Sportscope

Selectors must be a bit more responsible

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE

The 15-member cricket squad for the International Cricket Council"s World Cup Twenty20 in England from June 5 to 21 has left room for critics to punch the selectors and the selectors must take the punches in the spirit that it is being delivered.

Firstly we must say that the selectors are doing an unenviable job. It is not always that the selections they make will be accepted by every one as being the best. Critics will contest their selections and as long as the criticism is constructive and not destructive, it must be accepted in the spirit it is being made.

As for us we are convinced that the best men have not been selected for England. Studying the form of some of the players selected, it will be noticed that some of them are lucky to be in the tour party. We have nothing but sympathy for those deserving who have been bowled out.

We won't be playing fair by those selected if we name them and take them to task. Those answerable for selecting the misfits are the selectors. How and why the selectors picked some and left out the deserving is a question for the selectors to answer. By now the selectors may have understood that they had bungled in some of the selections.

Those out of the squad with strong credentials must be asking the cricket gods what wrong had they done to suffer the ignominy of being left out. How their form went unnoticed by the selectors is inexplicable. We are not attempting to belittle the selectors, but would want them to turn the searchlight inwards.

When the names of the touring squad was leaked out to some sections of the media, that section took the selectors to task and quite rightly pointed out the blunders made and questioned as to how so and so was picked and how come some were left out. They even pointed giving statistics of those left out.

When the squad was leaked out and critics queried, and they hoped that the Minister of Sports and Recreation Gamini Lokuge would use the powers vested in him and do the job of a butcher, that of chopping. But that longing did not materialize and the Minister signed as usual. The selectors were lucky that the Minister did not act.

The selectors would be well adviced when selecting to go purely on merit and not some other criterion. Players sweat and toil and perform hoping that selectors would take notice and consider them for national honours. After all the selectors who have all played top class cricket would be knowing how galling it is to be performing and then being left out.

Players must be picked when they are performing at their peak. When they are not picked, it is possible and there are instances where they had given it up in disappointment. The selectors must understand that it is sacrilegious to drop the deserving.

Also selectors in whatever sport, must not act irresponsibly by picking misfits and putting the onus on Minister Lokuge. The Minister appoints them expecting them to do a job to the satisfaction of everyone. The selectors must not let down the Minister.

Saracens SC deserve it

Our congratulations to Saracens Sports Club for emerging Tier B champions in the Premier League Cricket Tournament and earning promotion to Tier A in the next season.

Before taking a stroll down memory lane, it would be paramount to mention that the determined cricketers achieved this feat with no ground to call their own. Their Parsons Road Ground which was then known as Rifle Green was plucked from them decades ago. That was sad and to this day they have no ground to call their own. They have to pay not only for practice,but also for matches they play which are termed "home". How their present set of officials are keeping the club going and spending to keep their cricketers would be interesting to know. Anyway congrats to the cricketers and the officials who are continuing to bat and keep this club going which was formed in 1937 by A.H. Macan Markar, M.K.M. Ismail and Justin Alwis.

In appreciation of the club emerging champions, the Executive Committee Members hosted a dinner on Wednesday at the Taj Samudra which was attended by a distinguished gathering including some of the cricketers who had done yeoman service in the years gone by.

After the pioneering efforts of Macan Markar, Ismail and Alwis, those who added muscle for the club's growth and whose names come to mind are Alavi, Mohammed, Hilmy and Makie Macan Mackar, Kuthi Ibrahim and Cader. Sorry if I have left any other deserving names.

Saracens it must be mentioned had their best year in cricket in the early sixties when they won the Observer Knockout Trophy. In Sara Trophy Cricket, I assume the club had its best times when the team of 1972 led by Shanti Pieris entered the final round and gave the other top clubs a good run.

Names of the members of that 1972 team that come to mind in addition to captain Shanti Pieris are: Ralston Burke, H.H.M. Ally, A. Saheed, B.N.

Mohamed, Sam Macan Markar, Aubrey Kuruppu, Nihal Seneviratne, M. Naseem, Percy Perera, Mowlana, T.K. Palitha, Nihal Silva, Weerabangsa and the writer.

Others who played in an earlier era were Gerry Gooneratne, A.C.M. Lafir, Roy Perera, James Perera, Annesley de Silva, Chandrasiri Weerasinghe, T.B. Kehelgamuwa, Sonny Yatawara and Talath Ismail.

Another who played and did much for Saracens was K. Mathivanan, former Secretary Sri Lanka Cricket.

Now the man behind the upkeep of the Saracens Sports Club is none other than Nuski Mohammed who served in many posts of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.

IPL Twenty20 in full swing

The Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament is now in full swing in various centres in South Africa and one must admit that all are lapping up the tremendous excitement and action.

The contests have been evenly matched that batsmen have not been allowed to have their own way and dominate the tourney. So far only one century has been scored by Abraham de Villiers and a countless number of half centuries. In the previous tournament in India, Adam Gilchrist blasted the fastest three figure mark. Sanath Jayasuriya with a belligerent hundred was a close second.

The highest opening stand was to the names of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya who put on 127. But that record was a thing of the past with Graeme Smith and Naman Ojha putting on 135.

With a lot of more cricket to be played more records should go by the board. The tournament has lost some of its colour with the absence of Chrys Gale, Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen and Fidel Edwards, Gayle, Pietersen and Edwards are playing in the Test series in England. Flintoff is nursing an injury.