Sports
Summa (97) still going strong coaching rugby
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Former Royal College sportsman and Sri Lanka rugby star Summa Navaratnam is going strong at the age of 97 and is still involved in the Rugby Academy he formed in 2009.He makes it a point to visit the academy and goes there on most days, after lunch, around 2.30 pm. The Sunday Island caught up with Navaratnam for a chat at his home at Kynsey Road, Colombo-8 recently. The nonagenarian happily rattled away recalling fond memories in the sports he took part and the milestones passed in his career as a sportsman and as an administrator,
He is the fifth in a family of eight and certainly was not the child to be attracted to books and education. His focus as a schoolboy was on sports; athletics, boxing and rugby union- all for which he received due recognition in school. He remembers the days when the Royal Primary was called the Training College. “I remember winning the lime and spoon race there,” is how he began unfolding old and fond memories of the initial stages of school life.
Then in 1937 he joined Royal College and excelled in sports; also at the same time barely managing to scrape through his exams. “There was much recognition for sports at Royal and I was looked upon as a demigod by junior students of the school. I say this because a junior student had written something to this effect about me in the college magazine,” recalled Navaratnam.
Life really opened up opportunities for him after he left school and joined CR&FC; thanks to a stalwart in the Police called Sydney de Zoysa. A large number of clubs was playing rugby then and the sport was pursued with great camaraderie among institutes and players, according to Navaratnam.
“No one was heard of going to courts to settle a dispute in sports,” he said underscoring the lofty position and respect everyone gave to maintain the spirit of the game. He was not inclined towards joining any club in particular, but joining CR&FC happened quite by accident. It happened when de Zoysa stopped the vehicle Summa was driving for a ‘no head lights’ offence. They had ended up that evening at the CR&FC with Navaratnam taking membership at the Longden Place club.
According to him players were not paid for their services to the club back then. “Players had to in fact pay the club for the jersey and a fee for being selected for each match they represented the club. We were taught to be independent from our young days,” said Navaratnam.
After leaving school his dream of joining the Royal Air Force was shattered despite being selected because his father withdrew his consent given earlier for this adventure. He ended up joining the Army Volunteer Force. He later served the State Trading Corporation (Consolexpo) too.
Despite having a hectic work schedule he continued his interest in sport. Athletics is close to his heart as is rugby. He has fond memories of running the race of his life against Lavy Pinto at the athletics nationals where both athletes returned timings of 11 seconds in the 100 metre sprint event. What’s memorable for him was that after running the race he had gone to the CR&FC that same evening and represented the club at a Division 1 rugby match.
Navaratnam married twice and as he recalled he met both his wives within the rugby community. He was first married to Rosemary Rogers, the bestselling author, with whom he raised two children. His second marriage was to Romaine de Zilwa. His present wife lives in Australia where Navaratnam has citizenship.
When his playing days came to an end he took to rugby administration. He became the president of the Ceylon Rugby Football Union and was also the first president of Sri Lanka’s rugby controlling body when this sports body was renamed as the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).
Navaratnam stood for principles and ensured that all clubs at the time showed that they really existed. According to him, all clubs had to have a ground, conduct their own annual general meetings and submit accounts of the club to the rugby union. “We got along very well and the players accepted the decision of the referee without batting an eyelid,” said Navaratnam.
But there was a sour moment waiting to spoil his tenure as president of the SLRFU. Before a tour was to be made by the Sri Lanka side for the Hong Kong sevens a representative team was selected with Navaratnam approving selections. He had then gone overseas for a work related assignment and when he arrived back home he came to know that some changes had been made to the team without his knowledge. He had shown disapproval and in the end he forwarded his resignation as SLRFU president.
Navaratnam was involved with Royal College rugby for many years as a coach and gave away his services for free. But the Reid Avenue school, in later years, brought in a policy to employ only professional coaches for rugby. That rule technically took him out of being involved in rugby coaching at Royal. Undeterred he met the Royal principal and proposed that he be allowed to start a sports academy which would help students at Royal take baby steps in the field of sport. That marked the birth of the Royal Junior Rugby Academy. “Students from grades one to six are entertained at the academy and they are given an introduction to physical sports. These training sessions help to improve hand-eye co-ordination of players. The sessions will also help them work on speed and stamina,” said Navaratnam.
As much as Navaratnam talks about his fondness for rugby he also speaks about the people he met and the friendships he made, thanks to rugby. “I met a wide variety of people from different walks of life,” he said. He had all the time to enjoy rugby and absorb other cultures because he accommodates everybody who comes to him as students, players and officials. Navaratnam affirms that in a multi-cultural country like Sri Lanka students must be taught all three languages spoken in the country and the philosophies of all five religions that are practised here at a very young age.
His parting words at the interview were, “Don’t make playing rugby be hard on you. Forget winning and losing and make sure to enjoy the game”.
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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