Sports
Remembering ‘Spirit of Cricket’ when it suits you
by Rex Clementine
The Prime Ministers of United Kingdom and Australia have been drawn into the debate of ‘Spirit of Cricket’ after England wicketkeeper Johnny Bairstow was stumped by his opposite number Alex Carey in the recent Lord’s Test. There was uproar after the incident as MCC members reacted angrily in the Long Room towards the Australian players and three of them had been suspended with MCC issuing an unreserved apology to the Australian team.
Politicians joining cricket debates is nothing new. We had a brilliant Foreign Minister in Lakshman Kadirgamar whose ‘shopping is for sissies’ comment created quite a stir in Australia in 1995. He was invited by the Australian Foreign Minister to his hometown in Adelaide to watch a game involving Sri Lanka and Australia and Kadirgamar returned home by telling the diplomat that ‘Australia had won by a hair’. This was during the height of the chucking controversy with umpire Darrel Hair amidst thick of things.
The cricketing world is deeply divided with the Aussies insisting that they had played by the Laws of cricket while the English have been reminding them that same old Aussies are always cheating. A couple of former England captains such as David Gower and Michael Atherton have spoken sense by saying they had no problems with the dismissal.
England Head Coach Brendon McCullum, however, feels that the appeal should have been withdrawn by Australia’s captain as it was contrary to Spirit of Cricket.
There was this Test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Christchurch’s old cricket ground – Lancaster Park – when last man Muttiah Muralitharan stepped out of the crease after completing a run to congratulate Kumar Sangakkara, who had reached three figures. McCullum, the New Zealand wicketkeeper took the bails off and appealed as the ball wasn’t dead. Murali was given out and there was quite a bit of bad blood between the teams from thereon. McCullum did apologize a few years after the incident during his MCC Cowdrey Lecture, but by then he had done the same on a few other instances as well and no one was talking about Spirit of Cricket on those instances.
Guess who has joined the debate? Stuart Broad, the man who edged to first slip and still wouldn’t walk. He wants no harm to be done to the Spirit of Cricket.
England is a terrific place to travel and their fans generally are a good sport. But their cricket team when things don’t go theire way tend to harp on ‘Spirit of Cricket’.
In this instance of Bairstow’s dismissal, the stumping happened less than a second after the ball had reached the gloves of the wicketkeeper and the batsman had no business to wander around.
It’s been sloppy cricket by England. They were the ones who declared on day one of the first Test with Joe Root on a hundred. Since then, they have been playing catch up and if not for the Bairstow dismissal could have gone onto square the series chasing down the big 371 run target. Eventually, they lost by 43 runs. They are trailing 2-0 because they have played sloppy cricket and not because Australia played the game in poor spirit.
91st Battle of the Saints
St. Joseph’s hold the edge when they meet arch rivals St. Peter’s in the 91st Battle of the Saints’ big match starting today. After having beaten Petes by nine wickets in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ quarter-final at Polonnaruwa the Joes arive at the SSC ground to prove that the victory registered two months ago was not a fluke.
St. Joseph’s captained by wicketkeeper batsman Kenath Liyanage are concluding a successful season after having remained unbeaten until they were eliminated in the semi-final by St. Sebastian’s .
A strong batting lineup and a dynamic spin department are making them a formidable outfit.
Experienced campaigner Yenula Dewthusa and Demion de Silva with their left-arm spin and Aveesha Samash and Nushan Perera with off spin provide the Joes variety in the spin department. Dewthusa, Demion de Silva and Nushan Perera are their leading wicket takers. Spinners doing well at schools matches have not been effective at the SSC during the last few big matches. It will be interesting to watch as to how the spinners in these two teams would fare during the three days.
For pace the Joes will look to Maanasa Madubashana and Dunick Perera who are expected to share the new ball.
Abishek Jayaweera and Aveesha Samash will open batting, while Senuja Wakunugoda, skipper Liyanage, Dewthusa and Rishma Amarasinghe form the rest of the top order batting lineup.
St. Joseph’s registered three outright victories this season (beat St. Servatius’, St. Benedict’s and St. Peter’s) and remained unbeaten.
St. Peter’s under Oween Salgado’s captaincy did well to reach the business end of the Tier ‘A’ tournament. But the Petes were uncertain of Salgado’s participation in the big match as they were yet to assess his fitness yesterday morning. He was wounded during a match and the stitched wound had not fully healed according to team sources.
Petes beat Gurukula, St. Aloysius’ and Holy Cross this season. Their only defeat was at the hands of their arch rivals. They will look forward to avenge the defeat at the big match.
The Petes will rely on the likes of Dilana Damsara, Thareen Sanketh, Nathan David and Jason Fernando to take a greater share of batting responsibilities. The middle order batsman Sanketh is their leading batsman and has maintained an average of over 50 runs.
Speedsters Ethan Ransilige and Joshua Sebastian will share new ball duties for the Petes.
Lashmika Perera and Sanketh will share most of the slow ball duties.
St Peter’s are in the possession of the coveted Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc Trophy having last won the big match under the captaincy of Vinu Mohotty in 2016.
St. Joseph’s lead the series tally 12-10. They last won under Ruwantha Fernandopulle’s captaincy in 2008.
St. Peter’s College Team
(Seated from left) Harsha Prabath Perera (Asst. Physio/Trainer & Massuer), Thushara Maduhanka (1st XI Asst. Coach),
Nalin Wijesinghe (Head Coach), Priyadarshana Cooray (MIC – Senior & Junior), Oween Salgado (Captain), Rev. Fr.
Rohitha Rodrigo (Rector), Rev. Fr. Praveen Wijesekara (Priest in Charge – Cricket), Lashmika Perera
(Vice Captain), Dilana Damsara, Rohan Fernando (MIC – 2nd XI), Dinuka D. Godakanda (2nd XI Coach).
(Standing 1st row from left) Dinsara Rathnaweera, Dineth de Silva, Tharin Senvidu, Nathan David, Hiruka Silva, Thareen
Sanketh, Virul Amarapala, Yatheendra Jayaweera, Salith Gallage, Raphael Hettige. (Standing 2nd row from left) Jason Fernando,
Joshua Sebastian, Savi Fernnado, Ethan Ransilige, Asadisa De Silva, Sadeesha Kariyawasam, Enosh Peterson
by Reemus Fernando
120th Lovers’ Quarrel
The stakeholders of the Lovers’ Quarrel Big Match were still pursuing to make the historic 120th edition a reality on the eve of the match after Richmond authorities threatened to pull out citing that Mahinda had violated an accepted norm by included a newly recruited player in the big match team.
The historic edition was scheduled to commence as a three day encounter at the Galle International Stadium today. But the match remained doubtful at the time this edition went to press. The officials of both teams were unavailable for comments on the eve of the match. According to sources close to the two teams the joint big match committee was scheduled to meet in the evening yesterday to take a final decision regarding the match.
Richmond threatened to pull out after Mahinda included Charya Paranavithana in their big match team. Paranavithana captained St. Aloysius’ this season. He is not eligible to play matches that come under the purview of Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association as he is yet to be registered as a Mahinda player. Big Matches are not played according to SLSCA rules but Richmond authorities had raised concerns over the player registration citing that the two schools had honoured the norm even at the big match.
According to sources Richmond were threatening to pull out if Paranavithana’s name was included in the playing XI on the match day morning.
Mahinda concluded a highly successful season as the team captained by Kaveen Rukshan earned the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ promotion this year. They were also the joint champions of the Tier ‘B’ tournament with Thurstan. In contrast former Division I champions Richmond had to fight relegation scares. The team captained by Thamindu Pradeeptha later successfully retained their Tier A position by recording an outright victory.
Mahinda College Team
Seated left to right: T.D. Ajantha Kumara (Head Coach), Y. Nishantha Kumara (Master in Charge – Senior), L. P. Weeraman (Deputy Principal –
Sports), Kaveen Rukshan (Captain), Mr. Janaka Peduruheva (Principal), Arosha Udayanga (Vice Captain), Mr. M.W. Ajith (Prefect of Games), Mr.
Jagath Samarakoon (Master in charge – Junior), Mr. Sachith Lakmal (Asst. Coach)
Standing (Middle row) – left to right – Dineth Pahasara, Thiyon Helika, Vinupa Nethmira, Sahanjith Irugalbandara, Dulisth Darshana, Senuka
Dangamuwa, Sadew Nethmina, Manitha Rajapaksha, Vishmitha Sathsara, Charya Paranavithana, Randula Mabarana
Standing (Back row) – left to right – Sajeew Punsara, Sehas Ashinsa, Kaveesha Githmal, Thevindu Rashmika
by Reemus Fernando
CR & FC huffed and puffed before beating Havelocks Sports Club 25-24 in a keenly contested Clifford Cup semi final game worked off in Colombo yesterday before booking their berth in Sunday’s rugby final, scheduled to take place in Kandy.
In Sunday’s final, CR will meet Kandy SC, the winner of the first semi final.
CR dominated the first half, but Havies came from behind in the second half to be in contention of pulling the game off till the last minute. Havelocks’ chances were boosted with two powerful tries coming from Chathura Dilshan late in the second half. But unpardonable mistakes by the men in the pink and chocolate jerseys helped CR to slip away with the game. Havelocks gave away two yellow cards during extra time in the second half.
The winners collected their points through three tries, two conversions and two penalties while Havelocks responded with three converted tries and a penalty. The winners led 15-10 at half time. Referee Raveen Alexander controlled the game.
By A Special Sports Correspondent
PM underscores the outstanding universal value of Anuradhapura’s Living Heritage at International Expert Conference in Paris
Deshabandu Tennakoon further remanded until April 10
President appoints committee to submit recommendations to the Government on the new US tariff system
-
Sports5 days agoSri Lanka’s eternal search for the elusive all-rounder
-
News4 days agoBid to include genocide allegation against Sri Lanka in Canada’s school curriculum thwarted
-
News6 days agoGnanasara Thera urged to reveal masterminds behind Easter Sunday terror attacks
-
Sports21 hours agoTo play or not to play is Richmond’s decision
-
Business7 days agoAIA Higher Education Scholarships Programme celebrating 30-year journey
-
News5 days agoComBank crowned Global Finance Best SME Bank in Sri Lanka for 3rd successive year
-
Features5 days agoSanctions by The Unpunished
-
Features5 days agoMore parliamentary giants I was privileged to know