Cricket selectors on the right line

The Sri Lanka cricket selectors with Aravinda de Silva as its head assisted by Ranjit Fernando, Amal Silva and Shabir Asgerally are on the right line to spin in a squad that will win the 2011 World Cup to be contested in the sub continent.

They have all been in the saddle as selectors, and now seem to have the experience and recipe to put out a squad that can make waves during the World Cup, brush aside all opposition and hold aloft the trophy once again.

To win the World Cup will be to have all other contesting countries at their feet. What good, will come to the game, country and administration would be enormous. We will be in big demand, respected and finances will pour in like the Mahaweli.

The selectors who are playing as a team seem to be getting on like a house on fire. They are all thinking alike with no divisions and they have got it to rub on the players and they seem to be working in peace and harmony and which is very essential for success.

Join in the scrum

In the team it was apparent that there were 'camps'. The selectors summoned the players and hammered it into them that there cannot be 'camps' and that every player must and to put it in rugby parlance, join in the scrum and hook for success has been told to them and this was apparent in their winning the triangular final against India at Dambulla.

Initially Captain Kumar Sangakkara has been told not to shoot off his mouth. It would be advisable for him to consult the head of selectors Aravinda de Silva before mouthing would do him and the players a world of good. In his anxiety Sangakkara spoke out of turn recently. He has been told.

Players must understand and if they have any misconceptions not to feel shy but to take it to the selectors for solutions, because the four selectors have all been in the game and would have solutions.

The selectors have also played the right strokes in bringing in the experienced duo Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas to train with the other cricketers. Both Jayasuriya and Vaas had made it known that they would want to make the 2011 World Cup their swan song.

Domestic season

The selectors are giving them those breaks and it is important that they perform in the domestic season and if picked on the tour of Australia beginning next month and against the West Indians after that if they hope to be considered for the World Cup.

Jayasuriya and Vaas have helped take the game here to what it is today with their fantastic exploits. They must be helped in their endeavour to make the team and win the World Cup. Because winning that Cup is the bottom line.

Jayasuriya was a devastating batsman. No bowler was spared when he used the willow rapier-like to send short or over pitched deliveries over the boundary and at times out of the ground, with sweet timing and power generated from his powerful wrists and forearms.

When he was in full cry there was no bowler who could curb his explosive hitting. They had to bowl and watch the flight of the ball in awe and veneration the hitting that was more than a treat. The only other left hander who could have been compared with Jayasuriya was the former West Indian great and captain Clive Lloyd.

In a flat spin

Chaminda Vaas was a left arm bowler who had many a batsman in a flat spin when he was sending down his well directed seam and swing bowling. His tally of wickets in all forms of the game speaks for his determination and will to see that Sri Lanka wins every game and stay at the top in the game.

In addition to his penetrative bowling, he has also concentrated in his batting and now could be called a genuine allrounder. He showed his batting skills playing for Northamptonshire in England.

Jayasuriya and Vaas who failed to play against the Indians in the recent triangular do not seem to have lost their form of old. In fact their stints in England, Jayasuriya for Worcester have helped them to recharge their batteries and come back strongly.

When squad picking time for Australia and later West Indies comes around we hope the selectors will have the duo in their frames and treat them with the respect and honour they deserve.

Only on merit

Whatever the credentials of the players seeking selection, the selectors have at all times made it clear that merit and only merit will be the criterion for selection and nothing else would matter to them. They would leave no room for influence to be used.

My comments on not to open with Mahela Jayawardena in the 2011 World Cup, had one selector calling to compliment me and inform me that I am not in the wilderness.

What he meant was that I am not alone in asking that Jayawardena should not open in the World Cup. He agreed with the analysis and comments made by me in this aspect, and said that, that is how the selectors see it too.

'We will certainly not open with Jayawardena. He is too precious to be sacrificed early. To be dismissed early could unsettle the rest of the batting. The risk is too much and we will have a chat with him and convince him to bat in his usual number four spot', said the selector. We take a bow, now that the selectors have seen reason and agreed with us.

Did not impress

Jayawardena who opened batting for Wayamba in the Champions Premier League Twenty20 in South Africa failed to impress, although making a half century against the Victorian Bushrangers.

True, Jayawardena has the game and its success at heart and would want to open and get on with it in the World Cup and help win the WC that evaded his team in the Caribbean in 2007. But it will do him and his game immense good if he listens to the selectors.

Muttiah Muralitharan who is making his appearance for the Premier League Twenty20 champions Chennai Super Kings led by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was simply fantastic the other day against Wayamba on the field. His diving catch at point, in addition to the other two catches he took was amazing.

Muralitharan has told the selectors he would like to play in international limited over games. He is a certainty for the tour of Australia and later the Windies and will certainly sport the country's colours in the 2011 World Cup.