China showing interest in cricket sponsorship

China and India are showing interest in promoting cricket having made approaches to Cricket Australia Capital Territories about financially backing a Canberra team in the Big Bash League.

With Indian business people already into sponsorship in cricket in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Cricket will do well to note the interest shown by China and work on luring them to sponsor the SL Premier League or get involved in the game locally.

If approaches are made, China which is world famous for its table tennis, may want to invest in the game in Sri Lanka and could also help to rid Sri Lanka Cricket of its financial difficulties.

So Sri Lanka Cricket will do well to work on the interest shown by China in sponsoring cricket, get at the people who matter, take it from there for the good of Sri Lanka cricket and its future.

Malinga firing all cylinders

Popularly known as the ‘slinger’, Lasith Malinga, the speed gun from Sri Lanka is going great guns in Australia playing in the Big Bash Twenty20 in Melbourne which also has Muttiah Muralitharan.

Since arriving in Melbourne, he has achieved popular status in double quick time and with his peculiar square armed slinging action has knocked over batsmen playing for the Melbourne Stars who are proud of their signing.

The slinger has former Australian leg spinning sensation Shane Warne as his captain who has encouraged and guided him to performing at peak and Malinga has not let his captain and side down.

Malinga let’s fly

Playing under lights at the WACA on Wednesday night he let fly at the Perth Scorchers X1 and shell shocked them bundling them out for 69 with a hitherto unseen blitz to return the incredible figures of 6 for 7 in 4 overs including a maiden.

He first knocked back the stumps of former Aussie batsman Marcus North for one and then just played about with the remaining five batsmen who were clueless, with some of them preferring to go back than to be hit by his missiles which included toe crushing Yorkers.

At the eve of the Test match briefing in Hobart, skipper Mahela Jayewardene when asked whether Malinga would be asked to come back to Test cricket defended his bowler decision, who was accused of Sri Lanka losing the Twenty 20 final to West Indies by going for over 50 runs in his four overs.

Jayewardene revealed that Malinga was injury prone and it is unfair to ask him back to Test cricket because he will have to bend his back probably bowling 30 to 40 overs in a Test match.

Clarke going beyond Bradman

Being classed with the late great Sir Donald Bradman or going past his amazing achievements with the bat is something to savour and remember for the rest of your cricketing and life after.

To Bradman batting records came naturally. To him that bat in hand was like a magic wand. With a peculiar stance he scored runs like the Maweli in spate. Runs just flowed from his bat and bowlers and fielders could just watch helpless and in amazement as the ball sped to the boundary or over it.

The famous ‘Bodyline’ theory came in to vogue because of Bradman. Unable to stall the run flow, England led by Douglas Jardine thought out the idea. Yet there was no stopping the greatest Australian.

Now with the First Test between Sri Lanka and Australia on at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart is the news that the Australian captain Michael Clarke requires another 327 runs in Three Tests to become one of Australia’s 10 most prolific Test batsmen.

Going beyond the great man

If and when he makes those runs Clarke will go beyond Bradman who made 6996 runs in just 52 Tests with an average of 99.94.

Clarke is now on 6673 from 86 Tests with an average of Clarke takes strike in the Test against Sri Lanka having scored 1,358 runs in a calendar year from just nine Tests in 2012 with a Bradmanesque average of 104.46.

Meeting Sri Lankan Rohan Wirasinha

Arriving in Hobart for the First of Three Test matches at the Bellerive Oval I bumped into Rohan Wirasinha and his charming lady Maesiri who are domiciled in Hobart since 1991.

Incidentally Maesiri is the daughter of former Thomian and Ceylon cricketer Mervyn O. Gooneratne, better known as ‘M.O’. ‘M.O’ single handedly won the 1935 ‘Battle of the Blues’ for STCML scoring a century – 107 – and taking 7 for 33 with his cleverly bowled leg spinners and googlies which mesmerized the Royal batsmen and luredthem to defeat.

Rohan is the representative of the Australia ¬– Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation and is on the ball when it comes to cricketing matters pertaining to the two countries. An old Trinitian he was Secretary and served on the committee of Havelocks Sports Club.

He served as General Manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board before migrating to Australia in 1990. An Engineer by profession, Rohan now runs a consulting firm known as the Power Systems and Engineering Solutions and advices the Energy Ombudsman on energy matters.

Many overseas projects

He works on many overseas projects and was a senior consultant at Hydro Tasmania as consultant till 2007.

He also worked on many overseas projects and worked in Sri Lanka for the last Rural Electrification master plan as well as on a Tasmanian Government funded Tsunami project.

Rohan is also the Chairman, Friends of Sri Lanka- Tasmania Association. Is Vice President/Secretary of the Trinity College OBA since 1989. He was also Consultant to Sri Lanka’s First National Atlas.

Rohan a keen cricket fan was at the Bellerive Oval on all five days of the Test match watching the Sri Lankan cricketers performing, especially Kumar Sangakkara who is from his old school.

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