Daily News Online
   

Saturday, 13 August 2011

Home

 | SHARE MARKET  | EXCHANGE RATE  | TRADING  | OTHER PUBLICATIONS   | ARCHIVES | 

dailynews
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Havelocks won’t have it easy

It should be a nerve tingling affair when the defending champions Kandy Sports Club takes on the challengers Havelocks Sports Club in the final match of the Caltex League rugby tournament to be played at Nittawela tomorrow with the kick off at 4.30 p.m.

This clash will be vital for both Kandy and the Havelocks and both teams will go all out to win and have a crack at the league title. But Kandy Sport Club with 40 points to their credit are lying on top of the table of points, having won 7 of the nine games, they played this season.

They lost only to Navy Sports Club at Welisara two weeks ago in a match they could have won, had they put more aggression to their play especially in the first half. They did well to close the gap in the final stages of the match after trailing behind 8-20 at one stage before going down gallantly 24-28.

Havelocks Sports Club infused with foreigners have turned around remarkably this season to defeat more formidable sides and till two weeks ago appeared to be one of the main contenders for rugby’s prestigious title before they lost to Navy last week by the big margin of 19-35. With this defeat the park Club slid from the top of the table to third spot with 34 points.

With a six point gap between the two clubs, the Havies have only an outside chance of winning the league title. First they must defeat Kandy by a big margin to earn the bonus point awarded for scoring more than four tries.

At the same they should stop from scoring more than four tries which will bring them a bonus point. This is not all Navy Sports Club who are enjoying one of their finest seasons lying second with 36 points should lose their last game CR & FC. All these are highly improbable and as matters stand the League title should go to either Nittawela or Welisara.

Kandy Sports Club led by Senaka Bandara despite losing many of their key players for various reasons have done well to win seven games and dropped points only against Navy SC. They defeated CH & FC by the huge margin of 44-19 but the six points earned by them in this match has been withheld by the SLRFU following an Enjoining Order obtained by Navy for playing Nuwan Hettiarachchi who earlier played for the Sailors.

The fate of this six points is still not known and if this is awarded to Kandy, then nothing could stop the hill capital club from winning the title even if they lose their last match.

The Kandy team is plagued with injuries as their skipper Buddhika Talagampola is still on the list, so is that brilliant No. 8 Sean Wijesinghe. Flanker Arvinda Udanagamuwa too will not take the field.

Saliya Kumara and Keith Gurusinghe are undergoing a ban. Sheriff and Dillip Selvam have left the club and so is Eranga Swarnatillake. But still the Kandy Club have displayed the Kandyan grit to win their matches.

In fly half Fazil Marija, Kandy have a brilliant player who could change the course of the game with his judicious kicking and blistering runs with an eye on the gaps which has often ended in tries.

Place kicking has become a cause of worry for Kandy as kicks as goal from kickable distance has been often fluffed, thus losing valuable points. This is very vital in a close game and Kandy cannot be complacent about it. Senior players should make a better contribution to the side than what they have done so far this season.

Havelocks Sports Club will be led by former Trinity College and Kandy Sports Club ruggerite forward Kavinda Jayasena, son of famous Sri Lanka winger late George Jayasena. The club after several seasons of dismal performances are once again on the trail of success having won six of their 9 games. But they have lost 3 games.

KANDY SC: Kishore Jehan, Achala Perera, Kasun Yasaisuru, Senaka Bandara (captain), Dinesh Sanjeewa, Kasun de Silva, Asitha Ratnayake, Sajith Saranga, Roshan Weeraratne and Fazil Marija, Dinesh Kumara or Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Pradeep Liyanage, Gayan Weeraratne, Mohamed Jabbar, Tharindu Chanaka.

HAVELOCKS: Desmond Wilson, Roshan Fonseka, Dushmantha Priyadarshana, Kavinda Jayasena (captain), Duminda de Silva, Asela Dissanayake, Dhiren Warnakulasuriya, Angsta Sae, Amjad Buksh and Pushpakumara Perera, Chamara Vithanage, Anuruddha Wilwara, Paula Talaka, Isuru Shantha, Sajith Bandara.

India first        innings 224

ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS 

A. Strauss b Mishra                  	 87
A. Cook not out                     	266
I. Bell b Kumar                      	 34 
K. Pietersen lbw b Kumar             	 63
E. Morgan c Sehwag b Raina          	104
R. Bopara lbw b Mishra                    7
M. Prior c Tendulkar b Mishra         	  5
T. Bresnan not out                   	 19

Extras (lb-34, b-11, nb-15, w-1)  	 61
TOTAL (six wickets, 177 overs)   	 646

Fall of wickets: 1-186 2-252 3-374 4-596 5-605 6-613
To bat: S. Broad, G. Swann, J. Anderson.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 39-13-92-2, Sreesanth
31-4-129-0 (4nb), Ishant Sharma 32-7-130-0 (1w), Mishra
43-2-150-3 (9nb), Raina 28-1-83-1, Tendulkar 4-0-17-0.

EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

ANCL TENDER for CTP PLATES
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk
Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk
LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lanka
www.army.lk
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)

| News | Editorial | Business | Features | Political | Security | Sport | World | Letters | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2011 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor