Category Archives: politics and cricket

Bangladesh Tour with Shortened Quarantine

Mohamed Islam, in ESPNcricinfo, 12 September 2020, ….https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29866940/sl-v-bangladesh-2020-slc-says-bangladesh-need-one-week-quarantine-according-bcb-ceo

SLC has told the BCB that the Bangladesh contingent will have to be quarantined for a week on reaching Sri Lanka, before they can step out of their hotel to train, according to BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury. Initially there had been reports of the team perhaps not having to quarantine at all, and so travelling to Colombo on September 27 and hitting the nets the next day for the Test series that is scheduled to begin on October 23. Now, with the seven-day quarantine plan, the tour schedule could change to meet the directives of the local health authorities, which the BCB is happy to adhere to.

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Lanka Premier League Shoot-Out Re-Jigged

Andrew Fidel Fernando in ESPNcricinfo, 2 Septmber 2020

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced fresh dates for the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which has now been scheduled between November 14 and December 6. However, government approval for a shorter quarantine period for players, officials and broadcast staff is yet to be secured; it is this hurdle that had forced the postponement of the LPL, originally slated to begin in late August. The SLC officials have asked that the quarantine period for those arriving in the country for this tournament be reduced to seven days, from the present 14-day period.

There is no known community spread of Covid-19 in Sri Lanka at present, but quarantine protocols have been incredibly strict PA Photos/Getty Images

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A Love Affair with the Colombo Oval

S. Skandakumar, in The Sunday Island, 30 August 2020 where his chosen title is “The Colombo Oval and I”

The majestic Oval scoreboard clock showed ten minutes to three on a Sunday afternoon when our final wicket fell. We had conceded first innings points by a small margin to Moors in a P. Sara Trophy encounter. The year was 1973 and it was my first game for the club. The many Moors supporters hugged each other and left the venue to return to Braybrook Place to celebrate. With just half an hour left to tea, and two hours thereafter to the end of the game, their optimism was justified.

In our dressing room our skipper Benedictine Tony Appathurai had other ideas. “I want five by tea,” he thundered as he briskly led us back on to the field for that half an hour. I admired his arrogance!

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Dhanasiri Weerasinghe passes away in Melbourne

ONE: Elmo Rodrigopulle in Daily News, 15 July 2020

The death of any outstanding personality in any form of life saddens many as was the passing away of Dhanasiri Weerasinghe a cricketer who in his own unique way and style contributed to make cricket what it is in the country today.

DHANASIRI WEERASINGHE passed away last week in Melbourne, Australia after an illness bravely borne. Cricketers of an era gone by – the 1950s and the 1960s – will mourn Weerasinghe who made his bat talk and his intelligent captaincy brain tick with great efficiency.

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Some Assessments of Muralitharan as Cricketer … and Philanthropist

ONE = Simon Barnes: Muttiah Muralitharan as Cricketer of the Year 2006″

writing in 2007 on the year 2006 =  https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/350915.html

The time has come to grasp the nettle, to remove the mental and†, to reject the frown, the shrug, the pursed lips and the quizzical look. Muttiah Muralitharan was, without qualification, the finest cricketer on the planet last year and, by implication, is one of the best cricketers that have ever played the game.

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Gamini Goonesena in Pictorial Mode

Photographs to complement Rohan Wijeyaratna’s classic account in Thuppahi = https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/gamini-goonesena-leading-cambridge-to-victory-in-1957/

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Cumulous Clouds over the Cricket Scenario

News Item in ISLAND, 26 May 2020 …. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=222751

The coronavirus may have struck shortly before the English cricket season was due to start, but it threatens to have major implications for the game worldwide. English officials still believe they can fit a full international programme of three-Test series against both the West Indies and Pakistan, as well as one-day internationals with Australia and Ireland, into a season that won’t start until 1 July at the earliest.

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Roshan Mahanama: Staying True in Tempestuous Cricketing Times

Sanjeewa Jayaweera, in Island, May 2020, with this title Roshan Mahanama a gentleman par excellence” ….. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=222098

I recall meeting Roshan Mahanama and his father Upali Mahanama 15 years ago, both not known to me, while climbing a narrow staircase in a hospital. Presumably, the elevator was not functional. I was taking my mother for a consultation. What struck me and my mother, who was then about 75 years, was the innate politeness and humbleness of Roshan and his father. They quickly got aside and made way for my mother and me to go up as they were coming down. Also, they acknowledged us with a heartwarming smile despite not knowing us.

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Ranjan Mellawa’s Magnum Opus on Sri Lankan Cricket

Mahinda Wijesinghe, in Island, 19 May 2020, where the title runs “Winds behind the willows. An Encyclopaedic history of SL cricket with”warts and all,

  a rare photo taken in Colombo (October 1930) of S.P. Foenander, then the Sports Editor of ‘Ceylon Observer’, gifting a replica of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy (Temple of the Tooth) to Don Bradman. Foenander is carrying Australian skipper Bill Woodfull’s son, Jack, in his arms. (Courtesy State Library of South Australia – PRG 682/16/108)

Almost a century ago, S.P.Foenander, referred internationally as the ‘Wisden of the East’, authored his 268-page classic tome ‘Sixty Years of Ceylon Cricket’ (Ceylon Advertising & General Publicity – 1924). That was the first book which authoritatively enlightened the cricket world about cricket and cricketers between the years 1863 to 1923, in the then fair isle of Ceylon. One must also remember that Foenander, who even rubbed shoulders with the legendary Bradman – see photo below- must have experienced the difficulties at that time in collecting/collating information and statistics and so on in compiling his book. After all, the print media at that time was not developed; TV nor Internet was not even thought of. In short sophisticated communication systems were not even in its infancy. So the accolade of being the pioneer of cricket journalism in Ceylon falls squarely on the shoulders of the late S.P. Foenander.

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That Fat Bastard Shane Warne

David Runciman reviewing No Spin –Warne’s Autobiography

When​ the Australian cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were exposed tampering with the ball during last year’s test series in South Africa there was, along with all the faux outrage, some genuine incredulity. Why did they take such an insane risk? The subterfuge was so cack-handed – rubbing the ball with lurid yellow sandpaper, perfectly suited to be picked up by the TV cameras – and the potential rewards so slight that they seemed to be putting their careers on the line for next to nothing. Confronted with the filmed evidence, Smith confessed straightaway. As conspiracies go this one barely got to first base, since almost no thought had been given to keeping it secret. They can’t have wanted to be caught. Each of the three culprits looked distraught in the aftermath. But it does appear that they didn’t think getting caught would matter much.

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