Sports
CH & FC enjoys having rugby’s last ‘regal’ player
By A Special Sports Correspondent
One of the positives about the Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) conducted inter-club Division 1 league rugby tournament is that there are eight teams in the fray and the side finishing last faces no risk of being relegated to a lower division. For the record, there was a B Division tournament conducted many years ago, but right now there is no talk of conducting that tournament this year.
But all that relegation talk goes into oblivion when one sees the progress Colombo Hockey & Football Club (CH & FC) has made this season despite the awful performance last season where they finished at the bottom of the points table (eighth place) at the conclusion of the league tournament for 2022/23. CH & FC is not a side that can be written off that easily. The club has attracted some of the best youth rugby players and signed up veteran coach Sanath Martis to put the players through their paces this season.
Rugby in Sri Lanka has remained an elite sport. Unlike cricket, where the best players are now coming from the outstations and making it to the national team, rugby is still heavily depended on the talent that Western and Central Province schools produce for its sustenance. There is another factor that makes rugby attract media attention and that is the participation of members of an elite family; like the Rajapaksas. The present CH & FC side has Rohitha Rajapaksa who plays as fly half. A few seasons ago there was Yoshitha and before that Member of Parliament and the eldest in the family Namal; all of them being involved in the game at club level at the time their dad-Mahinda- was the First Citizen of the Country. Just imagine the attention the sport of rugby union receive when Mahinda was president and the three sons were dabbling in the game. There were other notorious issues connected to rugby which made the sport get highlighted for all the wrong reasons during this time. Let’s not go to that part of history in this sports column.
Looking on the bright side rugby was the sport where the Royal family was involved in when all three Rajapaksa brothers were involved with some club contesting the domestic league rugby tournament. This factor just makes it so difficult for other sports to be in the limelight. All that glamour that the sport attracts for the reasons given above will be over the day Rohitha hangs up his boots. However, as for CH & FC, history has taught this institute lessons on maintaining prestige and glamour in the fields of entertainment and sport.
Just reverse the clock to 1863 we saw the emergence of a club for recreation and sport when this nation was known as Ceylon. It was established under the English and one had to be British to represent the club at sport. Starting its operations at Race Course the club then moved to Maitland Crescent in 1962; in which year they opened the doors for locals to obtain membership and represent the club in domestic sport; especially rugby. Bryan Baptist had the honour of becoming the first local to captain CH & FC at rugby. But still the influence of British nationals or expatriates continued to boost the image of the club. Individuals like this writer, who was born in the early 1970s and watched rugby in the 1980s, can remember The Gymkhana Club authorities flying down British national Simon Hunter for the Clifford Cup knockout tournament; a move that made members of the other experience goose bumps. When Hunter (who played as wing three quarter) kicked an up and under during a game one could go to the restaurant area of the club, have a quick tea and comeback to his or her seat and miss nothing because the ball would almost touch the clouds before it came down again; the description of his kicking prowess given here using a figurative expression common to spectators back then who witnessed the best of CH rugby. These foreigners who played in our domestic tournaments knew the makings of the rugby ball and possessed intricate knowledge of the seam of the oval shaped object which made it behave when a player kicked it. This was sheer magic to us!
Then the club had a phase of employing Fijians and was a force in rugby in the early 1990s. The Gymkhana Club then had the fortune of obtaining the services of Hisham Abdeen, who was already a legend at Havelock Sports Club having established himself as the best player Sri Lanka produced in rugby. There was a time when the best players leaving school preferred to join CH & FC because of the prestige the club had in the sport of rugby and the standards this institute forced players to maintain both on and off the field.
Now times have changed a bit and a player in the likes of Rohitha is capable of attracting players from any club to don CH & FC’s red and white jersey. The Rajapaksa brothers still have much clout in the societies they frequently step into and showing some of that influence in rugby is easy as taking a walk in the park.
This is an era where clubs are struggling to exist because of the many economic hurdles they have to encounter. There was a time just about during the pandemic when clubs were struggling to pay its members for playing competitive rugby. Now there are influential members in rugby playing clubs who can get players to think of doing the unthinkable or saying yes to something which is not so close to their hearts. There have been occasions when players who wanted to quit the sports here in Sri Lanka and immigrate changed their minds and stayed back because an individual with clout offered a ‘lifeline’. Havelock’s Sanjeewa Jayasinghe was all ready and packed up to go settle down in Dubai when someone from Kandy SC made an offer he couldn’t refuse. Thanks to what happened Jayasinghe had a ‘new lease of life’ at rugby and was able to bring honours to both club and country.
Rohitha is perhaps the last ‘regal’ face in local rugby. He may have a few more seasons in rugby the least and then hang up his boots. He has had a few coaching stints with schools and may take up a more serious role in coaching or even take to rugby management in the club scene. CH & FC enjoys having him in the team’s line-up and the ideas he brings to the discussion table. The Maitland Crescent Club showed him how to handle matters related to elitism, difficult times and protect an institution’s identity at rugby. Rohitha is sure to cherish all his rugby memories at the Gymkhana Club.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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