‘Clicky Ponting’ cheat-row cricketer banned from club cricket for two years
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi appointed Bihar captain
Wins for CDB, Fairfirst Insurance. Hayleys Group ‘A’ and HNB ‘A’ on Thursday
Batting frailties give Sri Lanka food for thought
Three crucial knockout matches today
Every cricket fan remembers that Angelo Mathews was Sri Lanka’s captain when Australia were whitewashed 3-0 in the Test series of 2016. Most will also remember Graham Ford, the master tactician, was Head Coach. But hardly anyone remembers the curator.
Perhaps they are not expected to. Curators rarely make headlines. Yet the truth remains that Godfrey Dabare produced the surfaces tailor made for Rangana Herath to weave his magic and the rest, as they say, is history.
Godfrey breathed his last on Tuesday morning after a brief illness. He was 62.
He had no degree in science or agriculture, qualifications that have become almost mandatory for chief curators these days. His university was the cricket field. His knowledge came from countless hours spent under the sun, studying soil, grass, weather and wickets, learning the craft the old fashioned way.
It is a little known fact that Godfrey spent three months in Galle preparing the venue ahead of its inaugural Test in 1998. He did a similar job in Dambulla before it became an international venue in 2001. He was a loyal lieutenant of former board chief Thilanga Sumathipala and both, Galle and Dambulla, were Thilanga’s treasured projects.
I first met Godfrey in 2000 when he was managing Chilaw Marians, then a club playing Division Three cricket. Within two years, the Marians had climbed into First Class cricket and soon became a thorn in the flesh of many fashionable Colombo clubs.
Did Godfrey occasionally use his influence as national curator to prepare pitches that suited his club? Of course he did. He was no paragon of virtue. But neither was he the villain some tried to paint him as.
He would often complain that he would unearth a rare gem from the beaches of Marawila or Wennappuwa, nurture him and give him a platform, only for one of the posh Colombo clubs to come along and pinch the player. Godfrey took those raids personally. And he was determined to teach them a lesson.
Above everything else, he cared deeply about his players.
Without his tireless work, Chilaw Marians would hardly have survived nearly three decades of First Class cricket. Now that he is gone, you cannot help but fear for the future of the club he built with such devotion, a club that has produced many fine cricketers, the latest being fast bowler Asitha Fernando.
Godfrey also had a soft spot for the press.
When England toured Sri Lanka in 2021, Sri Lanka Cricket kept journalists out of the grounds because of COVID restrictions. The press were not prepared to take it lying down, so several reporters climbed Galle Fort and covered the Tests from there.
That did not go down particularly well with SLC. The issue eventually reached Parliament, where there was rare cross party agreement that journalists should be allowed into the venue.
Relations between the cricket establishment and the press were frosty, to put it mildly. What those running the show did not know was that Godfrey was quietly sending food and drinks from inside the ground to the journalists perched on Galle Fort.
His finest hour, however, came during the Asia Cup in 2023.
The tournament had been battered by bad weather and the ground staff worked around the clock, often in miserable conditions, to keep it moving. At the end of the tournament, the Asian Cricket Council recognised their extraordinary efforts by awarding the ground staff US$50,000. Godfrey received the cheque from ACC President Jay Shah.
Soon, murmurs began doing the rounds in Colombo. Would all that money actually reach the men who had sweated for it? There were plenty who had their doubts given the questions surrounding SLC’s financial management.
Godfrey made sure there could be no such suspicion.
Every groundsman received an equal share. Godfrey documented the payments, complete with bank and contact details of the recipients, and then, twisting the knife just a little, shared the information with the press.
He was an honest man, although often a misunderstood one.
There was another episode that summed up both Godfrey’s character and the world he occasionally had to navigate.
During a game at the R. Premadasa Stadium, the visiting team’s dressing room door had been smashed with brute force. Nobody quite knew what had happened.
When journalists rang Godfrey, he gave us chapter and verse. Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan, furious over an umpiring decision, had taken a bat to the dressing room door. Godfrey said he had CCTV footage and eyewitnesses to back up the claim.
Shakib was summoned by the Match Referee and a suspension appeared to be looming.
Then, suddenly, Godfrey’s phone went silent.
The following day Shakib escaped with a slap on the wrist. There was apparently insufficient evidence.
A few weeks later, while journalists were watching Sri Lanka train at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Godfrey wandered over, put an arm around me and said: “Sorry, Rex. Bangladesh Cricket Board wanted the matter settled amicably. They agreed to pay for the damage. Board President (go figure who it was), called me and told me to delete the CCTV recording.”
Loyal to his friends. Loyal to his bosses. Sometimes caught between the two.
Sri Lankan cricket has lost one of those colourful characters who operated away from the television cameras but whose fingerprints were all over the game. Players came and went, administrators fought their battles and coaches collected the applause, but Godfrey was there in the background, preparing the stage on which they performed.
His remains lie at his residence in Kurukulawa, Ragama. The burial will take place on Thursday in his hometown of Chilaw.
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Brian Devine, the amateur cricketer dubbed “Clicky Ponting” following accusations that he had repeatedly clicked his fingers to simulate the sound of bat on ball in caught-behind appeals, has been banned from the sport for two years.
Devine’s team, Saltburn CC 2nd XI, has also been relegated from Division Two of the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League, after footage of his actions went viral during the English summer.
An initial clip, posted by a Norton CC player, showed keeper and slip appeal in unison as the ball passed the bat, with the batter looking bemused as the umpire raised his finger. The Norton player who posted the video added that the incident was “the worst case of cheating” he had ever seen.
Subsequent evidence was unearthed in response to the video – including from Saltburn’s match against Shildon Railway CC, in which their wicketkeeper took eight catches, which is more than the Test innings record of seven.
Devine was suspended by his club for the remainder of the season, pending the league’s investigation.
After a series of player interviews, written statements, and a review of the footage by a three-person disciplinary panel, both Devine and Saltburn CC accepted misconduct charges.
Devine has now been banned from all cricket under the jurisdiction of the England & Wales Cricket Board until September 29, 2028. The ban covers “playing, coaching, umpiring, scoring and managing junior teams”.
Saltburn CC initially appealed against their sanction, but have now been fined £300, and in addition to their relegation, they will also start the 2027 season with 60-point deduction. Middlesbrough CC, who had previously dropped down to Division Three, have retained their place instead.
“The League recognises the strain this has placed on many people, especially those who were abused online and in person,” a statement from the NYSDCL read. “We ask everyone to respect that the formal process is now complete.”
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 15, has been named Bihar’s captain for the upcoming 20-overs Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. This will be his first assignment as captain in official cricket, though he has previous experience of being vice-captain of the state in the Ranji Trophy, and East Zone in the Duleep Trophy.
When East Zone captain Ishan Kishan was off the field briefly in the Duleep Trophy final in Chennai in September, Sooryavanshi stood in as captain.
The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) selection committee picked the squad following a meeting held on November 6. Trials were conducted from November 4 to 6, with the selectors taking into account the players’ performances in the trials as well as their past performances before finalising the squad for the opening two matches.
Sooryavanshi had only limited game-time in New Zealand last month, scoring 4 and 45 in two innings during the five-match T20I series. His explosive partnership with Abhishek Sharma in the third T20I in Wellington helped India plunder 118 in the first six overs, the highest powerplay score in men’s T20Is.
Sooryavanshi has played 44 T20s so far, of which seven have come for Bihar. In the previous edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Sooryavanshi hit an unbeaten 108 off 61 balls against Maharashtra at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The availability of fast bowler Sakib Hussain, who turned heads during IPL 2025, for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is subject to fitness. The 21-year-old hasn’t played any competitive cricket since his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in April-May earlier this year.
Bihar have had a tough start to the domestic season, losing all four of their matches in the first phase of the Ranji Trophy. The team will now look to turn things around under Sooryavanshi. Bihar will start their SMAT campaign against Saurashtra in Indore on November 14.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (capt), Alok Kumar, Ayush Loharuka (wk), Altamish Ashraf, Tarun Kumar Singh, Anmol Kumar (wk), Prithvi Raj, Suraj Kashyap (vice-capt), Mayank Kumar, Raghavendra Pratap, Ashish Kumar, Vasudev Prasad Singh, Mohammad Izhar, Amol Yadav, Prashant Singh, Nawaz Khan, Himanshu Singh
CDB and Hayleys Group ‘A’ registered six wicket wins in the morning while Fairfirst Insurance and HNB ‘A’ won on the DLS method in the afternoon when the 11th Singer – MCA Super Premier T20 Tournament continued on Thursday. In the Group A games played at the Mercantile Cricket Association ground, CDB’s Lahiru Madushanka bagged six wickets for seventeen runs to restrict Colombo Aces to 128 runs and in the chase Shevon Daniel smashed 70 runs off 46 balls with two boundaries and seven sixes to clinch the win by six wickets with 35 balls remaining. Ashen Bandara chipped in with an unbeaten 34 off 13 balls for the winners. In the afternoon a 55 ball 89 by Jehan Daniel for David Pieris Group ‘A’ was in vain as Fairfirst Insurance won by 50 runs on the DLS method when rain put a premature end to the game. Gaviru Senehas scored a 39 ball 74 and Isuru Fernando chipped in with a 23 ball 44 to help Fairfirst Insurance to 217/8 in their 20 overs. In the group B games played at the BRC ground, three wickets each by induwara Udana and Inuka Karannagoda helped Hayleys Group ‘A’ to restrict Amzet Lanka to 149/9. In the chase, an unbeaten 68 off 27 balls (4×4 and 7×6) by Ahan Wickremasinghe and 49 off 42 balls by Nishan Madushka helped them reach the win need with six wickets in hand and 27 balls remaining. In the afternoon game a 39 ball 76 which included half a dozen fours and sixes by BBK Partnership’s Sineth Jayawardena was in vain as HNB ‘A’ clinched the match by 10 runs on the DLS method when bad light followed by rain put an end to the game on the completion of the 17th over.
Lahiru’s six fer and Shevon’s 70 power CDB to a six wicket win Colombo Aces 128/10 in in 19.4 overs (Sithara Gimhan 16, Sachitha Jayathilake 26, Dinura Kalupahana 30, Shehan Fernando 16, Dushan Hemantha 14; Lahiru Madushanka 6-17, Navindu Prabash 1-12,Dunith Wellalage 1-27, Sachindu Colombage 1-32, Movin Subasinghe 1-18) CDB 129/4 in 14.1 overs (Shevon Daniel 70, Vishad Randika 11, Ashen Bandara 34*; Vishwa Fernando 1-13, Malsha Fernando 2-22, Dushan Hemantha 2-42)
Fairfirst Insurance win by 50 runs on DLS method Fairfirst Insurance 217/8 in 20 overs (Gaviru Senehas 74, Isuru Fernando 44, Sanoj Darshika 27, Anuk Fernando 34, Dushan Vimukthi 16; Manjula Bandara Gannile 1-41, Shakthi Udara 2-51, Lahiru Samarakone 2-40, Tharinda Nirmal 2-22) David Pieris Group ‘A’ 143/7 in 18 overs (Asitha Wanninayake 19, Jehan Daniel 89; Dushan Vimukthi 2-04, Dilum Sudeera 1-23, Thanuka Dabare 1-25, Sanoj Darshika 2-19)
Ahan and Nishan steer Hayleys Group ‘A’ to a six wicket win Amzet Lanka 149/9 in 20 overs (Tanuja Rajapaksa 10, Sulnith Sigera 12, Sachiru Kulasooriya 22, Charya Paranavithana 24, Lasith Abeyrathne 34, Rashmika Hirushan 25; Induwara Udana 3-25, Kavishka Anjula 2-31, Inuka Karannagoda 3-24, Treveen Mathew 1-29) Hayleys Group ‘A’ 151/4 in 15.3 overs (Nishan Madushka 49, Nuwanidu Fernando 20, Ahan Wickremasinghe 68*; Dulnith Sigera 2-18, Dinuka Thennakoon 1-13, Shakoor Yoonus 1-23)
HNB ‘A’ overcome BBK Partneship by 10 runs on DLS method BBK Partnership 184/7 in 20 overs (Sineth Jayawardena 76, Nipun Karunanayake 46*, Murvin Abinash 11, Ananthan Kajan 24*;Duvindu Ranathunge 1-31, Ashian Daniel 3-21, Malsha Tharupathi 1-19, Chamindu Wijesinghe 2-37) HNB ‘A’ 161/6 in 17.0 overs (Hirun Kapurubandara 22, Sohan de Livera 29, Janishka Perera 35, Chamika Heenatigala 42*; MahendranKavilan 1-13, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 1-39, Murvin Abinash 1-36, Theesan Vithushan 2-37)
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