Category Archives: welfare through sport

May 13, 2014 · 8:26 am

Hemā. Cricketing Memories and More. An Appreciation of DH de Silva

DH-De-Silva-copy Michael Roberts, courtesy of http://www.islandcricket.lk

HEMA de Silva was my skipper, a compatriot in cricketing arms and a pal — a true mate in the best Australian sense of the term. He is known in the Lankan cricketing world as “DH.” But, to me and others at Ramanathan Hall in Peradeniya University, he was “Hemā.” He remains Hemā.

Our association did not quite begin that way. As a fresher in the Aloysian cricket team at Galle I faced him as opponent, the captain of Mahinda. I dropped him at third slip off Vernon Regis; but, if my memory serves me right, ran him out with a direct hit from fine leg after Percy Amendra had glanced the ball from a spin-bowler and I ran from first slip and threw the ball as I turned — with the angle & distance of my run indicating the direction & length required. Later he returned the ‘favour:’ getting me out caught and bowled after I made 65 runs. Continue reading →

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Filed under backyard cricket, child of empire, cricket and life, cricketing icons, performance, Sangakkara, sportsmanship, Sri Lanka Cricket, tower of strength, unusual people, welfare through sport

May 6, 2014 · 12:59 pm

Sanga talks to Scyld Berry at Durham about cricket life and times

Scyld Berry courtesy of the Daily Telegraph where the title is “Kumar Sangakkara, cricket’s new elder statesman, proves there is more to life than records and milestones”

England are still in flux. Sri Lanka are already preparing. Their touring team will play two one-day internationals in Ireland this week while Kumar Sangakkara, their world-class No 3, today starts the first of two championship matches for Durham. If Sangakkara increases his Test batting average from 58 to 61, he will go second on the all-time list, behind Sir Donald Bradman. With this end in mind, amid his overall pursuit of excellence, Sri Lanka’s left-hander will be playing at the Riverside against Yorkshire, in preparation for Sri Lanka’s two Tests against England in June.

kumar_2900627b Pix from North News

“There is no shame for a cricketer in saying that records and milestones are important,” Sangakkara said. “The whole point is the way you go about achieving them, and understanding whatever you do is subordinate to what the team wants.” Continue reading →

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Filed under cricket and life, cricketing icons, cricketing records, performance, politics and cricket, reconciliation through sport, Sri Lanka Cricket, unusual people, welfare through sport, work ethic

December 6, 2013 · 1:36 pm

Nelson Mandela honoured at Adelaide Oval by Australia Cricket

Australia v England - Second Test: Day 2

The Australian and English cricket teams stepped out and joined a huge crowd at Adelaide Oval today Friday 6th December in honouring Nelson Mandela’s contribution to South Africa and the world by two minutes of silence. Continue reading →

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November 7, 2013 · 1:09 pm

More Scenes from the Murali Cup on Finals Day

Murali being introduced to the St Peters College boys Murali greets St. Peters’ College players Continue reading →

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Filed under cricket and life, cricket tamashas, cricketing icons, murali, performance, Sangakkara, Sri Lanka Cricket, tower of strength, welfare through sport

November 2, 2013 · 1:46 pm

Hitting the Leather: Beefy’s Walk and Murali Cup off and striding

I: see  http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/680757.html

Completing day 1 of BeefyWalk

II: Rex Clementine: “Sportsmen bring people  together, politicians keep failing – Sir Ian Botham

‘Impossible is nothing,’ is the motto of footwear giants Adidas. They may have got those words looking at Sir Ian Botham terrorizing the Australians during many Ashes campaigns and particularly during the summer of 1981, popularly known as Botham’s Ashes. His 389 Test wickets is still an England record for most Test wickets. But that’s half the story. With the bat he contributed over 5000 Test runs including 14 centuries. Botham was a cricketing genius and after retirement, he has won as many fans as he had as the world’s top all-rounder for a decade. Continue reading →

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Filed under Botham, chaminda vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, murali, performance, politics and cricket, Sangakkara, tower of strength, unusual people, welfare through sport, work ethic

October 18, 2013 · 11:18 am

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust — Botham stands by his prediction of 5-nil whitewash of Australia

VIV AND IANBOTHAM -REUTERS

SEE http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=10848&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2  … where Botham reports that his walking training in Scotland and elsewhere has honed his body for the rigours of a long walk in Sri Lanka’s humid heat in support of the Foundation of Goodness’ welfare work in two locations in north and south with support from the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation whose masthead he carries. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Continue reading →

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Filed under Ashes Tests, Australian cricket, cricket and life, FOG, performance, unusual statistics, welfare through sport

July 26, 2013 · 2:18 am

Sydney Islanders cricketing on our island

sydney islanders 44 SYDNEY ISLANDERS sydney islanders 22 sydney islanders 33

SEE http://www.ozlanka.com/2013/jul/islanders.html for details of tour

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Filed under Australian cricket, cricket and life, cricket tamashas, patriotic excess, performance, taking the mickey, unusual people, violent intrusions, welfare through sport

June 16, 2013 · 1:16 pm

Fisticuffs in Cricket: Ian vs Ian, Warner vs Root, etc etc

Richard Browne, in the Sunday Leader, 16 June 2012, with title: “Warner Incident highlights History of Cricketing Pugilists”

ian vs ian

David Warner the pocket battleship from the tough end of Sydney, has been dominating the cricket press this week after landing a glancing blow on the chin of young Joe Root, the England batsmen. Root, the most cherubic player to don the Three Lions since a young David Gower debuted in 1978 with a head full of blond curls and the demeanour of a slightly reluctant angel, appears to have been the wrong man in the wrong place and fingers crossed the storm will quickly die now that Warner has his ban and fine and we can all return to the cricket. Continue reading →

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Filed under confrontations on field, cricketing icons, Ian Botham, patriotic excess, performance, sportsmanship, taking the mickey, unusual people, welfare through sport

June 16, 2013 · 1:02 pm

Botham to walk the talk

A POWER INTERVIEW WITH SIR IAN BOTHAM …. courtesy of Sunday Leader, 16 June 2013

02(82)-bOTHAMAT MANKULAMQ: How long will the walk take?
Sir Ian: We have a fixed schedule where the walk will start in the North at Kilinochchi and finish in the south at Seenigama.  The walk will be split into several stages, each of about 20 miles, and spread over 8 days.

Q: How much money will you raise?
Sir Ian: I never set a target.  The problem with targets is that once you reach them then people stop giving.  I have raised over £13,000,000 (GBP 13 Million) for charity and not once have I ever set a target.

Q: Who will the money go to?
Sir Ian: The money will be raised in the name of Laureus and The Foundation of Goodness and will be used for the benefit of the people of Sri Lanka.  The main project is to build a Sports Complex in Mankulam. Continue reading →

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Filed under Ian Botham, Sangakkara, Sri Lanka Cricket, tower of strength, unusual people, welfare through sport

May 8, 2013 · 10:26 pm

In Honour of CLR James

Rob Steen, in ESPNcricinfo

200px-Beyond_a_Boundry “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” Has sportswriting produced a more memorable, succinctly probing question charged with so much depth? To commemorate its 50th anniversary, scores of delegates and speakers, Mike Brearley included, will descend on the University of Glasgow (on Friday and Saturday) for a conference celebrating Beyond a Boundary, where we will salute the man who drew on a lifetime of struggle to write it: Cyril Lionel Robert James, CLR to one and all.

“Beyond a Boundary demonstrates that profound connections can be grasped by a popular sporting audience,” the eminent feminist Selma James recently declaimed in the Guardian. True, she is the third and last Mrs CLR, and can hardly be regarded as a disinterested judge, but anyone who has devoured, or even dipped into, Beyond a Boundary would scarcely dispute her assessment. A passionate expression of a Trinidadian Marxist Anglophile’s love for an imperialist game, in which he also wrote with eloquence, elegance and erudition about the way it fell short and the way it could and should be, the book was rooted in a quest to rid the world of racism and class oppression. Continue reading →

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Filed under cricket and life, cricket governance, cricketing icons, performance, tower of strength, unusual people, welfare through sport, West Indian Cricket