14 Tuesday 11th August, 2009

by M. A. cyril team. Besides leading both Royal and ly correct, stylish batsman with class first match of that historic tour was a was back in the pavilion. The top four anjan Senarath Madugalle was the Under-19 team, Madugalle written upon every stroke he makes. But three day match between England and batsmen Warnapura, Wettimuny, Dias born in , the hill capital of played two successive years against the when the situation demands, he can Sri Lanka Board President’s XI. This and Mendis had all failed and it was the RSri Lanka, on April 22, 1959. He Pakistan Under-19 team in the ‘Ali change his style. When Australia under match was played at the newly laid turn of the two youngsters to save Sri first studied at Trinity College, Kandy Bhutto Trophy’ matches. These matches Kim Hughes toured Sri Lanka in 1981 for Asgiriya International Stadium which Lanka from a hapless position. and then moved on to Royal College, were played in Sri Lanka in 1975 and in an unofficial ‘Test’ and three one day got a century baptism as Ranjan The two youngsters, Madugalle and , in 1971, when his father, who Pakistan, the following year. matches, Sri Lanka had the satisfaction Madugalle became the first batsman to Ranatunga, put on 99 valuable runs for was a senior public servant, was trans- In 1975, Madugalle played a leading of beating Australia for the first time in score a century on this ground. He made the fifth . Both batsmen complet- ferred to Colombo. role in Sri Lanka’s victory by taking 8 a one-day game. However, Australia won a glorious, chanceless unbeaten 142 runs ed their maiden half centuries in Test At Trinity,Madugalle captained the for 34 in the second innings when the first match on a higher run rate and as Sri Lanka declared at 273 for 5 wick- . Ranatunga, who was still a college Under-12 team and played for the Pakistan were set a victory target of 240. managed to win the third in a close fin- ets. His innings contained 21 fours. The schoolboy, was the first to do so. Under-14 team while still an 11-year-old. He also played for the Schools team in ish. match ended in a tame draw. Madugalle became the top-scorer for Sri Lanka in the first innings with a classy 65. Sri Lanka’s first overseas tour since the granting of Test status was to Pakistan. In the second Test played at Faisalabad, Sidat Wettimuny made 157, thus becoming the country’s first Test centurion. In the same Test, missed his maiden Test century by a mere two runs while Madugalle was most unfortunate to be stranded on 91 . Born Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia and New Zealand in mach, 1983, was hit by injuries to several senior players, including skipper Mendis and vice cap- tain Dias. Madugalle had to lead the Sri to Lankan team weakened by the absence of these two stalwarts. The problem was aggravated when , the mainstay of the Sri Lankan attack, also joined the injured ranks. To add to these worries, Madugalle himself was injured midway through the tour and D. S. de lead Silva had to lead the team. Needless to say Sri Lanka lost the Test series 2-0 and the one-day series 3-0. At Royal, he played for the First XI the Robert Senanayake Trophy However, there were two outstanding team in the 1974-75 season as a 15-year- Tournament and in his debut in 1976, performances in the first Test. old. At first he found it hard going, but scored 56, helping the Schools team to Ranjan Senarath Madugalle Sidat Wettimuny (63 n.o.) became the was able to overcome initial problems beat the Defence Services. first Sri Lankan to carry his bat in a Test and soon began to blossom out. Madugalle was in the team which It was in this final one-dayer that Madugalle was adjudged the Man of while Madugalle fought a lone battle in Madugalle made his presence felt in toured England in 1979 to participate in Ranjan Madugalle and Anura the Match and also won the award for the second innings, top scoring with 52. inter-school cricket and was picked as the ICC Trophy for Associate members. Ranasinghe launched a ferocious fight the Best Batsman. The English crick- In the second Test, it was once again the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Sri Lanka won the ICC Trophy beating back against the Aussies to turn what eters described Madugalle’s innings as Madugalle who had to fight single-hand- Year in 1978 and 1979. He also won the Canada in the final and thus qualified to looked like a complete rout into a heart the best they had seen on their tour of edly as he made a top score of 79. This award for Best Batsman, Best play in the World Cup. In the ICC Trophy stopping finish at the SSC. The pair India and Sri Lanka. was no easy task against an attack and was runner-up in the Best Fielder’s final, Madugalle scored 33. Sri Lanka maintained a scoring rate of 8.5 runs Then came Sri Lanka’s inaugural which included the great Richard contest. also played some matches against per over, but Ranasinghe was out, Test. Sri Lanka faced a fiery baptism in Hadlee, in his prime. Madugalle topped His leadership qualities were soon Country sides and in the match against attempting to hoist Lawson into the when batting first. the batting averages on the tour with recognised when he was appointed cap- Kent, Madugalle and D. S. de Silva were crowd. Sri Lanka fell short by six runs. Madugalle came to the crease with the 39.2. tain of the Sri Lanka Under-19 team for associated in a 159 run partnership. Sri Lanka played her inaugural Test home team tottering at 29 for 3. Only 5 (To be continued tomorrow) all Tests against the Australia Under-19 Madugalle is normally a technical- in February, 1982, against England. The runs were added before

Maleena finishes Under-19 tournament with amendments Nadal on the 4th at Malaysian by Reemus Fernando critics of the new format introduced drawn in the same group,” Rauf said. The Sri Lanka Schools Cricket last year said that the amendments Last year too the tournament was slow road back Association is to conduct the forth- introduced and discussed by the rep- conducted in the same manner after Ladies’ Open Golf coming Under-19 two-day tournament resentatives of over 100 schools will elite schools threatened a boycott if with a few amendments to the format be presented at the forthcoming the traditional matches were not to recovery Championship introduced last year. The new format Under-19 tournament fixture meet- given prominence, but critics pointed introduced last year came in for ing. out that attempts to avoid big match by Mark Hodgkinson heavy criticism from prominent According to Rauf, the schools clashes in the same group had lead to cricket playing colleges who threat- representatives have agreed on the the formation of some weak groups have spent more hours on the ened to boycott the tournament, stat- suggested amendments at a workshop where the outcome was evident even couch these past two months ing that the new format would jeop- conducted by the SLSCA under the before the tournament started. “Ithan in the past four years,” ardize traditional fixtures. sponsorship of Sri Lanka Cricket. Rauf said that the winners of the Rafael Nadal said in an interview with a “This year, we are conducting the The two-day tournament is likely two day tournament will be decided Spanish television station, but he is to tournament with a few amendments to be held as a league tournament as on their performances in the league of return from his double knee injury by to the format introduced last year. usual, with the top Division (I) draw- eight matches but when deciding the playing at this week’s hard-court tour- Many have agreed that the traditional ing as many as 36 teams in four individual performances, the SLSCA nament in Montreal. matches should be given prominence groups and playing eight matches. would consider the performances of Nadal will be both testing out his and we will conduct the tournament “We will ensure that each group 16 matches agreed by the schools physical conditioning on court and sit- accordingly,” M. T. A Rauf, the secre- contains as many as five traditional before the tournament proper starts. ting on those changeover chairs, arrang- tary of the SLSCA, told ‘The Island’ matches apart from none traditional The Under-19 tournament fixture ing and rearranging his drinks-bottles. yesterday. matches. In the meantime, we will see meeting will be held on August 24 at While Nadal was on the sofa, recu- Rauf, who was one of the ardent that the ‘Big Match’ rivals are not D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo. perating from the tendinitis in both knees, the tennis world moved on. Nadal’s last competitive appearance was at Roland Garros in late May, when he lost to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in Botham, Boycott and Trueman in Hall of Fame the fourth round of the French Open. He missed the entire grass-court sea- Leeds: Four England greats — Headingley. Federation of International son, so was unable to defend the titles he Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Fred Botham and Boycott, along with Cricketers’ Associations at tea inter- had won at Queen’s Club and Trueman and Wilfred Rhodes — were representatives of Fred Trueman val on the second day of the fourth Wimbledon last season. Her Royal Highness Tunku Puteri Tunku formally inducted into the ICC and Wilfred Rhodes, were awarded Test between England and Australia In Nadal’s absence, Roger Federer Dato Seri Jawahir, President, Malaysian Cricket Hall of Fame on the second commemorative caps as part of the on Saturday. won the French Open for the first time, Ladies’ Golf Association presents the fourth day of the fourth Ashes Test at joint venture between the ICC and (PTI) and then, at the All England Club, the place award to Maleena Awn. Swiss regained his Wimbledon trophy and the world No 1 ranking, and also Ladies’ College golfer Maleena Awn was became the first man in history to win placed fourth after four days of gruelling 15 grand slam titles. golf in the final round at the Malaysian To think that, after Nadal won this Ladies’ Amateur Open Golf Championship season’s Australian Open title, there held from August 4-7 at the Mines Resort was talk of the Spaniard possibly Golf City in Kuala Lumpur . achieving the grand slam this year, The winner of the overall event at the achieving a calendar sweep of the Malaysian Amateur Ladies’ Open was majors that no one has managed since Michelle Koh from Malaysia. Rod Laver in 1969. There were over 135 golfers from 16 Nadal’s knees made that impossible. countries taking part in this championship The tennis scene looks very different in all three handicap categories and the now to how it did when Nadal walked on largest contingent was of course from to Court Philippe Chatrier to play Malaysia, followed by Singapore, Thailand, Soderling that day. Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Naturally, Nadal has been saying Philippines, Korea, Japan, China, Brunei, that he is not expecting great things of USA, England, Australia and Canada. himself at the Masters-level tourna- In the final round the pressure was too ment in Canada, with the US Open start- much for young Maleena but she finished ing in New York in just over three just two strokes behind Malee Lynn Lee of weeks’ time. Thailand and four strokes behind Nur Of course, Nadal didn’t spend all Islamia Fuad of Malaysia and Cheung that time off sitting on the sofa. Nadal, Ngai Man of China. Maleena now goes on who is the defending champion in to play a few more tournaments in Canada, had put in a fortnight of train- Malaysia in the coming days with more ing in Manacor with his uncle and courage, conviction, determination and to coach, Toni, before he boarded the plane gain that useful competitive experience The School for the Deaf, Ratmalana cricket team, who emerged champions at the Deaf Schools sports activities to Montreal on Wednesday. with international players before return- with Bertram Paul, the chief guest (4th from right), Eksith Fernando (3rd from right) the guest of honour, (C) The Telegraph Group, ing home. Shivantha Vivekanandan (3rd from left) and Marie Wijeyaratne (5th from left). Lonndon, 2009