Sri Lankan Cricket Spin legend to tour PNG

World cricket super star spin bowler Muntiah Muralitharan  or "Murali" of Sri Lanka will be one of about 6 overseas Cricket stars to arrive in Port Moresby next month. Chairman of Cricket PNG, Mr Mick Nades and the MD for Pacific MMI, Mr Wayne Dorgan announced that Murali; Brad Hogg (Australia); Craig McDermott (Australia); Adam Hollioake (England); Michael DiVenuto (Australia) and Andy Bichel (Australia) will participate in the "Don't Drink and Drive" event which is co-sponsored by Pacific MMI and the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited (MVIL).

The event comprises T/20 games featuring the 6 cricket legends placed in local PNG Teams as part of coaching and mentoring of emerging PNG talent to improve their level of play.

On December 1, the players will host a series of school and village-based clinics before taking centre-stage at a fund-raising dinner at the Lamana hotel in Port Moresby.

The CEO of Cricket PNG, Mr Bill Leane expects the "Don't Drink and Drive" matches to be a real crowd-pleasers and added that the event would one of the most stunning sporting moments in Cricket PNG's history.

Oh - What a Game of Cricket!!

Last night's game was the best cricket game I had watched in a long  while. Sri Lanka holding onto the hemlines of an Over with Angelo Mathew coaching number 10 Lasith Malinga into strategic positions so that they could last the entirety of the ODI against Australia.

And boy...did they do that with aplomb!  Malinga, who by the way looks like a Solomon Islander with his blond highlighted afro, reminded me of a child sitting under a large Christmas tree filled with presents. His was the ultimate display of innocence when he hit a 6 and eventually reached half-century. Until then, his highest score had been 16. Malinga would have been over the moon to set such a record in a win against Australia.

Australia was playing on the back of a record ninth-wicket stand between Mathews and Malinga.

Mathews a middle-order player and Malinga an ace bowler, staged one of the greatest comebacks, setting up a one-wicket win with 34 balls left in their opening one-day international in Melbourne last night.

Sri Lanka ran out of luck after 8 wickets went down at 107 runs in reply to Australia's 239 for eight from 50 overs. But the comeback by Mathew and Mlainga was edge-of-the-seat stuff - their 132-run partnership set a world record for the ninth wicket in one-day internationals, beating the mark that had stood for 27 years.

I cannot wait for the second of the ODI to be played tomorrow in Sydney. Australia needs to step up or be left in disarray for their Ashes challenge against England.