Mahela - man with mission

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan cricket captain is a man not only with vision, but also a mission.

It is apparent that Jayawardene is a great planner. Not only does he plan, he thinks intelligently, gets the support from all his teammates and then executes strategy and the bottom line is victory.

Now that is the hallmark of a truly great skipper. What is admirable in him is that when the team gets beaten, he takes the blame and when victory is achieved, he shares it with the team.

Jayawardene knows that he alone cannot achieve victory. He needs the support of every member of the team and it is this awareness that has forced every member to give more than 100 per cent to the skipper.

In taking wing to Canada to contest a Twenty20 tournament with Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Canada, he has made it clear that he is going into this tourney with the idea of finding fast bowling all-rounders.

The skipper is looking for this style of all-rounders so as to be quite competitive when Twenty20 World Cup time arrives in England next year.

The shortened form of the game requires fast bowling all-rounders and the skipper would be closely watching how this style of cricketer performs and persist with them and take them to England and fire all cylinders looking for victory.

Today money is the name of the game and winning this style of tourney will see the pockets of the players bulging. And winning it will also swell the coffers of Sri Lanka Cricket.

All-rounders a must

With Jayawardene searching for fast bowling all-rounders, a pertinent question to pose, especially to school coaches is: "Why are these coaches not getting their charges and instilling and showing them how to be, either fast bowling or spinning all-rounders?"

From the under-12 stage, the coaches will do well to attempt to churn out all-rounders. Being an all-rounder will be more than an asset to the team. The player will then be involved in every aspect of the game and he will be a god send for his captain and team.

Accepted that one might want to concentrate only on being a batsman or a bowler. But if he turns out into being an all-rounder, he will enjoy the game much more and be a vital cog in the team.

Ask any all-rounder and he will tell you how much he enjoys the game.

So, the junior coaches must immediately get down to serious business and get the youngsters under them to turn out into being all-rounders. Today not many school teams or even club teams can boast of all-rounders. Pity.

Sri Lanka cricket will do well to take Mahela Jayawardene's message down to junior school coaches and insist on them the importance of producing all-rounders.

O.J. Simpson

Orenthal James Simpson was a folk hero when he was playing for the club Buffalos in the National Football League as a rusher in America. He was a household name and was much loved and crowds used to flock to see him perform his magic running.

His rise and fame to glory was another rags to riches story. Now 61, his father, it is said deserted him when he was just five leaving his mother to fashion a future for the young lad.

His early growing up was in a poor environment and he was suffering with rickets - a calcium and vitamin deficiency - which warped his legs.

Simpson was a brilliant rusher and it is said that he could do 100 yards in 9.9 seconds. His prowess in the game won him the NFL's Most Valuable Player Award.

But this superstar is in trouble now and big trouble at that. He has been convicted of robbing and kidnapping charges that stemmed from his ill-judged bid to retrieve personal items from two sports memorabilia dealers in a Los Angeles hotel room. He will now serve a few years in jail.

Simpson was alleged to have killed his wife Nicole Brown and her friend. But fielding a 'dream team' of lawyers had the verdict in his favour which shocked the world. But this time his luck ran out.

In 1995 my dear friend Cosmas Mahagama invited me and the wife and I was to be the chief guests at a basketball tournament that he was conducting annually in LA.

Incidentally Cosmas was one of the finest basketballers that the school St. Benedict's College and the country had produced. He was an allcourt player turned out by that brilliant coach Ram Suntheralingam. This was in the sixties.

I was there just after the slaying of Simpson's wife and Vinitha wife of another dear friend of mine Edward Sumanasekera drove me and the wife to see the murder scene of Simpson's wife.

It was indeed a memorable experience seeing the scene and the house in which the murder had taken place. We could not get very near because the area had been cordoned off.

At that time the murder case was on and every morning I would sit glued to the TV in Cosmas' sprawling home watching in amazement the trial unfolding. But it was sad when I had to get back when the trial was hotting up.

Have a 'OJ'

Cosmas told me that when Simpson was riding a crest of a wave of success as a footballer, everywhere one went - from pubs to cafeterias and supermarkets - there were stickers urging one to have a 'OJ'.

'OJ' meant Orange Juice, said Cosmas and there was a big demand for orange juice.

Having managed to dodge the murder rap, it is sad what has happened to the champion footballer, this time round.

Did he ever imagine he would be behind bars? That is life. I was so taken up by his deeds on the field, I bought his book "American Hero - American Tragedy".