Michael Wille’s Cricketing Journey: Ceylon and Melbourne

Michael Wille, courtesy of Island, 11 November 2017, swwhere the title is My cricketing journey, from big dreams to big matches””

I have been asked to write an article about my cricketing journey from Colombo to Melbourne. I have some reservations about how relevant my article will be. However, I trust that it will serve essentially as an insight to the exhilarating schoolboy cricketing era of the 1950s.

I debuted for Royal in ’54 and captained in ’57. A couple of weeks after the Royal-Thomian I migrated to Australia and was the first Sri Lankan to play District (Grade) cricket in Melbourne.

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Dr. Rabada chastises his Paceman Son Kagiso rabada

Bipin Dani in The Deccan Chronicle Dr. Mpho Rabada has supported the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to penalize his son for Shikhar Dhawan send-off. The 22-year-old South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been fined 15 per cent of his match-fees (and one demerit point) for giving Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan a send-off after he grabbed his wicket in the fifth ODI, which India won in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.   “(Shikhar) Dhawan send-off was unnecessary. The player has not only to be within the law but live in the spirit of the game which is a higher than the minimum standard,” said Kagiso Rabada’s father, Dr. Mpho Rabada. (Photo: BCCI). Port Elizabeth: Dr. Mpho Ra “Dhawan send-off was unnecessary. The player has not only to be within the law but live in the spirit of the game which is a higher than the minimum standard,” said Rabada senior. “The management used criterion to usher fines and we have to give them the benefit of doubts that they applied their minds and found a sanction that is in line with not living in the spirit of the game. I have faith in the administrators. Players say all kind of things. I am 100% against that. Let us let the ball do the talking.” Dhawan was looking in fine form as he scored at brisk pace against Morne Morkel and Rabada and had hit the young South African speedster for a four a ball before. However, Rabada managed to dismiss the Dhawan just when it looked like the Indian opener was going to take the South African attack to the cleaners. “(My son’s) action was unnecessary and uncalled for (even if there were words or actions from batsmen directed to him during play). A person is 100 per cent responsible for his own actions. The ultimate bar at the end is ALL has to be done in the greater spirit of the game,” said Kagiso’s father. “Young men and women have to always judge themselves against that threshold both on and off the field,” he signed off. Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward 14.82 GB (98%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms – Privacy Last account activity: 16 minutes ago Details

An Exemplary Moment: Some Lankan Cricketers absorb Dhoni’s Advice

News Item in Daily News, 28 December 2017, with title “Lankan Players take cricket lessons from MS Dhoni”

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has not just grown as a player but as a person over the years. The respected cricketer is not just admired by his teammates but also his opponents for his distinctive ground play and game awareness.

Upul Tharanga, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Akila Dananjaya get valuable tips from Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni at the end of the third T20 international at Mumbai.

Sri Lankan Cricket History: Abstracts of Two Essays by Michael Roberts in 2007 and 2009

  FC “Derek” de Saram in full flow CI Gunasekera & Mahes Rodrigo walk out to bat Kehel Yakaa mesmerises

“Landmarks and threads in the cricketing universe of Sri Lanka,” Sport in Society, 2007, 10(1), 120-142 ….

….  Published online: 19 Feb 2007

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Michael Tissera: Cricket Personified … A Leader To Die For

Estelle Vasudevan, courtesy of ThePapare.com, 8 March 2017, where the title is  “Michael Tissera, Cricketing Royalty”

To many of the younger Sri Lankan cricket fans, the name Michael Tissera, though familiar, is probably not one that brings to mind any vivid memories. However, students of the game will know Tissera as one of the pioneers of Sri Lanka cricket, a man whose influence reached well beyond the boundary ropes in the island nation.

The accolades and awards he has won are many and his name will forever be etched in Sri Lankan cricket folklore but as the saying goes ‘he who would search for pearls must dive below.’ And so, in an attempt to do that, the slightly awe-struck bunch of us sat down with the great man himself, in what turned out to be an enriching encounter.

Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History

Binod Kumar Mishra — reviewing Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History, by Michael Roberts, Colombo, Social Scientists’Association, 2006, 64 pp., 21 photographs, bibliography, Rs. 300 (paperback), ISBN 9559102826

Cricket brought to Sri Lanka the reputation of, and a genuine recognition as, a nation. The rationale for such an observation is the infamous reputation Sri Lanka has earned due to decade-old ethnic rivalry and insurgency that has threatened the concept of nationhood in the country. The World Cup triumph in1996 and the heroic performances before and after that event have put Sri Lanka prominently not onlyo n the sports map, but also on the political map of the world in a positive sense. But the story of the rise of Sri Lankan cricket is not a normal rags-to-riches story but is filled with events that in some sense correspond to its political history.

Arise Deshamaanya Davenel !!

Peas in the Same Pod. Kohli blesses Dickwella

Rex Clementine, in The Island, 24 November 2017, where the title is “Kohli pays tribute to Dickwella”

Indian captain Virat Kohli told journalists that young Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella reminded him of himself in early days. Like Kohli used to get under the skin of the opposition as a young player, the 24-year-old Sri Lankan’s tactics of time wasting angered the Indian players, but the captain said that all was fine.