The attitude of players captured hearts of fans - SL team Manager Tissera

by Ranjan Anandappa

CRICKET: Sri Lanka Cricket Manager Michael Tissera who relinquishes his duties at the end of this month said that the time has come for the selectors to judiciously bring in 'younger blood' into the national side as some veterans are nearing retirement.

Tissera who returned to the island with the Sri Lanka side after the three one-day internationals against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, said that the two-year contract with the team was an excellent one.

"I am a consultant with my tea comapny Tea Tang, it's not my company, but they were good enough to give me two years off to be the manager of the Sri Lanka team. However, I don't think that I will be able to stay away from cricket for too long". said the former Sri Lanka captain and manager.

Tissera said that it's been great, being the manager of the side because the players were so committted and so disciplined that made his job so much easy. Most people in the Caribbean were very impressed with not only the brand of cricket the Lankans played, but the general attitude and how vibrant they were on the field and everbody was pleased the way the Lankans played.

"It's been a great experience seeing them emerging from the bottom, losing to India 6-1 in October 2005 to what they have reached now. It all started with the Australian tour and we had the fantastic England tour with a 5-0 win in the ODI's which was just out of this world. In the World Cup the Lankans played extremely well", added Tissera.

Tissera said a lot of credit should go to skipper Mahela Jayawardene who did a fantastic job as captain and also Tom Moody who was really wonderful as coach.

Moody really brought the side around and made them believe in themselves and didn't allow them to be complacent. Coach Moody got them to keep improving all the time and the support Moody received from the players have been very good", Tissera said.

Tissera said that Moody also had very good support from Trevor Penny who has done a superb job as the fielding coach and the others Tommy Simsek (Physio), and C. J. Clark (Trainer) all of them have contributed to bring the side to what it is now.

Coach Tom Moody, Manager Michael Tisera will not be a part of Sri Lanka Cricket in the near future. Fielding coach Trevor Penny will render his services only upto August 2007.

Tissera said present day cricket no longer resembles the cricket played in the past or during his era. Present day it is the exposure at the international level that matters most for youngsters. Merely being a good batsman or a bowler is insufficient in modern day cricket. If one is a batsman or a bowler, that person should have the ability to field well.

A bowler having the ability to bat, could be an added advantage or the other way round.

"Anybody coming from the 'A' team is not quite on level as far as fitness, fielding and everything is concerend. But a few months together with the first team, they are able to reach upto the required standard. When they play international cricket that gives them a tremendous amount of confidence. So it is the exposure that really counts.

Now fortunately we have more 'A' team tours and they should be ready to play international cricket if they go on like this.

"Our cricket is as good as any other country and second to none. The players were pretty confident of giving the Aussies a good fight or even beating them in the final. Unfortunately the game had to be cut down and everything changed.

"The one-day game specially, is changing rapidly, everyday and we see the number of runs scored in a limited overs game increasing.

There were times we thought 200 runs or anything more than that would be a good score. But now there is no guarantee of a safe score as teams exceed the 300-run mark or even 400 quite frequently. So technique is only a base and that along does not serve the purpose while batting in a limited-over game, the players need lot of improvisation and right from the beginning the batsmen go for their shots", Tissera added.

Michael Tissera, an Old Thomian, made his debut for Sri Lanka, then Ceylon in 1958 October, under the late Vernon Prins when Peter May's England team played a match against Ceylon on their way to Australia at the SSC grounds.

He represented the country from 1958 to 1975 and was the captain from 1964 to 1974. He was a member of the Sri Lanka team under Anura Tennekoon, in the inaugural World Cup held in England in 1975.

In his first year as captain in 1964, he defeated a fully fledged Pakistan team, captained by Imtiaz Ahamed at the P. Sara Stadium and and following year 1965, 66, he brought honour to the country defeating India captained by the Nawab of Pataudi.

When asked with the daily improving technology and the third umpire concept coming into play more often, I asked whether there will be a stage where the game will be played without umpires?.

"I hope not, it is very essential that the human factor still remains. However there are things that could be referred to the third umpire, as they are doing now, and the third umpire has given some good decisions where things have been very close by repeated replays.

One such instance was Brian Lara's stumping by Sangakkara which was an excellent one. To some extent the third umpire concept is good. But I hope the time will never come where there won't be on field umpires", Tissera concluded.

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