Category Archives: cricket and life

May 10, 2011 · 3:15 am

Sa’adi Thawfeeq reviews two books on Lankan cricket

Courtesy of The Nation , 17 April 2011

Incursions & Excursions In And Around Sri Lankan Cricket
By Michael Roberts
Published by Vijitha Yapa Publications
Price: Rs. 1,500/-
Mariamma, groundswoman extraordinary- Oval, Colombo

Sathasivam & Bradman toss, 1948

 Moment of triumph, 17 March 1996, Lahore —Pic from Crosscurrents

Michael Roberts has painstakingly done a lot of research in putting together his latest book Incursions & Excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket. The book brings to light a wide variety of subjects like the politics that affect Sri Lanka Cricket administration, the ethnicity involving clubs and national teams, the LTTE’s attempts to promote their cause through cricket, the Muralitharan controversy saga and its repercussions and the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team at Lahore. All these chapters have been widely researched by Roberts who has the knack of gathering information by talking to people concerned and storing it in a computer like mind to put it later into print form either by articles which he sends widely to various newspapers or present it in a book like the one under review. The outstanding feature of the book is the photos section where Roberts has managed to lay his hands on some rare and unpublished photos of Sri Lanka cricket (there are over 100 colour and black and white photos). The book has been written in his own inimitable style. The one flaw in the publication is in the photos section titled Great Moments & Significant Facet (34) where it features pictures of a Sidath Wettimuny cover drive, a young Arjuna Ranatunga returning to the pavilion after a fighting knock against Australia in 1983 and another picture of Ranatunga acknowledging the cheers after his final innings for his country. All three pictures have the identical caption of ‘Sidath Wettimuny drives’. If not for this rare lapse it is another fine Roberts’s masterpiece. – [ST]

From Rags To Riches
By Rex Clementine
Published by Godage International Publishers (Pvt) Ltd
Price: Rs 800/- Continue reading →

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May 4, 2011 · 7:05 am

Fresh Faces III: Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedera

Dilanka Mannakkara, in Daily News, 2 May 2011

He was once nick named as one of the greatest left armers of the game Chaminda Vass’ predecessor. To be given such an honour Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara better known as Chanaka Welagedara must have possessed something special other than his long name which resembles him to Chaminda Vaas who has the longest name in test cricket. Indeed ”Wele” as he is fondly known has a deadly banana in swinger to the right handers and has also developed an out swinger and has more pace than the master himself. Continue reading →

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May 4, 2011 · 6:28 am

Fresh Faces II: Young blood for England tour

 Chris Dhambarage, in the Daily News, 23 April 2011

The national selectors in an attempt to groom youngsters have taken a bold decision in naming three promising players in theSri Lankasquad for the three Test series against Englandstarting next week. The biggest sensation is of course the 24 year old fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep Fernando who has finally earned a place in the national team. He has been knocking at the door ever since he made his first class debut through some outstanding contributions with the ball. No wonder has was chosen as a key bowler in the Royal Challengers team which currently competes in the fourth edition of the high profile Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament. Fernando was born in Negombo and had his education at the Vidyaloka Maha Vidyalaya in Katana. But it was after he turned 20 that he really took to the game seriously and had the distinction of playing in the SLC Premier League tournament in 2008. Continue reading →

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May 4, 2011 · 5:53 am

Sri Lankan cricket tour of England under fire

Shamindra Ferdinando, from the Island, 2 May 2011

The UK-based LTTE rump is planning to disrupt the Sri Lankan cricket team’s forthcoming tour of England, The Island learns. A senior government official told ‘The Island’ that the LTTE activists had organised a series of protests, targeting the Sri Lankan team and in a bid to pressure the England Cricket Board to call off the tour. Responding to a query, the official said that it would be the responsibility of the UK authorities to ensure the safety and security of the visiting cricket team.

 Tamils protest at Kennington Oval, 11 June 1975 — for the text of their broadsheet and a review of this moment,see ‘Cricket as Protest Arena,” in Roberts, Incusions and excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket, Colombo, 2011, distributedvia www.vijthayapa.com

The official said that the organisers had launched a campaign to bring a large group of Eelam activists on May 14 morning to the Oxbridge Cricket Ground, where Tillekeratne Dilshan’s team would be playing their first match. According to him, the protesters would try to disrupt the match, unless the British took tangible action to keep them at bay. The first Test match begins on May 26 at Sophia Gardens Cardiff. The tour includes three Tests, one T- 20 international and five ODIs. According to a widely circulated message among the eelamists, the LTTE rump says the UK cut all bilateral relations with Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe in 2008 due to large scale human rights violations in that country. South Africa, too, had been subject to ‘sports sanctions’ not only by the British, but FIFA and IOC as well, the eelamists say, urging the British to slap sanctions on Sri Lanka.

The LTTE rump has declared that a team which represented “war criminals and a genocidal state,” should not be welcomed in the UK. UK-based Ram Sivalingham, Deputy Prime Minister of the so-called Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) called for a meet at Scarborough Civic Centre, conference Room B, on May Day, to discuss ways and means of pressuring the UNSG to appoint an independent international war crimes investigation in spite of strong protests by the GoSL. Sources said that Continue reading →

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April 30, 2011 · 4:58 am

Rags to Riches: Clementine’s oral history on momentous episodes in Lanka’s cricket history

Michael Roberts

Preamble: This foreword was written in early March 2011 for the book Rags to Riches (Colombo, Godage, 2011) launched by the Island newspaper, with Kumar Sangakkara as Keynote Speaker, later that month. The book reproduced a series of Q and A interviews serialised by the Island in the lead-up to the World Cup. This is an invaluable collection of memoirs and called for a prodiguous amount of work by Clementine. The book can be purchased by credit card from http://www.vijithayapa.com and at both Godage and Yapa bookshops.

 Pics by Prasanna Hennayake

 Pic from Island 

Oral History

In fashioning essays on Sri Lanka’s cricket history during the last decade[1] I have often elicited information as well as opinions from individuals who were at the centre of significant episodes. This is standard methodology for journalistic reportage. In effect, we are all indulging in a form of oral history. Its resonances were brought home to me recently by Kumari Jayawardena’s enthusiastic reaction to the recorded interview with her father A. P. de Zoysa in 1967 that was a  product of the Roberts Oral History Project, 1965-1969.[2] Though her enthusiasm was partly conditioned by the impact of her father’s voice coming alive once again, Kumari was also intrigued by specific pieces of information provided by A. P. de Zoysa with reference  to his electoral candidature for Colombo South in the 1936 general elections. So, we are speaking here of empirical detail that may have otherwise disappeared into the dust-heap of lost history if I had not embarked on such a venture with the assistance of the Asia Foundation and the approval of Professor Karl Goonewardena. Continue reading →

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April 24, 2011 · 10:13 am

Incursions and Excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket — A Presentation

Incursions and Excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket is a new book that runs to 176 pages plus 32 pages of photographs that are not paginated, but numbered, in a cluster in the middle. The book is available at Vijitha Yapa Publications who also have a credit card system which runs efficiently – www.vijithayapa.com.

In a symbolic gesture of a token character Michael Roberts presents a copy of Incursions and Excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket to the Sri Lankan cricket team through Anura Tennekoon, the Manager at present. This gesture marks the author’s appreciation of the achievements secured by the various Sri Lankan squads in recent years and, most significantly, the measured and calm manner in which they responded to the terrorist attack in Lahore on 3rd March 2009, an event that is reviewed as Chapter VI in this book.

 first two Pics by Eranga Jayawardena

This presentation occurred at the Premadasa Stadium during the World Cup squad’s practice session. It was deliberately timed BEFORE the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup because the author holds that the plaudits that should be extended to the cricketers remain valid irrespective of the joys or sorrows attending the outcome of one game.

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April 24, 2011 · 10:00 am

West Indian notes … with Sobers inspiring the present lot

Sir Garfield gives full backing to young Windies squad

Sobers and Sathasivam greet each other –from Essaying Cricket by Roberts (2006, Colombo).

West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers joined theWest Indiesplayers at their camp at the 3Ws Oval on Friday. The greatest allrounder of all time was invited by Windies Head Coach Ottis Gibson and he accepted the invitation to discuss the game with the players and also to monitor the net session in the Garfield Sobers Indoor Centre.

Sir Garfield shared his ideas on the game and also urged the players to believe in themselves and always remain focused on the job. He also shared his thoughts on the changing face of the modern game and told the players they have his full backing as they prepare to facePakistanin the upcoming Digicel Series.

Team Manager Richie Richardson said it was a thrill to have Sir Garfield at the camp and said all the players were delighted to have the opportunity to interact with him. “It was tremendous to have a gentleman of the calibre of the great Sir Garfield Sobers to come and join us in our camp as we get ready for the Digicel Series. The Head Coach extended the invitation and Sir Garfield happily agreed to come and share some of his vast knowledge with our team,” said Richardson. Continue reading →

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April 23, 2011 · 2:41 am

On PAUL VALTHATY: “Breaking the shackles of selection bias” –Two Essays

Makarand Waingankar,  articles from 21 April et seq in The Hindu and Mid-Day

“… for me Paul Valthaty of Kings XI Punjab has been the surprise hero so far in this IPL edition. He is a cut above the rest,” Sangakarra in BBC nes item yesterday.

ONE:  Valthaty brings selectors’ role under scrutiny

Paul Valthaty’s Indian Premier League showing for King’s XI Punjab makes one wonder what stopped the selectors from picking him for Mumbai in first-class cricket An average Mumbai cricket lover knows the names of talented young cricketers in the city. Isn’t it an irony then that they ask ‘Paul who,’ after Paul Valthaty’s exploits in the Indian Premier League? It’s said a player has to have three Ds – dedication, devotion and discipline, ” but one may say he has to have three Ts ” talent, temperament and tenacity ” as well.
 What Valthaty possessed was alphabet T till a Bangladeshi bowler on an under-prepared pitch in Auckland hit his eye through the visor of his helmet in an Under-19 World Cup match in 2002.  One could see a small hole in his right eyelid. He did start playing after eight months, but could sight the ball properly only two years later when he was 22!

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April 22, 2011 · 2:32 pm

Murali’s Tamilness denied and rejected by Balachandran

SEE http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/“murali-is-not-a-tamil”-says-a-tamil-doctor-during-a-world-cup-encounter/

                                                            

                                                                                                        

 Jaffna youth mob Murali at cricket match, 1 September 2002 —Pic by Reuters

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April 18, 2011 · 11:05 am

Sri Lanka’s Cricket Captain: why there were better choices than Dilshan

Michael Roberts

This article was written on Sunday night, 17 April, in response to a request from Saroj Pathirana of BBC Sandēsaya Service. It was one step behind events because Dilshan has been appointed captain for all three formats. So the title has been altered and it is presented here because it provides fodder for reflection and comment.

 Dilshan and his wife returning from Mumbai–Pic by AFP

 Fans greet Cricketers at Independence Square

As Sri Lanka ruminates over the choice of its cricket captain for the heavy programme of matches scheduled over the next year or so, Tillakaratne Dilshan’s name features prominently. Dilshan (aged 34+) is a mercurial cricketer, lightening quick over the ground, a wonderful fielder in any position, a Genghis Khan of a batsman and a useful change bowler. He is a bloke I, if ever a Captain at this level, would yearn to have in my side.

He has captained Sri Lanka in a series in Zimbabwe before, but it was precisely during that tour that questions arose about his off-field ethics. That is hardly a heritage to bring to such a high-profile position as Captain of Lanka. There is yet another reason, in my book, for keeping him in the side as Vital Senior Player and not as Captain. He will push the boundaries of cricketing sportsmanship to its limits and even beyond the limits. He is the nearest thing to the hard-nosed Australian in our cricketing scene. I do not want Sri Lanka to have an Australian Captain. We must retain the toughness girded by grace and moderation and fairness which Jayawardene and Sangakkara brought to their tenures.

Tait snarls at Dilshan –Pic by AFP

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