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Rugby remembers Nizar Haji Omar

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By a Special Sports Correspondent

Domestic rugby in Sri Lanka kicked off three weeks ago and most of the top clubs are playing cohesive rugby and entertaining appreciative crowds that made it to the grounds. Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club (CR&FC) produced a surprise package in their encounter with Colombo Hockey & Football Club (CH&FC) to record a 27-22 win and keep alive hopes of doing well. The match was played for the Nizar Haji Omar Memorial Trophy and CR & FC did well to win the game and bring respect to the late Omar who was a rugby stalwart this Longden Place club produced.

In an era where the average individual can become a star overnight using social media outlets real heroes like Omar must be remembered and spoken of through our rugby fraternity. He passed away in 2009. Former CR&FC and Royal College player Jehan Canaga Retna writing about Omar in this newspaper, some years ago, rated him as a kind-hearted and respectful player who never lost his cool. Wow! That’s the stuff rugby players must be made of. Today we see more of self-centred players who are committed players alright, but they could learn much about human relations from the generations who played the game before them.

In life we get to see and meet people who have achieved much in a short period of time and also at a very young age. Omar was the youngest President CR & FC produced at age 36 and he was also the youngest SLRFU president; taking the hot seat at age 38. He was to be appointed life member of the SLRFU, but death came in the way. Perhaps nice people, who have to go fast, get the blessings of the Almighty and the nature to achieve their targets at a young age. He had been a successful career man and also a keen traveller and reveller. When this writer reads appreciations about the late Omar it is evident that he made it a point to enjoy life, where ever he was and both on and off the field. In the good old days rugby games were followed by socializing and this built much camaraderie among players; hence we rarely saw players leaving a ‘nest’ which nurtured them. Players were not paid for their availability and commitment. Instead players were willing to sweat to maintain their reputation and names which they worked on like nurturing a child.

This piece about him would not be complete if we didn’t say that Omar represented Sri Lanka at rugby from 1966-74 and captained the national side in 1969. He was also the president of the SLFRU when Sri Lanka won the ‘Bowl’ competition at the famed Hong Kong Sevens in 1984; a feat which has to date not been emulated by any Sri Lankan side. He played for the Red Shirts alongside players like Dushyantha Samarasekare, Bumpy Jayasekera, Sari de Sylva, Eric Roles, Mohan Sahayam, Tony Sirimanne, Regi Bartholameusz, Didacus de Almeda, Kamal Ratnapala and Ajith Abeyratne.

During these Covid days we also lost some rugby players of repute like Chandrishan Perera, Ibrahim Hamid, Gamini Fernando Shyam Sideek, Kamal Jayawardene, Iswan Omar and Vajira Jayatilake and the rugby fraternity misses them while remembering their contributions to the game.

Coming back to the game a young CR&FC side had done well to record a memorable win where the difference in score was an unconverted try. It would have been hard for the CH side to stomach the defeat given that the Maitland Crescent side is buying the best players and also has the influence of elite members of the family clan who are the decision makers of this country.

After major layoff from the game Kandy Sports Club too has returned to the field and maintains its winnings ways. Last week it got the better of Navy Sports Club (35-30) in a close game where the ‘Sailors’ came back fighting in the second half. The Nittawela Club is a hot prospect in the league rugby tournament and it has the player resources in the likes of Bawantha Udangamuwa, Buddhima Piyaratne, Jason Dissanayake, Roshan Weeraratne, Lavanga Perera, Danush Dayan and Skipper Nigel Ratwatte to take them a long way this season. The professional environment they train in make the players committed to the game and raise their game to the next level. In the hills up here in Kandy no king on the hill is assured of his place because there are other hungry ‘wolves’ climbing up the hill and wanting ‘the life of a rugby player’.

Havies, also known as the Park Club, is another team knocking on the door this season to be considered as a winning outfit. It did well to down the ‘Soldiers’ 36-14 and much is expected of this side led by Shenal Deelaka. Air Force Sports Club is also there with much fire power and did remarkably well in their January 29th game against CR & FC where they recorded a handsome 19-11 win. The captain of the side Nuwan Perera, the scrum half, is expected to marshal the side. The other side that can spring some surprises this season is Navy Sports Club which has some dedicated and tough as nails players.

On the financial side of the tournament Sri Lanka Rugby had to start the tournament sans a sponsor because negotiations with Dialog Axiata PLC didn’t reach the stage of inking an agreement and having a working document in terms of a sponsorship deal. The president of SLR Rizly Illyas received the approval of the council members to go ahead with the tournament without a sponsor. All this goes on to prove that the club rugby structure in Sri Lanka is strong and can survive a ‘journey on rough sea’.



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South Africa receive heroes’ welcome home

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The victorious South African team return home with the WTC mace (Cricinfo)

Everyone loves a winner, as was clear at Johannesburg’s  Tambo International Airport where South Africa returned as World Test Champions on Wednesday morning.

The squad were received by the country’s sports minister, Gayton McKenzie, and swathes of people from across South African society. In attendance were groups of children from the KFC’s Mini Cricket programme – the largest grassroots development initiative in the country – students from some of the players’ former schools, such as Aiden Markram’s Pretoria Boys High School, and family members like Wiaan Mulder’s brother.

The players signed autographs, received flowers and hugs and strutted around in custom made “champions” t-shirts before making their way to Cricket South Africa’s offices in the north of the city where they were welcomed with a brass band and a red carpet. Almost 96 hours after their five-wicket triumph over Australia in the WTC final, the magnitude of what they have achieved is starting to sink in.

“It is quite overwhelming. We haven’t seen people like that at the airport before,” Temba Bavuma , South Africa’s captain said at a press conference afterwards. “As players, you don’t really realise what you’ve done but when you start to interact with people and see the emotion, it gives you a proper insight into what we’ve done. We are proud as a team but we are even more happy and proud that we’ve made our people proud. If you look at this team and the guys at the helm, we have done it the proper South African way. That’s unique to this group. We have embraced everything that it means to be South African.”

With a home grown coach in Shukri Conrad and a largely unheralded group of players, Bavuma’s words spoke to the way the South African team pulled together throughout the cycle and in the final. They had nine different Players of the Match in 2023-25 and 15 different players either scored a century or took a five-for in what has been hailed as a true team effort and a unified showing after years of underperformance. For Bavuma, it showed that there is always a way, not just for sportspeople but for everyone.

“What we’ve achieved speaks to all budding cricketers out there, and individuals within South Africa,” he said. “As a team, we’ve got a story. It hasn’t been a simple or easy one. We’ve come through a lot but we managed to get to where we are. So similarly for them (ordinary people) on their quest and journey, for what they want to achieve: as long as they keep having that passion and keep pushing they can also achieve what people think is unachievable.”

For 27 years, South Africa have been without an ICC trophy and in that time regularly slipped at the semi-final hurdle. The 1999 ODI World Cup,   where South Africa tied the game but could not advance to the final because Australia finished higher on the Super Six points table, has long been a sore point but the 2015 and 2023 ODI World Cup semis and 2024 T20 World Cup final  also stung. It’s because of those failures that the WTC win is magnified, as one of South Africa’s greatest sporting achievements. “This is huge for South African cricket,” Enoch Nkwe, Director of National Teams and High Performance said. “This is huge for South African cricket and the impact it will have for generations to come. We’ve taken a lot of punches but we’ve never bent our backs. We stayed strong.”

Nkwe, who was appointed in July 2022, put in place the coaching structure which included Conrad, who in turn appointed Bavuma as captain. Conrad will now also take over the white-ball sides until the end of the ODI World Cup in 2027. There is particular expectation around that tournament, not least because of the history documented above, but also because the event will be hosted in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Bavuma is also South Africa’s ODI captain and has already spoken of his hope for the event to come.

“We want to carry on with the momentum we’ve gained,” he said. “We are quietly optimistic as to what can happen in the white-ball space. We see no reason as to why we can’t emulate what we’ve done here. We are more optimistic than anything. We had a little conversation about it. Shukri’s mind is always ticking. He lets you know that there’s always some sort of work you need to do.”

That tournament is more than two years away, in which time there will be an entire WTC cycle and a T20 World Cup. Eyes will be on South Africa for all of them, especially as their next Tests include matches in Pakistan and India and home series against England and Australia in 2026. They believe they’ve laid the foundation to be successful in these contests but no-one can begrudge them celebrating the first world title for a little bit longer, as Bavuma suggested they would.

“For now, it’s for us to embrace what we’ve done, to take it all in, understand what led us to this point and live in that moment for a little bit longer,” Bavuma said. “Then, I think the beauty of international cricket is that there’s always something else waiting. Once we get over our emotions, it will be what is the next thing? There’s the Zimbabwe tour, and the start of the new Test cycle. We will be setting our eyes on what we want to achieve over there. There is always something we are working towards. It’s a legacy we want to put together as a team. It’s not done now, but for now it’s for us to enjoy what the moment has brought us.”

South Africa will have several fan engagements in the next few days before a two-Test series against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, which starts on June 28. The series is not part of the WTC.

(Cricinfo)
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Nissanka leads SL’s strong start in response to Bangladesh’s 495

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Pathum Nissanka pulls to the leg side [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka took a shade under 15 minutes to wrap up the Bamgladesh innings on the third morning in Galle, and then made a brisk start in running down the visitors’ total of 495. Sri Lanka did that by keeping a run rate of touch under four.

Pathum Nissanka (46) and Dinesh Chandimal (22) had put on unbeaten stand of 53 by the lunch break, while the deficit had been trimmed down to 395. The only blip for the hosts was the loss of  Lahiru Udara for a 34-ball 29, after he had chipped a leading edge back to Taijul Islam. The 31-year-old had impressed on his debut up until that point, scoring six boundaries in his brief stay.

Sri Lanka set the tone for their innings from the off, with neither pacer safe in the early exchanges. Both Hasan Mahmud and express Nahid Rana – his pace was consistently in the low to mid 140s – being punished for any errors in line and length. Udara’s drives on the up were a particular highlight, and he will be kicking himself at not making more of this opportunity.

Nissanka, who had taken a back seat during the early exchanges, became more proactive following Udara’s dismissal, though Bangladesh will feel like they gave a few too many loose deliveries.

For instance, Nissanka’s three boundaries off Taijul all came against ones that had been dropped shorter. It served as a pressure release valve, one Sri Lanka would have been grateful for with Taijul otherwise doing well in varying his pace on a surface that had begun to show starting signs of assistance for spin.

The six-foot off spinner Nayeem Hasan, meanwhile, was the most expensive of the bowlers going for 16 in his three overs, though his extra height – and the bounce he derived from that – had caused some issues to the batters.

Off just his third delivery he got one to spit back past Nissanka’s inside edge on to his back pad, and then later on had Chandimal edging a drive past slip. But chances like that were few and far between, as Sri Lanka’s batters had it mostly their own way.

Earlier in the day, Asitha had got Rana to glove a loose ball down leg side as Bangladesh’s innings was brought to a swift close. The visitors had added 11 runs to their overnight total. Asitha finished with innings best figures of 4 for 86.

Brief scores: Day 3 Lunch
Sri Lanka 100 for 1 (Pathum Nissanka 46*, Lahiru Udra 29, Dinesh Chandimal 22*, Taijul Islam 1-34) trail Bangladesh 495 in 153.4 overs (Monimul Haque 29, Mushfiqur  Rahim 163, Najmul Hossain Shanto 148, Litton Das 90, Asitha Fernando 4-86, Milan Rathnayake 3-39, Tharindu Rathnayake 3-196) by 395 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Sri Lanka strike back after tea in first Test

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Asitha Fernando, who was down with viral fever and recovered just in time for the Test match, bowled his heart out and claimed the big wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto hammered authoritative centuries as Bangladesh piled on the runs in the first Test against Sri Lanka, finishing day two on a commanding 484 for nine, despite a few late breakthroughs by the hosts at the Galle International Stadium yesterday.

The tourists resumed on their overnight score of 292 for three and turned the screws on a wilting Sri Lankan attack on a docile surface tailor-made for batting, with their fourth-wicket pair grinding the bowlers into submission in a record stand.

Shanto, elegant and unflustered, reached a majestic 148 before falling against the run of play – deceived in the air and driving early, only to be spectacularly plucked out of thin air by Angelo Mathews diving full-stretch at mid-off. That dismissal broke a monumental 264-run partnership with Mushfiqur, a stand that turned the tide after Bangladesh had slumped to 45 for three in the opening session on Tuesday.

While Shanto drove fluently and pierced the infield with precision – his innings peppered with 15 boundaries and a six – Mushfiqur dropped anchor with a masterclass in attritional batting. Stonewalled for nearly nine hours, the veteran soaked up 350 balls for his 163, nudging and nurdling his way while keeping the scoreboard ticking and the bowlers gasping for breath.

His dismissal – adjudged leg-before to Asitha Fernando – was reviewed in vain, a marginal call that stayed with the on-field umpire. Asitha, who recovered after being down with viral fever just before the Test, was low on pace, but gave his best bowling his bouncers and yorkers with precision.

Wicketkeeper Litton Das added further gloss to the Bangladesh innings with a brisk 90 off 123 deliveries, cashing in on tired bowlers and some charitable fielding. He was particularly severe on the spinners, using his feet to good effect and lifting the ball cleanly over the infield.

But Das survived some anxious moments. On 14, Pathum Nissanka grassed a catch at short mid-wicket. Moments earlier, a mix-up left both batters stranded at the striker’s end – only for Sri Lanka to botch the run-out with the throw aimed at the wrong end and Kusal Mendis fumbling the take.

Das eventually perished attempting an audacious reverse sweep off debutant Tharindu Ratnayake, gloving it to Mendis behind the stumps.

With rain interrupting play shortly after lunch, only 61 overs were bowled on day two, as persistent drizzle forced an early tea and fading light ended proceedings prematurely. Play will resume 15 minutes early on Thursday to compensate for the lost time.

Rex Clementine in Galle

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