SRI LANKA SPORTS NEWS AT-A-GLANCE

Compiled by Dinesh Weerawansa

Thursday 05, March 1998


* It could turn out to be one of the 'hottest cricket contest off the field' when the annual general meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka will be held on March 29. With the nominations due to close on March 6, the board elections should turn out to be an interesting affair with the Minister of Sports S.B. Dissanayake giving permission for member clubs and associations to be present and to vote at the AGM.

Thilanga Sumathipala, a vice president of the Cricket Board has put himself forward as a candidate to contest the post of president. He is expected to vie with a former Board President who is also a key figure in the business circles. There are three ex-Sri Lanka cricketers who are tipped to contest for some key posts in the board ex-co.

* Maris Stella College Negombo routed Gurukula MV Kelaniya by an innings and 13 runs in their inter school cricket encounter played at Negombo. Maris Stella, batting first, made a healthy 309 for 7 declared with useful contributions coming from K.Bulathsinghala 92, M.Fernando 52 n.o and C.Gunawardena 36. H.Dilruk 3 for 73 and I.Nirosha 3 for 52 excelled in bowling for the visitors.

Gurukula made only 115 in the first innings (R.Prasad 25, K.de Croos 5 for 16, C.Gunawardena 4 for 38). When they were forced to follow on, Gurukula fared much better but their total of 181 all out (H.Dilruk 40, H.Nilantha 37, K.de Croos 3 for 44, L.Anthony 3 for 53, D.Gunawardena 2 for 27) was not sufficient to avert follow on.

* Sri Lanka made a clean sweep of the mini two-Test series against Zimbabwe early this year, but the most worrying factor to emerge out of these victories is, how long can they sustain such success with their limited bowling resources. This will the biggest problem which Arjuna Ranatunga and his team face when they open their maiden Test tour of South Africa which starts with a three-day game against Transvaal in Johannesburg on Saturday.

While the four key Sri Lanka pacemen on tour - Chaminda Vaas, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Sajeeva de Silva and Pramodya Wickremasinghe should try to make maximum use of bouncy wickets there, their batsmen should quickly get adjusted to the conditions before the two-Test series against South Africa which begins in Cape Town on March 19.

* The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has confirmed that Sri Lanka will be the third Team taking part at the 1998/99 World Series Cup limited over tournament which will be worked off between Australia Ashes home series against England.

Sri Lanka cricket team is due to tour Australia later this year to take part in the three-nation World Series Cup tournament. This will be the first time that Sri Lanka will be touring Australia after winning the World Cup in 1996, where they incidently beat Australia by seven wickets in Lahore, Pakistan. When Sri Lanka last played in the World Series Cup in 1995/96, they emerged runners up losing to Australia 0-2 in the best-of-three final.

* The BCCI confirmed in New Delhi that India will host a three-nation limited over tournament next month. An official of the Indian board said they have finalised all arrangements for the triangular tournament which also features Australia and Zimbabwe.

The tournament will take place after India's home Test series against Australia which begins in Madras on Friday. India will take on Australia in the 'curtain raiser' of the three-nation tournament on April 1 in Cochin. Zimbabwe will play their first match against Australia on April 3 in Ahmedabad. The other matches are:

April 5: India v Zimbabwe at Baroda

April 7: Australia v India at Kanpur

April 9: India v Zimbabwe at Cuttack

April 11: Australia v Zimbabwe at Faridabad

April 14: Final at New Delhi.

Vidyartha pile up 352/7

by our Kandy south group cor. S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen

Two fine knocks by the Ranaweera Cousins _ Daminda and Sarath put Vidyartha College on top in their inter school cricket match against Carey College, Colombo which began at Police Grounds, Kandy yesterday. The match will be continued today at 9.30 a.m.

Daminda Ranaweera scored his maiden and chanceless ton in school cricket and had 16 hits to the ropes and two over it and put on 107 for the fourth wicket with G.R. Jayakody (38). Sarath Ranaweera in an aggressive mood scored a quick 58 not out with 8 fours and was associated in a stand of 67 for the seventh wicket with S.I. Nanayakkara (29).

Carey had replied with 52 for 2.

Vidyartha College 352 for 7 decl. in 75 overs (K.G. Ranjith 16, S.S.K. Hewawitharne 26, Daminda Ranaweera 126, D. Wanasinghe 12, G.R. Jayakody 38, Sarath Ranaweera 58 not out, S.I. Nanayakkara 29, H. Nanayakkara 11 not out, T. Zuhair 2 for 42).

Carey College 52 for 2 in 18 overs (V. Bandara 31 not out, S.I. Nanayakkara 2 for 14). Wesley - 243/6

A fine innings of 85 by Prasad Amarasekera enabled Wesley College to pile up 243 for 6 wickets before they declared in their inter-school cricket match against Nalanda which began at Campbell Park yesterday. Nalanda in reply had scored 92 for 4 wickets by the close.

Chief scores:

Wesley 243 for 6 dec. in 67 overs (Prasad Amarasekara 85, Nalin Balasuriya 34, Dharshika Jayakody 33, Indika Ranasinghe 28, D. Medagedara 13, Musadiq Zainudeen 22, D. Dayaratne 2 for 54, Dilan Jayasundara 2 for 56).

Nalanda 92 for 4 wickets in 28 overs (Asitha de Silva 25, Sanjaya Rodirgo 22, Dilan Jayasundara 13 n.o., Musadiq Zainudeen 2 for 35).

STC 'A' trounced Wesley by innings

by Ananda Kannangara

S.Thomas' College 'A' trounced Wesley 'A' by an innings and 100 runs in their inter school cricket match played at Mount Lavinia recently.

S. Thomas' 'A' 236 for 9 in 66 overs. (Mohamed Hassan 54, Harshana Jayawardene 50, Eshan Mendis 37, Imran Hameed 27, Dilshan Gunawardena 22, S.Berk 6 for 72, T.Peiris 3 for 61)

Wesley 'A': 54 in 36.4 overs (P.Chandrasekera 27, I. Maharoof 13, Sudarshan John 3 for 3, Asela Paranavidana 3 for 8) and 82 in 43.3 overs. (T.Nonis 19, K.Rodrigo 17, N. Alahakoon 15, Gihan Dedigama 3 for 17, S.John 3 for 6)

Taxila Central - four victories

Taxila Central College Horana defeated C.W.W. Kannangara Matugama by four wickets, S.Thomas' Gurutalawa by ten wickets, Siri Piyaratna MV Padukka by an innings and 38 runs and Henry Olcott MV Kolonnawa by nine wickets in four inter school cricket matches worked off recently.


Source: The Daily News

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Date-stamped : 05 Mar1998 - 11:01