Ranatunga to boycott Australia (11 February 1999)
ARJUNA RANATUNGA, the Sri Lanka captain, has claimed he never wants to tour Australia again following the barracking that blighted his team's appearances in the Carlton and United triangular one-day series
11-Feb-1999
11 February 1999
Ranatunga to boycott Australia
By Richard Bright
ARJUNA RANATUNGA, the Sri Lanka captain, has claimed he never
wants to tour Australia again following the barracking that
blighted his team's appearances in the Carlton and United
triangular one-day series.
"I don't think I will go back to Australia to play cricket," he
said from Colombo. "I don't want to lose a couple of years from
my life.
"Australia and England, whenever they tour the sub-continent,
complain about crowd behaviour but they can't see the behaviour
of their own crowds. I must say that the conduct of Indian and
Pakistani crowds is a thousand times better than Australian
crowds."
Ranatunga added that he did not regret ordering his team to the
boundary and holding up play for 12 minutes after Australian
umpire Ross Emerson no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan in a match
against England.
Pakistan begin a three-day game against a President's XI in
Kochin today that could decide whether Waqar Younis will be
dropped for the opening game of the Asian triangular Test
tournament in Calcutta next week against India.
In the two-Test series against India, Waqar took only two
wickets. Shoaib Akhtar is likely to get his chance in Kochin and,
with a livelier pitch promised for Eden Gardens, the tourists may
prefer him to Waqar.
Sussex have reported a record loss of £193,070 for the year. The
two major items showing a big increase were administration costs
of £469,974, up £137,000 from the previous year, and an
investment of £278,511 in youth development, up £105,000.
Peter Moores, the 36-year-old former Sussex wicketkeeper who is
now the county's cricket manager, collected £104,000 from his
benefit year, a record for a Sussex player.
Cardigan Connor, the Hampshire bowler, has announced his
retirement from first-class cricket.
Connor, 37, took a record 1,019 wickets in all competitions for
the county after making his debut in 1984 but a knee injury over
the last two seasons has limited his appearances.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)