RUWAN KALPAGE - B'desh gain, Sri Lanka's loss

Sri Lanka's loss has been Bangladesh's gain. This time round it is the flying away of Sri Lanka cricket team's fielding coach the hard working and efficient RUWAN KALPAGE to mentor, coach and show the Bangladeshi fielders.

With Sri Lanka Cricket advertising for jobs for coaches including a fielding coach, the incumbent fielding coach Kalpage did not give the usual notice, but promptly handed in his resignation.

Pity what happened to Kalpage. He did all that he could to improve the fielding of the Sri Lankan cricketers. He told them and showed them how and they were one of the best fielding sides in the game.

But there was a sudden slump in fielding all round. And this was no fault of Kalpage. So when he heard the cry for his removal doing the rounds, the former Antonian cricketer did not delay in severing connections with Sri Lanka Cricket and throwing in his lot with the Bangladesh Cricket Association.

And there is no doubt that he will be better remunerated. He will join Chandika Hathurisinghe the Head Coach, Piyal Wijetunge his former school mate who is spin coach and Mario Vilayarayen the trainer and together they have it in them to make Bangladesh a formidable team.

Who will land Kalpage's job?

Who will land Kalpage's job is still not known. Let it be any Dick, Tom or Harry. But the new man will not have much to show and tell the cricketers. It is not the fielding coach who takes or drops catches on the field. It is players. So if fielders drop catches it is 'not cricket' to slap the blame on the fielding coach.

In recent times the Lankan fielders have been butterfingered and spilt catches which was a shame. Sri Lanka's catching had never been so bad. When former Australian Trevor Chappell was in charge we were the best fielding side in the world.

On the subject of fielding while covering the South Africa-Sri Lanka Test series we were dismayed to note that other than for

Mahela Jayewardene at slip who was a specialist, there were no other specialist fielders.

In the past the Sri Lanka teams had excellent specialist fielders especially in the cover region. Muttiah Devaraja, David Heyn, Roshan Mahanama and Tillekeratne Dilshan were brilliant cover points.

They were equal with Colin Bland and Jonty Rhodes of South Africa.

But now there are no specialist fielders. It's sad when considering that we are a top Test playing nation. Every country has specialist fielders but not Sri Lanka. When will Sri Lanka again churn out fielders like the above mentioned who were world class?

Bowling the Chinaman

Pity that left arm spinner Rangana Herath who has been Sri Lanka's number one spinner for some time now lacks the ability to bowl the

'chinaman'. The 'chinaman' is a left arm unorthodox spin.

Herath from the time he sported the Sri Lanka cap has been bowling his heart out for the game and country and has on several occasions been winning matches for Sri Lanka with his top class spin bowling.

But surprisingly it is a mystery why his school, club or national coaches had not thought it good to tell and show him to bowl the

'chinaman'. True it is not in vogue now. But the coaches could have told him to also concentrate on this delivery and to add to his armoury which if mastered could always be a wicket taking delivery.

According to Wikipedia left-arm spin bowlers use a wrist hand action to spin the ball which turns from off to leg side of the

cricket pitch. The direction of turn is the same as that of a traditional right-handed off spin bowler; however, the ball will usually turn more sharply due to the spin being imparted predominantly by the wrist.

Turns from right to left

Some left-arm unorthodox bowlers bowl a leg spinner 'googly' (or 'wrong un'), which turns from right to left on the cricket pitch.

The ball turns away from the batsman, as if the bowler were an orthodox left arm spinner.

In cricketing parlance, the word 'chinaman' is used to describe the stock delivery of a left-arm 'unorthodox' spin bowler (though some reserve it for the googly delivery). The name has its origins in Test match played between the West Indies and England at Old Trafford, Manchester, in the year 1933.

Ellis Achong, a player of Chinese origin was left-arm orthodox spinner, playing for the West Indies at that time. According to

folklore, Achong is said to have had Walter Robins stumped off a surprise delivery that spun into the right-hander from outside the off-stump.

As he walked back to the pavilion, Robins said to umpire, 'fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman', leading to the popularity of the term in England, and subsequently, in the rest of the world.

Sri Lankan bowlers who were masters at bowling the 'chinaman' were Daya Sahabandu and Ajit de Silva. After that no other left arm bowler who bowled the 'chinaman' comes to mind. Garfield Sobers, Paul Adams, Inshan Ali, Michael Bevan, Brad Hogg, Simon Katich, Lindsay Kline, Jhonny Martin and David Sincock also bowled the 'chinaman'.

Lightning 'Bolt' strikes again

Usain tagged 'LIGHTNING' BOLT struck again when he burnt the track in the 4x100 metre relay with a new games record to give his

country Jamaica the gold medal in a time of 37.58 seconds at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Bolt who was suffering with an ankle injury skipped his two favourite events the 100 and 200 metres, but anchored the Jamaican

relay team and ran away to put to second best England and crown himself with glory.

It disappointed millions when he failed to face the starter in his pet events the 100 and 200 metres which record times in these events are all his. But he made amends and was given a rousing cheer by the full house present when he got on the track for the relay.

Bolt's Jamaican team mates

His Jamaican 4x100 team mates were Jason Livermore, Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nickel Ashmeade. They left their opponents England far behind as they dashed to the tape urged on by the wildly cheering fans at Hampden Park.

There were doubts whether Bolt who skipped the previous two editions of the Commonwealth Games would face the starter this

time round. He avoided the individual sprints but showed that the fire in him had not dimmed, the manner in which he bolted to the tape doing the final lap.

Now that he has left his mark in the Commonwealth Games he says he will from now focus on the 200 metre. 'I think I've done enough

in the 100m. I know people want to see me run fast in the 100m but I love my 200 and I want to do something special for myself. So for me, my main aim is the 200', he told BBC.

The Jamaican who turns 28 on August 21, set the 200m world record of 19.19 seconds in Berlin five years ago. He also posted a 100m

world record of 9.58 at the same World Championships. The eight time world champion's next race is 100m on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janerio on August 14.

[email protected]