We cannot be complacent: Mathews

The preparation has been good, but it is crunch time now, says the Sri Lankan skipper

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Angelo, even in the best days with Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricket had a reputation for being strongest at home. In recent times you got really good results in Australia and South Africa, are you looking forward to these conditions? Because the makeup of this team seems to have changed a bit, it’s not spin heavy anymore?
We’ve still got some really good spinners on the team in (Indiscernible) and the guys we have now. But, yeah, I think we’ve been consistent in especially — people keep talking, saying that we’ve been consistent in ICC events, but I think that’s the past. I think we need to move on and try to take one game at a time and not look too far ahead.

Angelo, the two practice games, how much importance is attached to coming to the tournament proper?
Definitely it was very important for us. We didn’t start on one practice game, unfortunately, but we had some good preparation. We were not worried about the results; we just wanted to get some good opportunity for all of the guys or rather most of the guys to feel the conditions, to try to get used to the conditions, and we did. I thought we had some good preparation but now it’s crunch time.

In both the practice matches Mahela came in at number three. Is that something you’re looking to carry on in the tournament and what is the thinking behind that?
We haven’t decided on our batting order, but we just wanted to try him at number three, but we still haven’t decided on how we are about to go tomorrow. But, definitely there are more experienced players. They’ve been here, they’ve done it, so we are trying to look at them doing the job for us at the top.

This is, I believe, Sri Lanka’s first match with the new rules. How much have you been able to interpret those rules?
We’ve played a few with the new rules. Yeah, it is not really easy, but I think with the new rules we are playing to think one step ahead all the time. It keeps you on your toes on your 50 overs. Yeah, when it comes to the new rules once again, it’s not easy (no audio), so we haven’t make it too complicated (no audio).

Just wanted to ask you, does the knockout nature of this tournament, does that put extra pressure on teams, because you know that one slip‑up and you could find it difficult to stay on in the tournament? Does it put extra pressure in that sense?
Definitely. Not only for us, but I think all the teams are here to achieve one goal, and all of the teams feel that pressure. So I think it’s up to each individual how to go about the pressure, and I think in this tournament it’s going to be really important to start it well. The start is going to be very important.

How important is it the roles of all‑rounders in these conditions, and also with the new rules how do you see your role in the set up?
Yeah, I think all‑rounders are always valuable for a team when it comes to the shorter form as always and the longer format. I think if you have some general all‑rounders on the team whom you feel can do the job, it’s always beneficial to have them on the team.

I think as of now we are not looking at anything unusual, but planning to get the maximum out of all the players. The 15 can walk into the site any given day. So we’re not looking at individuals, but we are looking to perform as a collective unit.

Looking at Sri Lanka’s recent record in ICC tournaments, obviously, finalists in the last World Cup, finalists in the T20, you seem to have quite a task living up to those standards as the new captain?
Well, yeah. As I always say, as people keep saying we’ve done pretty well in the recent past, that’s past. I think as a team we still have to go a long way, but we are not looking too far ahead. It will be in the back our mind, but we just want to try to take one game at a time and try to win from the first game.

I was talking with (Indiscernible) about Lasith Malinga, and we were talking about how unbelievable it is that he get that’s yorker in, and he said something interesting. He said it’s interesting, because he’s put on a bit of weight recently, he said he thinks he’s better when he’s got less weight. It’s difficult to talk about other individuals, but do you have any words on that?
Well, he hasn’t ‑‑ well, to me he hasn’t put on that much weight. He’s very professional the way he goes about things and he knows exactly what to do and how to do it. He’s a premium bowler, and he gets the bowling in it with him. He helps quite a lot. He works with all the bowlers and he tries to give the maximum each time he walks into the middle.

Maybe it’s muscle?
Maybe muscle, yeah.

How much do you use spin to get the New Zealanders out given how they’ve looked quite vulnerable to it in the past?
Yeah, on this pitch, the spinners might come into play. It looks like it’s going to be slow as the game goes on, and the spinners might come into play. But I think we’ve always had the four seamers and the two all‑rounders. But we’ve got our options open.

We still haven’t decided on who is playing tomorrow. But, I think, definitely with the fast bowlers there will be a lot of variations to play.

You’ve had a good run against the New Zealanders in recent times, but they’re going to the tournament having won a series in England. How do you assess them as an opposition?
efinitely, they are a very dangerous side to beat, and it’s a very hard team to beat as well because they’ve gotten used to the conditions and played some very good games in the recent past against the English team. Yeah, I mean, we can’t be complacent. We’ve got to be ready to go from ball one.

You know, we know what they can do. They can, on any given day, any team can beat any team. So the best playing ‑‑ the best eight teams are going to have to have a chance. It’s whoever plays best on that day.

Having three former captains and Dinesh and T20 captain on the same side, is it a good thing, and how much do you lean on them for advice considering the amount of experience these guys have as captain?
Yeah, definitely. If you take Mahela, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, they have had more than 1,000 ODIs between them and they have a lot of experience. Yeah, it’s always good to have the past captains on the team whom you can rely on. So, it’s going to be a huge advantage for me as well.

A lot of the other teams with the new rules are talking about conserving wickets early and playing safe in the first 10 overs, but Sri Lanka have two very aggressive openers. What do you think about that, and are you looking back to that ’96 blueprint when Sri Lanka last lifted a major trophy?
Yeah, we’ll try to look to play the way we are capable to play cricket, and I think if we can do our things properly and if we can do our things right, we’ve got a couple of dashing openers at the top. So we are not trying to change too much of them.

We’ll let them play how they’ve been used to playing and the rest of the few players who can consolidate in the middle, and we’ve got a few power hitters as well at the back end. So we’ve got a pretty balanced team, so we’ll see how it goes.

Do you have any plans for Martin Guptill?
Yeah, definitely. He’s been in tremendous form lately. He got a couple of honors against the English team. So we’ve set a few plans. Well, as I said before, we’re not looking at any individual in a team. If we focus on Martin Guptill only, someone else will come in and do the job for them. So we are looking at all their top seven batters, and we can’t be complacent once again, as I said before.

What are your thoughts on Ross Taylor and his form of late?
Definitely he’s been ‑‑ well, he’s come back to form as well. He’s a very dangerous player, and we all know what he can do. So, yeah, as I said before, we’ve got plans for all of them. It’s just that we need to try to execute them on the field.

source – icc-cricket.com

BLURRED LINES BY ROBIN THIKE FEATURING T.I. & PHARRELL WILLIAMS – UNCUT VERSION

Lyrics to Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell

[Intro: Pharrell]
Everybody get up
Everybody get up
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey

[Verse 1: Robin Thicke]
If you can’t hear what I’m trying to say
If you can’t read from the same page
Maybe I’m going deaf, maybe I’m going blind
Maybe I’m out of my mind

[Pre-chorus: Robin Thicke]
OK now he was close, tried to domesticate you
But you’re an animal, baby it’s in your nature
Just let me liberate you
Hey, hey, hey
You don’t need no papers
Hey, hey, hey
That man is not your maker

[Chorus: Robin Thicke]
And that’s why I’m gon’ take a good girl
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
You’re a good girl
Can’t let it get past me
You’re far from plastic
Talk about getting blasted
I hate these blurred lines
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
But you’re a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me

[Verse 2: Robin Thicke]
What do they make dreams for
When you got them jeans on
What do we need steam for
You the hottest bitch in this place
I feel so lucky
Hey, hey, hey
You wanna hug me
Hey, hey, hey
What rhymes with hug me?
Hey, hey, hey

[Pre-chorus: Robin Thicke]
OK now he was close, tried to domesticate you
But you’re an animal, baby it’s in your nature
Just let me liberate you
Hey, hey, hey
You don’t need no papers
Hey, hey, hey
That man is not your maker
Hey, hey, hey

[Chorus: Robin Thicke]
And that’s why I’m gon’ take a good girl
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
You’re a good girl
Can’t let it get past me
You’re far from plastic
Talk about getting blasted
I hate these blurred lines
I know you want it
I hate them lines
I know you want it
I hate them lines
I know you want it
But you’re a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me

[Verse 3: T.I.]
One thing I ask of you
Let me be the one you back that ass to
Yo, from Malibu, to Paribu
Yeah, had a bitch, but she ain’t bad as you
So hit me up when you passing through
I’ll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two
Swag on, even when you dress casual
I mean it’s not almost unbearable
Then, honey you’re not there when I’m
With my foresight bitch you pay me by
Nothing like your last guy, he too square for you
He don’t smack that ass and pull your hair like that
So I just watch and wait for you to salute
But you didn’t pick
Not many women can refuse this pimpin’
But I’m a nice guy, but you get it if you get with me

[Bridge: Robin Thicke]
Shake the vibe, get down, get up
Do it like it hurt, like it hurt
What you doing like word

[Pre-chorus: Robin Thicke]
Baby can you breathe? I got this from Jamaica
It always works for me Dakota to Decatur, uh huh
No more pretending
Hey, hey, hey
Cause now you winning
Hey, hey, hey
Here’s our beginning

[Chorus: Robin Thicke]
I always wanted a good girl
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
You’re a good girl
Can’t let it get past me
You’re far from plastic
Talk about getting blasted
I hate these blurred lines
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
But you’re a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me

[Outro: Pharrell]
Everybody get up
Everybody get up
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey

The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 is a 2nd biggest cricket one-day tournament scheduled to take place in England in June 2013. It will be the 7th mini world cricket series. The 2013 ICC Champions Trophy will be contested by 8 Test teams which have been ‘seeded’ and divided into two groups are A and B.

Group A: Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: India, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies

ජනහඬ අවුරුදු උළෙල ජයටම

ලන්ඩන් නුවර හවුන්ස්ලෝ ශ්‍රීලංකා ජනහඬ පදනම ශ්‍රී ලාංකික  ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන්  අවුරුදු 8 ක කාලයක් තිස්සේ නොකඩවා ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද  සිංහල සහ දෙමල අලුත් අවුරුදු උත්සවය, ලන්ඩන්  බක් මහ උළෙල, මෙවරත් ඉතා උත්කර්ෂවත් අන්දමින් පසුගියදා පවත්වන ලදී.
ලන්ඩන් බෞද්ධ විහාර විහාරාධිපති මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝ නායක පුජ්‍ය බෝගොඩ සීලවිමල  මහා නාහිමියන් සමඟ මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ  ශ්‍රීලංකා මහකොමසාරිස්  දොස්තර ක්‍රිස් නෝනිස්,චමින්ද කුළරත්න, ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංචාරක ප්‍රවර්ධන මණ්ඩලයේ ලන්ඩන් නියෝජිත නලින් පෙරේරා සහ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය ද හවුන්ස්ලෝ නගරයේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි සීමා මල්හෝත්‍රා, නගර සභා නායක ජග්දිස්  ශර්මා, නගරාධිපති ප්රිටම් ගරුවල්, පලාතේ නගර නගර සභා මන්ත්‍රීන්, ලංකා බැංකු කලමනාකාර දම්මික මුටුකුඩආරච්චි ඇතුළු  සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන් ආරාධිත අමුත්තන් ලෙස සහභාගීවුහ.
අසාමාන්‍ය අන්දමට  ලන්ඩන් නුවර මේදිනවල පැවැත්වෙන අධික සීතල දේශ ගුණයද නොතකා මෙවර අවුරුදු උත්සවය සඳහා සිංහල,දෙමල සහ මුස්ලිම් ජාතික ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දෙමව්පියන්, දරු දැරියන් සහ හිතමිත්‍රාදීන් විශාල පිරිසක් සහභාගී වුහ.
කනාමුට්ටිය බිදීම,අලියට ඇස  තැබීම,මීටර් 100 දිවීම, බැලුම් පිපිරවීම, විකට ඇදුම් තරගය වැනි සම්ප්‍රදායික අවුරුදු ක්‍රීඩා රැසක් මෙන්ම අවුරුදු කුමරිය  තරගය ඇතුළු  ළමා සහ වැඩිහිටි කණ්ඩායම් ඉදිරිපත් කල නර්තන අංගයන් ඇතුළත්වූ අවුරුදු උළෙල ඉතා අලංකාරවත්විය.
මෙහිදී ඉදිරිපත් කල සියලුම නැටුම් අංගයන් පුහුණු කරන ලද්දේ  ලන්ඩන් නුවර මදු මාරසිංහ, බර්මින්හැම් නුවර කස්මි දිසානායක සහ ක්‍රොයිඩන් නගරයේ රෝහිනී විජේවික්‍රම යන නර්තන ශිල්පීන් විසිනි.
අවුරුදු කුමරිය තරගය සංවිධානය කරන ලද්දේ මනෝජා අල්මෙදා විසිනි. විස්තර කථන අසිරි බණ්ඩාර සහ ශිරාන් අල්මේදා විසින් සිදුකරන ලදී.
හවුන්ස්ලෝ ජනහඬ පදනමේ සභාපති ශ්‍රීලාල් ඩයස් ඇතුළු  විජේරත්න බණ්ඩාර, .කමල් අබේතිලක ,  ගාමිණී මුතුකුමාරණ, සමන්  මාරසිංහ,සුදේශ් , සමන් ප්‍රියන්ත,කුමාර,නිලන්ත,ජගත් ,අනුරුද්ධ,නීල්,නිරු ඇතුළු සියලුම සාමාජික මහත්වරු මෙවර අවුරුදු උත්සවයේ සියලුම වැඩකටයුතු සංවිධානය කිරීම සඳහා සහාය වුහ.
උත්සවයේ බරපැන සඳහා අනුග්‍රාහැක දායකත්වය ලබාදෙන ලද්දේ ලංකා බැංකුව  ශ්‍රීලන්කන් ගුවන් සේවය සහ සමරා  නීති ආයතනය සුර්යා සමරවීර -නන්ද දිසානායක-නිමේෂ් වික්‍රමසිංහ  සුනිල් බි  පෙරේරා,චානක දිසානායක  ඇතුළු  ඇට්ලස් සිපින් ආයතනය විසිනි..

JANAHANDA FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE 8TH GRAND SINGHALA AND TAMIL NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Hounslow Sri Lanka Janahanda Foundation presented this year’s Singhala and Tamil New Year celebration for the successive eighth time with grandeur on 6th April 2013 at the auditorium of Lampton School, Lampton Road, Hounslow.
Despite the unusually cold weather, the event was well attended by a large number of Sri Lankans from and around London and as well as far flung towns and cities in the United Kingdom.
Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala Thero, His Excellency Dr. Chris Nonis the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka,  Mrs. Seema Malhotra Honourable Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston, Mr. Jagdish Sharma Leader of the House London Borough of Hounslow, His Worship Mayor Mr. Pritam Singh Grewal and Lady Grewal, Mr. Herath Minister of Cultural Affairs and Mr. Chaminda Kularatna Minister of Consular Services of the High Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr. Dhammika Muthukudarachchi Deputy Manager Bank of Ceylon London, Mr. Nalin Perera Sri Lanka Tourist Board London and a number of councilors of London Borough of Hounslow were amongst the distinguished guests in attendance.
Proceedings were commenced with the lighting of the traditional oil lamp followed by welcome speech of Miss. Surya Samaraweera, Patron of the Janahanda Foundation.
Sri Lankans of all ages took part in the traditional sports and games held in the afternoon and won many prizes. Tug of War drew so much interest and enthusiasm.
A colorful cultural show was presented in the evening compered by Messrs. Asiri Bandara and Shiran Almeida.  A delighted audience enjoyed a variety of performances showcased by young and old trained by Mesdames Madu Marasingha, Kashmi Dissanayaka and Rohini wijewikrama.
‘Avrudu Kumari Beauty Contest’ organised by Mrs. Manoja Almeida and Ms. Niru Hettiarachi was the highlight of the evening. Beautiful lasses clad in cloth and jacket paraded around the stage making it hard for the judges Dr. Chris Nonis, Miss. Surya Samaraweera and Mr. Chaminda Kularatna to pick the best.  Miss. Tharushi Wanigaratna was crowned as the winner while runners up were Misses 2nd Miss Surangi Puspika Patirana and 3rd Miss Samadi Galpayage Mr. Sri Lal Dias, the President of Janahanda provided a brief account of work carried out by the Foundation over the years.
Amongst those who worked tirelessly to make this year’s celebration a success were Messrs. Sri Lal Dias, Wijeyratna Bandara, Kamal Abeyathilaka, Gamini Muthukumarana, Sudesh Fonseka, Saman Marasingha, Saman Priyantha, Kumara Patirana Nilantha Jagath, Anuruddha, Neil Nanayakkara and Nilantha Jagath, Anuruddha Asoka Naren many others.
Grand Finale of the celebration was a thrilled crowd dancing to the renditions of a number of popular Sri Lankan singers in London. Singers, Sunil B. Perera, Sunil Wimalarathna,  Hemanth Kumara Gunadeera,Chandana Fonseka Chadra Kumar Buddika Siriwardana,Tushara Melroy, Gayan Music By Dhanika,Charith,  Chilan and Dewa
This year’s event was sponsored by the Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lankan Airlines, Samars Solicitors, Atlas Shipping and Messrs. Mr Nanda Dissanayaka, Mr Sunil B. Perera, and Mr Chanaka Dissanayaka.  Mr Dewasundarsam Mr Kanaex Kanagathurai Mr Kannan Sangaralingam, and Mr Chanaka Dissanayaka  Mr Nimesh Wickremasinghe Mr Fasal Mohideen  by Saman Priyanta

Join us for the 2013 Hounslow Janahanda Sinhala & Tamil New Year Festival which will take place on the 9th Of April 2013.

Speech delivered by Secretary Defense Gotabaya Rajapaksha at the 22nd Rotary District Conference on 15th February 2013 at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre – Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, Sri Lanka

For more information on Avurudu kumari contest please contact:

0750 6756256 Manoja – 0777 2891162 Chaturika – 0742 7449044 Niru

We hope to have a fancy dress contest for the children on stage at the festival, so dear parents please bring along your kids ready for the event.
Prizes and surprises galore.

Please note: On the day of the above event Alcohol consumption in the venue will be strictly prohibited