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| Sunday, 13 June 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Hashan - the unsung hero The Arena with Srian Obeyesekere
And all of a sudden the axiom that age and performance is sacroscant seems to hold no weight. Indeed, cricket in a new age of performance is beginning to overshadow age. A factor that many an old stager has scored for. Take England's Alex Stewart, he counted both with glove work and bat into the 40-age club. There was the indomitable Steve Waugh who seemed to get better and better all the time, but was virtually forced into retirement by critics rather than of his own free will. Take our own World Cup winning captain, Arjuna Ranatunga who said in a tearful farewell that there was much more cricket in him, but bowed to critics. And now the haze drifts to Hashan Tillekeratne. A great comeback century against India in 2001 when his career seemed good as over, a double century against the West Indies the same year, and to cap it with more than a herculean feat of becoming the first Sri Lankan batsman to grind an epic century off the fearsome South African bowling attack in the tailend of 2002. The last is a feat not even achieved by master batsman Aravinda de Silva. Its value rates even further, considering it was a back to the wall knock, typically characterised by the Tillekeratne grain that had catapulted him to be the 'Mr. Reliable' in the batting ranks. The dour left hander was still some 15 odd runs short of that magical mark when last man, Muttiah Muralitharan joined him. That last feat catapults him into the team for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa to bolster a shaky middle order which he does with aplomb in the pivotal No. 3 slot. That a rather bedraggled Sri Lankan side reached the envious last four as one of the semi-finalists perhaps goes to reflect the Tillekeratne influence, ridden on a top score of 80. That 'ton' off the South Africans perhaps more than any of his other nine Test centuries underscores a brilliance written in a batsman for sheer classic strokeplay. Euphoria Certainly, a stella return to the fold, which culminates with the captaincy of the test team landing on Tillekeratne's shoulders at age 34 with Sanath Jayasuriya's abdication of the job after the World Cup. What seemed to have drifted away from him many years ago lands squarely on his shoulders. His baptism at that level is a 0-0 drawn 3-match home series against New Zealand the same year, a lost 0-1 2-match series in the West Indies. But a barren run is broken in style with a crushing win in the third test against England after drawing the first two to round off on the euphoria of a home series triumph. But despite a century against the New Zealanders, Tillekeratne's form deserts him, understandably as it does to any great batsman. Tillekeratne's greatest moment of crowning himself with the glory of licking the Aussies in early 2004 on home soil looms when Sri Lanka restrict the world beaters to a first innings score of 220 in the first test at Galle and their lowest total here of 120 at Kandy, but which the Aussies wriggle out of to come out winners in the face of abject batting and arguably the worst fielding display by the Sri Lankans to concede a 0-3 whitewash. In fairness to him, the captaincy pressure and form must have affected his game. For all that, a storybook career seems to make another script, as his second coming from that 2-year hibernation when the selectors chucked him out in that shake up after the debacle at the 1999 World Cup in England. Has his career ended on the note of a scapegoat? Here was a man entrusted with the captaincy out of the blues, which that disastrous loss to the Aussies saw him give it back to the selectors. But in fairness to Tillekeratne, who manly took the blame, could he be entirely faulted considering the lacklustre batting and bowling with the exception of Jayasuriya's century in the second test ? To his credit is the fact that Tillekeratne did come on top of the Aussies before throwing it away. Arguably wasn't that debacle more to do with the performance by the team as a whole with the exception being the bowling and that too only to a degree with the exception of Muralitharan and Vaas. Victory But he has not lost that zeal to perform with the bat which he drove home when he told me recently, "I'm looking forward to the Aussie tour." But alas ! Tillekeratne (35) has been overlooked with the new selectors reportedly looking for experience in the form of wicket-keeper batsman, Romesh Kaluwitharana (34) whose inclusion has raised eye brows considering his test record. An argument in favour of Tillekeratne is that despite being an year elder to Kaluwitharana, the left hander still packs some weight with his bat which form did not completely diminish as seen by the 'ton' against the Kiwis and a fighting 72 versus the Aussies in the third test. A virtue that goes beyond to the three figures against the likes of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Allan Donald just over a year ago. Is it an unsung send off to a true son of the soil unlike in the case of old stagers Ranatunga and Waugh whose services to the game yet found favour of going out on their day of choice instead of being simply thrown out. Certainly, cricket writers could find a script of an 'unsung hero' in Tillekeratne. Here is a typical Test batsman whose virtues of batsmanship seem to have gone unnoticed even by an unappreciative local cricketing public. A trait perhaps best illustrated by that magical century against South Africa and at age 34. To forget that remarkable 180-odd by him in a one-dayer against a West Indian bowling attack at its best, chasing a 300-plus victory target which Sri Lanka fell short of by some 3 runs in Sharjah would be out of place. Has Sri Lanka seen the last of a batsman, the brilliance of strokeplay which is written in that copybook cover drive as bat twirls, sending the ball dancing to the boundary ? Here then like Waugh, Ranatunga and so many others is a batsman whose heart is willing but is written off for age. A debatable factor indeed as old stagers get better and better by the day. And Tillekeratne will certainly be looking to fight his way back when he dons his cap for his club, NCC. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
For all the excitement it generates on the field, cricket looks hazy.
From exhilarating stuff bordering on match winning heroics, to match
fixing controversies and a whole host of other on and off the field
related ones keep clouding the game.
