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| Wednesday, 1 September 2004 |
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Indoor Cricket World Cup fever spreading fast The 5th Indoor cricket World Cup sponsored by Hutch is set to take Sri Lanka by storm from Oct. 8 - 16 at Austasia Sports Complex in Thalawathugoda. Seven countries are set to lock horns for the prestigious Hutch Indoor Cricket World Cup 2004. The countries set to participate are, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, UAE, India and the hosts Sri Lanka. All seven countries will be playing in the men's draw and the women's draw will have 6 teams with UAE women being the only non participant. Australia who will be defending their crown with New Zealand and the locals breathing down their neck, are tipped to be the front-runners. Australian women's team also will go out with all guns blazing to defend their champion status with South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka who are currently rank 3rd. Experts say this will be one of the most even battles in both men and women's with Aussies who have dominated in the past with four consecutive World Cup triumphs. Ceylon Indoor Cricket Association (CICA) has appointed Asela Pathirana and Chrishantha Peiris as the captain and deputy respectively for the men's team with Thiran Thenabadu as the Manager. Craig Slocombe with his experience comes in as the coach of the national team. Caltex who's been the national team sponsor for the past three years takes this opportunity to wish the national team all the success and look forward to seeing the national team securing the 2004 World Cup. CICA is the proud host of this tournament, Dhakshitha Anthony Chairman of CICA stated that it has been a hectic schedule from the time they won the rights to host the World Cup and he cannot wait to see the light end of the tunnel. Thiru Nadarasa, Managing Director for Hutchison Telecom said that this will be a huge boost for all cricket loving fans as well as for the country's economy as quite a number of tourists are expected for this event. The tournament is set to start with a sizzling opening ceremony to be held on October 9. The games will begin from October 10 and the finals will be held on the 16th with the closing ceremony to be followed straight after. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse will be the chief guest for the opening ceremony. |
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