Is the TRUTH out there?

There was a report by the LTTE and subsiquently all Foreign Media sources picked up on it about an Attack on the Pallaley Air Force Base in Sri Lanka.

This is a snippet on what the LTTE carried out. (I dont like linking to TamilNet, so therefore I'm just going to take a snippet off their site.)

Two attack aircraft of the Liberation Tigers bombed the Sri Lankan military’s main base complex in the Jaffna peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning, inflicting heavy damage and casualties, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Both planes returned safely to base, he said. Meanwhile sources said continuous explosions were heard from inside the High Security Zone for five hours after the air raid, fuelling speculation that a major ammunition dump had been hit.

However the SL Govt, have categoraly denied the statement, and issued their statement, saying it was artillery fire , and that too away from the Pallay Base.

The Sri Lanka Air Force denied the statement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) that the Tamil Tiger air planes bombed the Palali air strip by using their propeller driven two fixed winged air craft and called it a complete fabrication. But military sources said by artillery fire six soldiers died at Myladdi , away from Palali air strip.

Reuters carried both version of the story :

• LTTE favoured.
• SL Army favoured.

This either another blown up set up by the LTTE propaganda machine, to justify the moola rolling in from TRO and other dim-wittted LTTEsympathisers, for their new light aircrafts, reportadley manned by the junior prabha him self.

On the other hand, this might be a cover-up by the local army chaps, in-order to show face despite the serious security lapses being brought to light.

What ever the case, my hind-sight tells me that the Happy-Go-Lucky Islanders (specially in the south) have bigger things to worry about at this moment. No it's not the increasing price of fuel, and the domino effect on consumer goods, it's the plight of Sri Lanka at today's World Cup Semi-Final. :)

Dilhara or Maharoof - Tharanga or Atapattu

Hey folks, braking the shackels, and cleaning up the spider webs on this blog I decided to bore you with my 2-cents on the team selection for the all important semi's. The team selection is all but final except for 2 spots, according my limited knowledge in the cricketing fields. That would be :

Fast/Medium Pace Bowler #3

After a stunning performance in the game against Ireland, the overuled Maharoof bought himself a spot to contend for the above position. Although Maharoof is not the most reliable of Bowlers, specially due to the fact that he has this nack of bowling short, and getting wolloped to the boundary at times, his late order batting skills make him a good contender.

Dilhara is yet to pass the fitness test, but from what I hear he's bound to be fit, thereby causing a little dilemma for the thinking dept. of S.L. Cricket. After all he's seemed to find his form during this world cup, bowling at good space, over come his over stepping problems, and the last over against England was a proving factor that he can hold his nerve (or he got lucky).

Opening Partner for Sanath

The master blaster is having a pretty good world cup, despite loosing out on the last 2 games. The only problem we seem to have is that his partner is suffering a bad patch, despite the century he scored in the practise match against the Kiwis.

Therefore giving rise to many a cricket wise folk in this island nation to question as to why former captain Marvan Atapattu has not been given a chance.

My Choice for the Semi's.

To start with the latter, it would be wrong to dump Marvan in the opening slot, without a proper chance to bat, and expect a ton from him, althought knowing the class of Marvan and the technique, he could deliver it, on his day. I would suggest get bringing Sanga to open (I know he's had a rough patch over the past games too) and drop Tharanga. Thereby opening up a vacancy which Maharoof could fit in, in the late order.

So, now that I have stirred up a controversy, in the fact of going against one of the cardinal rules of "Dont Change a Winning Combination", I will rest my case, and go hide under a rock, for fear of fanatics stoning my house and my blog. He he..

Another World Cup Weekend

With Sri Lanka taking a break till Thursday, I figured the weekend will be a dull one, but has the WC 2007 ever had a dull moment? To start off, Bangladesh pulled another shocker to beat South Africa on Saturday. One of the few regrets I have in the WC, is not getting up to watch the 2nd innings of the match despite setting the alarm. The other being missing "Slinger Malinga" 4-in-4 live.

England saw their hopes being dashed after Aussies sailed though for a comfortable victory. Well atleast Prince Harry was enjoying him self. :)


In other news Indian Cricket Board Empire Strikes Back. The BCCI chappies have decided to tighten their grip on the cricketers. Not allowing em to give statements to the media without permission and limit their sponsors to 3. I'm sure that like a heavy blow to the Cricketers, coz the little Indian TV I've watched (thanks to the WorldCup) I've noticed that Indian Ad's are bomb-barded with either their Bollywood Stars or their Cricketing Gods. Yes you wouldn't be surprised to see Sachin Tendulkar jumping on a couch to catch a packet of Crackers - one of his endorsements. Maybe those chaps will now get a chance to concentrate more on their Cricket.

Amnesty International's Cricket Team

The gutter politics that Amnesty International are using is yesterdays news, so I wont waist time talking about that. If you want to read up, here are what some bloggers think abt it:

1. Voice in Colombo
2. Sitting Nut
3. Billy - Ground Views

Instead I thought I'd post this picture that I got as an email, as MY PROTEST!

Sri Lanka stick head out in Down to the wire game against England

Good morning sleepy Sri Lankans. If your feeling groggy at work, the feeling is mutual mate, after a killer match last night, those who missed it, missed some good cricket played by both the sides.

To start off, there were a lot of bad omens on the Local Scene, being our popular waterhole not putting the match on Big Screen in the garden area (coz of the rain), and yours truly had to run back home to change in to a pair of jeans to gain entrance to the bar.

That being the case, missed the few blasts of the Master Blaster, and just as I was getting back, the dude had to get out. I'm sure that was the deciding factor of Sri Lanka getting a TON or not. If Sri Lanka need a 300 score this dude has to fire.

After the departure of Sana and then Sanga, Upul and Mahela steadied the ship just to get out when we needed to consolidate, which was definitely the deciding factor for a 250 score not being reached. Even our "Not-out Arnold" had no choice but to get out trying to hit out. This is where we lacked Maharoof yesterday and the run out of Dilly. They're the closest we've got to a Symonds.

After a quick breakthrough which I think Vaughan was maybe a tincy wincy bit unfortunate, Peterson and Bell steadied the innings. But Mahela did well to tighten the screws by holding back the last power play, and operating the spinners. I was concerned for a moment thinking shit, he might have to "power play" the last 5 overs, but this is where luck comes in the form a of a paka run out, by Jayasuriya to dismiss Bell, and upset the partnership.



Mahela not missing a trick called for the last power play which saw further wickets crumble, most importantly the in-form Peterson, and many thought (including yours truly) that it was time to right off England from the game.

But a superb partnership by Nixon and Bopara brought it down to the wire like nobody including Mahela expected. The last overs were bowled by Murali and "Slinger" Malinga. Malinga came good in the last 2 overs, which makes me think he's more of a tail end knocker than a first up bowler. Only time will tell. The master spinner Murali got sent off in style being whacked for 6 by the form of a Reverse Sweep by Nixon, which in my book was unorthodox but the shot of the day.

When it came down to the last over with 12 runs needed in 6 balls my choice was Vaas, but Mahela thought otherwise and brought on Dillo. Not letting down his captain Dilo held his nerves to bring down the target to 3 runs in the last ball, and when some thought there might be a Draw in the cards the bugger manages to bowl a "You miss, I hit" ball under pressure!

Although Sri Lanka go away with the 2 points, England too go with restored pride to face the in-form World Champions. Till next time your favourite reporter from the popular waterhole in Colombo signs out!