Rain plays spoilsport

By Sanjay Rajan

MATARA, JAN. 14. At the Uyanwatte Stadium here on Friday morning, where the Youth World Cup Group `B' encounter between India and Holland could commence only at 1 p.m. owing to incessant rain, Rene W. Van Ierschot, the President of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond, spoke about the game's structure in Holland.

He says there are no dedicated cricket grounds back home and that only two clubs in 60 have turf pitches. The season runs between May and August. While much of the cricket is played on matting wickets, most of the boys take it as an alternative sport their concentration on either soccer or hockey. He says there is no organised sports at the school level and its the clubs which promote them in the form of youth and junior competitions.

Holland had qualified for this event as the second team behind Ireland from the European leg. It had failed to qualify for the last Youth edition in South Africa.

Its sole objective, realistic to a point, is to finish ahead of Bangladesh in the four-team Group. It had lost to New Zealand by 151 runs in the opener and very nearly to India today in Matara (which is, as a large hoarding will inform you as you drive in to the fishing hamlet, `Sanath Jayasuriya's Country') had not a sharp shower midway forced abandonment of the encounter.

The teams split points. India, which has three points from two games now and certain to progress into the Super League, plays New Zealand at Galle on January 16.

India bowled out Holland, which had opted to bat first in the 35- overs-a-side contest, for 58. It should have been far less but for the 20 extras it conceded, and the fact that it allowed the last pair to hang on for close to six overs, during which time it was clear that there would be a downpour again. India lost three wickets, all to left-arm seamer Vikash Tewarie, while giving the charge, before the skies opened up.

No play was possible at the other three venues. At Galle, New Zealand and Bangladesh split points. The former has three points from two matches and the latter one from the same number of games.

South Africa and Kenya shared points from the Group `C' encounter washed out in Kurunegala. The former has two points from two matches and the latter one from the same number of matches.

At the Asgiriya International Stadium, Pakistan and Nepal split points. The former has three points from two matches and the latter two from the same number of matches.

The scores:

Holland: Baud Postma st Ajay Ratra b Dave 4, Daan van Bunge lbw Tripathy 2, Ejaz Nawaz lbw Srivastava 1, Rifaiz Bakas b Tripathy 8, Reinout van Ierschot b Srivastava 0, Klaas Kout c Dave b Kaif 5, Adeel Raja c Yuveraj b Dave 0, Kamran Shafiq c Kaif b Dave 4, Frank Nijman c Ratra b Yuveraj 2, Tobias de Rooij (not out) 7, Vikash Tewarie c Sodhi b Yuveraj 5. Extras (lb-2, w-17, nb-1) 20. Total (in 29.2 overs) 58.

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Bunge), 2-10 (Nawaz), 3-20 (Bakas), 4-22 (Ierschot), 5-34 (Kout), 6-34 (Postma), 7-35 (Raja), 8-42 (Shafiq), 9-44 (Nijman).

India bowling: Sallabh Srivastava 7-0-30-2, M. Tripathy 4-1-8-2, Anup Dave 7-3-7-3, Md. Kaif 7-2-6- 1, Yuveraj Singh 3.2-1-4-2, Venugopala Rao 1-0-1-0.

India: Manish Sharma (not out) 4, Ravneet Ricky c wk Tobias de Rooij b Tewarie 3, Y. Venugopala Rao c Kout b Tewarie 2, Yuveraj Singh c de Rooij b Tewarie 0, Md. Kaif (not out) 0. Extras (w-6) 6. Total (for three wkts. in four overs) 15.

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Ricky), 2-11 (Rao), 3-11 (Yuveraj).

Holland bowling: Vikash Tewarie 2-0-8-3, Adeel Raja 1-0-3-0, Ejaz Nawaz 1-0-4-0.

Schedule of matches:

Jan. 15: Australia v Sri Lanka, Ireland v Namibia, England v Zimbabwe and West Indies v Americas.

Jan. 16: New Zealand v India, Bangladesh v Holland, South Africa v Pakistan and Kenya v Nepal.

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