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When the national selectors appointed Sanath Jayasuriya as the Sri Lankancaptain ahead of senior players such as Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanamaand Hashan Tillakratne, there were some who had reservations about thedecision. Today, however, nearly two years on, most of those critics willhave been even silenced.But if you ask the modest man from the coastal town of Matara whether heever dreamt of becoming the national captain, he’ll give you that familiarbroad smile and tell you modestly that he never dreamt of becoming thecaptain of his country; all what he wanted was to represent Sri Lanka at thehighest level.”You can dream to play for your country, but you can’t dream to become thecaptain,” said Jayasuriya. “You need a bit of luck. But I tell you, I neverdreamt of captaining the country.”Jayasuriya was handed the captaincy at a crucial stage. Sri Lanka playedpoorly in the 1999 World Cup in England and the selectors decided to sackArjuna Ranatunga, a hugely respected figure and the captain when Jayasuriyamade his international debut.Jayasuriya admits to feeling “a bit frightened” when he was first given thejob. “The question I asked myself was whether I can do this job,” hereveals. “I had played cricket at that time for about 10 years, but Arjunawas captaining for 14 years and lot of senior players were around that time.I was thinking about lot of things, but in the end I thought to myself: Ihave played enough international cricket and I can do this job.”Looking back at the two years since, Jayasuriya says: “The first year wasthe toughest. It was not easy because Sri Lankan cricket was in a bad shape:we had lost the World Cup and straight after that they had changed thecaptaincy.””When I got the job I asked the boys for their fullest support. I told them:’we have to play as a team’ and asked for their support since I had neverdone the job before. When the players support you it makes your work mucheasier.”Jayasuriya started off well by beating Australia, the world champions, in athree-match test series at home. He then went from strength-to-strength,beating both Zimbabwe and Pakistan away from home. Since then, however, SriLanka has not recorded a test series victory, losing to Pakistan and Englandat home and in South Africa.The side lost games from winning positions. Against South Africa and Englandthe side recorded innings victories in the first tests, both of which wereplayed in Galle, only for the tourists to bounce back in Kandy.Jayasuriya believes that the fault for this lies at the feet of the batsmen:”The batsman didn’t score enough runs. You need batsman to put a minimum of350 to 400 runs on the board. When they don’t it’s very difficult for thebowlers to bowl. Basically the batsman didn’t perform wellenough, although luck didn’t favour us much either.”However Jayasuriya’s side has performed admirably in the shorter version ofthe game. In the new captains very first assignment, the Aiwa Cup, Sri Lankadefeated India and the mighty Australians. They then defeated Zimbabwe andPakistan convincingly away from home, New Zealand away, England at home, andhave won three of their last four triangular tournaments. The only set backin the shorter version was the recent 5-1 thrashing by the hands of Proteasand an early exit from the ICC KnockOut last October.”If you take a look at our performances you can obviously see that we havedone well in one-day cricket,” he said. “But the team is keen to do well in testcricket as well and want to be a better team than we are at the moment. I amparticularly disappointed about the last test series against England, whichwe should have won easily.”Jayasuriya says he concentrates on each series as they come and feels prettyconfident about the 2003 World Cup, although historically Sri Lanka have notdone well on South African soil. He hopes certain recent moves by theInterim Committee will help his side to do better this time around.”We have planned few things: we are preparing fast practice tracks atPremadasa Stadium and we are also trying to bring down some experts likeBarry Richards, to get some tips. He has come here earlier, and I hope that will help us,” says Jayasuriya.He warns his critics to not write him off yet. The proud winner of the mostvaluable player award of the 1996 World Cup is looking forward to anotherchance to grab the limelight, this time as the leader.

Zimbabwe cricket did very well indeed at the annual Zimbabwe Sportsmen of the Year awards ceremony held last night. In front of guests of honour Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, Zimbabwe cricket picked up three of the five major awards. Andy Flower won the Sportman of the Year Award, the Zimbabwe cricket team Team of the Year award, and Mluleki Nklala Junior Sportsman of the Year award. Congratualtions to all on their fine acheivement.

Only the intervention of rain spared Nottinghamshire the embarrassment of losing inside three days to Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.When rain came there were two overs left and with Hampshire captain Robin Smith about to claim the extra half hour. At that stage Nottinghamshire were a wretched 113 for seven chasing a victory target of 491.Smith might even now be regretting his decision to bat on deep into the afternoon session before declaring his side’s second innings at 352 for eight.Derek Kenway scored a career-best 166 on a blameless wicket with a six and 26 fours as Hampshire built hungrily on their first innings lead of 138. Kenway batted for five hours before getting under a delivery from Richard Stemp to be caught at the wicket.Nottinghamshire had no answer to Kenway or to Neil Johnson who shared in a stand of 153 for the fourth wicket. Johnson, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Adrian Aymes all took advantage of a Nottinghamshire attack which appeared to be playing for the declaration.Any hopes Nottinghamshire supporters had of their side repeating the heroics against Worcestershire earlier this summer when they overhauled a target of 458 quickly disappeared.At nine for three and then 39 for five defeat became inevitable. Alan Mullally did much of the damage with figures of four for 48 but there was some indifferent batting and some great catching, not least by man-of-the-day Kenway in the slips to send back Kevin Pietersen.

Middlesex batsman Owais Shah, who made his debut for England this summer in the NatWest series, has beaten seven rivals to win the prestigious Cricket Writers’ Young Player of the Year award.Shah, who made five appearances for England in the one-day triangular tournament, will receive the trophy at an annual dinner in Londonon August 31.Yorkshire off-spinner Richard Dawson was also nominated as well as highly-ratedDurham batsman Nicky Peng and Essex pair Will Jefferson and wicket-keeper JamieFoster.Ian Bell of Warwickshire, Kent’s Robert Key and Ian Blackwell of Somersetwere also on the list of candidates. Players had to be under 23 on May 1and eligible for England to qualify for the award.

India’s surprise series leveling victory in Kandy has forced a radicalre-think by the Sri Lankan selectors, who are set to make three changes forthe crucial final Test in Colombo, as the home side looks to end a 16-monthspell without a series win, whilst India set their sights on their firstoverseas Test series triumph since 1993..Sri Lanka will retain the same formation of six batsmen, one all rounder andfour frontline bowlers, but will drop 34-year-old batsman HashanTillakaratne, fast bowling allrounder Suresh Perera and left arm pace bowlerRuchira Perera.Off spinning allrounder Thilan Samaraweera, who has captained Sri Lanka A inthree successive series, will make his debut alongside top order batsmanMichael Vandort, who scored a century for a Sri Lankan board XI in India’sonly warm-up game.Dulip Liyanage has been chosen in place of Ruchira Perera, surprisingly leftout of the final 14-man squad after two modest, but by no means poor,performances in Galle and Kandy. The 29-year-old Liyanage, however, whoplayed the last of his eight Tests way back in 1993/94 in Lucknow, has beenconsistently impressive in the practice nets and will also strengthen thelower order.Such wholesale changes after their seven-wicket defeat in the second Testcould easily be interpreted as a sign of panic, but, in fact, it’s probablymore an admission that the wrong side had been selected in Kandy.Suresh Perera looked short of confidence after being reported by umpireSteve Bucknor in Galle for having a suspect action and bowled just twelveovers in the game. With hindsight he should have been rested until thedoubts over his action had been eased.With the batting having been pinpointed as the primary reason for Sri Lanka’s defeat the 21-year-old Vandort was always likely to play in Colombo and isexpected to bat at number three, forcing Kumar Sangakkara to drop down tonumber five.The choice then came down to Tillakaratne and Samaraweera for the numberseven slot. Though an extra batsman would have been comforting, theselectors settled for the positive option of an allrounder, which gives themgreater options in the field, but does not significantly weaken the batting,as Samaraweera is renowned to be a tenacious and solid batter.Sanath Jayasuriya, speaking after the team’s final practice, called for histeam to play positive cricket: “We didn’t play well in Kandy, but that ishistory now. This is a fresh game and the team must think positively and notput themselves under pressure. The players must relax and enjoy themselves.”He, though, stressed once again that the batsmen have to show greaterresponsibility: “The batsmen are in good form, but they have been gettingout in the 30’s and 40’s. When we get set we have to go on to make a bigscore.”Coach Dav Whatmore pointed out that the failure of the batsmen in Kandyrevolved around the mental approach of the individuals concerned: “There isno technique problem. We have shown that we can score heavily. However, itseems to me that we can win by a large margin, but when it gets close, wefind it difficult. Sometimes we suffer from a rush of blood.””The players have to give 100 per cent and be totally committed,” he warned.”They must adopt that attitude that ‘everything depends on me’ not on anyoneelse.”India, initially disappointed by their boards refusal to send Ajit Agarkar,which was confirmed by the Indian captain today, may now be somewhatrelieved, as they are considering playing 28-year-old Bombay legspinnerSairaj Bahutule, as the fourth bowler in place of Harvinder Singh.India, it seems, believe that the ball will turn appreciably. Sourav Gangulycommented that: “This does not look to be the normal bouncy SSC wicket and Ithink it will turn by day three.”India are therefore expected to bat first if they win the toss. “We willhave a look in the morning and see how damp it is, but right now it lookslike a bat first wicket,” said Ganguly.The curator Ranil Abeynaike, though, was singing a different song, promisingplenty of “pace and bounce” throughout the game with the prospect of lateralmovement for the fast bowlers on day one.Jayasuriya also commented that there was more grass on the wicket than therehad been in the last game England, when the ball turned sideways, and heexpects there to be plenty of encouragement for the pace bowlers. Sri Lankaare expected to field first if they win the toss.Ganguly pointed out that: “The mood within the side is good, but there wasno chance of complacency after the Kandy Test. We just want play goodcricket here. If we play well and take it session by session then the resultshould take care of itself.”He defended the decision to retain Hemang Badani after three failures so farin the series: "Hemang deserves another opportunity. He is struggling a bitand not playing like he did in Zimbabwe, but it’s not right to drop abatsman after two games. Hemang has potential and maybe he will make a markin this Test."India have not won a Test series overseas since 1993 when MohammadAzharuddin’s side defeated Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club to win theseries 1-0. There have been two matches since between India and Sri Lanka atSSC, both of which have been drawn.

November 2001Sun 18-Mon 19 MCA President’s XI v England (2 days)Mumbai (Bombay)Thu 22-Sat 24 Board President’s XI v England (3 days)HyderabadTue 27-Thu 29 India ‘A’ v England (3 days)JaipurDecember 2001Mon 3-Fri 7 FIRST TEST MATCHIndia v EnglandMohali (Chandigarh)Tue 11-Sat 15 SECOND TEST MATCHIndia v EnglandAhmedabadWed 19-Sun 23 THIRD TEST MATCHIndia v EnglandBangaloreJanuary 2002Thu 17 1st practice One day matchMumbai (Bombay)Sat 19 (D/N) 2nd practice One day matchMumbai (Bombay)Tue 22 (D/N) FIRST ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL Chennai (Madras)Fri 25 (D/N) SECOND ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL Kolkata (Calcutta)Mon 28 THIRD ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL KanpurThu 31 FOURTH ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL New DelhiFebruary 2002Sun 3 (D/N) FIFTH ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL Mumbai (Bombay)N.B. D/N denotes day/night match

Kapil Dev Nikhanj just cannot keep away from the game.Despite teary avowals and firm pronouncements to never involvehimself in cricket again, Kapil Dev was seen at Delhi’sFerozeshah Kotla ground on Tuesday, addressing young hopefulsat a conditioning camp.”I never said I wouldn’t help a cricketer if he approachesme,” he said. “If I can teach cricket overseas, why wouldn’t Ido so in my own country?” he asked, referring to his visit toNorthern Ireland on behalf of the Laureus Sport for GoodFoundation.The former Indian coach, requested for help by left-arm seamerAshish Nehra, made some technical adjustments in his ward’saction on Saturday before reluctantly agreeing to appear atthe Kotla for another session. “I couldn’t have madesuggestions without watching him in action,” he said.That session never materialised as Kapil Dev’s time washijacked by the media, Bishan Singh Bedi, and a band of youngcricketers, all armed with questions for the great allrounder. Bedi, Kapil Dev’s first captain in internationalcricket, acted as spokesperson for the youngsters, phrasingtheir questions and explaining Kapil Dev’s answers.Bedi’s presence provided Kapil Dev with his most inspiringanecdotes and advice. Hard work, he said, was everything. “Wewere always told that Bedi used to bowl alone, at a singlewicket. We would wonder if the Sardar had gone mad. But thatwas the kind of commitment we all strove to achieve in ourplaying days,” said Kapil Dev.He also used Sunil Gavaskar’s example to demonstrate theenormous difference that can be made by supplementing skillwith sweat, citing that factor as instrumental in transformingGavaskar into a champion batsman. “If you begin to drinkalone, you come to be known as an alcoholic. But if youpractice alone, you become a champion,” said Kapil Dev,further illustrating his point.Technical advice also flowed freely. To the medium-pacersamong the youngsters in particular, Kapil Dev said “Learn tobowl to your strength and to your field.” He emphasised theimportance of fitness and off-season training, and thenpromptly proceeded to put words into action by bowling to afew of the young batsmen in the nets.Nehra, for the evening, was sidelined, but Kapil Dev enjoyedthe time spent at the Kotla. “How can I forget my roots? Itwould have been an insult to my association with the game if Ihad refused to help someone sort his problems out. I reaped somuch from this ground,” he said.Coaching may still stir his heart, but Kapil Dev no longerbears animosity for being forced out of his position of Indianteam coach. “I was bitter when I left the job,” he said. “Butnot now.”

It is not often that Barbados cricket selectors are praised.Especially from someone who was axed from the national teamwhile he was on a high.But these days, Stanton Proverbs has nothing but admirationfor the men responsible for picking the Barbados team. Andafter he became the first player this season to complete thecricketing double of 50 wickets and 500 runs in the 2001Courts/Suzuki Division 1 competition, the Police captain isinstead bemoaning the attitude of the youngsters.Proverbs has so far yielded 52 wickets from his off-spin and582 runs from his blade in ten matches.Nearing the end of his career for Barbados he produced ascintillating 112 as he led the charge for victory overTrinidad and Tobago, but ever since, he has been aspectator. However, he is far from bitter.The 33-year-old’s maturity and mode suggests that the moreolder you grow, the wiser you get, as he discussed thedifficult role selectors face because of impressiveperformances from senior players in Division 1 cricket,against some patchy periods from the younger brigade.Proverbs says that some young players need to reallychallenge the older ones for a play in the squad. He says itirks him when people cry down the Barbados CricketAssociation (BCA) for not developing cricket, or not doingenough to encourage young people into playing.I think the BCA is doing a lot. They have coaches spread outin the country. Good coaches, like George Linton, ThelstonPayne and those guys working with the youngsters at everylevel. So I think they are doing all they can.The problem to me is that the youngsters don’t seem to bededicated enough to the sport. We can’t blame the selectorsor the BCA, I think they are doing their part. Youngstersneed to understand that they can make a living out ofplaying cricket and once they are involved they have to keepworking at their fitness and continually working at theirgame.Proverbs, who also a superb volleyballer before embarking ona cricket career, has adopted a totally unselfish attitudeto playing cricket again for Barbados. Instead, he wants tobe part of a team that can in anyway help to develop andbuild the character of younger players.The way I see life is that people will give way to you andat times you have to give way to others. It’s never an easyjob for the selectors. I think they are trying to give theyoungsters an opportunity to come through and play for theWest Indies.But at the same time there are looking to give some of theguys who have played for the West Indies a second chance, soyou have to appreciate that it’s a difficult job to get theright mix and the right blend.Regardless of what they do, you have to support them.Whether you are outside or inside the team.There is another thing he remains passionate about on thecricket field. That is, his commitment to Police and thetime he is devoting to continuing his success.After all, 50 wickets and 500 runs don’t come easy.The achievement is one I would say was never beyond me. Forthe last couple of seasons I have been getting 38, 40wickets and scoring over 500 runs. Because of the coveredwickets I’ve had the opportunity to bowl a bit more thisseason.If you think Proverbs has achieved his goal, guess again.When you check the statistics by the end of this year, don’tbe surprised if you see Stanton Proverbs in the 700-runcolumn and 70-wicket club.After all, he’s already ahead of the pack.

*Sangram Singh piles on the runsTeetering at 25/2 overnight, Himachal Pradesh found batting form,primarily in the guise of Sangram Singh, who hit a mammoth 190 againstDelhi in their Ranji Trophy league match at Bilaspur on Day Three.Singh and skipper Varinder Sharma, realising the predicament thattheir side was in, decided that attack was the best form of defence.Both, accordingly, went for their shots. After a 111-run partnership,the captain departed, having made 58.Sangram Singh, however, found another able supporter in Rajiv Nayyar,who made a tenacious unbeaten 50, giving the in-form batsman as muchof the strike as possible. The duo put on 200 runs before Sangram wasout for 190 made off 297 balls.At stumps, Himachal Pradesh were 327/4, with Nayyar and Shakti Singh(7*) at the crease.*Services face tough fourth innings taskAlthough they conceded a first-innings lead of 91 runs, Servicessurged back into the game in their second bowling effort, havingHaryana at 180/7 by the close of play on Day Three in their RanjiTrophy league match at Faridabad.The last four wickets in the Services’ innings fell for the additionof only 37 runs. S Vidyut and Amit Mishra ended the innings with fourwickets each, being the main destroyers of the opposition battingline-up.Haryana’s batting did not fare much better. Wickets tumbled at the topof the order, with Arun Sharma and Sudhakar Ghag taking two and threerespectively. Ishan Ganda was the sole substantial contributor to theinnings, making 65 before falling with the score on 160.At stumps, Haryana were 180/7, with Vidyut and Sumit Narwal unbeatenon 16 and 0 respectively. Services, however, are already behind by 271runs, and it will take a superlative batting effort in their secondinnings to win this match.*Jammu face steep victory targetQuickfire knocks from Manish Sharma and Yuvraj Singh enabled Punjab todeclare towards the end of Day Three of their Ranji Trophy leaguematch against Jammu and Kashmir at Jammu.The home side, resuming on 216/7, proceeded to add 67 runs for theloss of the last three wickets. The runs, for an astonishingly largepart, were contributed by overnight unbeaten batsman Ashwani Gupta.Gupta added 55 runs to his overnight score of 45 to remain unbeaten onexactly 100 when the innings finally folded.Punjab brushed off the early loss of Ravneet Ricky to put up a 141-runsecond-wicket partnership. Manish Sharma (90 off 113 balls) and Yuvraj(87 off 72 balls), however, fell in rapid succession. Only an unbeaten26 from Gagandeep Singh lower down the order enabled them to declareat a score of 299/9.Jammu and Kashmir, having just begun their innings, played only twoballs before play was called off for the day.

Bangladesh will have to improve their batting technique and mental approach in a hurry if they are to put up a good fight in the first Test against New Zealand starting at WestpacTrust Park in Hamilton next Tuesday.Yesterday their batsmen laboured to a first innings total of 120 from 61.2 overs and found great difficulty making strong progress against a bustling Auckland medium-fast attack on a pitch that gave the bowlers plenty of swing and, early on, some seam movement.Auckland spent the last two hours of a rather slow-paced day scoring 79 for the loss of the prized wickets of the Test batsmen, Mark Richardson (out for four in the first over) and Lou Vincent (15, and out in the 13th over).Auckland put the Bangladeshis under some mental strain by making them bat first after Brooke Walker had won the toss – which promised to be just as vital as the bowling-first policy which brought their eight-wicket win over Central Districts on a similar pitch last month.The Bangladeshis are not used to batting on a pitch covered with close-cropped grass, nor with a lush green outfield which sometimes turned fours into twos or threes.However, the tourists had only themselves (or their ingrained batting habits) to blame for not making better use of a cool but clear day. Their openers Javed Omar and Al Sahariar did occupy the crease for close to an hour as Chris Drum and Kyle Mills, and later Andre Adams and Tama Canning tried to make use of the kind of pitch they would like to take on tour with them.But they scored only 26 runs from 13 overs, and once Drum had Javed neatly taken by Vincent at third slip, the good work was undone when Habibul Bashar was out in the next over. From 29 for two wickets, the Bangladesh batsmen were pushed further and further onto the back foot, and the only batsman who showed attacking class and skill was the captain Khaled Mashud who scored 30 not out, but came in at No 8 when so much of the damage had already been done.The Bangladeshis are novices in the hard world of Test cricket, and they must learn quickly. The root cause seems to be that the batsmen have become too involved in the high-risk stroke-play favoured in One-Day Internationals, and they are yet to learn the patience and solid innings-building of first-class or Test cricket especially on a pitch such as that which favoured the Auckland bowlers today.Mashud has been mentioned as the best-looking of their batsman. Al Sahariar, the right-handed opener, played some handsome strokes in the first hour and looked a batsman of considerable potential.Mohammad Ashraful, the teenage prodigy, had time for only one flashing boundary stroke before he nicked a ball from Adams, the fastest and most impressive of the Auckland bowlers. Ashraful and the man who followed him, Sanwar Hossain, were typical victims of their own impetuosity.Ashraful was too free of stroke when the situation demanded a steady approach. Anwar simply blazed away with over-confident strokes that made his life merry, but short.Drum finished with the best bowling figures 18-6-32-4, and Adams had three for 16 from 13 pin-point overs. He may find it hard to win a Test place, but Adams must be favoured to be on the short list for the one-dayers later in the season, for his sharp bowling and powerhouse batsmanship could turn a match.Richardson faced only four balls, cllipping the first one for four, before edging down the leg-side. Perhaps it was a blessing for it gave him more time to rest his broken left thumb – an injury suffered when playing for New Zealand against South Australia last month, and which gave him considerable pain in the Hobart and Perth Tests against Australia.Vincent played several bold and powerful shots, including the only six of the day, and his education would have been improved by the way he got himself dismissed – shouldering arms to the left-armer Manjurul Islam, and having the ball curl in and have him lbw.Manjurul and Mohammad Sharif were busy and quite quick with the new ball, but Khaled Mahmud (medium pace) and Enamul Haque (slow left-arm) were not especially dangerous on the easy-paced pitch.Matt Horne (34 not out) and rapidly-improving Aaron Barnes (18 not out), the men who batted Auckland to victory over Central Districts, were together at the end and they could help Auckland build a winning position tomorrow.