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| Sunday, 19 January 2003 |
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Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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"Satyagraha" on hockey pitch The Mercantile Hockey Tournament took a turn for the worse when one of the "Brown" players sat on the Astro Turf in their hockey encounter with the A & A group. The "Brown" players, who are noted for their lack of numbers and lethargic attitude towards this Tournament, started the game short of players and one of their players strolled in late without a traditional jersey, and was refused entry onto the field. The offender was "numberless" and it was then revealed to all and sundry that there was another "numberless" character on the field of play who proudly displayed his lack of a number. Thereupon the officials turned on the heat and blasted the "Brown" offenders as they refused to continue, and one of them was soiling the turf by sitting on it and meditating. Never before was such behaviour seen on an Astro strip. The fiasco that followed somewhat revealed the fact that hockey is indeed in the doldrums as the players are a law unto themselves. Resultantly, the team was threatened with suspension. However, saner counsel prevailed and the match continued despite the bad blood and it was a draw that saw that all's well that ends well. So,it was not a case of much ado about nothing, neither was it a midsummer night's dream, but it was indeed something like a Shakespearean tragedy that such things should happen on the field of Sport. Mubarak new kid on the blocks ? The Sri Lankan team has been blessed with new talent, and former Royalist Jehan Mubarak is amongst the best. But some cricket connoisseurs are of the opinion that youngsters like him should not have been blooded at this time in the one day arena, because he had a very trying time on fast wickets in South Africa and now in Australia. Mubarak could get discouraged and suffer a "Jurangpathy". Opening partnerships in Test cricket Recently, Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya caned the Australian bowlers for 237 in Australia in the Victoria bitter (VB) one day series to post a record partnership for the first wicket. This is the second occasion that the same pair posted a record score, the previous one however being in a Test match. This was the 335 against Pakistan at Kandy, roughly three years ago. In the good old days as a youngsters listening to the radio and reading the newspapers way back in 1965, before the advent of television to the then Ceylon a lot was left to the imagination. The occasional photographs that the papers of that time produced and the occasional book also helped us to see what our favourite cricketer looked like. The opening partnerships in 1965 year was that mentioned in the records below between Bobby Simpson and Bill Lawry. One complemented the other as one (Bill Lawry) was a left hander and the other (Bobby Simpson) a right hander. They have the third highest wicket partnership of 382 against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1964-65. The other opening combination that opposed Australia at the time was the dour Geoff Boycott and the more enterprising John Edrich. The partnership between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy in 1955-56 was a bit earlier. Another famous opening batsman of note was Glenn Turner of New Zealand who was one of the finest opening batsman of our time. Herschelle Gibbs, a contemporary batsman is indeed proving himself to be a splendid opening batsman of our era though Graeme Smith has yet to prove himself at the highest level. Len Hutton was one of England's most spectacular batsmen and as such teamed up well with Cyril Washbrook. Next in line in terms of records is our very own Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya. The top eight opening partnerships in World Cricket are : 413 - Vinoo Mankad/Pankaj Roy (India) vs New Zealand, Madras (Chennai), 1955-56. 387 - Glenn Turner/Terry Jarvis (New Zealand) vs West Indies, Georgetown, 1971-72. 382 - Bill Lawry/Bobby Simpson (Australia) v West Indies, Bridgetown, 1964-65. 368 - Herschelle Gibbs/Graeme Smith (South Africa) v Pakistan, Cape Town, 2002-03. 359 - Len Hutton/Cyril Washbrook (England) v South Africa, Johannesburg, in 1948-49. 335 - Marvan Atapattu/Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) v Pakistan, Kandy, 1999-2000. 329 - Geoff Marsh/Mark Taylor (Australia) vs England. 323 - Jack Hobbs/Wilfred Rhodes (England) vs Australia, Melbourne, 1911-12. |
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