Our cricketers have it in them to come good in India

The Sri Lanka cricket team will fly to India this weekend to compete in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, the forerunner to next year's World Cup in the Caribbean.

The Lankans had a successful summer in England, where they tied the three-Test series one-all and thrashed the hosts 5-0 in the one day international series. Their performance in England should give them more courage and confidence when they confront the cream of world cricket.

Sri Lanka will be playing on the subcontinent wickets and along with India and Pakistan, they should make the best use of the familiar and advantageous wickets to tame the big names like Australia.

But on the other hand, world champions Australia will be coming to India with their heads held high after winning the triangular with India and the West Indies in Malaysia last week. They have been playing like true champions and are undoubtedly the most fancied team to win the Mini World Cup.

However, Sri Lanka has all the fire-power to face any challenge and rise to the occasion. Experienced campaigners of the calibre of Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan could turn dangerous on slow subcontinent wickets. Apart from his explosive batting, Jayasuriya could form an ideal partnership with the off spin wizard to contain any world class batsman on the subcontinent wickets.

On the other hand, the presence of skipper Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara would give stability to the Lankan batting. They are classy batsmen who could keep the scoreboard moving on any type of wicket. The emerging set of talented players could form the ideal blend for a successful formula with the experienced players.

Next year's World Cup in the West Indies too would have wickets somewhat similar to this part of the world. Hence, the spinners could play a decisive role for their respective teams. This is where Sri Lanka would have a distinct advantage with a world class deadly spinner like Muralitharan.

Having made two unsuccessful attempts after our World Cup triumph in 1996 with a convincing seven-wicket win over Australia in the final at Lahore, Sri Lanka should make every endeavour to make the best use of the opportunity they get this time.

Our elite players like Jayasuriya and Muralitharan may well be playing in their last World Cup. They are the very few surviving members of our 1996 World Cup winning team.

Hence, all our resources should be used effectively and set our minds on the 2007 World Cup dream, and to make sure that would become a reality.

Doping controversy

The performance enhancing drugs are slowly but surely making their mark in Sri Lanka sports. When star woman sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe was tested positive for banned steroids after the 1995 Asian Championships in Indonesia, it was a total new experience to all of us in Sri Lanka.

Ever since, the 'drug mania' is gradually becoming a feature of Sri Lanka sports. It was only a couple of months back that the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union took a precautionary measure of educating players on performance enhancing drugs. Then came that bitter news of woman sprinter Jani Chathurangani being tested positive for Nandralone, an anabolic steroid, during the 10th South Asian Games in Sri Lanka last month.

When Silva pleaded not guilty and vowed to prove her innocence, all of us thought that she would well go for a 'B' urine sample testing. But she ran into fresh controversy when she told a local arbitration panel headed by Dr. Geethanjana Mendis that she does not intend to go for a 'B' sample testing.

If Silva had any doubts about the result of her 'A' urine sample testing in Malaysia or any wrong doing, the best and the most sensible option she had was to go for a 'B' sample testing. To further influence that feeling, there was that recent incident of Olympic triple gold medallist Marion Jones being exonerated after a negative 'B' sample testing.

Silva could have well taken a clue from the Jones' episode and opted for a 'B' sample testing. But one wonders where the matter would now be heading when the arbitration process starts next month.

She is an athlete with a bright future. Apart from Jayasinghe, Silva is the best 100m runner we have at present. Having won the 100m gold at the 2004 South Asian Games, she bagged the silver in Colombo last month.

The woman sprinter from Madampe is an asset to Sri Lanka athletics and should have been more careful in taking drugs without proper advice of the Sports Medicine Unit. On the other hand, even if she had taken drugs as pain killers to delay her periods, as stated, she should have well stated it at the time of SA Games doping.

The latest doping experience has prompted Dr. Mendis to caution all Sri Lankan national level sportsmen and women. The Director General of Sri Lanka Sports Medicine stated that all national level sportsmen and women should only consult the Sports Medicine Unit for their medical needs and that they should take only the drugs prescribed by them.

This is an ideal ruling because the local Sports Medicine experts would then have a track record of the drugs officially given to the national level sportsmen and women. That would make the things easy for everybody even if there would be a case of positive dope testing.

We must intensify our awareness campaigns on performance enhancing drugs. All National Sports Associations should rally round with the Sports Medicine Department, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs to draw a nationwide programme to educate our sportsmen and women on performance enhancing drugs.