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| Sunday, 1 June 2003 |
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Sports Minister wants Cricket Academy to be best in the world by RANJAN ANANDAPPA The first ever Cricket Academy for young Test aspirants was inaugurated by the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Johnston Fernando at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Khettarama on Thursday. The Minister said that although volleyball was declared as the national game in the country some time ago, it's cricket that has been really running in the pulse of the people. "Sri Lanka cricket has been of a high standard despite not having an academy in the past. We won the World Cup in 1996 and played in the semi-final of the last World Cup in South Africa 2003", said the Minister. The Minister told the people who are responsible to go to the rural areas and hunt for latent talent where you will be able find many Jayasuriya's and Muralitharan's. "Australia and South Africa are a dominant force in modern day cricket because of their academies, we have the talent and the cutting edge today is no doubt the technology. I want the academy to be the best in the world", said the Minister. The concept of forming a Cricket Academy was first thought of in 1982 with Sri Lanka gaining full Test status, but due to some reason it did not materialise. The Chairman of the Interiim Committee, Hemaka Amarasuriya said that the idea of having a cricket academy was to feed the national team with adequate replacements 'that we are lacking at the moment'. "The first batch of 19 cricketers selected to the academy is a result of an all-island Singer talent search conducted in conjunction with the Cricket Board". Amarasuriya also thanked the Sugathadasa Stadium Sports Complex Authority for the support they have rendered and Sony Max for pumping Rs. 50 million to make the project a reality. He said that Sony Max who owed some money to the Cricket Board, is sponsoring the construction of a new press box at the Galle International Stadium. The Cricket Academy has 17 practice pitches which will immensely help not only the trainees in the academy. It will cater to any national cricketer or any player even after leaving the academy after the stipulated period to develop their skills. The Cricket Committee Chairman of the Academy, former Sri Lanka vice captain, Ranjith Fernando who also represented the country at the first World Cup in England in 1975, said that the need for an academy has been imperative as the schools playing cricket have expanded enormously and the coaches are insufficient to prepare them to compete at higher level. "During my time there were about 20 schools where the nucleus of the Sri Lanka team was formed. We had top coaches may be 20 or so who were second to none in the world. Today, there are about 300 to 400 schools playing the game and there is a big gap to be filled in preparing the cicketers to reach higher levels", said Fernando. The selected youngsters will undergo a seven month training program which includes training and development of scientific batting, bowling and fielding, mental skills, match preperation, how to handle pressure situations, reading and preperation of pitches, and game strategy. Owen Mottau the former Kingswood College cricketer, who was in charge of the under-19 cricketers for sometime, is the head coach. He will be assisted by Ruwan Kalpage (fielding coach), Champaka Ramanayake (fast bowling coach), Hemantha Devapriya (bating and wicket-keeping coach), Oshadie Weerasinghe (spin bowling coach) and Lal Thamel (trainer/masseur). |
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