. Samat

FRANKLIN Emmanuel and N S Nishendran provided Sri Lanka with more reasons to be optimistic of the future. Following the Royal-Thomian combination's triumph in the All-India Tennis championships last December, the duo proved they are the top under 14 boys doubles players in South Asia _ not once, but twice.

As well, Royalist Emmanuel finished fourth in the Under 14 singles in the first of two ITF South Asian championships in New Delhi. Emmanuel improved his standing in the second championships, also held in the Indian capital, finishing third. Thomian Nishenderan was placed sixth and fifth respectively in the two events.

The ITF South Asian championships, concluded last week, were exceptionally competitive this year. The best under 14 players from 15 countries from South and Central Asia made up the field. On the basis of their triumph in the last All India Championship, Emmanuel and Nishendran won top seeding in the doubles. They lived up to that status, defeating Indians S Singh and S Gupta, in a long-drawn thriller, 3/6, 6/3, 7/5 in the final. En-route to the final, the Sri Lankan duo defeated players from Bhutan, a Bangladesh/Nepal pairing and Kazakastan. In the second championship, they routed the Indian pair of T Rao and A Jain in straight sets, 6/2,6/3.

"We have reached international standard in the boys under 14 category," a jubilant Lalith Withana, SLTA President, exulted. "The achievements of Emmanuel and Nishendran speak volumes for the junior development program undertaken by us two years ago.'' Withana vacates his job after his two-year term next month, but expressed confidence the development program initiated by him will continue.

Arjan Perera, SLTA's coaching and promotion chairman, said the aim, through the current crop of development program players, is to lift the country's standing in the Davis Cup _ currently at the lowest Group 4 (Asia Zone) level. "We used to be in Group 2 with teams like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand. We lost our way somewhere in the mid-90s largely because we neglected junior tennis,'' said Perera. "The junior program development was put on rails two years to rectify the effects of the long indifference shown to the juniors. In fact, we've already included Emmanuel and Nishendran in our Davis Cup squad.''

Perera added the improvements of the Royalists and Thomians in the singles event is an encouraging sign for the future. "Obviously, the performance of Emmanuel and Nishendran as a doubles pair won't be good enough to win Davis Cup ties. But with Emmanuel finishing among the top five in South Asia and Nishenderan in the top six is proof that they are on the up as singles players,'' said Perera.

Emmanuel reached the semifinals in the first ITF S. Asian championships, defeating players from Kazakastan, Myanmar (Burma) and India before succumbing to Uzbek Umarov Jamol, 6/3,6/0. But in the second event, Emmanuel gained revenge, defeating Jamol, 2/6, 6/1,6/2, to take third place.

A game played sideways

By D. Sahabandu

Cricket is a game that is played mainly sideways. You bowl sideways, you bat side ways, you pick up sideways,  and you throw sideways. When we were in school, we were told that to have a perfect bowling action you had to be side on.

However, in the great West-Indian era under Clive Lloyd. I know that pacemen bowled chest on and it was told that this method was less injury prone. During our time the coaches would not accept such a theory. However, the modern trend is that if a player scores run is or takes wickets, such a player should not be tampered with. How is this?. As much as a student is judged on the marks he gets irrespective of the way he holds his pen or pencil, a batsman is judged by the runs he scores and a bowler on the wickets he obtains.

These results are obtained after long hours of perfection at the nets. However, I maintain that a player with natural talent world need less hours at the nets than a less talented one.

What is natural talent? Talent is not something you can acquire. Either you have it or you don't. Certain players appear to have more time to play their shots than others because they move into position very quickly. This is because they see the ball early. According to Trevor Bailey, any batsman is stronger on the front foot or back foot. This is shown by the fact that there is an initial movement either back or forward in any batsman before a ball leaves the bowler's hand. If that movement is forward, he is stronger on the front foot and if it is back, he is stronger on the back foot.

Stroke play is the main strength of good batsmanship and perhaps the important factor in stroke making is footwork. You may be able to wield the bat in the correct manner for certain shots but unless your feet get into position to execute those shots, you are heading for trouble. The most important factor in footwork is to judge when to move forward or back.

Coming back to Sri Lankan cricket, the performance of Muaralitheran in capturing over 400 Test wickets is phenomenal. It reminds us of the great performances of Susantika Jayasinghe and Duncan White in athletics at the Olympic games and Lafir in billiards when be became world champion. All Sri Lankans wish that Muralitheran will be able to beat the world record of Courtney Walsh of the West-Indies.

As much as hoping for a gold medal from Susanthika Jayasinghe in the next Olympics. Sri Lanka will not produce another Muralitheran for the turn of a century. Don Bradman was considered the world's greatest batsman ever, because his statistics were so phenomenal. No other batsman could come near him where figures were concerned. With such a large gap in figures, it is unfair to label any other batsman with the great Don.

Similarly with about at least five years at Test cricket left in Muralitheran barring injury, he should not only get past the Walsh mark but also should end up with a figure that could make any other Test bowler being compared with him as unfair, and on his way he is bound to break many more bowling records to give more stability to this statement.

Sri Lanka's performance in world cricket will be tested to the hilt with tours of England, South Africa and Australia this year. I am sure despite the oppositions and conditions we have to play in, we will come off with flying colours and keep the Lion Flag flying high.

 39th Battle of the Babes.....

Positive approach should przoduce result

By Kumara Siriwardena

The Big match fever is on again as the festive natured inter-school traditional cricket encounters get underway next weekend with the Thurstan - Isipatana Clash at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo on 23th and 24th February.

Isipatana though in the same bracket as their traditional rivals on the performance sheet, go in as Slight favourites into this 39th battle. In fact it is Isipatana who have recorded the last victory in this series back in the year 1997.

Thurstan have suffered a solitary loss in their ten outings while Isipatana have 12 draws and one defeat with an outright v  ictory eluding both team this season.

Thurstan lead the series with five wins while Isipatana have four victories under their belt.

Thurstan College

Who's who

Gihan de Silva (Captain) Fifth year coloursman R/H hard, hitting batsman and also left arm legspin bowler. He has taken over 30 wickets in this season. A brilliant field in any position, Damith Indika (V. Captain) Fourth year colursman R/H middle order batsman. Right arm leg spin bowler. Represented the Sri Lanka under 19. Cricket team in World Cup 2002 in new Zealand. In the year 2001, represented under 17 team in Bangladesh. Good allrounder. Sanjeewa Nishatha: Third coloursman. R/H top order batsman. Has scored more than 600 runs with 7 half centuries. In this season,  wicket keeper  has accounted for 20 victims. Amila Nishantha: A third year coloursman right arm spin bowler. R/H hard hitting batsman. Prageeth Shanuka: Second year coloursman. L/H middle order batsman A brilliant fielder in any position and also the reserve. Wicket keeper of the side. Asea Umayangana: Second year coloursman R/H batsman. Opening bowler and  a brilliant fielder. Sumithra Warnasuriya: Second year player R/H top order, batsman and an all rounder. Buddika Rupasinghe: Second year coloursman. R/H batsman and right arm paceman. Thilana Masmulla: Second year coloursman. L/H batsman right arm off spinner. Dines N Perera: Fresher R/H opening batsman right arm off spinner. Jeewan Chamikara: Fresher R/H batsman right arm off spin bowler. He has taken over 30 wickets this season. Sandaruwan Wijesundara: Fresher. R/H top order batsman right arm spinner. Sithuka Nameera: Fresher R/H batsman right arm leg spinners.

Isipathana College

Who's who

Rohan de Silva (Captain) Fourth year coloursman L/H batsman. Right arm medium fast bowler has scored over 650 runs this season and has capture more than 25 wickets. A brilliant all rounder. N.E. Oshadnee (V. Captain) Third year coloursman. R/H batsman. First centurion of the side this season scored an unbeaten ton against Dharmapala College has scored over 300 runs this season. Right arm off spinner has taken over 35 wickets. Chanuka Perera: Second year coloursman. Opening batsman left handed, scored over 350 runs this season. Saranga Perera: Third year coloursman. Opening bowler right arm, a useful middle order batsman has scored over 250 runs and had captured over 30 wickets this season. Saman Nishantha: Fresher R/H batsman has scored over 350 runs brilliant all rounder. Chaminda Prasad: Second year coloursman R/H batsman, has scored over 350 runs this season. Amal Pieris: Fresher R/H batsman and right arm off cutter has scored over 600 runs this season. Channa Lewke: Fresher wicket keeper and R/H hard hitting batsman. T.K. Rashiru: Fresher L/H middle order batsman. Damitu Dushantha: Fresher right arm medium fast bowler an all rounder. Nirosh Chinthaka: Fresher right arm medium fast bowler and useful batsman. Nawaf Munaver: Right arm Leg spinner good all rounder.

20 years ago, and now

Excitement had gripped the whole nation as history was being made. The first ever Test match at none other than the mecca of Sri Lanka cricket, the Colombo Oval, (renamed the P. Sara Stadium), was about to commence. The VVIP enclosure had two Presidents, H.E. J.R. Jayawardene and the Hon. Gamini Dissanayake, and the country's Cabinet.

The principal sponsors, Hatton National Bank made their presence conspicuous through colourfully painted hoardings. In the commentary box, professionals prepared themselves for the broadcast in all three languages. Warnapura flicked an unique gold coin to commemorate the event under the watchful eyes of umpires, Herbie Felsingher and K.T. Francis, who were also making their Test debut. Flctcher called wrong, and Sri Lanka took  first lease of a closely shaven 'OVAL' track. The Test will be remembered most for an 18 year old schoolboy's half century in his first Test match. His name was Arjuna Ranatunge, and he was to leave an indelible mark, both on and off the field, in a long, distinguished and sometimes controversial career that followed. Fortunes fluctuated on the first two days. The third ended with Sri Lanka in a strong position, only to be sharply reversed in the early hours of the fourth, when John Emburey's stunning spell of off-spin saw six Sri Lankan's retreat for a mere 8 runs!

The much was lost but the host country was by no means disgraced. The first ever 5 day Test pitch supervised by Tamil Union's Ground Secretary, Skandakumar and prepared by Head Groundsman, Jayasena, (since deceased) assisted by women curators Innassi Amma and Amaravathy, had held its own and earned deserved praise.

Seventeen months later, a group of misguided people, stormed the Sara Stadium at the height of the July '83 ethnic conflict and burnt down the main pavillion and bar. It was a sad and tragic day for Sri Lanka cricket which, for almost four decades had depended entirely on this single venue for its international commitments.

It was equally sad that the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka at that time, did not offer any assistance for restoration. Although the first ever Test win was registered at this venue two years later, the lack of funds and the absence of BCCSL support, led to an inevitable decline of the Stadium, resulting in it being totally sidelined for international cricket in 1994.

Four years later, Shandakumar, also a former Secretary of the Board, on being elected President of the Club, along with a group of office bearers and members, as enthusiastic as the ones who gave birth to the Colombo Oval, initiated the re-development of the P. Sara Stadium. This was carried with equal enthusiasm by his successor Tryphon Mirando and his committee, to its conclusion.

The revamped Stadium now boasts of two modern dressing rooms (founded by the BCCSL) and a sports complex, whilst an updated media centre is expected to be ready in time for Bangladesh's visit to Sri Lanka in July 2002. It is anticipated that Test status will be restored at the Sara Stadium then.

"A society which forgets its past, is often in danger of being surprised by its future. After all, today is what it is, and tomorrow what it might be, simply because of all the yesterdays".

How appropriate for the relationship between the "Oval" and Sri Lanka cricket!!

Manilal re-elected

By All Rounder

Manilal Fernando, the famous football promoter from Kalutara was once again re-elected as president of the Kalutara Football League at their Annual General meeting held a  few days back.

Manilal, a great lover of football is vice president of the Asian Football Confederation and, a committee member of FIFA, which is a rare post for a Sri Lankan. He played football for Holy Cross College and later rugby for Ananda and Law College.

If any one talks about football, one should never forget the solid service rendered by this gentleman, who has given whatever possible support for the game.

Manilal, did his best for Kalutara in the last year, where two member of their team did extremely well and also won the Inter League Championship for the first time. What Manilal does for promotion of football no one has done. So, with Manilal at the helm of Kalutara football once again, the game should be on top.

Rahula Siriwardena, A.R.N. Fazal, Sunil Peiris, A. Peries, A.C.M. Ralideen were elected as vice presidents, B.H.H. Sally is the secretary once again, with M.D. Gunaratne as his assistant.

Al-hak Hassen Maffor is the treasure, Ranjith Silva is the assistant. C. Gunasela is the ground secretary.

The committee comprises Lucien Perera, Pandula Silva, Sunil Perera, M.S.M. Zadeek and Dilan Perera.