Tuesday 17th August, 2010 15

BY REEMUS FERNANDO

Sadeera Samarawickrama scored the Inter School Under-15 Tourney highest knock of the tournament, a cracking 194 runs off just 132 balls for St. Joseph’s College to record a 128 run win over St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala, in their Inter School Under-15 Division I sec- ond round encounter played at Darley Sadeera cracks Road on Saturday. A cricketer whom his coaches believe possesses the ingredients of a future cricketer, Sadeera thinks that the knock was a relief after an average season display in the first round in the on going Under-15 tourna- tournament best 194 ment. “All of my good performances came in knock at Darley Road and after the opportunity to play Under-19 while still away matches. And I could not contribute Annites missed a difficult chance in the being a 14-year-old. Playing for the First with a big knock in this tournament slips he went for the big one. XI and Second XI teams helped me,” said either. So the big hundred at home is a “It was tough against them. They had Sadeera, who also played in the last Big big relief,” Sadeera told ‘The Island’ in an some good pacemen. Their opening Match for St. Joseph’s, although he would interview. bowlers were faster than ours. We had a not want to recall the outcome of that ‘Sadde’ as he is lovingly called by his plan of attack. In fact, I scored most of match. team mates, is a keeper batsman the runs against the pacies,” explained Sadeera has scored 543 runs in 10 and played for the First XI team before he Sadeera. matches at an average of 60.3 in the on- wielded the bat in the Under-15 age cate- Speaking about Sadeera, Shanaka going Under-15 tournament, with his best gory for St. Joseph’s. His father Saman, a Fernando the coach of the Under-15 team knock so far also being the best knock of former club cricketer taught him the of St. Joseph’s said that he possessed the the tournament, according to the Under- ABC of cricket at a net at his home. He ‘package of a future Sri Lanka cricketer’ 15 Tournament Secretary. With was attracted by St. Joseph’s when he was and it would have been the main factor Saturday’s victory, St. Joseph’s are almost doing well for Thurstan in the Under-13 for the former Under-19 coach Darsha de certain of their place in the knockout tournament. Silva to engineer his move from Thurstan stage of the tournament, with a match After joining St. Joseph’s, Sadeera College. still to be played in the second round. could not play in the Under-15 tourna- Sadeera said that moving to Darley Sadeera hails from a cricketing envi- ment last season as he served a one year Road has given him more opportunities, ronment. His brother, Buddhi ban imposed by the Ministry of but thanked the coaches of both colleges Samarawickrama, who captained Education for players changing schools and the officials of both schools for fine Thurstan was among the last 20 players without the approval of the first school. A tuning his talent. in one of Sri Lanka’s Under-19 squads. Ministry of Education regulation Sadeera’s first century for St. Joseph’s While Sadeera’s immediate plans are to requests transferred players to skip a sea- came when he scored 190 against St. do well for St. Joseph’s, in the back of his son for their second school if their trans- Sebastian’s in a Second XI match last sea- mind he has the dream of emulating son. He said that playing for the Under-19 some of the past Josephians who ended fer is not approved by the first school. Sadeera Samarawickrama Sadeera said he wanted to play a big team helped him a lot. It was a rare up playing for Sri Lanka.

Under-23 Division-1 Cricket Piliyandala Central wins DCCA impress on Sri Lanka tour Semi-finalists doubles shuttle title The Desert Cubs Cricket Academy, UAE, are at present touring Sri Lanka. The All Island Doubles Badminton tourna- Piliyandala Central College won the ‘E’ Their final match will be against ment was held recently at the Maliyadeva Division Championship. Richmond College, Galle, which will be found Indoor Stadium, Kurunegala, where played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium, within the course of this week. BY REVATA S. SILVA Moratuwa SC 277 all out Results to date: Following last weekend’s (Darshana Hewawasam 94; Vs Trinity College, Kandy U-12 round-robin matches, four clubs, Chathuranga Kumara 2-36) and Scores: DCCA 111 (Nilukshan de Chilaw Marians CC, Colts CC, (target 296) 184 all out (Prasanth Silva 48) Tamil Union C&AC and Soysa 81 n.o.; Rajeeva Trinity College 74 (Tharanga 26) Nondescripts Cricket Club Weerasinghe 5-46) Vs Trinity College U-14 (NCC), qualified for the semi- Tamil Union vs CCC Scores: DCCA 98 for 8 wkts. finals of the SLC Under-23 drawn at P. Sara: (Traveen Perera 31) Division-I cricket tournament, Tamil Union 296 all out Trinity College 96 for 4 wkts. (M. last Sunday (Aug. 15). (Ashan Priyanjan 94, Sahan Farsy 31, Janaka 26) Both NCC and Colts CC beat Wijesiri 58 n.o.; Dilesh Vs St. Anthony’s College, Bloomfield C&AC and Gunaratne 4-58) and 283 for 4 Katugastota U-14 Moratuwa SC last weekend in wkts (Ashan Priyanjan 92, Scores: DCCA 132 for 8 (Traveen their final round-robin encoun- Sajith de Silva 79; Kevin Perera 57) ters. Four other matches were Bernardus 1-33) St. Anthony’s College 116 all out. drawn last weekend. CCC 293 all out (Andri Final Standings – Berenger 127 in 169 balls – 4x16 – In Group ‘A’, Chilaw Marians 6x1, Sachith Pathirana 52; Inter School Under-17 Cricket continue to head the points table Lahiru Gamage 4-91) and will meet Group ‘B’ runner- Moors SC vs Chilaw Cambrians on up Tamil Union. Marians CC drawn at Moors: But Bloomfield were toppled Moors 288 all out (Shehan five from its last week’s Group ‘A’ Jayasuriya 58, Chathuranga de Prince of Wales College registered a 2nd place by NCC as the latter Silva 58; Umesh Karunaratne 5- five wicket victory over St. Xavier’s were able to book a berth in the 112) and 233 all out College, Marawila as off spinner Nimesh semis in this over-one-month (Chathuranga de Silva 90; Jayawardena with a four wicket haul and long tournament, by beating the Umesh Karunaratne 4-76) all rounder Nishka Hewawitharana with a former by six wickets in a Chilaw Marians 247 all out good double excelled for the home team in their Under-17 Division I match played at crunch game last Sunday. (Geeth Alwis 66, Sanath de Silva The champion team and officials Moratuwa yesterday. In Group ‘B’, both SSC and 59; Chathuranga de Silva 4-52) Scores: Ragama CC, who held 1st and and (target 265) 55 for 1 wkt St. Xavier’s 120 all out in 39.3 overs 2nd places respectively the pre- (Geeth Kumara 25 n.o.; From L-R: Indirira Matarage (Coach), Kanchana de Silva (Coach and Teacher-in-Charge), W. M. (Achintha Peiris 54, Shenal Soza 22; vious Sunday (Aug. 8), were rele- Vimukthi Perera 1-9) L. Wijesinghe, (Principal) Pushpamalini (Asst. Teacher-in-Charge) and Binuki Yasara Perera Nimesh Jayawardena 4/11, NIshka gated to 4th and 3rd slots respec- Ragama CC vs (). Standing L-R: Nimali Sandunika, Savindya Sankalpani, Nimasha, Sathsarani, Hansika Hewavitharana 2/29, Eshan Fernando tively, by Colts CC and Tamil Seeduwa–Raddoluwa CC Madhubhashini, Sathiska Kamuadi, Hansika Nivodi, Dunshani Nivanthy, H. A. Nadeeka and 2/11) Prince of Wales 123 for 5 in 27 overs Union who, by doing so, got into drawn at NCC: Ashinshani Dahanayake. Absent – Nimal Wasantha, (Teacher-in-Charge). (Hashan Fernando 21, Nishka 1st and 2nd places in that Group Ragama 280 all out Hewavithanara 29n.o, Arjun Hettiarachchi to qualify for the semis. (Wimanga Perera 88; Ghafoor 23; Achintha Peiris 3/35) (RF) Colts beat Moratuwa SC by Asif 3-76) and 182 for 4 wkts Australia-Ashes Prediction 111 runs on Sunday, while Tamil (Nayana Fernando 86, Union drew their final round- Dhananjaya de Silva 60; Malith robin affair with CCC, also on Cooray 2-40) Ponting says Australia can Valentino Rossi to leave Sunday. Seeduwa–Raddoluwa 298 The two clubs, Colts and for 9 wkts dec (Najan Latif 106 Yamaha for Ducati in 2011 Tamil Union, were placed 4th in 259 balls – 4x16; Nilanka regain Ashes 5-0 Seven-time MotoGP world champion and 3rd respectively, in Group Premaratne 6-94) and (target Valentino Rossi has confirmed he will MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - With with another 2-1 win. leave the Fiat Yamaha team to ride for ‘B’ the previous weekend in a 165) 125 for 7 wkts (Ishan paceman Glenn McGrath retired, it appears Ponting said his side has improved in the tournament which consists, for Athuraliya 28; Dhananjaya de Ducati for two years from 2011. Ricky Ponting has taken on the role of making interim. Rossi will link up with the team from the first time, of three-day Silva 3-35) the bold prediction about Australia regaining “We know now that we’re a more experi- his native Italy as former world champi- matches, instead of two-dayers SL Navy vs SL Air Force the Ashes from England with a 5-0 series enced and probably a better team now than we on Casey Stoner of Australia leaves as was the case during the previ- drawn at Navy Grounds, sweep. were then,” Ponting said. “We put that togeth- Ducati to join Honda. ous years. Welisara: “It’s absolutely possible, there’s no reason er plus we’re playing in our conditions. We The 31-year-old Rossi finished fifth in Results last weekend (Aug. SL Navy 187 all out (Dilan why not,” the Australia Test captain told hope to win this series and win it well. Sunday’s Czech Grand Prix for Yamaha. 13-15): Chandima 35; Shohan Rangika reporters Monday at the Melbourne Cricket “ collapses probably were the rea- His chances of retaining the world Ground, where he was meeting with Cricket NCC beat Bloomfield by 6 3-5) and 368 for 9 wkts (Udara son we lost the series last time around and our title this year were dealt a blow by a six- Australia officials to map out preparations for week absence with a broken leg. wkts at Bloomfield: Jayasundera 210 n.o. in 245 balls inability to bowl them out on the last day in the Ashes series starting Nov. 25 in Brisbane. Cardiff. I’ve got confidence in the squad of “It is very difficult to explain in just a Bloomfield 241 all out – 4x25 – 6x4, Vindika few words what my relationship with “It’s all in our hands,” Ponting added. “It’s players that we’ve got that they are going to be (Denuwan Fernando 73; Lakmal Chandrasiri 55; Janaka Peiris 4- Yamaha has been in these past seven how well we play and how well we take charge good enough to win an Ashes series.” Wijenayake 5-52) and 168 for 9 78) years,” said Rossi. of different situations. Ponting admitted England’s form in taking wkts dec. (Indunil Sandalanka SL Air Force 469 all out “We’ve learned from a lot of the mistakes “Many things have changed since that a 2-0 series lead over Pakistan was impressive. that we’ve made.” far-off time in 2004 but especially ‘she’, 46; Rajith Priyan 3-37) (Janaka Peiris 115 all out in 180 Australia split a two-test series with Pakistan McGrath said ahead of the 2005 series in my M1, has changed. At that time she NCC 246 all out (Angelo balls – 4x15, Gayan Prasanga 77, only weeks earlier in England. England that Australia would win 5-0. But was a poor middle-grid position MotoGP Perera 52; Amal Atapattu 5-67) Sanjeewa Bulathwala 69, “(James) Anderson and (Stuart) Broad and bike, derided by most of the riders and Australia lost 2-1, giving England its first and (target 164) 168 for 4 wkts Asanka Gihan 56; Sithara the MotoGP workers. Ashes series victory since before Australia those guys have really stepped up,” Ponting (Angelo Perera 75 n.o., Roshan Perera 3-125) “Now, after having helped her to grow reclaimed the old urn under Allan Border in said of the England bowling attack. “They are Illeperuma 52 n.o.; Amal Semi-finals – Aug 27-29: and improve, you can see her smiling in 1989. McGrath was injured in the hour before coming together well as a team. They certainly Atapattu 2-68) Chilaw Marians CC vs Tamil have bowled well and they’ve had great condi- her garage, courted and admired, treated the second Test started in 2005, after spear- as the top of her class. Colts beat Moratuwa SC Union (Winner of Group ‘A’ vs tions to bowl in as well, the English.” heading Australia to a win in the opening “Now the moment has come to look for Ponting said England will have to learn to by 111 runs at Colts: Runner-up of Group ‘B’) at Colts match of the series. Australia lost two of the new challenges, my work here at Yamaha Colts 368 all out (Tharindu Grounds next three Tests, and went down to the wire in adapt to Australian conditions. is finished. Fernando 76, 64, Colts CC vs NCC (Winner of saving the other one on the last day. “We’ll have a different set of conditions “Unfortunately, even the most beauti- Chathuranga Kumara 58; Group ‘B’ v Runner-up of Group Australia recovered from the 2005 series and a different ball when they come out here ful love stories finish, but they leave Malshan Mendis 3-80) and 204 ‘A’) at CCC Grounds loss - when almost two decades of domination and I’m sure our guys will equip themselves behind a lot of wonderful memories, like really well,” Ponting said. “We know where we for 5 wkts. dec. (Janith Perera Final - Sep 3-5 at SSC came to an end and sparked widespread cele- when my M1 and I kissed for the first brations in England - by winning the 2006-07 have to bowl to all of their batsmen. They’ve time at Welkom, when she looked 66; Isuru Madushan 2-62) Grounds. Ashes series at home 5-0. But the English got no one there who’s going to surprise us at straight into my eyes and told me ‘I love reclaimed bragging rights in England in 2009 all.” you’.”