da 888casino： The Sri Lanka Cricket Board’s (BCCSL) interim committee on Thursdaytook the decision to remove the controversial Rangiri DambullaInternational Stadium from its list of venues for next month’s one-daytriangular series
da dobrowin： Staff and Agencies15-Jun-2001* Dambulla stadium removed from list of venuesThe Sri Lanka Cricket Board’s (BCCSL) interim committee on Thursdaytook the decision to remove the controversial Rangiri DambullaInternational Stadium from its list of venues for next month’s one-daytriangular series. Interim committee sources said the decision to takethe matches away from Dambulla was arrived at on the advice of theirlawyers and, with the consultation of the Sports Minister. They saidlegal implications on the ownership of the land was the main issueregarding the change of venue.The interim committee was looking out for an alternative venue to playthe three matches involving Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand. Thematches are due to be played between July 25-28. Galle InternationalStadium and the Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo are being looked atas alternate venues.The Dambulla stadium, built in a record time of 175 days at aninitially estimated cost of Rs. 300 million, hosted the first one-dayinternational between Sri Lanka and England on March 23. Since then alegal dispute over the ownership of the land and the allegedmismanagement of finances which is currently under investigation haveraised a question mark against staging of international matches atthis venue. The first four-day unofficial Test between Sri Lanka A andPakistan A is currently being played there.* Blind cricketers preparing for World CupThey are fans of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.Whenever they have the opportunity, they rush to the Eden Gardens tosee these stars play. Now, they themselves are preparing for the WorldCup at New Zealand in December this year. Every day, one can find themsweating out on a small piece of land in the Maidan area of Kolkata.But ask them, and they will tell you that even though they have beento the Gardens, they have never seen the stars play. They have noteven seen pictures of the Indian cricketers on the telly or in thenewspapers. Surprising isn’t it? But then these cricketers are blind.Gaurav Goenka, Chandan Maity, Pradip Jha, Santosh Sahani and LNAdhikari are four blind cricketers from Bengal who are practicing dayand night to be ready for selection to the camp for the probables. Onewas surprised to see the manner in which they played the game. The batwas the normal one. The ball was of plastic with small ball bearingsinside. The bowling was under arm and the batsmen played their shotsdepending on the sound that the bearings made as the ball was rolledalong the pitch. The fielders also did the same, moving in thedirection of the sound that the ball emitted. "We do not find itdifficult," said Goenka. He even asked this correspondent to bowl andconfidently handled under arm leg spin. Even when the pace was varied,Goenka was equal to the task.The cricketers however, have one complaint. The apathy of the CricketAssociation of Bengal (CAB) towards them. "We do not have a properplace to practice," laments Pradip Jha. Repeated requests to the CABhave been of no avail. "But then we fight on simply because we lovethe game," said Jha. One can see their tenacity. They do not want anysympathy but help for going ahead in life. "We will not be able tosee what you write for us," is their chorus. But please come again.We need your moral support," says Goenka. One realizes that eventhough the cricketers are blind, they give a light of hope to allthose who fight darkness.* Newly formed associations in wrangling matchWrangling between two newly-formed cricket associations of the newstate has taken a curious turn with the Cricket Association ofJharkhand (CAJ) filing two cases against the JCA (Jharkhand CricketAssociation) in two courts praying for injunction on JCA’s election onJune 17.Both the cases were filed on Wednesday by CAJ annual member Jaki Ahmedin the Munsiff Court in Jamshedpur and the CAJ secretary Prabir Kumarin the Saraikela Court in Saraikela-Kharswan district praying for thepermanent injunction on the JCA election on June 17 or on any otherdate. Both petitioners contended “JCA is a fake organisation,practically not in existence.” Contending that the CAJ was the onlylegally constituted organisation in Jharkhand formed with members fromthe Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), the petitioners said on thenotice of former BCA secretary, BN Singh on January 7, theconstitution of the CAJ was drafted on March 18.Following the notification of the JCA to conduct elections on June 17,the CAJ counsels prayed for permanent injunction on JCA to hold anyelection on June 17 or on any other date. “JCA’s notice on May 31 isillegal and inoperative” as it has “no legal right, authority or locusstandi to hold election of office bearers on June 17 or on any otherdate,” they said in the courts. The petitioners also accused the JCAchief, Deval Sahay and the chairman of adhoc committee, SP Sinha fortrying to create disturbances in the smooth running of CAJ after beingfrustrated in their attempt to capture power.The two organisations came into being after the creation of Jharkand.The election of CAJ was held here on May 13 in the presence of theChief Judicial Magistrate, AK Singh in which 298 members participatedand office bearers and committee members were duly elected.
