July 7, 2024 · 7:26 pm

Introducing the Premier League in Sri Lanka, 2024 Series

ESPN Summary Preview …. at …. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/lanka-premier-league-2024-1421415/teams 

… photo of 2023 winners

Kandy Falcons

Squad size: 22 (six overseas)
Players bought:

  • Pre-signings and retentions: Wanindu Hasaranga, Angelo Mathews, Dushmantha Chameera, Kamindu Mendis, Andre Fletcher and Kyle Mayers
  • Auction signings: Ashen Bandara (US $20,000), Dinesh Chandimal (US $40,000), Dasun Shanaka (US $85,000), Ramesh Mendis (US $10,000), Dimuth Karunaratne (US $10,000), Mohammed Hasnain (US $30,000), Chaturanga de Silva (US $30,000), Lakshan Sandakan (US $20,000), Azam Khan (US $50,000), Salman Ali Agha (US $10,000), Mohammed Ali (US $10,000), Kasun Rajitha (US $26,000), Pawan Rathnayake (US $5000) Chamath Gomez, (US $5000), Kavindu Pathirathne (US $5000) and Sammu Ashan (US $5000)

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July 7, 2024 · 6:43 pm

Elections in Britain: Readings from The Fringes

A: From Tea Plantation Country in Sri Lanka, 7 July 2024

One third the votes for two thirds the seats 🤣🤣🤣The change was long on the cards but gosh with such a low vote base ?😉

 

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July 7, 2024 · 12:54 pm

The British Elections: A Right-Wing Reading in the TIMES

Iain Martin in The TIMES, 5 July 2024, under the headline “This is Starmer’s chance to cement Britain’s lurch to the left” **

With the right-wing vote split between the Tories and Reform, the Labour leader can realign public policy and present the centre-left as the natural force of government.


In seeking solace in the thought that it could have been worse — and yes, it could have been worse for the Conservatives — there is a danger that the party misses the real point of its defeat. A leftward realignment has taken place and with the opposition forces split the new prime minister has an extraordinary opportunity to build on that realignment and make it endure.

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July 6, 2024 · 12:39 am

Larry, The Ubiquitous Feline Presence in 10 Downing Street

Nia Dalton & Christian Abbott,
A whole lot is going to change at Downing Street after 14 years of Tory rule – but one thing will remain the same.

Labour leader Keir Starmer is the new Prime Minister after he secured a landslide election victory. The Tories suffered an almost total collapse and are on course for their worst result in history, losing hundreds of seats to Labour and the Lib Dems. Conservative’s Rishi Sunak said voters had delivered a “sobering verdict” on his party after over a decade in power.

So it’s out with the old and in with the new, as Starmer will move into Downing Street and boot Sunak out. But what will happen to its most famous resident, Larry the Cat? The feline favourite has been there for years and years, long before Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, and he is a familiar face that people actually like to see outside Number 10.

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July 4, 2024 · 8:05 pm

About Palestine: Chatting with Rabbi Shapiro 

This item was sent to me by Dr. Firazeth Hussein of Wellawatte & Galle

Yaakov Shapiro is an international speaker, author, and pulpit rabbi for over 30 years, now emeritus. He has attained an enviable place in the arena of anti-Zionist public intellectuals, having constructed a unique oeuvre on the ideology of Zionism and its relationship to Judaism. After graduating high school at age 16, Rabbi Shapiro dedicated himself to full-time study of religion, becoming the protégé of some of the most well-regarded rabbinic scholars in Orthodoxy. Among his areas of research are religious philosophy, analytic theology, Talmud, Halachah, and Biblical exegesis. At age 19 he published his first book, משפטי הבירורים, a collection of original expositions on rabbinic principles of tort adjudication. His other books include חלקת השדה, a commentary on Judaic laws governing land disputes (2000); צדה לדרך, a commentary on Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato’s exposition of God as the Necessary Being (2009); and שופריה דיעקב, a compendium of original Biblical exegeses (2017).

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July 4, 2024 · 7:36 pm

James Hunter’s Depressing Dissection of American Political Culture Today

Michael Sean Winters, where the chosen title is “From ‘culture wars’ to ‘cultural exhaustion’: James Davison Hunter diagnoses our cultural ills”

Friday, we began a review of James Davison Hunter’s vitally important book Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis with a focus on his historical survey. I stopped with his provocative thesis that the marginalization of religion as a force in cultural politics begins with the close of the Civil War, but he continues his narrative, through Dewey and Niebuhr, the world wars, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. You’ll need to get and read the book to access Hunter’s fine historical sketch of the shifting cultural landscape.

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July 2, 2024 · 1:44 am

The Wettimuny Trio of Accomplished Opening Batsmen

Michael Roberts

 The Sri Lankan world of cricket was well served in the past by an accomplished set of batsmen school at Ananda College and the Sinhalese Sports Club who were all, remarkably, opening batsmen. The first of these lads to hit the headlines was Mithra Wettimuny – the second in the brotherly line-up. As Captain of Ananda, [1] he was selected to lead the Ceylon schoolboys in their tour of India in 1969 ……. with guidance from managers A. D. Karunananda and Angelo Rayer. The squad had an outstanding tour – in fact securing a set of remarkable results (see Ranjan Anandappa’s recounting at https://thuppahis.com/2023/09/09/when-the-ceylon-schoolboys-beat-the-indian-schoolboys-in-their-home-turfs-in-1969/).

Sunil Wettimuny (Sri Lanka) pulls Ashley Mallett (Australia). The Australian wicket keeper is Rod Marsh. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

 

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July 1, 2024 · 4:53 pm

A Cricket Coach for Sri Lanka ….. Options

Rex Clementine, in the Island, 30 June 2024, where the title reads  ‘Who should suceed Silverwood”

Before Sri Lanka Cricket could assess and decide whether Chris Silverwood should get an extension, the Head Coach threw in the towel indicating that family reasons made it impossible for him to stay away from home. Silverwood, who is 49, has three young boys. Indications are that he might return home to take up as coach of Yorkshire, where he made a name for himself as a fast bowler.

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July 1, 2024 · 4:06 pm

Captaincy Critical in the Cut ‘n Thrust of the T20 Final

Matt Roller, in ESPNcricinfo, 30 June 2024, where the title runs ”Triple-threat Axar, the unsung hero in India’s triumph”

A spell of 2 for 23 in three overs. Hardly an uncommon set of figures in a T20 match but in the context of an innings of 176, there is an obvious question to ask: why only three overs? Keshav Maharaj took two wickets in his first over of Saturday’s T20 World Cup 2024 final and went at 7.66 runs per over, compared to an innings run rate of 8.80. But after the ninth over, he was not seen again.

Maharaj bowled his full four-over allocation in each of his first six appearances at the World Cup, and might well have done the same in the semi-final if his team-mates had not rolled Afghanistan over for 56. And yet, in a final of fine margins, his fourth over went unused.
The reason behind it was straightforward: it was because of Axar Patel. Triple-threat Axar was playable on some surfaces, made a strong case for catch of the tournament, and made useful contributions as a batter.

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June 30, 2024 · 9:17 pm

Mahinda on the Australian Cricketers 1983 Test Tour of Sri Lanka

Mahinda Wijesinghe, in ESPNcricinfo on 4th February 2004, … deploying this title  ”Australia’s first Test tour of Sri Lanka”

Conveniently situated midway between Australia and England, Ceylon, as the island was then known, provided touring cricket teams with a perfect chance to break their long journey and refresh their sea legs. No doubt the most famous of all Australian cricketers to visit Ceylon was Don Bradman. His first visit, aged 22 and on the threshold of becoming the most feared batsman of all time, was in 1930 and was the first occasion that he had donned his pads outside his native land. The Australians, led by Bill Woodfull, were dismissed for 233 (Kelaart 6 for 65) with The Don contributing 40 and the locals replied with 52 for 1 when rain intervened. Incidentally, Bradman was dismissed `hit-wicket’ by the first delivery bowled by Neil Joseph. In his first book, published in 1930, he commented: “The cricket enclosure was a pleasant surprise; it was an excellent ground and a big crowd turned out…the people were most enthusiastic and they had infinitely more than a nodding acquaintance with the game.”

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