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Sooner than later Sri Lanka tactics focus on scoring quickly
Posted: Saturday May 15, 1999 01:51 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga says the 1996 World Cup champions will not fall victim to the "pinch-hitting" tactics it pioneered during its winning campaign. The leading limited-overs teams have adopted the tactic of scoring runs as fast as possible in the opening 15 overs instead of the traditional method of establishing an innings before hitting out in the dying overs -- and Ranatunga takes it as a compliment. "I'm glad to see someone is learning from us," Ranatunga said. "We used to learn from other teams -- now they learn from us and I'm happy about that." Sri Lanka has played in every World Cup but hadn't even figured in a semifinal until 1996, when it clinched the tournament with a win over Australia in the final at Lahore. Ranatunga said Sri Lanka had a "bad game in all departments" during Friday's eight-wicket loss to England in the tournament opener at Lord's but he was confident the team would regroup and go ahead to win its next games.
MCC members boycott opening matchLONDON (AP) -- Marylebone Cricket Club members who boycotted Friday's opening World Cup match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord's in protest at having to pay an admission charge had deprived themselves of a great cricket match, MCC officials said.Conspicuous by their absence -- the members' stand was the only area with vacant seating at Lord's -- hundreds of members of the exclusive club kept a promise not to attend the game after being asked to pay 45 pounds (US$72.50) to watch the match. But MCC head of marketing Chris Rea said the club's committee had done the best thing for cricket by asking its members to pay to enter a match for the first time in the club's history. "You can see a few spare seats in the members' stand, which is disappointing, but there's a lot of them watching it from the Long Room or in other areas of the grounds and they're seeing a great game," Rea said Friday. "All in all it's a great day -- apart from a few showers of rain -- for cricket and all our work in preparation has been well received." Rea said the MCC had spent 20 million pounds (US$32.2 million) at Lord's over the last three or four years to get it ready for the World Cup, including the building of a new stand and a state-of-the-art media center.
'Keeper would love to play cricket againMOTHERWELL, Scotland (AP) -- Andy Goram, the only athlete to represent Scotland at international level at both cricket and soccer, admits he'd prefer to be playing cricket as the Scots prepare for their first ever World Cup game.The Motherwell goalkeeper, who takes on Glasgow soccer giants Rangers at Fir Park on Saturday, played against Australia in an international at Glasgow nine years ago. Scotland meets Australia, World Cup champions in 1987 and runners-up to Sri Lanka in 1996, at Worcester in a Group B match on Sunday. "I love [cricket]," said Goram. "It is not as good as a livelihood [as soccer] but I prefer to play cricket because it is one-to-one, him against me." "If you are batting you can take control of the bowling and you don't need much help. Whereas in football you need help all the time -- I can't control a game from the goal." Goram doesn't rate Scotland much of a chance of making an impact in the World Cup but said the Scots could cause a few upsets.
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