Jaffa for Jaffna
Kieswetter's "car tweet"
High-profile cricket is all set to make its debut in Jaffna after years of a bitter and bloody civil war. The Northern Province, of which Jaffna is the capital, is among the seven teams that will be part of the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL) Twenty20 tournament beginning on July 19. “The decision to include Northern Province as one of the teams was taken to promote the game in the region, where the talent pool has been largely untapped because of years of fighting,” Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga told theIndian Express. “Since the end of the war, we have tried to promote the game in the Northern and North-Eastern Province.”
There have been ongoing efforts over the past year to develop cricket in the region with plans to construct two turf wickets at selected Jaffna schools. “Over 20 qualified coaches have been working to promote the game through the Jaffna Schools Cricket Association and the Jaffna District Cricket Association. Former fast bowler Ravindra Pushpakumara has been in charge of coaching in the Northern Province over the past year and the talent is very promising,” Ranatunga said. Sri Lanka’s cricketers have been doing their bit in Jaffna with former batsman Aravinda de Silva having been involved in school cricket training programmes, while the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were involved in relief efforts when the tsunami struck the region in 2005.
Kieswetter's "car tweet"
Craig Kieswetter was forced into damage limitation mode after seemingly posting a picture on twitter while driving on the motorway.
On Wednesday he tweeted the following message: "My view right now", followed by a link to a picture taken out of the car's windscreen.
The following day Kieswetter had seemingly cleared his twitter account, kiesy22, which showed no followers and though it said 198 tweets were listed none was available to view.
However, a search of the internet brings up archived versions of his tweets, including one where he said: "Just so everyone knows! That picture wasn't taken by me in my car! Mate took it over my shoulder! Very silly."
Former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Parore is just days away from scaling the biggest challenge of his sporting career - the Mt. Everest. According to a report in the Dominion Post, Parore, who is is climbing the world's highest mountain to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, left for Nepal on March 27 in a bid to train and acclimatise for the task. However his first attempt to reach the summit ended in disappointment, as the climbing group had to turn back because of 50kph-to-60kph winds and poor weather forecast for what was to have been their summit day, May 14. Parore, who has been regularly updating a Facebook page while trying to scale the 8848m mountain, wrote about the first failed attempt, after the group returned to base camp. "All up a 16-hour day – Sherpa-esque. 1000m up, 2000m down and about 15km covered all up. 100 calories intake, about 20,000 expended. I was a bit tired after that. Unsurprisingly I slept like a dead man. Strangely I woke yesterday morning feeling 100%, like I normally do at sea level. Go figure? I feel better now than before we left for the summit."
However, he posted on Sunday that the the group was heading off at two in the morning "for another crack at the big girl". Parore said the group was expecting to summit about mid-day on Saturday, all things equal. "Same drill as last week except we are hoping the weather window holds this time. I was just thinking that it all seemed a little easy – not any more. Everest the hard way we're calling it. Fingers crossed for blue skys and happy trails," he posted.
It isn’t often that Himachal Pradesh stages high-profile cricket matches at the picturesque stadium in Dharamsala so the local officials are doing everything possible to make the three upcoming IPL matches there a success. There’s only one thing beyond their control – the weather. Last year’s game between the “home” side, Kings XI Punjab, and Chennai Super Kings and was preceded by thundershowers and the weathermen have forecast scattered rain in the area once again. So, ahead of Sunday’s game between Punjab and Delhi Daredevils, the HP cricket association has turned to greater powers to ensure a smooth match.
Apart from fire rituals to appease the weather gods the HPCA has also constructed a big concrete gate dedicated to Lord Indrunag [the rain god in the hills]. During last season the HPCA had organised a yajna [a fire-based religious ceremony] at the Indrunag temple that overlooks the stadium with over 2000 cricket fans participating in it. And there are plans to organise one more such ceremony before the May 15 game. But god helps those who help themselves, so the ground now boasts a more efficient drainage system, four water-sopping machines and a lightweight plastic sheet that can cover the entire ground in five minutes. Time for the cricketers to do their bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment