Fernando will be fit for Second Test

At time of writing the good news from the Sri Lanka cricket camp in England is that they will have speed gun Dilhara Fernando fully fit to unleash him against England in the Second Test beginning at Lord's next Thursday.

Fernando, who along with Nuwan Pradeep, bowled Sri Lanka to victory against the England Lions in Derbyshire, suffered an injury to his leg and missed out playing in the First Test against England in Cardiff.

The honour of putting on the first century opening stand in Test cricket against England in England would have fallen to Tilekeratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana. But with Dilshan attempting to cut against the break, which was poor judgement, dragged the ball on to his wicket and when seven short of what would have been the first century stand, was bowled.

Jenner passes away

It was sad to hear about the passing away of former Australian leg spinner Terry Jenner. Jenner was a top notch leg-spin googly bowler and met with success in the few matches he sported the baggy green cap for the kangaroos.

In addition to being a colourful character he was also controversial. He is one of those who voiced his concerns on Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action. He was spin coach for Cricket Australia and held several other positions in the Australian cricket scene.

But he is best remembered for being the spin coach of sheik of tweak Shane Warne. When Warne was a spin toddler, he was fortunate to be spotted by Jenner and what Warne finally turned to be and the milestones he achieved in the game is well documented in cricket history.

Warne came into the radar and really shot to fame after a tour of Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Allan Border and the Test match at the SSC ground.

In that Test that Sri Lanka lost after having been well positioned for victory on the final day, is still being discussed and questions asked.

Warne went wicket less in the first innings, but bowled superbly to take three wickets in the second innings and lead Australia to victory. It was after this effort that he was fortunate to come under the wings of Terry Jenner who taught him the tricks of the trade in really good leg-spin, googly bowling.

While the cricket world will miss Terry Jenner, the one who will miss him most will be Shane Warne.

Abeysinghe on BBC Special

Here in England and doing his thing with the BBC Test match Cricket Special Commentary team is Roshan Abeysinghe, the famous and respected cricket commentator from Sri Lanka.

Abeysinghe is in the exalted company of Jonathan Agnew, Michael Vaughan, Alec Stewart, Vic Marks, Chris Martin Jenkins and Geoffrey Boycott. In the past greats such a Brian Johnston and John Arlott were in this commentary box.

Abeysinghe needs no introduction to cricketers and cricket fans in Sri Lanka. He is the man who is helping Ragama CC go great guns in local cricket scene by giving some of the promising cricketers a break into the big time. It is a pity that BBC Cricket Special is not being broadcast to Sri Lanka. Lahiru Thirimanne with the Sri Lanka team in England plays for Ragama CC.

Before Television broke into Sri Lanka it was the BBC Cricket Special that all listeners tuned into for the ball by ball descriptions which as so beautifully described by the illustrious men behind the mike. Some of the other names that come to mind are that of Trevor Bailey and 'Fiery' Fred Trueman.

Back from the dead

Believe it or not, a teenage cricketer who was hit on the chest when batting for his club here, was brought back to life by another player. David Tungate 17, was batting when a express delivery struck him just below his ribs.

He collapsed and was lying on his back and at first the players thought he was winded. Later on they realized that he was not breathing and tried desperately to revive him. It was then Jamie Diamond who was in the fielding side stepped in.

Let's read what Jamie has to say: "I saw some resuscitation attempts going badly and just decided to try, chest compression and mouth-to-mouth. At one point I felt him stop breathing. People around me began to say he had stopped but I just carried on and eventually he came back".

Later an air ambulance arrived and rushed Tungate to a specialist cardiac unit, where doctors found that the ball strike had disrupted his heart beat. He will have tests for a heart defect known as an arrhythmia.

Arnold refused visa

Former Sri Lanka cricketer now turned TV commentator and doing a fine job Russell Arnold has been refused a work visa to visit England and be part of the Sky TV team.

The Sky team which comprises top England cricketers and have a wide following would have loved to have the former stylish left-hander Arnold playing for them. Arnold who has played over 200 internationals for Sri Lanka was unfortunate to miss out.

Germans beat Brits

The London Olympics heat is on. At the time of writing, British fans are losing out on tickets to the Germans. Usain Bolt who is to run in the 100 and 200 metre events and guaranteed seats to more than 300 sessions in 36 sports including the 200 metre final which will feature Bolt are now available in Germany through a web site.

British fans will not know until June 24 whether they have been successful although they entered a massively over-subscribed lottery for tickets.

It is likely that many will lose out as one million requests alone were made for the 100m final in an 80,000 seat venue.

Games organizers hope to sell 8.8 million tickets and around 6.6 million were made available through a lottery held in March. The rest will go to 204 overseas Olympic committees, sponsors and broadcasters.

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