From Murali to Mendis, there’s method in the madness

Peter Roebuck, in the Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 2011

Pic from AFP

Pic from Reuters

No country has in recent times produced more original cricketers than Sri Lanka. Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Murali and Ajantha Mendis stand out as the most unorthodox players of their generation. In that time,Sri Lanka has endured a civil war, reporters have been eliminated, the defeated presidential candidate languishes in jail, and the cricket community has for 15 years been run by interim committees. Maybe chaos can be liberating, maybe organisation can stifle.

Murali’s freakish style has been admired and debated but not copied. Like Thommo, he has been inimitable. In his youth, he turned the ball prodigiously but latterly he relied as much upon disguise. Jayasuriya was the first of the modern breed of blasting openers; he struck the ball with awesome power. Malinga is a round-armer, a bunch long assumed to be extinct who ruled the roost briefly between the underarmers and overarmers. Continue reading

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From Tearaway Pace to Refined Medium Variety, that’s Watson

Peter Lalor, in The Australian, 5 September 2011

Pic from AP

AFTER proving himself Australia’s most damaging reverse-swing bowler in Galle, opening batsman Shane Watson took a moment to confess he had a wasted youth. He admitted he made mistakes. That he lived fast and damaged his health. Like many a young man before him, it was only when the damage he had done began to take hold that he realised he had to slow down or perish.

Of course, we’re not talking drink, drugs and fast women here. We are talking fast bowling. Continue reading

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Tom Moody’s tough talk leads Shaun Marsh to the Baggy Green

Peter Lalor, in The Australian, 6 September 2011

Pic from ZeeNews

SHAUN Marsh is set to make his Test debut in Kandy this week, but he has had the baggy green withheld and withdrawn too often to get ahead of himself.  The West Australian’s father, Geoff, was a veteran of 50 Tests and although Shaun grew up around cricketers and was exposed to all elements of the game, there was one thing that was off limits — his dad’s baggy green. “He kept it away from us kids,” Shaun said. “We didn’t see it too many times. It was hidden.”

Geoff wanted his children to understand the value of the cap, to know it was no play thing, nothing that was handed down from father to son. It was a sacred object and one you had to earn. Continue reading

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Aussie Country Boys strike Pay Dirt at Galle

Peter Lalor, in The Weekend Australian, 3-4 September 2011

Pic from AFP

 NATHAN Lyon had a dream. Country boys don’t dream too big, but he had ambitions. The agricultural worker’s son from rural NSW wanted one day to make it right to the top of the pile and be the head curator at the Adelaide Oval.  As a teenager he packed up his bags and moved from Young, a cherry-growing district with a population of a little over 7000, and moved to the big smoke. Once in Canberra he gained an apprenticeship as a groundsman, working for four years watching the grass grow at Manuka.

Things really started to happen for him when he landed a job with the ground staff at his field of dreams: the Adelaide Oval. To this point Banjo Patterson had done a rough draft of the hungry-looking part-time cricketer’s script, from here on in the bloke that penned Shane Warne’s improbable script took over and hammed up the story line. Continue reading

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Life after Murali less of a Struggle

S. Rajesh in ESPNcricinfo, 1 September 2011

 

 

Murali etching by Joe Hoad

Pic from Daily Mirror after Murai’s last Test Match in Galle

and Dav Whatmore congratulating  Murali –as so often

For overseas teams, batting in Sri Lanka has surely been one of the more challenging assignments of recent years. Battling an army of spinners in conditions suited perfectly to slow bowling is an examination that several competent batsmen have failed to pass, but things just might be getting easier for them now, with Muttiah Muralitharan no longer around to torment them. It’s been a little more than a year since Murali retired, and Sri Lankaare still searching for their first Test win post Murali. They won the last Test he played, thrashing India by 10 wickets in Galle, with Murali himself taking eight to reach the 800-wicket milestone, but since then things haven’t been as rosy. After managing 614 runs in two innings of that Galle Test, India scored 707 in a single innings in the second Test, and then won the third to level the series.

Continue reading

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Harry Solomons and Friends renew Aid and Fellowship with FOG at Seenigama

 

   ALSO SEE iimages of Michael Clarke’s visit to FOG at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/6115324312/in/photostream/

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A Fi’fer Spinner sends Aussie hopes soaring

Peter Lalor in Galle, from The Australian , 2 September 2011, where the article had the title “Quest for A Spinner bears Fruit”

Pic from AP

HOLD the celebrations, for it may be a mirage, but if it is not, then the long, desperate and occasionally delirious search for a spin bowler appears to be over. Nathan Lyon, the 11th man to try to fit into Shane Warne’s glittering jacket, came to the Galle Test having played just five first-class matches. He left the field two sessions later having taken 5-34 from 15 searching overs on a pitch that was a spinner’s dream. Australia had a lead of 283 with four wickets in hand at the close of play on a day that saw 16 wickets fall and only 220 runs scored. The visitors dismissed Sri Lanka for just 105, then fell to be 6-115 themselves on a pitch that is a nightmare for batsmen. Michael Clarke held together the second innings with a fighting 60 from 80 balls. He was only the third batsman to pass 30 in the game.

Australia is in a commanding position in the game, which will struggle to last four days unless the weather intervenes. Continue reading

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Exterminate Parasites before any Sri Lanka Cricket Elections

S. R. Pathiravithana, in Sunday Leader, 14 August 2011, under a different title

The present Interim Committtee– Pic from Sunday Leader

It was only last week we paid a glowing tribute to the new cricket management for a job that was being well executed. We always believe that when the top is strong it is not difficult for the message to cascade or even a slithering slimy stone to convert itself into a solid hard rock that could withstand pressure knowing that if the job is well done it will be mirrored all over.

You just do not have to keep opening cupboards to look for good results – the job of cricket was passed on to good hands and the players on the field are performing with new vigour. The athletic catch that Angelo Mathews and Mahela Jayawardena combined to complete just talks of a team that is well tuned and battling its way ahead. Never in the living memory of modern day cricket, has a catch being completed in that manner and this was not the first time that Mathews had raised the eye-brows of the cricketing world with a catch akin to that.

Maybe down the line of executing their duties, our cricketers may come upon a bad day at work, but, that does not mean it is the end of the world. They are a good set of cricketers and they know the performance that keeps them afloat.

Besides that, while engaged in friendly banter with a top official of the cricketing citadel last week Musings learned that things are going in the right direction and the persons who are entrusted with certain chores thus have the freedom to accomplish them with a little or no interference.

Yet we, at this end, keep wondering whether this group of people are aware that they have less time to execute their vision than the time it takes to for a woman to bring forth a child to this world. A six-month period is a limited time for the new administration which is doing well and still questions are being raised whether there is an agenda behind the agenda.

This team led by businessman Upali Dharmadasa is well aware and it was unequivocally stressed by the Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage at their inauguration that after six months he would call for elections to choose office-bearers to govern the cricket of this country for the next 365 days.
Yet is it clear that if this management does a good job within this six months — hardly a term to show their colours — would Upali be called upon to run for the chair with his team or there is some embryo who is being hatched in the heavens or else it would be a free for all where dog eat dog and the wily cat survives. Or else would Upali want to run for the chair even against the wind?

It is no secret even on the day Upali Dharmadasa was inaugurated at his position as the new Interim Committee Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket it was not only the media that was gathered there at the sports ministry. Walking down the corridors and assembling small gangs were the scum of cricket who has made a living out of it. These parasites have lived with the game for the past few decades and fattened themselves on it with ethics or human qualities not being their concern. They flaunt their votes to a highest bidder or what they can get out of them. Down the line these characters have also built a certain skill and they have managed to work in such a line where they are responsible for a block vote and sometimes it may run to more than ten.

It is said that the SLC vote count runs to 145 votes and the break down reads as 23 affiliated members @ one vote each; 29 controlling clubs @ 2 votes each; 21 District Associations @ 2 votes each; six Associations @ 2 votes each and five provinces @ 2 votes each.

Yet it is learned that the king maker who designs and shapes every movable and immovable thing in this country holds a block vote of 46 votes which is only 28 votes short of the number of votes required to win.

Then there is another individual of the previously mentioned quality who holds a block of 17 votes. He has gone on record boasting at a VIP gathering – “I am not playing the fool. I have come here with a total of seventeen votes. If you want them, take me seriously or else I go where they would take me seriously”.

We learn that this person who has allegedly cooked the accounts even with regard to packets of meals that is given to labourers during international matches is hard at work even at this Australian tour ofSri Lanka.

So we learn that pressure gets into even a crystal sculpture. Then there is also a person who holds a block of fifteen votes, but, yet his credentials are no better those of the man of seventeen.

Then another club veteran who has a finger in the pie said, “You have to know every individual and every move of the opposition. For instance a club committee can meet and decide that they will cast their vote for one individual or split their vote into A and B in case of they are entitled to two votes. However, what happens is a candidate who knows the pulse of the certain individual and also knows how the machine works can work on the individual who is entrusted with the job of voting at the AGM and makes him a mandate breaker.”

He also added, “This is not a new thing to Sri Lanka Cricket. This is the system that has been working in this country for the past one and a half decades when Interim Committees were at place and the system will work for the foreseeable future. Maybe an individual comes forward with a load of good intentions, but, once he attends to the parasitic interests of the individuals he has very little time left to do anything else.”

He then brought forward the example of former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga bid to the cricket’s hot seat. “He came with the cricket World Cup and a load of good intentions. But, he did not want to run with the existing system. So at the end of the count he ended up with seven votes to his credit. So he too learned that it is

Maybe down the line of executing their duties, our cricketers may come upon a bad day at work, but, that does not mean it is the end of the world. They are a good set of cricketers and they know the performance that keeps them afloat.

Besides that, while engaged in friendly banter with a top official of the cricketing citadel last week Musings learned that things are going in the right direction and the persons who are entrusted with certain chores thus have the freedom to accomplish them with a little or no interference.

Yet we, at this end, keep wondering whether this group of people are aware that they have less time to execute their vision than the time it takes to for a woman to bring forth a child to this world. A six-month period is a limited time for the new administration which is doing well and still questions are being raised whether there is an agenda behind the agenda.

This team led by businessman Upali Dharmadasa is well aware and it was unequivocally stressed by the Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage at their inauguration that after six months he would call for elections to choose office-bearers to govern the cricket of this country for the next 365 days.
Yet is it clear that if this management does a good job within this six months — hardly a term to show their colours — would Upali be called upon to run for the chair with his team or there is some embryo who is being hatched in the heavens or else it would be a free for all where dog eat dog and the wily cat survives. Or else would Upali want to run for the chair even against the wind?

It is no secret even on the day Upali Dharmadasa was inaugurated at his position as the new Interim Committee Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket it was not only the media that was gathered there at the sports ministry. Walking down the corridors and assembling small gangs were the scum of cricket who has made a living out of it. These parasites have lived with the game for the past few decades and fattened themselves on it with ethics or human qualities not being their concern. They flaunt their votes to a highest bidder or what they can get out of them. Down the line these characters have also built a certain skill and they have managed to work in such a line where they are responsible for a block vote and sometimes it may run to more than ten.

It is said that the SLC vote count runs to 145 votes and the break down reads as 23 affiliated members @ one vote each; 29 controlling clubs @ 2 votes each; 21 District Associations @ 2 votes each; six Associations @ 2 votes each and five provinces @ 2 votes each.

Yet it is learned that the king maker who designs and shapes every movable and immovable thing in this country holds a block vote of 46 votes which is only 28 votes short of the number of votes required to win.

Then there is another individual of the previously mentioned quality who holds a block of 17 votes. He has gone on record boasting at a VIP gathering – “I am not playing the fool. I have come here with a total of seventeen votes. If you want them, take me seriously or else I go where they would take me seriously”.

We learn that this person who has allegedly cooked the accounts even with regard to packets of meals that is given to labourers during international matches is hard at work even at this Australian tour ofSri Lanka.

So we learn that pressure gets into even a crystal sculpture. Then there is also a person who holds a block of fifteen votes, but, yet his credentials are no better those of the man of seventeen.

Then another club veteran who has a finger in the pie said, “You have to know every individual and every move of the opposition. For instance a club committee can meet and decide that they will cast their vote for one individual or split their vote into A and B in case of they are entitled to two votes. However, what happens is a candidate who knows the pulse of the certain individual and also knows how the machine works can work on the individual who is entrusted with the job of voting at the AGM and makes him a mandate breaker.”

He also added, “This is not a new thing to Sri Lanka Cricket. This is the system that has been working in this country for the past one and a half decades when Interim Committees were at place and the system will work for the foreseeable future. Maybe an individual comes forward with a load of good intentions, but, once he attends to the parasitic interests of the individuals he has very little time left to do anything else.”

He then brought forward the example of former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga bid to the cricket’s hot seat. “He came with the cricket World Cup and a load of good intentions. But, he did not want to run with the existing system. So at the end of the count he ended up with seven votes to his credit. So he too learned that it is is only a different game that would bring him to his desired seat and he just did that”.

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The Argus Review: Axe falls for the men who sacked Katich

Courtesy of The Weekend Australian, 20-21 August 2011, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/axe-falls-for-the-men-who-sacked-simon-katich/story-e6frg7rx-1226118423719 ……Its come too late to save the Ashes or Simon Katich, but the men who axed the prolific opener two months ago have lost their jobs as part of the wide ranging Australian Cricket Review released yesterday.  Chairman Andrew Hilditch and talent development manager Greg Chappell are both gone from that selection panel and the last man on the panel, Jamie Cox, is no certainty to keep his job. Head coach Tim Nielsen is also left to consider his future after his job was redefined and he was told he could reapply for it.’s

Pic from AFP

Chair of the review, Don Argus, claimed yesterday that it “was not a witch hunt” and chairman of Cricket Australia Jack Clarke insisted that “it should not be seen as scapegoating”, but the report has clearly taken aim at the roles of selectors. The players, coaches and elite performance structures, however, do not escape blame for the failures of Australian cricket. Under the new selection set-up, which CA says it aims to establish soon, there will be a five-man panel with a full-time chairman. Continue reading

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Upali Dharmadasa, the SLC chief, slams Interim Committees

Saroj Pathirana, for the BBC Sinhala Service, 21 August 2011

The head of Sri Lanka Cricket says the continuous appointment of Interim Committtees  over the years to run the country’s richest sports body has paved the way for what he calls a greedy culture. Upali Dharmadasa, who was recently appointed by the sports minister as the new chairman of the chairman of the interim committee (IC), says that only two governing bodies were democratically elected since 1998. “The SLC has been controlled by nine interim committees, including me, since then,” he told BBC Sandeshaya. “This (the new culture) is a direct result of the appointment of interim committees.”

‘Injustice’: He said the continuous appointment of the ICs by consecutive governments is an injustice to the game of cricket. The IC chief described the recent controversy over a group of junior coaches refusing to provide voluntary assistance to organise the current Sri Lanka Vs Australia series as a ‘clear indication of the greedy culture created as a result of cricket management by ICs’.

Mr Dharmadasa said he took over the chairmanship of the new interim committee, on the request of the minister, to sort out alleged malpractices including financial irregularities during the recently concluded cricket World Cup and to pave the way for and elected governing body. “I would like to see that the clubs, affiliate clubs and district associations once again working to uplift cricket. That is what we had before,” the chairman who took over the reigns from DS de Silva on 01 July said. Continue reading

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