The second oldest inter-school cricket fixture in the country will be played at Campbell Park on the 16th and 17th February 2018 for the 125th year between two of the finest educational institutions, Royal College and Wesley College for the Sir Frank Gunesekera Shield.

The first encounter between the two schools was played in 1893 at San Sebastian Hill, Hultsdorf which was the home ground of the Royalists. Royal was Captained by F.S. De Silva while Percy de Bruin captained Wesley. The Royalists won the inaugural encounter by 53 runs. The only break in the series came in 1943 when the grounds of both schools were taken over by the British during the Second World War.

The shield is named after a famous Ceylonese Senator, an old Royalist Sir Frank Gunesekera who was the Deputy President of the Senate of Ceylon in 1948. Both Sir Frank and Dr. Lucien had connections with both Royal and Wesley. Although both were educated at Royal, Sir Frank resided close to Wesley at the junction of Campbell Place and Baseline Road near the Welikade prisons. His two brothers Eric and Donald both studied at Wesley and played cricket for school in 1908 and 1910. The former ended up as Vice Principal and lived at Karlsruhe Gardens right in front to the Wesley Principal and Vice Principal’s bungalow. Their sister Irene too lived there.

Sir Frank, whose portrait hangs in the Royal College hall, was a brilliant student winning the Thoburn prize for the Best All-Rounder in 1904. The chief guest Sir Henry Blake predicted success in whatever career he chose. Five generations of Gunesekera’s have studied at Royal and Wesley College, including Eric, Donald, Elmer, Terrance, Lal, Chrysantha, Nalin, Rohith, Hiran, Sharmal, Sivaji, Shivantha, Rajiv, Tharindra and Anujith.

It was in 1969 that Dr. Lucien Gunesekera presented the Sir Frank Gunesekera Shield in memory of his father which Wesley became the first recipient in the famous last ball victory under the leadership of Amaresh Rajaratnam. Sporting declarations by both sides made the match one of the, if not the most interesting of the 125 encounters played between the two schools.

Batting first, Wesley scored 260 for 9 while Royal replied with 207 for 7. With a lead of 53 runs in the first innings, Wesley declared at 105 for 8, setting the Royalists a target of 158.

The game ended in one of the most thrilling finishes when the Royalists were bowled out for 148 in the last ball of the last over of the game, giving Wesley a famous 9 run win.

Wesley’s reign was short lived, as Royal won it back the following year, leaving Wesley with no option but to wait for another 42 years to taste victory, reclaiming the trophy in 2012 under the captaincy of Ashen Fonseka.

The centenary encounter was played as a three-day match played at the P.Sara Oval in 1993 where Royal was captained by Gamini Perera and Wesley was captained by Teheran Rasool. After bowling Wesley out for 103 runs, Royal posted a mammoth total of 411 for 6 with the Captain himself scoring an unbeaten 152. The match ended within two days when Wesley was skittled for 112 in their second innings, giving the Royalists an emphatic innings and 196 run victory. Nalliah. Rajan’s brilliant bowling earned him a match bag of 10 for 43.

In 1906, C. A. Perera of Wesley made 108, becoming the first ever Wesleyite to score a century against Royal. Another interesting feature of this longstanding encounter was when Danesh Dissanayake scored centuries against Royal in 1988 and 1989 while his father Edmund Dissanayake too scored 107 in 1946. They remain the only father-son duo to score centuries against Royal.

The record for the highest individual score is held by the former Royal skipper Chulaka Amarasinghe who scored an unbeaten 207 in 1983 while Roshan David’s 199 in 1990 stand as the highest for the Wesleyites. M.L. Warish holds the bowling record for Wesley against Royal taking 9 for 17 in 1897. Warish’s match bag of 14 for 48 in that match still continues as a record for both schools.

Over the 125 years both schools have produced some outstanding and great cricketers, a few that come to mind are Dr. C.H. Gunasekera, Sargo Jayawickrema, Col .F.C. De Saram, Sathi Coomaraswamy, C.I. Gunasekera, Gamini Goonasena, Fritzroy Crozier, Darrel Lieversz, Jayantha Amerasinghe, Gajan Pathmanathan, Asitha Jayaweera, Ranjan Madugalle, Rohan Jayasekera, Sumithra Warnakulasuriya, Sudath Pasqual, Asantha De Mel, Chulaka Amarasinghe, Roshan Jurangpathy, Jehan Mubarak and Kushal Janith Perera from Royal with the famous M. Sathasivam, S. Gunasekera, R.L. Kannangara, A. Mylvaganam, S. Nagendra, I.H. Walbeoff, H.L. A. Matthysz, Edmund Dissanayake, Lucky Goonetilleke, M.N. Samsudeen, Lou Adihetty, the Claessen brothers, Bryan, Radley and Herman, the Harmer brothers Russell, Mervyn and Granville, Darrell Maye, the Jeganathan twins, Sritheran and Hariharan the Fuard brothers, Ansar and Abu, L.C.R. Wijesinghe, Amaresh Rajaratnam, Tyronne Jansz, Dilangen Jayasekera, Mahendra Dissanayake, Ganesh Mylvaganam, Navin De Silva, Sanjeeva Wijesingha, Dharshika Jayakody, Roshan David, Danesh Dissanayake, Farveez Mahroof and more recently Ishan Jayaratne and Jeffrey Vandersay playing for Wesley. Some of these gentlemen went on to represent the country.

The Royalists are the current holders of the shield, having won it in 2015 under the captaincy of Harith Samarasinghe.

Giving a synopsis of the second oldest schools cricket fixture in the island leading to the 125th year, Royal have won 50 with Wesley winning 22 encounters while 52 matches were drawn.

Celebrating the 125 years of cricketing encounters in 2018, the Royalists will be looking to hold on to the Sir Frank Gunesekera shield under the Captaincy of Pasindu. Sooriyabandara while the Wesleyites under the leadership of Thusaraka Akmeemana will be shifting all gears to bring the shield back to Karlsruhe Gardens. Whatever the outcome may be both sides are bound to provide the cricket loving spectators an entertaining game.

The Chief Guest for this memorable encounter will be former Wesley and Sri Lanka Schools under 19 cricket captain, Capt. Navin De Silva. Navin began playing 1st XI cricket in 1978 and ended captaining Wesley in 1981and 1982. He was a dashing batsman who feared no bowler and a right arm fast medium bowler deceptive with speed.

Many of his knocks were dazzling and worth going miles to watch. Considered to be one of the finest cricket captains in the 80’s, Navin was selected to lead the Sri Lankan schools team on its first ever cricket tour to England in 1981 with Arjuna Ranatunga as his deputy.

The tour was a success with Sri Lanka remaining unbeaten a great achievement at that time. The side consisted of players of the calibre of Aravinda De Silva, Marlon Von Haght, S.H.U. Karnain, Graham Labrooy and Rumesh Ratnayake. Navin went on to be adjudged the best schools captain and best all-rounder in school cricket in 1981.

Invitation to past cricket captains of Royal and Wesley

To commemorate the 125th cricket encounter between the two schools, the past captains of both Royal and Wesley are invited to be present at 2.30 pm on Saturday, the 17th February 2018 for a photograph after which a special memento will be presented to them.

To confirm their presence, all captains could contact rose on telephone no. 0112691339 on any working day between 9.00 am and 2.30 pm, until 14th February 2018.

The 55th “Battle of Brothers” cricket encounter between Isipathana College and Thurstan College is scheduled to be played on February 23 and 24 at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds.

This was revealed to the media during a press briefing held at the Burgher Recreation Club (BRC) recently. The annual Thurstan-Isipathana Big Match is a much looked forward to event in the schools’ sports calendar. This is a special occasion for past students of both schools to reunite, for some of them perhaps since leaving school.

The hosts of the match have decided to bring in a 60-over rule as the first innings will be restricted for both teams and the second essay will be conducted as normal conditions in this year’s encounter.

Thurstan College will be led by Nipun Lakshan who has scored 349 runs with a century in school’s matches while Pathana team will be captained by Ayana Siriwardana who has scored over 500 runs. Thurstan College recorded three outright and six first innings wins having played 13 school’s matches in the season. The Pathanians have played 11 matches registering six first innings wins and an outright win.

Both teams have yet to establish a worthy record of wins and of the 54 matches played, Thurstan have won five and Isipathana bagged the trophy four times with the rest ending in draws.

The last win in the series was recorded by Isipathana College in 1999 under the captaincy of Krishantha Jayawardene. Thurstan College last won in 1992 under Mackenzie Perera.

The Mini Big Match will be held at Thurstan Grounds on February 16 and 17 while the joint cycle parade between two brother schools will start from Isipathana College and proceed towards Thurstan College on February 22 at 8.30 am. The 38th Limited Over match will be played at P. Sara (Oval) Stadium on March 4 and T20 encounter will be worked off on March 11 at Thurstan Grounds.

Both schools have produced a few Sri Lanka players in Amitha de Costa, Niroshan Bandaratilleke, Hemantha Boteju and Lahiru Kumara all from Thurstan and Jayantha Paranathala, Asoka de Silva, Asantha de Mel, Uvais Karnain, Suresh Perera, Nuwan Zoysa and Sri Lanka's youngest Test cricketer Sanjeewa Weerasinghe from Isipathana.

Nestle Lanka will be the official food partner of the encounter.

Elephant House and Keells Krest will once again support the 84th Battle of the Saints between St Joseph’s College and St Peter’s College as its Food, Beverage and Ice Cream Partner for 2018.

Now in its 84th consecutive year, this thrilling school cricketing encounter is one of the longest running big matches in Sri Lanka, with this year's edition being played on the 2nd and 3rd March 2018 at P. Sara Oval Grounds.

As long-time supporters of this tradition, Ceylon Cold Stores PLC (Elephant House) and Keells Foods Products PLC (Keells Krest) continue to be indispensible to the enjoyment of these big matches by providing a beloved range of processed meats, beverages and ice cream to attendees at these exciting “Battle of the Saints” big matches for several years now.

In terms of supporting schools’ big matches, Elephant House and Keells Krest are undoubtedly the largest supporters of these tournaments.

The spirit of competition and sportsmanship witnessed at the ‘Battle of the Saints’ is truly an exemplary example for others to follow.

As a partner of this encounter for many years, Elephant House and Keells Krest have put all their efforts into guaranteeing that students, old boys, parents and guests, and even the competing cricketers, are refreshed, ensuring that the match is truly a success.

Bangladesh won the toss and was elected to bat first in the first match of the T20 series against Sri Lanka, a short while ago.

Today’s match will be held at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

The inaugural battle of friends between Loyala College Bopitiya and Christ King College, Tudella will take place on February 16 and 17 at Kadirana. The one day match between the schools will take place on February 24 at the historic P. Sara stadium.

Both schools have made significant strides in recent years and the first ever big match is expected to raise the excitement.

NCC openers Lahiru Udara and Bhanuka Rajapaksa put on an unfinished stand of 251 runs against Colts CC in their SLC Premier League Inter-Club Super 8 match played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Udara was unbeaten on 126 and Rajapaksa on 121 as NCC closed day one at 251-0 after dismissing Colts for 127.

Chilaw Marians openers Shehan Jayasooriya and Ashen Silva hit centuries as they also shared a double century stand against SSC at the CCC grounds.

Left-handers Jayasooriya scored 146 and Silva 105 adding 245 runs as Chilaw Marians batting first ended day one on 337-8.

Matches will be continued today on day two.

DAY ONE SCORES:

l At CCC: Chilaw Marians CC: 337/8 at close in 90 overs (Shehan Jayasuriya 146, Ashen Silva 105, Sachithra Serasinghe 30, Risith Upamal 24, Akthab Cader 3/69, Sachithra Senanayake 2/91) vs SSC

l At Galle: Colts CC: 127 in 35.1 overs (Nisala Tharaka 25, Kaveeshka Anjula 20, Lasith Ambuldeniya 5/33, Lahiru Kumara 4/26)

NCC: 251/0 at close in 52 overs (Lahiru Udara 126 n.o., Bhanuka Rajapaksa 121 n.o.)

l At SSC: Saracens SC: 244/6 at close in 91 overs (Minhaj Jaleel 56, Andy Solomons 48, Harsha Cooray 41, Gamindu Kanishka 35, Ashen Bandara 38 n.o., Thanuka Dabare 20, Charith Jayampathi 3/34) vs

Ports Authority CC

lAt FTZ Katunayake: Ragama CC: 129 in 47.5 overs (Akshu Fernando 41, Lahiru Milantha 23, Himesh Ramanayake 5/29, Suraj Randiv 2/27)

BRC: 110/6 at close in 40 overs (Lasith Lakshan 35, Hashen Ramanayake 20 n.o., Shashin Dilranga 20, Ishan Jayaratne 3/32, Nishan Peiris 2/6) -YK

DHAKA, Thursday: Opener Kusal Mendis scored his maiden half century in Twenty20 internationals to lead Sri Lanka's six-wicket rout of Bangladesh in the first of the two matches in Dhaka on Thursday.

Mendis smashed 53 off 27 balls while Dasun Shanaka hit an unbeaten 42 as the visitors eased past Bangladesh's record total of 193-5 with 20 balls to spare.

Shanaka, who hit 3 fours and 3 sixes in his 24-ball blitz, shared an unbeaten 65-run stand with Thisara Perera to snap Sri Lanka's eight-match losing streak in T20 matches.

Bangladesh rode on brisk half-centuries by Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim to post their highest-ever T20 total but were undone by an attacking opposition batting.

Sri Lanka responded strongly with Mendis putting on 53 runs with fellow-opener Danushka Gunathilaka, who made 30, to put the Bangladesh bowlers on the backfoot.

Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, one of the four debutants in Bangladesh line up, broke the stand when he got Gunathilaka stumped.

Nazmul later picked the wicket of Upul Tharanga, for four, before fellow debutant Afif Hossain removed Mendis with his off spin.

But Shanaka and Perera, who was unbeaten on 39 off just 18 balls, ensured no further hiccup in the Sri Lankan innings.

Earlier, the home side surpassed their previous highest score of 190-5 against Ireland at Belfast in 2012, thanks to some prolific batting by Mushfiqur and Soumya.

Mushfiqur remained unbeaten on 66 off 44 balls while Soumya hit a 32-ball 51 -- the left-handed opener's maiden T20 fifty -- after the hosts elected to bat first. Sri Lankan leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis claimed two wickets.The second match of the series will be held in Sylhet on Sunday.

The game between Police Sports Club and Navy Sports Club will be a closely fought out battle for supremacy at Racecourse grounds, Reid Avenue today in their Dialog ‘A’ division inter-club Clifford Cup knock-out rugby opening quarter final game commencing 4:15pm.

The Navy outfit who have faced an unexpected plight losing some of their key players including winger Saliya Handapangoda yet recovering from injuries are bound to field a couple of sidelined players for today’s game.

However adding to the woes would be the absence of their two key players in captain cum flanker Danushka “Gertha” Perera and winger Supun Dilshan.

On the other hand the unpredictable Police lads, who nearly turned tables on the Army side, where they played a superb game in their last league outing at Police Park losing the game after a close fight by 43-36.

Hence they will have to come up with a similar performance if they hope to overcome the Navy side with victory to get into the semis.

Meanwhile Police skipper and prop forward Jayanga Silva faces another acid test while the Navy SC skipper Dulanjana Wijesinghe has fared admirably well with the resurgent force.

Teams:

Navy SC (Probable XV): Kasun De Silva, Dulanjana Wijesinghe(Captain), Stefan Greogary, Supun Peiris, Lahiru Wishvajith ,Janith Laksara, Adeesha Weerathunga, Raveen De Silva, Hashan Maduranga and Mohamad Abzal, Budhdhima Piyaratne, Thanuja Maduranga, Musheen Falleel, Chathura Gomez, Thilina Weerasinghe, Head Coach : Mothilal Jayathilake, Asst.Coach : Dev Anand

Police SC (Probable XV): Jayanga Silva (Captain), Lahiru Pawithra, Deshan Fernando, Romesh Archarige, Rukshan Payantha, Wajid Fawmy, Pradeep Kumara, Sajith Saram, Hashan Gomez and Sandesh Jayawickrama, Sujan Kodituwakku, Chanaka Udara, Lahiru Gurusingha, Anushika Uthpala, Janith Chandimal, Head Coach : Shamly Nawaz.

DHAKA, Thursday: Bangladesh's cricket board Thursday promised to improve pitches for international Tests after its two best venues were rated "below average" by the sport's governing body following the Sri Lanka series.

The International Cricket Council penalised the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka for its subpar pitch a week after rebuking Bangladesh's other top venue in Chittagong for its shoddy ground.

The latest Test against Sri Lanka ended inside three days, with the visitors thrashing Bangladesh by 215 runs in a match that saw both sides all-out twice in less than eight sessions.

The Chittagong Test, however, saw batsmen plunder more than 1,500 runs, with Sri Lanka declaring at a colossal 713 for nine in their first and only innings.

ICC match referee David Boon -- who issued a demerit point to both venues for below-average pitches -- said the Dhaka ground was poor from day one.

"There was evidence of the ball breaking the pitch surface, which resulted in uneven bounce throughout the match, along with inconsistent turn, which was even excessive at times," he said in a statement.

"This pitch produced a contest that was too heavily skewed in favour of the bowlers, and didn't give the batsmen a fair chance to display their skills."

The opposite problem prevailed in Chittagong last week, when Boon said the pitch provided no seam movement and favoured batsmen, who smashed five centuries and six half-centuries over five days.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board said it would consider appealing the demerit points but promised to take more precautions in future.

"Since we received this rating, we will be more careful about preparing the venues," said the board's chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury.

Any ground that receives five demerits from the ICC over five years is suspended from hosting international cricket for a year. – AFP

Asela Gunaratne, a member of the 15-member squad playing Bangladesh in the on-going two T20 Internationals has been ruled out of the series.

Gunaratne has sustained an injury in his right arm, while diving during one of the fielding drills and getting his arm caught in an awkward position, states a Sri Lanka Cricket media release.

Gunaratne was due to return to Colombo yesterday to undergo an MRI scan and start a rehabilitation process. No replacement will be sent.

The Clifford Cup quarter-final rugby match between Kandy Sports Club and Air Force SC will be played on Saturday February 17 at Trinity College rugby grounds at Pallekelle.

Earlier plans were to play this match at Bogambara Stadium, but the ground is in a poor state and they have decided to play the match at Pallekelle.

If Kandy SC enters the semi-finals, this match will be played at Pallekelle on January 21 Wednesday against the winners of the CR & FC and CH & FC match.

The final are fixed for February 25 Sunday at Racecourse grounds.

The Clifford Cup is the most prestigious club rugby knockout tournament and arguably the oldest rugby tournament in Asia. The Clifford Cup commenced in 1911 and has been played continuously since 1950.

Former volleyball player and athlete of Maha Vidyalaya, Horana, past Sri Lanka volleyball captain, coach and chairman of the selection committee of Sri Lanka Volleyball and Vice President of Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation, present Selection Committee Member, Retired Headquarter District Coach of Ministry of Sports N. D. Gunasena spoke to the Daily News at his residence at No. 53/8, Sri Somananda Mawatha, Horana.

Q: Can you tell something briefly about yourself and your family?

A - My full name is Nagodaga Don Gunasena and I was born on 18th May 1953 and my father is Nagodage David Perera, who was a businessman and my mother is Sapi Nona Jayathunga was a housewife. I have three elder brothers one younger brother three elder sisters and two younger sisters. My wife is Vajira Subashini Aluthge and she is a housewife. We have two sons and we hail from Horana.

Q: What is your first school?

A- I had my entire education from grade one to grade thirteen at Maha Vidyalaya Horana and I entered school in 1959 and left in 1972.

Q: Did you do sports whilst at school?

A : My first principal was Mr. Gunathilake and during this period we had only athletics and I took part in Putt Shot and Discuss. I came first in the under 16 and under 19 age groups at the school’s sports meets and I came second at divisional level. One of our teachers Victor Abeyratne was in charge of sports and he started volleyball at school in 1977 and I was appointed as the first volleyball captain of the school at the under 16 age limit. He coached us in athletics and volleyball. Later K. D. Dharmaratne assumed duties as the Principal.

In 1969 at the inter schools Horana Division volleyball tournament we lost to Vidyartha Pirivene School and they were captained by Ranjan Bodinagoda. In 1970 we won the all island Ceylon Schools Volleyball Championship by beating more fancied Bomiriya Maha Vidyalaya and our team was captained by Somapala Peiris.

I was his deputy. Their team was led by Jayantha Dolawatte. Our other team members were T. Cheapan, H. D. Munasinghe, L. C. Wijesiri, P. G. Gunathilake, D. Jayasinghe and H. A. Kumaradasa.

Q: Did you continue sports after leaving school?

A : I concentrated on volleyball only and I joined United Sports Club Horana and I played for them for two years. I was selected to the Western Province team in the Inter Provincial tournament organized by the Ministry of Sports.

We lost to Gampaha who was captained by Emmanuel Fernando.

Q: What is your employment?

A : In 1974 I joined the Ministry of Sports as a Sports Officer and was drafted to Tangalle. Then I was transferred to Bulathsinhala and subsequently to Horana.

In 1985 I was awarded a scholarship to Leipzig Sports University, Germany to follow a six months course and I got a second class diploma in coaching volleyball.

After returning to the island I was posted to Kalutara District as a Sports Officer.

Q: Did you play for the Sri Lanka team?

A : I played for the Sri Lanka volleyball team from 1973 to 1983 without a break. In 1973 and 74 I played against visiting Indian and Chinese teams.

Then I toured Pakistan for the Mohamed Ali Jinnah Trophy and we got a Bronze Medal.

Then Pakistanis arrived here in 1981 and I captained the President’s team. In 1983 I toured for the All Indian Volleyball Competition and I was the vice captain.

Q: Did you coach the Sri Lankan teams?

A: In 1988 and 89 I was the Junior National volleyball coach for males. I toured with junior teams to Indonesia and Thailand. In 1991 I was appointed as the Assistant Coach to W. L. Piyaratne for the 1991 and 93 SAF Games. In 1993 I was appointed as the head coach of the womens’ National Team and we won a Silver at SAF Games in Bangladesh. In 1995 I was the head coach of the Men’s team to SAF Games in India and we got a Bronze. Then we went to Korea for the Asian Championship and we got the ninth place. I have been to Oman, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia with the Sri Lanka teams for friendly games and in 1998 I stepped down.

Q: Did you manage any Sri Lankan teams?

A: I went as the manager for Asian Championship in Indonesia and to Vietnam for the Asian Volleyball Competition. I was in the selection committee for five years. Finally in 2011 I retired as the Headquarter District Coach.

Q: Were you involve in any activity in your alma mater?

A: I am a member of the OBA I have organized several programs for my school volleyball players in time to time.

Q: Have you produced any National players from your home town?

A: Sasika Jayawardene and Ranjika Mahawatte and in junior national level Manjula Athukorala, Sameera Sakunthala, Krishan Beatrice and from other areas several men and women. In addition I have produced coaches and referees.

Q: Are you involved in volleyball administration?

A: I am in the selection committee.

Q: Are you engaged in any activities now?

A: Presently I am a member of the selection committee. I am the chairman of the Horana Multi Purposes Co-Operative Society for the last 6 years and I was a past vice president for 6 years.

Also I am the chairman of the District Co- Operative Bank Society, Kalutara and the chairman of the Western Province Business, Social and Security Society.

Q: Who are the people who extended their support to you to come up the ladder?

A: Firstly my parents, the two Principals, Teachers and then my wife. Others are G. S. Abeysiriwardene, K. D. Dharmasena, Victor Ariyaratne, B. Yasanayake, K. Thilakapala and D. S. Alahendra.

Q: What is the advice you can give to the present day volleyball players?

A: Firstly you must be religious, then discipline and studies. In volleyball proper training should be there, always be a team member and you must have an aim.

Note: Gunasena can be contacted on 0773100830, 0718249341, 0771838933

Defending champions Kandy Sports Club will go all out to clip the wings of the Airmen and assert their supremacy when they play in their Clifford Cup quarterfinal fixture at Trinity College rugby grounds, Pallekelle today at 4.00 pm. On current form Kandy SC will not have any difficulty in crash landing the Airmen whom they have twice thrashed in the league matches. Kandy is expected to carry on from where they left off last Sunday and continue their winning streak into the knockouts.

For today’s match Kandy SC will include the best young talent they have at their disposal. Kandy SC has been playing cohesive rugby which has unsettled many of their opponents. Another incentive to the Kandy SC side is the encouragement given by their trustee ‘Mr. Rugby’ Malik Samarawickrema. Kandy SC had their final work out last morning and the coaches Sean Wijesinghe and his assistant Saliya Kumara who put the players through their paces has in consultation with the rugby committee decided to make a few changes from the side that played Havelock SC last Sunday. In the forwards play, Kandy SC should get the better of their opponents and give the Colombo lads a torrid time. Their backs have been performing with good understanding as they have proved in the league games. Their backs have regularly provided that extra pace which has made their task easier. Their strong point against Airmen will be their back division. Air Force will be at full strength, but will face a tough task to stop their opponents from going on another scoring spree. A better show is expected from the Airmen. But whatever they do it is going to be a difficult task for them to match the champion Kandy SC outfit.

Postponed AGM on Sunday

The Central Province Rugby referees AMG which was postponed at the eleventh hour last Sunday, will now take place tomorrow Sunday at the same venue Kandy Sports Club pavilion. Holding an annual general meeting in the correct manner is essential. It is in this forum that decisions are made regarding annual budgets, annual contributions, referees insurance, the election of the committee. It will be ideal if they can bring in an efficient personality as the president.

Trinity-Royal celebrate 125 years

Kandy’s oldest inter-school cricket match between Trinity College and Royal College will be played at Asgiriya Stadium on February 23 and 24 for the 125th year. The first game between these two schools was played in 1893 and it went in favor of Royal College. Trinity recorded their first win in 1896 by nine wickets under the captaincy of A Coskatte.

Sports promoter Kesara is Mayor

Old Trinitian Kesara Senanayake will take the chair as the Mayor of Kandy, for the second time. A keen follower and supporter of sports he is all out to bring back the sporting standard where it was at one time. During his Mayorship earlier he gave a big hand for sports, through the sports committee chairman H Marikar.

Donald Steel golf

The 2018 Donald Steel Golf tournament will start today at 7.30 am at the Victoria Golf and Country Resort course. This tournament will be played over 18 holes. It will be interesting to see some of the local and overseas golfers in action. The defending champions are Nimal Wettimuny in the men’s and Anouk Chitty in the ladies.

House Champions

The Trinity College Inter House Track and Field Competition 2018 was held on Friday 9 February at their Stadium, Asgiriya. Chief Guest was Samantha Samarasinghe, the Athletic Captain of 1989. This is the first time in the history that the sports meet was postponed by a week due to bad weather.

Rugby chuckers game

St Anthony’s College and Dharmaraja College met at a chuckers game of rugby at Rajawella grounds where both schools had some good players, and there was good rugby. At the end it was the Antonians who had the highest number of points.

House Football

The Trinity College Inter-House Football tournament 2018 was held at the Pallekele Rugby Stadium, where a good day’s football was presented. The winners: Junior Houses - Squealery House - 1st, Sahayam House - 2nd, Pilcher House - 3rd, Gibson House - 4th and Saunders House - 5th. Senior Houses - Garret House - 1st, Central Boarding House - 2nd, Simithraaratchy House - 3rd, Oorloff House - 4th, Lemuel House - 5th.

Antonians make Kandy proud at cricket

St Anthony’s College cricketers who are under Sampath Perera’s coaching recorded their ninth win of the season. It is great of these cricketers after losing the first game to win nine games. They are the only Kandy school to do so this time.

Under 15 basketball

Kandy boys school like St. Sylvester’s, CIS Kandy, St. Benedict’s Kandy ae among 30 schools that will be seen in action at the All Island ‘C’ Division boys basketball tournament from March 1 to 7. In the Girls tournament which commenced yesterday, 23 schools are in action. The Kandy schools taking part are CIS Kandy, Good Shepherd Convent, Gateway, A. Ratnayake Central and Mahamaya.

Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya held its annual inter house sportsmeet at Havelock grounds, Colombo recently, under patronage of Rev. Sr. Deepa Fernando, Principal HFC.

Ms. Jayanthi Kur-Utumpala, the first Sri Lankan to climb the summit of Mount Everest was in attendance as the chief guest and gave away the awards.

Carmel House won the overall championship while Rose Dileema, Susan, Ambrose and Sebastian Houses were placed second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.

“Koshila Amerasinghe” of Rose Dileema House won the overall champion athlete award.

Here are the age group champions

Under 12 – Jessy Seneviratne (Ambrose)

Under 14 – Dilumi Weerakkody (Sebastian)

Under 16 – Dilini Gunawardena (Carmel)

Under 18 – Malmi Hirunika (Susan)

Under 20 – Koshila Amerasinghe (Rose Dileema)

The 11th edition of the Inter Schools Invitation Football Tournament for the President’s Cup organized by the Group of 80’s of Hameed Al Husseinie College will be kicked off at Colombo Race Course grounds on February 23 and the grand finale will be held on March 11 at the same venue under flood lights. The Oxford Group has come forward to be the Main Sponsor of the tournament for the first time coinciding with their 20th Anniversary.

The organizers have invited 24 leading schools football teams to take part in this prestigious tournament. Ananda, Hindu, St. Benedict’s, Hameed Al Husseinie, Lumbini, Thurstan, Isipathana, Nalanda, Zahira, St. Peter’s, DS Senanayake, Gateway International, TB Jayah and Wesley Colleges from Colombo and De Mazenod – Kandana, Al Mubarak Central – Malwana, Maris Stella – Negombo, Zahira – Gampola, Kalutara Muslim Central and Badriya Central – Mawanella have confirmed their participation while St. Patrick’s College – Jaffna, S. Thomas’ – Mount Lavinia, Kinniya Central – Trincomalee and Royal – Colombo are yet to confirm their participation.

The hosts and defending champions Hameed Al Husseinie are hoping to retain the shield this year while runners-up of last year Maris Stella, Negombo will be determined to wrest the trophy from them this year.

The winning team will receive medals and certificates along with President’s Trophy while most valuable player of each match, best goalkeeper (Golden Glove), highest goal scorer (Golden Boot), most valuable player of the tournament will be awarded valuable prizes.

The most valuable player will receive special holiday return air ticket to Malaysia from Sharmila Travels, the Travel Partner of the tournament. The special award will be given to Most Disciplined Team of the tournament on a request by media personnel at a press briefing held at Football House on Thursday (15).

The group matches, pre-quarter and quarter finals will be played at City League Grounds, Colombo 2 from February 27 to March 1 while semi-finals will be held at Race Course Grounds on March 4.

There is a famous saying that records are meant to be broken. But when we look at these cricketing records one has to think will these records be ever broken. Let us have a look at some records which will be very tough to be broken.

Lots of experimentation has been going on with the 50-over format since the last decade or so, and this format lost a bit of popularity with time, especially with the success of the T20 format.

To attract crowds, Australia started a format with four innings of twenty overs each, and England started a pro 40 tournament, with each side playing forty overs.

None of these strategies paid dividends and failed to attract crowds.

Till 1983, ODIs used to be a 120 over contest with each inning of 60 overs, then it was reduced to 50-overs a side. The rules are changing very frequently to make the game more attractive and pull in some crowds.

A lot of permutations and combinations took place related to the field restrictions, and a lot was discussed in the ICC meetings related to this format.

At present, the first power play consists of an initial period of 10 overs, with at most 2 fielders outside the inner circle.

The second power play is from the 11th to the 40th over, where at most 4 fielders are allowed outside the circle.

The third and the last power play is from 41st to 50th over, where a maximum of 5 fielders are allowed outside the circle.

With the number of changes taking place in the ODIs, it’s unlikely those things are going to stay the same for a very long time.

The biggest drawback of these rules in ODIs is that the rules are dictating too many things to the fielding captain, hampering their natural decision making, as if, the ICC wants the ODIs to be played in a particular pattern.

The rules that are no longer valid in ODIs are as follows:

- SK

The Pakistan players will be busy for over a month now with the prestigious Pakistan Super League (PSL) coming up. The PSL will start on 22 February and will pan out all the way till 25 March.

The Pakistani team will then play a T2oI series against West Indies which will be followed by Test series against England and Ireland. Later they are scheduled to play against Scotland and Zimbabwe.

However, the tour of Zimbabwe seems to be under the cloud at the moment. The African side is due to host Pakistan across all three formats in June while Australia were to also travel for a bilateral series but those fixtures are now in doubt. The Zimbabwe series could well be postponed

Zimbabwe Cricket's cash crisis is threatening to interrupt their upcoming home international season. Hosting any team for a bilateral series is often a costly affair.

The visiting team needs to be provided with various facilities, logistics for which the cricket boards shell out from their pockets. Although some good amount of revenue is generated, the viewership for Zimbabwe's matches is not often on the higher side.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has been trying to negotiate a with both countries attempting to arrange an ODI tri-series instead, but even that will be a financial setback. ZC's managing director, Faisal Hasnain, told ESPNcricinfo that “Finances may not allow the [Pakistan] series to go ahead because we don't get a lot from our TV contract, and the series ends up – the production costs result in huge losses.”

Given the current cash situation, he said the series could also be postponed. “Given our current cash situation, in order to balance our books, we may actually have to either renegotiate the format or we may have to postpone it until such time as we are ready to play. We are looking at all of that to see whether we have the tri-series only, the Pakistan series only, or we change the format. We are just working through, considering our options at the moment,” he added.

Zimbabwe are due to host the 2019 World Cup Qualifiers starting next month that tournament will be unaffected by the home union's cash crisis as it is an ICC event.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli just needs 176 ODIs and 166 innings to get past Sanga’s mark and notch up No. 26. This is October 2016 we are discussing. He has played 29 ODIs since then. Kohli already has 34 hundreds and is 15 short of Sachin Tendulkar’s world record tally.

In fact, he has scored 12 hundreds (as many Dravid scored in his career and two more than Dhoni) in his last 40 ODIs.

Kohli finished 2017 with 2,818 runs across formats, the most by any cricketer and third-most by any batsman in a calendar year.

Sangakkara’s tally of 2,868 in 2014 still tops the charts. Kohli could have gone past Sanga’s tally had he played the ODIs and T20Is against Sri Lanka.

However, Sanga had famously remarked last year: “I don’t think that will last long the way Kohli is batting. He will probably overtake it next year and then do it again the year after. He is a different class.”

Sri Lankan legendary batsmen Kumar Sangakkara finished his ODI career with 25 hundreds. He registered his last hundred in his penultimate ODI, his 403rd (379th innings) to be precise.

This is Sangakkara, one of the finest batsmen to grace the sport and he finished with fourth-most three-figures in ODIs, behind Sachin Tendulkar (49), Ricky Ponting (30) and countryman Sanath Jayasuriya (28).

To put things into perspective, Rahul Dravid has 12 hundreds from 344 ODIs (318 innings), MS Dhoni 10 from 310 (270 innings) and Mohammad Azharuddin 7 from 334 (308 innings).

We are talking of giants in one-day cricket. Sanga’s conversion rate does stand out.

A superb game of rugby is on the cards when CR and FC play CH and FC in their Dialog ‘A’ Division inter-club knock-out quarter final rugby encounter at Race Course grounds in Reid Avenue, Colombo today, kick off will be at 4.15pm.

CR and FC in their last game lost to formidable CH and FC who came from behind 14-17 down at half time to beat them by 25 points to 24 at Longden Place in their final league game last week.

These two experienced rugby clubs in the past have produced unrelenting brand of running rugby whenever they met, same is expected today. It will be interesting to see how both sides play in today’s game. Both teams are famous for playing good quality rugby and should give the large crowd something to cheer about. Red shirts will hope to play their best available side as they are hampered and will play without some of the key players who were side lined due to injuries and thus far not recovered, hence will not play in today’s match.

This season CR’s plus point is their mobile pack, which is about the best equipped with some top class players of the calibre of Omalka Gunaratne, Supun Warnakulasooriya, Udara Gayan, Hafiz Adahan, Shemal Weerasekara, Charana Chamikara and Kokila Hiran, should deliver the goods together with the rest to grab ball position in the set pieces.

In today's game CH and FC will rely more on their speedy three quarters. Their new halves combination of young Avishka Lee and Samuel Maduwantha, who paired off well in the entire second round league games, should give their best.

Maduwantha is an intelligent player, and has class written in his play, as he often draws the opposition defense and finds the gaps with his clever foot movements for the fast moving three quarter line to do the scoring.

Mean while the CH outfit who shocked CR last week in their own den will be fielding the same victorious team which did duty for them and will be at full strength. One can easily expect a thrilling game from their playing fifteen.

CH and FC Western Samoan head coach, Tavita Thulagaese “Laga” a former Sri Lanka national coach who is a master tactician will be out to guide his side to another win in this match. Laga is confident that his team is determined to deliver the goods today.

But, one should keep in mind the CR side who has a superb three quarter line as well and if they play to their usual brand of rugby they can pierce any team defences as their ball handling is the best seen in some of the games which they won this season against top opponents especially against Navy SC in the first round game.

CR & FC (Probable XV) Udara Gayan or Hafiz Adahan, Supun Warnakulasuriya, Kokila Sammandapperuma, Charana Chamikara, Gayan Jayamanna, Shemal Weerasekara or Sashika Ashan, Tariq Saleih or Shawqat Laheer, Omalka Gunaratne, Avishka Heenpalke or Harith Bandara and Tharinda Ratwatte, Chamod Fernando, Rehan Silva, Kavindu Perera (Captain), Reeza Rafaideen, Nalin Kumara, Head Coach: Fereti Verabula (Fiji)

CH and FC (Probable XV) Sathya Ranathunga, Nisal Desatha or Pulathisi Bandara, Chathura Dilshan, Rohitha “Chichi” Rajapaksa (Captain), Sajith Saranga, Sasanka Ariyaratne,Yoshitha Rajapaksha, Sudarshana Muthuthanttri, Avishka Lee and Samuel Maduwantha, Heshan Maduranga , Lee Keegal, Warren Weerakoon or Chula susantha, Anuradha Herath, Avantha Lee or Dinushan Ariyapala, Head coach: Tavita Tulagese “Laga” (Western Samoa)