Sports

NOTTINGHAM: Sri Lanka’s preparation for a smooth workout ahead of Monday’s ICC World Twenty20 Group C match against Australia at Trent Bridge was disrupted by the typical English weather.
Practices were scheduled for Saturday at Lady Bay grounds a few kilometers from Trent Bridge, but the team had to cancel it due to the prevailing wet weather and settle for the indoor nets at Loughborough University.

Sri Lanka manager Brendon Kuruppu was rather disappointed with the prospect of having to practice indoors. “We were planning a full workout session outdoors, but we had to change our plans because of the bad weather.

“We hope to make full use of the excellent facilities available to us at Loughborough University and concentrate on our batting and bowling and have a fielding session indoors. We are well focused on the Australian game and we are not worried what happens in their camp,” Kuruppu said when asked to comment on what effect the dropping of key all-rounder Andrew Symonds from the Australian team on disciplinary grounds would have on his team.

“We are working to our strengths and not worried about the opposition. In the next two days we will be working out the best possible combination to take on Australia in our opening match. We know what the Australians are capable of and the strengths and weaknesses of each individual player,” Kuruppu, a former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper/batsman said.
Kuruppu admitted that Sri Lanka’s strength was their bowling. “We have a lot of variety in our bowling. With our bowling we should be able to defend totals between 135 and 150.”

The Lankan bowling line-up comprises Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Farveez Maharoof, Thilan Thushara, uncapped Isuru Udana, Muthiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis with Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan as back-up bowlers. Malinga who had a wonderful IPL tournament capturing 18 wickets in 13 matches is expected to spearhead the Lankan bowling.
“We need to work on our batting. The batsmen know what is expected of them and I am confident they will be up to the mark in the two group matches,” Kuruppu said.

Kuruppu described the poor catching in the warm-up game against South Africa as ‘one of those days’. Sri Lanka lost that contest by six wickets after winning another warm-up match by four wickets against Bangladesh.

In the last ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa two years ago, Sri Lanka lost heavily to Australia by ten wickets. The Super Six match played at Cape Town saw Sri Lanka bundled out for 101 in 19.3 overs and Australia romping home in 10.2 overs with Adam Gilchrist (31) and Mathew Hayden (58) making heavy weather of the Lankan bowling.
Sri Lanka plays Australia in Group C on Monday and West Indies on Wednesday. A win in either of the matches will ensure them a passage to the next round of the competition the Super Six.

Windies thrash Aussies

West Indies thrashed Australia by seven wickets in their ICC World Twenty20 played at The Oval yesterday. West Indies captain Chris Gayle was the man of the maych for his match winning 50 ball 88 which included 6 boundries and 6 sixes. He added 133 runs for the first wicket with Andre Fletcher (53) that took the game away from the Australians.
Australia 169-7 (20) (David Warner 63, Michael Hussy 28, David Hussy 27, Brad Haddin 24, Jerom Taylor 2/33, Fidel Edwards 2/34, D Bravo 2/31)
West Indies 172-2 (15.5) (Chris Gale 88, Andre Fletcher 53, Michell Johnson 2/36)

Kiwis win

New Zealand beat Scotland by seven wickets in a rain-reduced ICC World Twenty20 match at The Oval. The rain hit encounter was reduced to 7 overs and batting first Scotland made 89/4. In reply New Zeeland reached 90/5 in 6 overs. Ian Butler became the man of the match.
Scotland 89/4 (7) (Rayan Watson 27, Navdeep Poonia 27, Kyle Coetzer 33, Ian Butler 3/19)
New Zealand 90/5 (6) (Jesse Ryder 33, Ross Taylor 21)

By Dinesh Kulatunga.
The Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club(CR & FC) kept their unbeaten record intact when they downed a spirited Navy outfit by 32 points to 10 in a Caltex league tournament match played at Longdon place yesterday. The winners collected their points from three goals, one try, one penalty and a drop goal to the Sailors one goal and a penalty. At ‘lemons’CR led 13-3.
Navy gave a torrid time to their opponents in the first half. Their forwards played a good game firing on all cylinders to counter the seasoned CR ‘Eight’. Navy’s Sumedha Malewana, Piyumal Manchanayake, Shehan Dean, Tyronne Harrison and Eranga Swarnathilake excelled and were in the thick of things. The backs too excelled with linkman Suranga Pushpakumara, Centre Kosala Tissera and the two wingers Nuwan Hettiarachchi and Niranjan Wickremaratne being outstanding. They made some threatening moves with their probing runs to surprise the CR defence.

On the other hand CR made their intentions clear playing a ‘defensive’game in the first half to judge their opponents game plan and then cut loose in the second half. CR’s forwards led by indefatigable number eight Dushantha Lewke were inspirational. Lewke was well supported by skipper Ashen Karthelis, Ishan Noor, Danushka Perera, Henry Terrence and Danushka Boteju.
Their backs were always outstanding with linkman Srinath Sooriyabandara, stand-off Dev Anand, centre Chamara Vithanage and winger Abdul Jabbar making penetrative runs which outsmarted their opponents many a time.

It was Navy who scored first when Hettiarachchi put over a twenty five metre penalty due to an infringement by a CR player. Sailors should have increased their lead but fullback Erandha Weerakkody failed with a penalty kick forty five metres out upfront. Then CR’s Anand kicked a peach of a drop goal from thirty five metres out to level the scores. Then again CR’s nippy half back Sooriyabandara bamboozled the Navy defence to slip in to score in the right corner flag from a five metre scrum. Anand converted. Before the short whistle Anand put over a penalty from forty metres out to make it 13-3.

In the turnaround CR playing to a well set game plan scored first when Centre Vithanage made a potent break to send Winger Nuwan Chamara galloping to score under the post. Anand converted to make it 20-3.Then CR’s left winger Jabbar made a powerful fifty metre run passing couple of Navy defenders to fall over. Anand made a successful conversion to make it 27-3.
The inclusion of Namal Rajapakse in the Navy outfit in the latter stages of the game made a marked difference. He played an imposing game rallying the players around which resulted in a try. From a ten metre line-out where CR players could not collect the ball cleanly Rajapakse grabbed the ball to fall over. Fly half Samantha Lakshan convertered.

Though Navy lost the game it was an impressive display from them. They are an outfit that improves from game to game. On the other hand CR could not finish off the game as expected. They have to improve on their game plan when they confront fierce opponents such as Kandy SC, Army SC and CH and FC in weeks to come.
Navy’s Chula Susantha was sent to the sin bin for unwarranted play.
The match was controlled by Nizam Jamaldeen.

By Hafiz Marikar
It was a grand game by the Pathanians, where they beat the defending league champions and the table leaders Kingswsood by 25 points to 19, in their fifth inter-school division 1 segment ‘A’ game, the score is certainly no indication of the splendid game by the Isipathaninas.

They played handily to score two goals, a try and a drop goal and a penalty to score 25 points against Kingswood’s two goals and a try. Pathana led 19-0 at half-time, dictating terms to the champions.

Isipathana had to maintain their good name in the game and they lived up to it. Be it a loose maul or ruck, they were on the ball like cats would pounce on mice. Wherever the ball went the Pathanians were there, they played a clean game, the ball handling was excellent and they stuck to their game plan throughout the match to stamp their class.

In the second half Kingswood, not to be outdone played the game of their lives but it was just not thei r day.
Isipathana forwards played hard and had the better of the exchanges to have more possession. Their halves also combined much better than the Kinswoodians. This win will no doubt give Pathana the courage to shine in the rest of their matches.

For Isipathana B. Jayasinghe, A. Atthanayake, C. Siriwardena scored the tries, the drop came off the boot of P. Devinda and G. Jumath goaled the tries and the penalty. R. Sansoni, D. Devandra scored the tries while R. Weerarathen goaled two of them to make up the 19 points for Kingswood.
Pradeep Fernando refereed.

An unidentified Isipathana player tries to bring down Kingwood centre Rajitha Sansoni in their match at Bogambara yesterday. Isipathana recorded an upset 25-19 win over the defending champions