Late City Edition Tuesday 15th July, 2008 15

by Trevor Chesterfield , Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, fitness. It is followed by pre- ers for specialist coaching on Mubarak ravinda de Silva's eyes and Badulla region. Aravinda sentations in the skills of bat- Sunday morning. A squad of light up when he talks also enlisted the help of for- ting, pace and spin 28 elite players was selected Aengagingly about his mer international player and fielding. for specialist work with the to lead coaching programme. Kumar Dharmasena and for- Day two (Saturday), starts national coaches; the remain- It's not too surprising mer 'A' Coach Stan with a warm up session, fol- ing 37 schoolboys were put either how the former mercu- Nell. lowed by four one and a half through a comprehensive Sri Lanka skills session aimed at improv- ing their skills and knowledge Board XI of the game, with provincial coaches Sunil Fernando and Bernard Perera. against Aravinda's coaching As in the first two clinics, Sunday's specialist session was designed to identify and India select the best seven players at the clinic. will lead a Sri What this has highlighted Lanka Board XI in plans aid youth policy is that the their three-day fix- Foundation, with the ture against India at the Nondescripts rial batsman, who excited a Cricket Club start- Jehan Mubarak generation of spectators ing July 18. The throughout the world, is doing match will be India's what others merely talk about, only warm-up game before 2007 resulted in his exclusion by setting up a programme the three-Test series against from the Test and ODI teams. that is the thrust of his Sri Lanka. Tharanga Paranavitana Aravinda de Silva Cricket The 12-man squad and Sachithra Senanayake, Foundation and supported by includes four players who are the two Sinhalese Sports Club the drinks group Coca-Cola in likely to figure in the Test (SSC) players, have been cho- their Cricket Pathway Clinic. squad - fast bowlers Dilhara sen as reserves. Paranavitana 'We have barely scratched Fernando and Chanaka led SSC to the Premier the surface, but what talent we Welagedera and batsmen League Championship title, have discovered so far is good and Upul and was the top-scorer in the for the future of the game,' is Tharanga. The match will be 2007-08 season with 893 runs how he explains the work the especially significant for at 74.41. Offspinner first clinics achieved. Tharanga, who is on a come- Senanayake has taken 65 As he points out, it is why back trail after a ordinary from 12 first-class selection of top players from run of form since the start of matches at 16.69. past camps with scholarships helps to give them the best Squad: Mahela Udawatte, , Jehan Mubarak (capt), coaching available within Sri , Chamara Silva, Thilina Kandamby, Kaushal Lanka Cricket and create a Silva (wk), Chanaka Welagedera, Sujeewa Silva, Dammika Prasad, and . foundation that will help Reserves: Tharanga Paranavitana and Sachithra Senanayake. improve and add depth to the game at Under-19 level. Plans for camp four of the ambitious foundation, in its first active year, are well No Overage players for advanced and will be held in Galle in the first weekend of September. A team of coaches Japan at Olympics has already inspected the Japan will not be international venue in Galle Aravinda de Silva shows a group of young cricketers how it’s done. taking any overage where it will be held from players to the 2008 September 5 to 7. The academy's carefully hour sessions of individual aid of the Coca-Cola Cricket Beijing Olympics De Silva conducted the designed programme puts assessments including video, Pathway Programme again after Yasuhito Endo third in the series of clinics schoolboys through their in , bowling, fielding, conducted a strong cricket was ruled out of the planned as part of the acade- paces in all aspects of the and a complete physical camp aimed at finding and tournament due to ill- my's exercise recently in game. First is a fitness test, assessment. giving an opportunity to ness. Kandy with a group of four- which consists of the standard By the end of the Saturday young players with ability, a Olympic team teen senior coaches from SLC. beep test; this consists of a 20 afternoon session, Aravinda chance in the future, to play coach Yasuharu The clinic was attended by 65 metre shuttle run designed to and his coaching staff had a for Sri Lanka. Sorimachi had been of the best schoolboys in the gauge an individual's physical meeting to select the best play- hoping to call upon the senior "It is a pity but this cannot team star and Gamba Osaka be helped," Sorimachi told lynchpin but the midfielder reporters. "Endo is the one was hospitalized by illness last who is feeling pity most." Threesome off to Thailand week. "Our team has been built Japan have been grouped through our efforts for the last for U-15 soccer tourney with the Netherlands, USA two years," he added. by Russell Palipane and Nigeria in China and "I hope we can play some Sorimachi is sure that his good football at the Olympics. M. S. M. Rimzan, M. R. M. Rimaz and M. Nadeen of team can perform well even The coach will announce his Hameed Al Husseinie College, Colombo have been without the experienced stars. final squad on Monday. selected to represent Sri Lanka Schools Under-15 at the 3rd Asian Schools Under-15 football tournament to be held in Thailand from July 14 to 24. The threesome were members of the college team which emerged champions at the All Island Schools Under-15 tournament organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Football Federation and the Under-15 Invitation Football tournament organised by Zahira College, Gampola. The college team was captained by Nadeen while From L-R: Rimzan, Rimaz and Nadeen Rimzan was his deputy.

by Trevine Rodrigo in In fairness to all con- turns to night, there is an labelling it as “Two minute In contrast, countries Mendis Ganguly Melbourne cerned, the standoff could uneasy feeling among tradi- noodles. Bang, bang and its like Australia have made As predicted, the mon- have been avoided or over- tionalists that it will bring over,” he famously said at significant inroads to pro- ster that is the IPL has come if simple logic had with it, fatal repercussions its inception. vide its players with oppor- Mendis a threat, but we will reared its head to challenge been applied at the signifi- for one form of the existing tunities to receive training every cricketer worth his cant stage where players game. Ranatunge’s worry was in various fields, including salt to stand up and pro- were signed up for IPL Sri Lanka led the way quite rightly about the in the media so they have read him soon: Ganguly claim loyalty to country duties. Specifics should by wisely going into dam- unsavoury aspects associat- an area to fall back on after over the lure of filthy lucre. have been underlined in age control foreseeing what ed with cricket’s exciting they have wound up their ri Lanka's new spin win the Asia Cup final will Loyalties, gentlemen terms of priorities so the was to come. But the meas- new concept which took playing commitments for sensation Ajantha obviously be a big threat. and all those well chosen clash would have been a ures they put in place to away the intricate skill the country. SMendis will be a threat No doubt, he is a good words once used to propa- non-event. avert the dilemma they now involved with it. He feared Sri Lanka’s players have for the Indian batsmen in bowler. We've to read him gate the noble game are The ICC for their part face was insufficient to that down the track all a for a long time been docu- their three-match Test tour off the hand ... It will be too was too quick to accommo- exert enough clout that player needed to play the mented as the lowest paid now a thing of the distant beginning July 18, feels for- late if you start picking him date India’s request to push could stop players from hav- game would be luck on a players in the world. But past as “Manna from heav- mer India Sourav up off the pitch. He'll be a undeterred, they played for en” is quickly proving to be Ganguly. force in Sri Lanka squad," the winner when mere mor- the pride of representing their country.Recent devel- Ganguly, who has been Ganguly told reporters here tals are challenged about retained in the Test squad today. their priorities in life. Lure of filthy lucre takes opments however, have changed that scenario with though being ignored from He, however, felt that the A leading businessman the Champions Trophy Indians will soon read in Melbourne once told me, players reported to have not probables, said he has some Mendis after getting used to “There is no thing called precedence over country received match payments "specific plans" to tackle playing him. loyalty in the world any- for months from their con- Mendis who flummoxed the "I feel once we get used to more. Everything in this tracts. So it is not unreason- world today is a business ahead with the tournament ing the authority to choose given day and longevity in able for them to stand up to Indian batsmen, known to playing him it will become commitment, there is no without properly assessing where they would rather be. its format would be non- their employers and say, play spin well, claiming six easier to play him; we will room for sentiment”, he and discussing possible Arjuna Ranatunge’s existent. enough is enough, when for 13 in the Asia Cup final. pick him easily. We've to says. And I get the distinct repercussions it may have decision to sign up Sri From a player’s perspec- they were threatened with The elegant left-hander, who study his action, see his feeling he is not far off the on the traditional format. Lanka as a replacement for tive though, financial secu- forfeiting pay from the IPL has the reputation of spank- footage before taking him in track. Now they are faced with the Zimbabwe on next year’s rity is a reasonable expecta- as well, if they undertook ing spinners, plans to study the Lankan tour," Ganguly holds additional pressure of hav- England tour itinerary was tion from sport which offers the tour to England which the videos of the 23-year-old said. most of the outstanding ing to create a window for in many ways a calculated no guarantee as to how long clearly clashes with the unorthodox right-arm spin- Having negotiated Sri achievements in terms of the competition which ploy to let the rest of the one remains on an elite next phase of the Indian ner, who bowls a medley of Lankan great Muttiah records associated with proved beyond doubt that it cricket playing world see for level. You have to make the tournament. googlies, off-breaks, top- Muralitharan well in his cricket, but the latest one has a huge following and themselves the impact the most of the opportunities All of these develop- spinners, flippers and leg- career, Ganguly placed the involving a player revolt interest for more than its IPL will have in the future that are available and try to ments make for an interest- breaks with a 'carrom ball' veteran offie higher than over financial rewards will fans with millions of dol- on their own teams and to secure a long term financial ing few years ahead as play- action. the upcoming spinner. lars being raked in by the say the least, the trend is safety net for life after the ers and their respective sadly go down in its history "Murali has a variation of powerbrokers, sponsors and worrying indeed. It must be game. In the sub-continent, cricket boards around the as one of the sadder "Somebody who has made so pace. He is in a different the likes involved in its recalled that Ranatunge many players base their world, jockey for prime moments of sporting mem- much of damage and single- league," Ganguly remarked. affairs. was one of the first critics livelihoods on what they positions to enhance their ories and for all the wrong handedly helped Sri Lanka (PTI) reasons. And as sure as day of the game, earn from playing sport. own interests.