Sports
The only drives in Cape Town
by Rex Clementine
It’s a pity that not many young men and women choose the sports desk when they join journalism. Page one often deals with miseries of the world while the back page mostly celebrates the achievements of mankind. And if you are lucky, cricket takes you to some of world’s costliest tourist destinations like Barbados in West Indies, Queenstown in New Zealand and Cape Town in South Africa.
Cape Town of all these places is special as that’s where South Africa play their New Year Test and the whole city is colourful with fireworks in the night and braais (a South African word for barbecue) and other food festivals around the city with all meat items from impala to crocodile to feast upon in the day time.
For all its fun, cricket in Cape Town can be tough. The hosts leave a thick cover of grass and play an all-seam attack making life difficult for batters. Some teams have Hardik Pandya as their fourth seamer and some teams have Chamika Karunaratne coming in as second change. But guess whom South Africans have got? Someone by the name of Jacques Kallis, with 292 Test wickets to his name. There’s simply no escape.
The Sri Lankan teams are quite capable of surviving trusting their technique against the short ball. But in cricket, survival is only part of the game. Run making is equally paramount. The cut is a high risk shot because of the extra bounce. The pull is an option but then the bowler has to err. You hardly find any ball that can be driven.
The slip cordon constantly reminds the batter that the only drive you are getting today is from the hotel to the ground. The sledging is relentless and the chances of you ending with a broken bone are relatively high. Cape Town Tests are a good distraction for reporters. Often Tests here are over in three days, once Sri Lanka lost here by an innings and 259 runs, at one point their heaviest in the history. Day four and day five are spent traveling around this stunning city.
Table Mountain is a popular destination. When you are young you climb the mountain and it takes about one hour and 20 minutes. As you grow older, you prefer the cable car. Table Mountain from the top is absolutely breathtaking. The ocean by one side and the city next to that is spectacular viewing. You can see famous wineyards like Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl and Robertson from here. Then the flora and fauna found here are totally unique and never seen before.
You can also visit Robben Island, a short boat ride from Cape Town.
What’s so special about this place, well that’s where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned with 3000 other political prisoners during the white rule in South Africa. Mandela was allowed one visitor per year for about 30 minutes. It’s quite a moving experience. You can visit Mandela’s cell and spend a few quiet moments reflecting about life. It’s a surreal experience. In all, Sri Lanka have played eight games in Cape Town and lost all but one, a T20. That’s why the girls’ performance in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in Cape Town has been quite stunning. While covering Sri Lankan men in Cape Town, you are left with lot of spare time, the girls have given you plenty to cheer about and very little breathing space having won two games inside three days. They are now just one win away from the semis. The women’s cricket team is on a cloud nine.
They started off with a giant killing performance beating hosts South Africa in the curtain- raiser of the tournament. Then they humbled Bangladesh on Sunday and have got lot of momentum behind them. The batters have been firing on all cylinders while the spinners have made life difficult with some disciplined bowling. The fielding though can make much improvement.
Sri Lanka now play Australia on Thursday in Port Elizabeth and New Zealand on Sunday in Paarl. If they win one of those games, they qualify for semis. Appropriately SLC yesterday announced a pay rise for women’s cricket. Accordingly, for each white ball game a player will get USD 750 whereas earlier they got only USD 250 each per game. There’s also a winning bonus of USD 250. However, much more needs to be done to develop women’s cricket.
If you take schools, while cricket is the number one sport in boys’ schools, girls’ schools give priority to netball, basketball and swimming and most schools don’t even play cricket. We’ve got a long way to go.
(Cricbuzz)
By A Special Sports Correspondent
All eyes will be on new entrants to rugby ‘Sri Lions Sports Club’ when they debut in the 2024/25 Inter-club league rugby tournament in Kandy on Sunday (December 15). Sri Lions are slated to take on last season’s league tournament runners-up Kandy Sports Club at the Nittawela grounds. Despite Sri Lions SC being new to domestic rugby, a thriller is expected; as the team is packed with players who are well drilled at training and the other reason being all players possess an IRB Level 1 qualification.
Sri Lions SC’s entry into division 1 rugby was not smooth. Many clubs opposed their promotion to the top league in the domestic tournament. Rugby sources told ‘The Island’ that despite the opposition shown by some clubs, Sri Lanka Rugby and other prominent sports authorities in Sri Lanka had to grant the new entrants their due place in the top league. This was largely because Sri Lions SC had made progress through the proper channel by winning the B Division rugby tournament last season.
Dr. Kelum Sujith Perera, the founder chairman of Sri Lions SC, was quoted in the newspapers saying that the club’s priority was centred around professionalism and transparency and that the club was committed to contributing to rugby development in Sri Lanka.
The club boasts of having in their line up comprising 12 former national players and a horde of talented ex-schoolboy players who have recently finished their academic commitments on a high.
The other matches scheduled for the first week of club rugby are: Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club vs CH&FC at Ratmalana (December 13), Army Sports Club vs Police Sports Club at Panagoda, Navy Sport Club vs Havelocks SC at Welisara (Both matches on December 14).
CR&FC will be one of the teams to watch this season given that they are the reigning league rugby champions. The side is led by Gemunu Chethiya. The club upgrading their stadium to have floodlight facilities should elevate player thinking to another level. The other club to offer floodlight facilities for domestic rugby matches is Havelocks SC. However CR will not have a match in the opening week of the tournament.
Last season’s league runners-up Kandy SC are led this season by seasoned scrum half Srinath Sooriyabandara who counts years of experience playing in domestic and overseas tournaments. The side is coached by Fazil Marija. Kandy SC’s dominance in domestic rugby was broken last season and much is expected of the side from Nittawela, which is going through a team building phase at present.
CH&FC is a dangerous side to play against when the team members are gelled and focused. Last season the side finished fourth. This season the Gymkhana Club is led by Janidu Dilshan.
Havelocks SC led by Abdullah Faiz is set to finish on a high this season. The Park Club finished third in the league rugby tournament last season. Police SC, which had to be satisfied winning the ‘Plate Championship’ in the league tournament last season, will be another strong contender vying for honours . The side is led for the second consecutive year by third row forward Mohan Wimalaratne.
The other sides in the tournament are Army SC, Air Force Sports Club and Navy Sport Club.
The tournament is conducted by Sri Lanka Rugby, the governing body for the sport in the island. Rugby sources reveal that an SGM has been called on December 20 for clubs to attend with the motive of announcing the date for the much looked forward to Annual General Meeting of SLR. According to International Rugby regulations, SLR has to have it’s AGM before January 31 next year.
SLTA Hard Court Nationals
Revaan Amarasinghe and Shennon Senadheera reached the Under 12 boys singles final as they edged out their semi-final opponents at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association Hard Court Tennis Nationals at the SLTA courts on Thursday.
Amarasinghe of S.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia beat Nuren Wevita 6-1, 6-1 in his semi-final.
In the other semi-final, Wesley’s Shannon Senadheera beat Yonal Dankumbura 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Results : Under 14 Boys quarter-final
Jayan Sebastian beat Buvidu Jayawardana 6-4, 6-3.
Damsath Peiris beat Thuvakar Sathiees 6-3, 6-4.
D. Wickramasinghe beat Umar Wayis 6-3, 6-1.
Under 18 Boys’ semi-final
Louis Knese beat Ganuka Fernando 6-4, 6-3
Women’s Singles quarter-final
Rukshika Wijesuriya beat Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Macron names centrist Bayrou as French PM in bid to end political instability
Bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border
Speaker of Parliament Asoka Ranwala resigns
-
News5 days agoSri Lanka’s first seven-star hotel ready for opening in 2025
-
Business4 days agoLaunching in Kandy of SL’s first seven-star hotel, valued at Rs. 9 billion
-
News7 days agoLocally produced superphosphate to be introduced next year to save foreign exchange
-
Opinion3 days agoFuture of SriLankan
-
Business7 days ago‘Hotel sector investment in tourism industry exceeding USD 15 billion despite facing stiff challenges’
-
Business4 days agoSri Lankan appointed Vice President, Global Rural Tourism Council
-
Business6 days agoHigh powered Japanese business team visits Hambantota Port
-
News4 days agoCourt to be moved against Ranil over loss of state funds