Sports
No regrets on turning down Test captaincy – Tilan Samaraweera
by Rex Clementine
These days, the trend seems to be that every Sri Lankan cricketer wants to be captain. After barely spending three years representing Sri Lanka, players tend to think that they are eligible to become captain. Being Sri Lanka’s captain seems to be the crown jewel in the sport at present. In the last T-20 Sri Lanka played, against Bangladesh in March, apart from captain Wanindu Hasaranga, there were five other players who had already captained Sri Lanka. However, time was when natural succession was the rule of the day.
Sri Lanka were in England in 2011 and with captain T.M. Dilshan injured and out of the third Test at Rose Bowl, the captaincy was offered to Tilan Samaraweera. In over 40 years of Test cricket, less than 20 men have captained the nation in Tests but Tilan turned down the ultimate honour.
“There was no vice-captain named before the team departed to England. Suddenly when the captain was injured it was offered to me. I wasn’t interested. I had captained Sri Lanka ‘A’ and SSC, but when it comes to the national team there was a natural line of succession. We knew when Sanath (Jayasuriya) was captain, next in line was Marvan (Atapattu) followed by Mahela (Jayawardene) and Kumar (Sangakkara). Being contemporaries with Kumar and Mahela, I had no chance to captain Sri Lanka, My time was over. I am fine with it,” Samaraweera told The Island.
The dynamics of Sri Lankan cricket was such at that time that a vice-captain may have not been named deliberately as the administration was content with ‘divide and rule’ policy.
Having played alongside Sanga and MJ, Tilan’s numbers often do not get the accolades they deserve. In 81 Tests he scored over 5400 runs at an average of 48 and he retired as nation’s sixth highest run scorer in Test match cricket.
Late Michael de Zoysa (bless him) doesn’t often get credit to his contributions to the game but Tilan has an interesting story. Having started as an off-spinner Tilan wasn’t going to make massive progress but he was given a break at SSC by de Zoysa.
“I was batting at number seven for SSC and Michael called me up and said now that Arjuna Ranatunga is retired, we want you to bat at five. Those were massive boots to fill. When Mahela was not available for SSC, Michael wanted me to bat at number four. As a result, big runs followed in domestic cricket and I was called up to the senior side as a specialist batter.”
It’s been a struggle for Sri Lankan cricket in the last decade with the team ranked in bottom half of ICC standing across all three formats. Tilan has had a stint as Sri Lanka’s batting coach and has an interesting theory.
“Current players are fitter than us. I don’t see lack of commitment or focus. They are immensely gifted too. But what they lack is game intelligence. That’s a huge part in international cricket,” he says.
“When I went on a tour to England in 2002, I was a reserve and had little playing opportunities. But I returned home with much knowledge. When you talk to the likes of Aravinda de Silva, Hashan TIllekeratne, Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu on how they see the game and adjust to situations, it was a massive learning experience.”
“Similarly, I played the first couple of seasons of domestic cricket for Colts and the learning curve at that stage of my career was massive.”
Tilan currently lives in Melbourne and he is contracted with Cricket Australia. He was the Assistant Coach of the Australian side that won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa this year.
Lionel Messi marked his record sixth World Cup appearance with his first hat-trick at a FIFA tournament as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 to open the defence of their global crown, he also became the joint highest scorer at World Cups with the feat.
The former 38-year-old forward thought he had opened the scoring in the eighth minute in Kansas City on Tuesday when he slotted home from close range, but the offside flag was raised.
The dream start to his record-setting appearance, which will be matched by Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal against DR Congo on Wednesday, was not to be denied for long though.
A trademark, mazy run was capped by a drive on the edge of the box from that famed left foot. The power too much for Algeria keeper Luca Zidane, son of World Cup winner with France, Zinidine.
Messi doubled his tally on the hour mark with a simple tap in from a rebound off the keeper following a drive from Alexis Mac Allister.
The moment that even a player as decorated as Messi came in the 76th minute when he drilled low past the keeper from just outside the box.
The strike took Messi level with former Germany striker Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals.
His substitution came just three minutes later to a standard ovation, even old maestro seemed disappointed to be removed – and most likely rested for Argentina’s tilt at becoming only the third side to defend a World Cup title.
Algeria – the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winners – offered little, but were themselves denied an early goal when Fares Chaibi’s ninth minute strike was ruled out for offside.
Messi saw to it that there was no opening game upset to be had tat this edition, having lost their opening game at Qatar 2022 to Saudi Arabia.
Messi, who spent the majority of his club career in Spain with Barcelona before moving to French giants Paris-Saint Germain, plys his trade in US football’s Major League Soccer with Inter Miami.
Jordan and Austria open their account in the group later on Tuesday in San Francisco.
[Aljazeera]
Iran twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with New Zealand in an exciting World Cup clash at Los Angeles Stadium as protests against Tehran’s government and a peace deal signed to end the US-Iran war formed a charged backdrop to the match.
High security presence and protests outside the venue were among the off-field concerns surrounding the match on Monday.
And when New Zealand took an early lead through Elijah Just’s volleyed shot from inside the box, after being set up by Chris Wood, some fans critical of the Iranian government celebrated with New Zealand supporters.
Many of these anti-regime spectators also carried Iran’s pre-Islamic Revolution Lion and Sun flag, against FIFA’s rules. Several also booed Iran’s national anthem before kickoff.
But most of the crowd of more than 70,000 appeared firmly behind Team Melli, chanting “Ir-ran! Ir-ran!” and erupting when Ramin Rezaeian equalised shortly after the half-hour mark.
Rezaeian, one of several Iran players who had not played club football since February after the domestic league was suspended amid US and Israeli air strikes, reacted quickest to a blocked shot and poked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper.
Wood and Just combined again early in the second half, the New Zealand captain sliding a precise pass into the 26-year-old forward’s path before Just hammered home to restore the All Whites’ lead.
Iran responded 10 minutes later with a superb goal from Mohammad Mohebbi, who headed Rezaeian’s perfect cross in off the far post to make it 2-2.
The stalemate means all the teams in Group G have one point after Belgium drew 1-1 with Egypt earlier on Monday.
New Zealand, making their third appearance at the tournament, remain without a win at a World Cup after seven matches. Iran are looking to reach the knockout round for the first time.
The match laid bare divisions among Iranian American fans, many of whom said they felt torn between pride at seeing Iran on the sport’s biggest stage, anger over Tehran’s crackdown on protesters and concern over Washington’s bombing campaign.
Before kickoff, about 300 to 500 protesters gathered outside the stadium, waving anti-government signs and flags.
Some Iranian Americans had said attending the match would imply support for Iran’s government, while others said they wanted to set politics aside and support the players.
Iran will next return to Los Angeles to face Belgium on Sunday when New Zealand take on Egypt in Vancouver.
[Aljazeera]
United States sprinter Noah Lyles has set the world’s best-ever time over the rarely-run 150 metres race, clocking 14.67 seconds at the Golden Spike meet in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava.
The 28-year-old Lyles on Tuesday beat the previous best of 14.72 set by Kishane Thompson of Jamaica in Florida in April.
At Ostrava, Lyles beat Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa with 14.78, while Australian teenager Gout Gout finished third in 14.96.
“Was there ever any doubt? Was there ever any doubt? We came for a show,” an elated Lyles told Czech TV.
Earlier this month, Lyles took a comfortable win at the Wanda Diamond League meet in Rome with a 9.88 in the 100m, his fastest since clinching gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The high-energy, anime-loving showman has had strong indoor and outdoor performances throughout the year so far, and was named on this year’s Time100 list of the most influential people.
Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol had to bow to in-form Swiss Audrey Werro in her outdoor debut in the 800m.
The 26-year-old Broeders-Bol has switched from 400m hurdles, in which she had won two world gold medals, and clocked an impressive 1 minute 57.13 seconds for second place.
“It was so cool, I love racing in Ostrava. It was tough, but I enjoyed it,” she said.
Broeders-Bol has also claimed multiple medals as the anchor leg in 4x400m relay teams, notably a gold in the mixed event in the Paris Olympics.
She ran her first 800m since 2017 in February, clocking a national record of 1 minute 59.07 seconds before withdrawing from the rest of the indoor season to nurse a foot injury.
The 22-year-old Werro won in 1 minute 54.45 seconds, half a second behind her personal best from March, after shedding Broeders-Bol with 200 metres to run.
“It was a really crazy run, but the time is very good, so I’m really happy,” Werro said.
Having set the eighth best time ever, she stayed over a second behind the oldest world record in athletics of 1:53.28 set in 1983 by Jarmila Kratochvilova of then-Czechoslovakia, who watched the race from the stands.
South Africa’s 20-year-old Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100m as he equalled his personal best of 9.94 seconds, beating Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon with 9.99 seconds.
US favourites Ronnie Baker and Jordan Anthony were demoted to the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, with times well over 10 seconds.
[Aljazeera]
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