Sports
Amalka, Ananda guiding lights of country’s netball stronghold
Amalka Gunathilaka and Ananda Wannithilaka have been providing a yeoman service to country’s netball propelling Holy Family Convent Kurunegala to become the schools netball stronghold.(File Pix by Nishan S. Priyantha)
When satisfaction is the only reward for commitment
by Reemus Fernando
No school in the country has dominated schools netball like the way teams of Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala have done during the last one and half decades. The name of Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala has been so synonymous with the All Island Schools Netball Championships and the Milo Schools Championship titles to such an extent that one cannot remember a single year when they had settled for a trophy lower than the runner up title during the last decade.
Schools like Kalutara Balika, Musaeus, Girls High School, Kandy have challenged them to win age category titles but when it comes to overall championships, there had hardly been another contender. Like the trophies to the souvenir cupboard of the girls’ school of Kurunegala, there had also been a steady supply of talent to the youth national and national teams from this school during the last decade.
However the netball dominance HFC is experiencing today is a far cry from the early 2000s. HFC were not even a formidable force at Provincial level when Amalka Gunathilaka commenced training the youngsters.
Maliyadeva Balika and Kalutara Balika were the only schools to have won championship titles until HFC emerged as a force to be reckoned in the field of netball under her stewardship.
HFC became the Under-12 Milo Schools Netball champions in 2005, a year after she joined the school as a PTI. From then on the school went from strength to strength.
Few years after Gunathilaka took coaching reigns, HFC became unbeatable at almost all age category competitions at national level.
Certainly it was not the regular working hours of a PTI that propelled the school to be crowned as Sri Lanka’s netball queens.
“I would come early in the morning to commence training. Then I attend to regular teaching. When I leave the school after training it is very late in the afternoon. When competitions are around the corner I leave the school very late,” says Amalka whose commitment and contribution to netball in the country is yet to receive due recognition.
Beside Amalka her husband Ananda Wannithilaka, the former national volleyball player and coach provides much needed guidance in strength and conditioning to the team. The commitment of this husband and wife duo has gone a long way in HFC becoming the netball stronghold of the country.
However despite helping the team produce remarkable feats, Amalka is yet to be given a proper national job which she craved for years.
“First when I applied for the coaching job in 2011 I was told that I could not get it since my daughter was in the squad. Then I applied in 2013, 2015 and 2018. They would cite different reasons. And would select someone who has only paper qualifications but has never had performances to produce. I always had performances. I am a qualified coach. I did the advance course as well. I was informed that I had passed it. But I am yet to receive the certificate from the federation,” says Amalka.
While Dulangi Wannithilaka (her daughter), Rathna Victoria and Methma Jayaratne are some of her products who excelled at senior level, there are numerous others from Sajini Ratnayake, Sethmi Danoshi, Suseema Kumari, Nelumi Hapuarachchi to Nirmani Perera, who had donned the junior national jersey for Sri Lanka.
She got a couple of rare breaks when she was selected to accompany the team to World Youth Cup in Gaborone, Botswana in 2017 as assistant coach to Janaki Gunasekara and was named coach of the Under-16 team last year for the inaugural Under-16 South Asian Netball Championship in Nepal where she spent her own funds to function as the coach. Sri Lanka won the championship comfortably.
Amalka believes that the entire selection process not only of coaches but also of players needs to be overhauled with provincial level selectors making available the outstation talent for national consideration.
With the sport suffering a huge setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic and training at junior level in disarray, Amalka is interested in the junior national coaching job which she once cherished so much.
“At the moment I very much cherish what I do. I am content that I and my husband were able to make our contribution to netball. Each year the players we produce are ranked among the best at junior level. Netball has become an added advantage for those who join private sector firms after leaving school and those who seek higher education. We gain immense satisfaction when we see them succeed in different walks of life.”
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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