Mendis and Murali a threat to India

By Point

Sri Lanka will be hoping to draw inspiration from their test series win when the five match one day international series against the touring Indian team gets underway at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Monday.

Sri Lanka took the honours in the longer version of the game while winning the series 2-1 and will be hoping to maintain the same momentum and their dominance over the visitors. The second one day international will be played at Dambulla on Wednesday before the two teams return to Colombo for three day night matches at the R. Premadasa Stadium on August 24, 26 and 29 respectively.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena in fact expressed  confidence of winning the one day series following their success in the longer version of the game. However he noted that they still need to improve in all areas of the game and is hoping that the players would work hard to achieve their goal.

Sri Lanka of course lost both their matches against England during their previous visit to Dambulla last year. However skipper Jayawardena noted that they have made steady progress since then and are determined not to make the same mistake once again.

Quite sigificant

The Sri Lankan captain said that this series will be quite a significant one because the team will include two genuine spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis who could make the difference once again. This spin combination played havoc with the famed Indian batting line up during the test series where they shared 47 wickets between them.

Skipper Jayawardena said that the one-day matches would be completely different and will have a different game plan to overcome their opponents. "We will not be complacent and just need to make sure that we get our game plans right." said Jayawardena.

India of course have experienced mixed fortunes at Dambulla having won two and lost one from their three previous encounters. They suffered a four wicket defeat against Sri Lanka when they played here in 2005.

In fact Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni believes that Sri Lanka is the most toughest venue to play international cricket for many top teams. But he is confident that his side would put up a improved performance that will help them to take the initiative in the series.

Mixed fortunes

Dhoni recalled his previous experience in Sri Lanka where the entire team struggled and when he really found it difficult keeping wickets on typical slow turning pitches. The elegant wicket keeper batsman noted that his team is keen to improve on their track record in the sub continent where they have experienced mixed fortunes in the recent past.

India lost the recent Tri Series final against Pakistan in Bangladesh followed by a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the six nation Asia Cup limited overs tournament final at the National Stadium in Karachi in July this year.

The 27 year old right hander who guided India to win the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last year said that they have been losing the big games in this part of the world and that is something they would like to rectify in the coming series.

Man of the series award

Dhoni said that they will soon have to find a way of negotiating the mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis who caused havoc with the Indian batting during the three test series claiming a record 26 wickets on his debut which also earned him the man of the series award.

Dhoni also fears that the absence of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar could be crucial in the five-match series. "It's very difficult to fill the space not only because of his contributions with the bat and ball but also because of his impact in the dressing room." Losing Sachin Tendulkar at this point could be crucial."

Tendulkar injured his left elbow on Saturday while diving to take a catch during the second day of the third Test match. He batted in the second innings with a bandaged arm, scoring only 14. The 35-year-old Tendulkar is the most capped one-day player in the world with 417 matches and has scored a record 16,361 runs at an average of 44.

India will start the series hoping for revenge after a 100-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final last month. "We are not doing too badly, it's just we are losing the key games," Dhoni said. "We shouldn't be too high or too low in confidence. We'll try to keep a positive frame of mind."

The teams:

Sri Lanka : Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (vice captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedara, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Thushara Mirando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Jehan Mubarak and Malinda Warnapura.

India : Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautham Ghambir, Virender Shewag, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Prathap Singh, Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Virat Kohil, Pragyan Ohja, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh.

Amid the rose bouquets, a thorn

THE performance of Mahela Jayewardene's doughty young men last week continues to earn heaps of praise, and deservedly so. Yet, only the week before, after the lost Galle Test, the team had been flayed with quite some harsh criticism, again deservedly.

Two years into the job, this hasn't been the Sri Lanka skipper's first experience of the fickle ways of the world. Last November, a 0/2 whitewash in Australia brought the brickbats, which in December, turned to bouquets, thanks to the 1/0 series win over England. As much as the rise and fall over the past eight months reflects the team's strength of character, especially of its leader, it also provides telling evidence of inconsistency, long the team's bugbear.

Pay tribute

But let us leave aside the inconsistency factor for awhile and pay tribute to what is truly an outstanding triumph over a country, which, though ICC rankings reckon as third-best in the  world, is widely accepted as potential heir-apparent to the No.1 position. In the event, though, India fell considerably short of that promise, and indeed at series' end, the future of more than a few of their legends was being questioned. Not surprisingly, calls are being made for a major shakeup of the team.

That Sri Lanka might have caused Indian cricket this sort of crisis was hardly pre-series prospect. The series, after all, was expected to be one between Sri Lankan spinners, the M-twins, versus India's world-class batting line-up - Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman. And given the visitors' reputation for being the world's best players of spin, just who might eventually win out the drummed-up contest was hardly a brainteaser. Much of the media ballyhoo was also focused on the likely achievement of a historic landmark: The bridging of 172 runs that would have moved Tendulkar ahead of Brian Lara's world batting record of 11,953 runs. 

As things happened, only Sehwag hit a brilliant double century; none of the famed middle order quartet managed a 100; Laxman made 50 twice in six innings and Dravid's solitary 50 came in only his last innings; Tendulkar and Ganguly both could not once manage a 50. Over the past two decades, rarely has one witnessed such persistent routing of India's top order. As for the historic landmark, Tendulkar is yet 76 runs adrift of Lara's milestone, the Indian eking out just 92 runs from the three-Test series. 

Record

The series, though, produced history of another kind: Ajantha Mendis's series haul of 26 wickets goes into the books as the highest by a debutante in a three-Test series, obliterating Englishman Alec Bedser's 24 in 1946, also against India. It is fair to say that no one contributed more to determining the series' outcome than Mendis did, though that might seem a tad unfair by the old warrior, Muralitharan, who claimed five less than the rookie. The two as a combination, however was .well, let's leave it to Indian skipper Kumble to explain: "When Murali and Mendis operate in tandem, it is not easy. the pressure created by them (on the batsmen) was massive" - an assessment borne out by India's failure to achieve a total in excess of 350 in six outings. The best was 329 in Galle, Sehwag alone contributing 201 n.o.

Ran second best

India's next best total was 269, also in Galle. In all of their other four innings in Colombo, only once did they pass 250 - overall, not the sort of batting performance that would win a series. And so it was.

They ran second-best to Sri Lanka not just in spin bowling and batting alone. As well, they lagged far behind in the fielding department, particularly catching. India missed a lot more crucial chances than did Sri Lanka: three of the five Sri Lankan centurions, skipper Jayewardene and Samaraweera (at the SSC) and Sangakkara (at the P. Sara) were dropped long before they had approached their respective 100s. That the Indians had just one centurion was largely because Sri Lanka's fielders didn't give nearly as many reprieves as India did - so vividly reflected in the wicket keeping. Prasanna Jayawardena had just one recallable blemish, attempting a catch that wasn't his but the slip's; Karthik's and Patel's fluffs are too many to recount.  

It would be unpardonable to not pay tribute to Mahela Jayewardene's leadership. In a word it was brilliant, which is his own favourite word of description for the outstanding performances of his charges. That he generously dispenses such superlatives to his outstanding players, perhaps, is the reason why he is such a successful captain. If the leader tells the world you are brilliant, you better go out and be that - so creating a driving compulsion to fulfil a contract of faith with the leader.

Inspires

 A captain, of course, can only be as good as his team, but it is plain to see that Jayewardene inspires his team to a level of "brilliance;" Kumble's style was pedestrian, leading in hope his subjects might deliver rather than coercing them to it. His own lack of success - 8/400 in the series - didn't help make his job any easier.

Without detracting from Sri Lanka is laudable success, there's no denying that this has been one of India's poorest performances in decades. They have lost series before, and though 2/1 might suggest a closely-run contest, Sri Lanka's clearly was the more assertive, and so, the more dominant. Whether this has been a case of India losing the series more than Sri Lanka winning it, however, provides for a stimulating debate.

Much of the debate has to centre on the third Test, the decider. India was clearly handicapped, with injuries to Tendulkar, Laxman and Sharma on the second day. Conceding that Tendulkar, disabled or otherwise, was fated to a poor series, an uninjured Laxman and Sharma might have provided a tighter finish, if not a different outcome. A virtual one-legged Laxman garnered an undefeated 60-odd; free of the constraints imposed by a hurting left-ankle, a century-plus was in the realms of possibility. That would have presented Sri Lanka a target in the region of 170-80, which, with a fit-Sharma (he didn't bowl at all after day 2) might have raised the ghosts of Galle, where Sri Lanka was demolished for 136 in the fourth innings. The Indians' triumph was inspired by Sharma's dismissal of Van Dort and skipper Jayewardene, as well as Zaheer's beauty that rid Sangakkara. And so, within the space of three overs the home team had plummeted to 10/3 - and into an abyss from which there was no escape.

Not a mistaken notion

To speak of what might-have-been but for injuries to three Indian frontliners is not to infer that Sri Lanka got lucky in the decider. Rather, victory was just reward for honest endeavour.

It is not a mistaken notion, though, that the final outcome ought to have been 3/0 than 2/1. After handing the Indians an innings-pounding in the first Test, the 170-run defeat that followed on the very ground of their many triumphs, Galle, defies reasoning. The most convenient explanation is it is all a part of cricket - but inconsistency is not, unless of course the team lags behind in perfection; in our case, the batting does. There is no better illustration of inconsistency than this: batsmen who total 600, a week later can manage just 123 - riches to rags, really.

So, as we exult in this success and look to the future, it is best to keep the rose-tinted glasses locked-away.

Lankan duo excel in sailing WC

Sri Lanka's Devin Goonewardena, with Jeremy Bolling as crew, cruised to victory in the under-21 Youth event of the GP- Fourteen Sailing World Championships held in Abersoch, Wales, last week. Flying the colours of the Ceylon Motor Yacht Club and Sailing a 14-foot three-sail dinghy, the 16-year old Goonewardena raced in a giant fleet of 106 boats to finish 31st overall, but coming first among the under-21 helms.

Hosted by the International GP Fourteen association and based at the South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, the event's eight races were sailed in the Irish Channel off the Welsh coast. In a rolling 1.5 metre swell and winds gusting to 20 knots, Goonewardena and Bolling completed all their races without a single capsize, competing with some of the worlds most experienced GP sailors in the week-long regatta. The duo finished fourth overall in the 38-boat Silver fleet.

Goonewardena, a student of Stafford International School, Colombo, is Sri Lanka's GP-14 National Champion, having previously been an outstanding sailor in the Optimist Class. He was the winner of Gold in both the individual and the team events of the 2005 South Asian Yachting Regatta in Karachi, Pakistan and the team event of the 2007 South Asian Yachting Regatta. According to yachting sources, the performance of the Goonewardena-Bolling duo at the recent GP-14 Worlds was even more creditable given that they were unable to get any sea-sailing practice in Sri Lanka in the run up to the world championship owing to the rough seas off the west coast of Sri Lanka due to the prevailing southwest monsoon.

Lankan Para Olympians face financial crisis

By Hishan Welmilla

Sri Lankan Para Olympics contingent intending to take part in the Paralympics Games has faced a financial crisis due to non-availably of a Sponsor for their visit to Beijing. They are therefore uncertain of their participation in this prestigious event which will be held on par with the Olympic Games

Five Sri Lankans have qualified to attend to the Paralympics Games which is scheduled to get underway from  September 6 to 17,  two weeks after the completion of the 29th Olympic Games  now in progress in Beijing.

Shantha Kumara ( Men's 200m , 400m and 800m), Udaya Pushpakumara ( Javelin), Lal Pushpakumara ( High Jump), Sadun Vasana Perera ( Power Lifting), Upali Raja Karuna (Wheel Chair Tennis) have been selected to take part in the event.

The contingent is to include three officials from the National Paralympics Committee and a Physiotherapist in addition to the athletes.  Col. Rajeeva Wickramasinghe will be the Chef de Mission.

It is a pathetic situation as no sponsor has so far  stepped in to solve the financial crisis faced by the Sri Lankan Paralympics contingent although there were several  sponsorship packages supporting the Sri Lankan Olympic Contingent for the 29th Olympiad.

Nearly 4500 differently abled athletes from 150 countries will take part in 20 different sports in this year's Paralympics.

Police to clash with Kandy

By Hafiz Marikar

Police Sports Club who gave a excellent fight to beat CH&FC in the quarter finals of the Clifford Cup competition will be in the hills today to meet defending champions Kandy Sports Club in the second semi-final  at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium at 4.30 pm with Nizam Jamaldeen handling the whistle.

Kandy rugby committee headed by Lasantha Wijesuriya is planning to play the best side. Experienced Sean Wijasinghe, captain, Kandy Sports Club knows that it will be a game that is bound to be packed with pressure.

To win this match theteam has to play a flawless game of rugby, being mindful of the Policemen's ability to play the high ball to maximum benefit. Their mode of operation should be to take play to the outsides.

Kandy SC's cover defence is the best seen this season. A marked characteristic is that there is a backup bridge of at least three forwards when their outsiders are going up to tackle.

Their forwards are a formidable lot playing together for a couple of seasons and good in their rucking and driving.

Kandy SC coach Johan Taylor who has done a good job is hoping to come out with some new plans for this game.

Much is expected from their forwards - Jeewa Galgamuwa, Anurnaga Walpola, Senaka Bandara, Sumedha Jayasinghe, Dilip Selvan, skipper Sean Wijesinghe and Imran Bastamin.

The halves combination of Saliya Kuama and Fazil Marija have hit it off smoothly in the matches played, and their three quarters, Gayan Weeraratne, Pradeep Liyanage and the centres are in peak form. 

They have two brilliant runners - Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and Sameera Silva for the points.

If they are fed well they are sure to do a good job with full back Radika Hettiarchchi also joining the line to make the maximum use.

Police ruggerites who did well to beat the strong CH&FC side by a point in the last outing will go all out to give a good fight.

Browns Cup Horse Racing in N'Eliya

Brown & Company PLC will be sponsoring one of the most prestigious events - Browns Cup Horse Racing organised by the Sri Lanka Turf Club.

    The event will be held on August 17 at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course. The event is expected  to attract both locals and foreigners who are drawn to the  cool climes in the hills.

There will be six horse races commencing 10.00 am - namely "Browns Cup," "Browns Tours Cup," "Havells Cup," "Exide Cup," "Olympus Cup" and "Sharp Cup." The official radio and television partners for this event are Real Radio and ETV.

In addition to experiencing the thrill of racing there will  also be other interesting diversions such as dancing to live music by renowned band, beverage, food stalls and a glamorous fashion show.

Those attending the event could receive a rangeof prizes for the best dressed lady and the most photogenic lady.

Added to this are the activities organised for children.

Horse racing is a star attraction and adds colour in the hills of Nuwara Eliya.

Browns which market a range of products from pens to tractors to batteries, touches the day to day lives of all segments of society.

This event will showcase some of the leading international brands such as Sharp and Olympus & Havells amongst others.

Inter-Thomian inter-batch soft ball cricket sixes carnival

Old boy class batches from S. Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia, Gurutalawe, Bandarawela and S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya will compete in the Inter Thomian, Inter Batch, Soft Ball Cricket Sixes on Saturday  September 6.

   This inaugural tournament will be played at the S. Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia 'Big Club' grounds with the  matches starting at 8.30 am.

There is already a lot of friendly rivalry and promises of great deeds to be done on the field, although this time around it is only with a soft ball, bringing back memories of  the good old days when as school boys we couldn't wait to play a few quick overs.

Some batch teams have already registered but there is still time for others to call and confirm their participation with Eraj on 0712762919 or Vasantha on 0777793632.

The deadline to do so is August 25.

The tournament will be played in a league format with four matches being worked off simultaneously.

There will be no shortage of excitement with fantastic prizes to be won. Perhaps none more than bragging rights for the next year.

September 6 at Mt. Lavinia promises to be exciting and a lot of fun for the whole family, with games of skill, antique cars, foot rubs, bouncers, pony rides and fun activities for children as well. There will also be food and drink stalls, Bands and DJ music, making this a fantastic Thomian Carnival of camaraderie and celebration. 

Parking for the event will available at the 'Small Club' grounds. 

The Softball Cricket Sixes Carnival is organised by the S. Thomas' College Mt. Lavina Class of 1990.

The proceeds from this year's event will go towards the renovation and reconstruction of the College Pavilion and Tuck Shop.

Thomians Young and Thomians Old will meet at the College Grounds on this day. Some armed with their favourite bat and ball and some will simply be there to meet and greet old friends.

Don't miss it for anything. Bring your family.

Susi - Sri Lanka's only hope

By Hishan Welmilla

As the athletics events continued at the 'Birds Net' - the Beijing National Stadium, the hope of a medal for Sri Lanka will rest upon ace sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe.

Six athletes out of the eight who represent Sri Lanka have completed their events so far and Olympic bronze medalist Susanthika Jayasinghe and javelin thrower Nadeeka Lakmali are the only ones left in the Sri Lankan camp to make their presence for the first time at the Beijing Olympics.

Susanthika will be seen in action on Tuesday as she competes in the women's 200m heats in the morning commencing  9.10 am Sri Lanka time. Nadeeka will also take part in her event on Tuesday which starts at 9.00 am Sri Lanka time.

Susanthika Jayasinghe remains as the only and biggest hope of Sri Lanka in the Beijing Olympics. She became the first Olympic medalist from Sri Lanka after winning the bronze medal in the Women's 200 metres at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 clocking 22.28 seconds. Last year, Susanthika clinched the gold medal in the same event at the World Championships in Japan

Daniel Lee became the sixth competitor from the country to make a first round exit from the Olympic Games last Thursday when he clocked a personal best which was only enough to earn him the 6th place in the men's 50-metres Freestyle heats out of 97 competitors. The 18-year-old who received a wild card entry clocked 24.92 and bettered his entry time of 22.99  and finished fifth in heat number 6 before departing broken hearted.

The most considerable performance in the Sri Lankan camp so far belongs to weightlifter Chinthana Vidanage. Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medalist Chinthana Vidanage took part in the Men's 69kg Group C event on Monday. The 27-year old from Polonnaruwa restored some pride for the country with a creditable performance that three other Sri Lankan competitors failed to offer at the Games of the XXIXth Olympiad.Vidanage's feat is as winning an Olympic medal for what he achieved.

He had less than a month to prepare for the Games but he has set up three Sri Lanka records by lifting a total of 293 kg at the Gymnasium of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Vidanage's own Sri Lanka record for the total lifts in the weight category remained at 280 kg while his two lifts of 128 kg in the snatch and 165 kg in the clean and jerk also set new national marks.