Sri Lanka news round up (May 6 1997)

6 May 1997

SRI LANKA SPORTS NEWS AT-A-GLANCE

Compiled by Dinesh Weerawansa.

* All three visiting teams which will take part at the Pepsi Independence Cup quadrangular tournament are expected to arrive in India by Friday, the organisers said in New Delhi. Pakistan and New Zealand will be in Delhi by Thursday morning while the World champions, fresh after their success in Sharjah, will reach the venue by Friday.

But the four-nation tournament will begin even before the home team return from a 10-week tour of the West Indies on May 11. The 20-day tournament is organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of India's independence. Pakistan will figure in the `curtain raiser' with New Zealand in New Delhi on Friday and play Sri Lanka next at Gwalior on May 13. The showpiece game between India and Pakistan, the final league match, will be played at Madras on May 21.

* Sri Lanka is likely to get only a solitary Test when the World champions tour London in 1998 summer. Informed sources said that there have been requests for at least two Tests but England may not be able to honour it due to a tight international calender.

Since gaining the full ICC membership in 1981, Sri Lanka has always got a one-off Test from England, either at home or away. Sri Lanka are scheduled to tour England in June/ July next year but may ger only a single Test. There will not be any one day internationals against England. However, five first class matches will be arranged against leading English counties. The TCCB sources said no final decision has been taken on the number of Tests against Sri Lanka.

* The United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) re-confirmed in Durban that they will host Sri Lanka for two Tests and a three-nation tournament early next year.

Official sources said the World champions are due to arrive in Johannesburg on March 5 next year on a six-week tour. (Home):

* Former Sri Lanka Test paceman Champaka Ramanayake has signed as a professional with Unsworth CC in the Central Lancashire League for the 1997 season. the ex-Tamil Union and Sri Lanka right-arm fast-medium bowler is presently the coach of the United Arab Emirates team which took part in the recent ICC trophy World Cup qualifying tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

This is Ramanayake's second such assignment with an English league side after he represented West Bromwich for one season in the Birmingham League. Unsworth CC is a club which another former Sri Lankan Test batsman Athula Samarasekera represented for a couple of year. Two other Sri Lankans too will play for clubs in the leagues - Sujith Wijesundra in Lancashire and Ruwin Peiris in Durham :

* Prasanna Jayawardene of St.Sebastian's College, Moratuwa was judged the outstanding schools under-17 cricketer at the award ceremony held at the Kularatne Hall, Ananda Vidyalaya. St.Sebastian's College Moratuwa and D.S.Senanayake College were joint champions in the `A' Division while Maris Stella, Negombo won the Division Two title and Moratu Vidyalaya finished second. In Division Three, President's College, Maharagama won the title and Sri Sumangala won the runner up position.

The Warden of S.Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Mr.Neville de Alwis who is also the president of the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association said that there is no truth on the allegations made by certain people that the present school cricket set are destroying spinners. He said instead that there are many emerging spinners in the country and brought to attention Muthiah Muralitheran's important role in the Sri Lanka side.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)