COLOMBO, 29 September – The two Malcoms of International Cricket Council (ICC) – President Malcolm Gray and Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed — have given the game’s world governing body a new dynamism and sense of direction. This was obvious as they addressed a news conference yesterday, answering questions about a variety of subjects concerning cricket. Gray termed the current ICC Champions Trophy tournament the most successful of the series so far and attributed this success to all concerned, including the government, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka and others associated with the organization of the game. He also pointed out the benefits that the event has brought in its wake. He also said that the Champions Trophy raises funds for the development of the game in developing countries. Gray was happy at the role played by the ICC in resolving the sponsorship row with the Indian players. “The top Indian players are here and we are happy that we played a role in resolving the crisis,” Gray said. He added that the scope was there that this controversy would crop up again before the 2003 World Cup. “We have a strategy and a plan that will not allow it to happen again. We have a time-frame to address the issue and should settle it by the end of November,” Speed explained. About player representation, Gray said it would be easier to deal with a body representing all players. “Unfortunately, FICA (federation of international cricketers’ association) does not represent all players. Only seven of the 10 Test playing countries have representative groups. The remaining three are strongly opposed to player recognition,” Gray added. About India and Pakistan not playing against each other, Gray said the ICC was trying to influence the Indian government. “If the two countries play each other, it will be good not only for cricket but also for the peoples of the two countries,” he added. The manner in which these two have functioned and solved several crises in the last few months, clearly indicates that they mean business.
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Shepherd the Nelson man
THE portly figure of umpire David Shepherd is familiar to cricket lovers the world over. He is known as the “Nelson man” because of his habit of shuffling his feet to ward off evil whenever a batsman or a team reached the score of Nelson (111) or double Nelson (222). Interestingly the India-South Africa semifinal was his 111th match. I met Shepherd at his hotel and asked him why did he shuffle his feet. “It is just superstition. I want nothing bad to happen. And I do it for both the teams,” Shepherd explained. When asked how much longer he hoped to continue umpiring, Shepherd replied: “Not for very long. I am 62 you know.” He said he was in favor of the use of technology provided it did not slow down the game too much. I asked West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor the same questions and he concurred with Shepherd. “I am in favor of using technology if it is going to help the game,” he said. However, the official stand is that whatever is happening in the ICC Champions Trophy is purely on an experimental basis. “What is happening is just a trial and not definite. We will review it and will take a decision in a month or so,” ICC CEO Malcolm Speed clarified.
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Reunion of friends
IT was in 1976 that as a basketball player I had met some members of the Sri Lankan basketball team while taking part in a tournament in India’s southern Kerala state. A search on the Internet about basketball resulted in some names and telephone numbers. Riophilla Ramlan was the best player of that team. She went on to become a national coach and is still very actively involved by setting up a veteran women’s basketball association. She still plays and is taking a contingent of basketballers for the world meet in Australia. Nanda Lorenz (nee Ganegoda) was the captain of the team. She is married to a German Hubert Lorenz and after spending 16 years in Germany, they have returned and settled down in a suburb of Colombo. It was indeed a great pleasure to meet all of them after so many years. Incidentally Nanda and her husband Hubert are both amateur radio (HAM) fanatics. Riophilla and her husband Farick invited me to the Otter Aquatic Club for dinner. It was a memorable evening as we exchanged notes about our families, discussed basketball and reminisced about the good old days.
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Jayasuriya gets batting tips
SRI LANKA’s batting coach Owen Mottau was apparently not happy with the way Jayasuriya played Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne. When the two met in the Taj Samudra lobby, the coach kept gesturing and showing how Jayasuriya should have gone forward to smother his spin. Mottau seems to be a hard taskmaster. Any other coach would have been happy with Jayasuriya’s 42 runs which set the foundation for the team’s win. Another Sri Lankan veteran I met at the hotel lobby was Ranjan Madugalle. Now a prominent match referee, he was pleased at Sri Lanka’s win the previous night and hoped they would continue the same form in the final against India.
