Lankans capitulate in Brisbane

The Sri Lankan cricketers who did admirably to win the first two one-day internationals against Australia which also gave them a series win for the first time in 26 years, were given a lesson on the glorious uncertainties of cricket in the final game. It was a humbling experience.

When their supporters were expecting them to take advantage of having won the first two games in Melbourne and Sydney, and overpowering the kangaroos in the final game to make a clean sweep, they surrendered meekly.

The Australians who had never before lost a series to Sri Lanka were smarting and if they were to be clean swept by the Lankans it would have been a calamity. The Aussie selectors had good reason to keep skipper Ricky Ponting out of this vital game.

Ponting not being there left a big dent in the Aussie batting.

That should have inspired the Lankans. Sangakkara won the-all important toss, but to his dismay ran into a bouncy wicket and the batting crumbled like a pack of cards.

No excuses

The Lankans should have no excuses for that sad batting display.

When in the big league, they should have the temperament and the technique to bat on any surface. But sadly the Lankans were badly exposed.

The Aussie medium pacers Clint McKay and Marc Starc pitched wicket to wicket, moved the ball disconcertingly off a good line and length and used the bounce on the wicket cleverly to bamboozle all the Lankan batsmen.

That the Lankans could only make 115, which was their lowest score in 25 years was a sad indictment on the batting. McKay had five scalps and Starc who was making his debut made it a memorable one by capturing four wickets. The Aussie bowlers required just 32 overs.

For the statisticians, we wonder if it was somewhat of a record for the captain Sangakkara and Vice Captain Jayawardena to be out for ducks. It would be interesting if some one could enlighten cricket fans on whether there had been a similar happening in any other team in big cricket.

No terrors

The Aussies batsmen found no terror in the wicket as they waltzed to victory losing just two wickets and getting the winning runs in 21.4 overs. The Lankan cricketers were cheered by their supporters in Melbourne and Sydney. But in Brisbane the supporters were silent, stunned by the poor showing by the cricketers.

The hallmark of a great team is winning consistently. Winning the odd game or series does not mean that the team is perfect and great. The defeat should prompt the Lankans to do a bit of soul searching, study the chinks in all aspects of the game and get them right before the big bash - the 2011 World Cup comes around.

Muttiah Muralitharan who was tormented every time he toured Australia had the last laugh on his farewell visit to that country when he performed brilliantly, especially with his fielding and when called on to bowl in the game in Melbourne. Ironically, it was in Melbourne that he was first called for chucking.

Incidentally let those who matter take note that the 'smiling assassin' tag was first stamped on that demon bowler from the West Indies Michael Holding. Holding was also known as 'whispering death'.

Muralitharan must be feeling embarrassed by being labelled with a tag that belongs to Holding who was a fearsome bowler during his time.

Action shifts

Now that the Australian safari is over, the action shifts to Sri Lanka and the calypso cricketers from the Caribbean have arrived vowing to get their cricket on the track when Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards led them to be the invincibles in the game in the seventies and eighties.

The visitors first fling will be the Three Test matches to be contested for the ERI Trophy made by Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC a subsidiary of ERI. The Tests will be played in Galle, R. Premadasa Stadium and Pallekelle Stadium.

The Windies have brought with them the best cricketers available in their endeavour to regain their lost glory. But while we wish them the best in their attempt, the fact remains that cricketers of that era will not emerge or be born again.

To go down memory lane, will there ever be the three Ws - Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes who were tagged the terrible Ws for their mastery with the willow where they just massacred bowlers?

Worrell the incomparable

Talking of the Ws, the man who showed them the way to a cricketing renaissance was that cricketer cum diplomat Sir Frank Worrell. Worrell was incomparable. He was the pioneer who first gave Windies cricket its best years. Cricket in the Caribbean had some wonderful individual performers with both bat and ball and even fielding. But coming from many islands, they tended to be individual players and playing and performing as a team which is so very essential for success was not in their get up.

The cricketing renaissance really started on that fantastic tour of Australia in the 1960- 61 series. That team had excellent performers among them being Garfield Sobers and Rohan Kanhai, two of the most exciting batsmen that the game has seen or will ever see.

That team also had that 'black bomber' Wesley Hall.

Worrell the captain realized the brilliant potential in the team that he was taking to Australia and before the tour began he rallied his players and told them that cricket is all about playing as a team and individuality would take them nowhere.

Marvellous team

And what that team did on that tour is still being talked about in awe whenever Worrell or that marvellous team is spoken about.

And the man who made it all possible was Worrell who was later knighted and who sadly left this world in the prime of his life struck by that dreaded disease.

That Windies team brought Test cricket to life. True they did not deserve to lose that series 2-1. But what mattered was that they gave the Aussie spectators and those who were fortunate to watch the thrill a minute action on TV, cricket to remember and cherish.

There was no TV in Sri Lanka with only radio broadcasts describing the action.

When that series is being spoken about one can't forget the contribution made by Richie Benaud the Aussie captain and whose team took on the marauding Windies head on and produced an unforgettable series that brought cricket alive.

Captains of the calibre of Sir Frank Worrell and Richie Benaud have not appeared in the cricketing horizon. To Worrell and Benaud it was not the winning or losing that mattered, but how they played the game. And did they not play it in the best of spirits!

The past is being spoken about so that the present Windies now in Sri Lanka would endeavour to emulate the deeds of the cricketers of the past who took their game to the pinnacle of cricket.

The Aussie spectators gave the Windies a ticker tape send off at the end of that famous tour.

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