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Sunday, 15 May 2011

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De Silva will fight the good fight

Now that there is a likelihood of elections being held to Sri Lanka Cricket, the canvassing game has been called play. And in the coming days all hell will surely break loose.

Those who were frustrated after being deprived of holding office in Sri Lanka Cricket and enjoying the good times, will now pad up and play all the reverse sweeps and the scoops and improvised strokes to get elected.

While some names have been mentioned as to who the contestants are going to be, there is news trickling in that Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee Chief D. Somachandra de Silva will also field a team that will include Suraj and Kapila Dandeniya who have displayed their organisational skills and efficiency and contest the elections. Their main platform is likely to be 'we confounded critics and delivered'.

And we see no reason why he shouldn't.

Having the credentials that none of the others have whose names have been mentioned in the race, De Silva is confident of romping home an easy winner.

Cricket credentials

Having played for Sri Lanka, shone in league and county cricket in England and having been a national captain, he is easily the best man in the race with top class cricketing credentials. The other contestants are lacking in these all important credentials.

In addition he has been at the helm of the Interim Committee for long now and has had a peep into what the player, the game and the administration needs, and is well versed to deliver and continue the good work he has done and continuing to do.

De Silva and his efficient band of men saw to it and delivered one if not the best World Cup tournaments in its history. When critics were hitting him hard and predicting that the stadiums would not be ready when World Cup time comes around, he cocked a snook at his detractors and froze them and they too marvelled at his work.

De Silva was able to garner the support of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the President who likes people who deliver found in De Silva a person who is focussed on getting the job done. Such support is key as there are many hurdles that get in the way.

Shows gratitude

And De Silva also was quick to recognise that the hidden talent and potential in the country needs to be tapped. So he successfully promoted Gamata Cricket the concept of the sports loving President to every nook and corner in the country.

Recently I met three illustrious individuals in former Nalanda, Saracens and Adastrians cricketer Mahinda Athulathmudali, and two brilliant doctors in Deepal Weerasekera a Gynaecologist and a Surgeon in Dr. Ramesh Nadesan who marvelled at the three international stadiums that De Silva completed for the 2011 World Cup. They all said in unison that De Silva had done a wonderful job and that it is men who are gluttons for work and who have the ability to get things done like De Silva who should be elected to continue and take the game forward.

When the Sri Lanka team delivers, critics praise the players. When they fail, these critics are quick to assign blame on De Silva, unfairly of course.

De Silva is confident that the team he fields will be able to deliver the goods. He is a cool hand and a deft strategist.

Sachin a demi god

Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricketing great is no doubt a demi-god. Every time he walks out into the middle to take strike, the spectators give him defeaning cheers. Every time the ball strikes his bat and goes screeching to strike the boundary boards, his supporters go into ecstasy and keep baying for more. More often than not he obliges his legion of fans with memorable knocks. The moment he is dismissed, there descends a deathly silence. His supporters go into funeral mode and one needs not guess that the bowler who dismissed him or the fielder who took the catch being cursed.

Immensely popular

Tendulkar is immensely popular and the wish of his fans are that he continues to play even when he is helped by a walking stick and regale them with his excellent stroke play and big scores. Placards sprout the moment he walks out on to the field. One placard that is commonly used is CRICKET IS RELIGION IN INDIA, SACHIN IS GOD. The other day there were these placards SACHIN I WANT TO MARRY YOUR SON ARJUN and SACHIN ADOPT ME.

Good batting form

In the on going IPL Twenty20 in India, Tendulkar is continuing his good batting form and with his clever captaincy has led his team Mumbai Indians to the top of the points table and seem assured of a berth in the semi-finals. Fast bowlers in cricket are always a wonderful sight in the game every time they dash to deliver their thunderbolts at opposing batsmen. They are temperamental as they come and while being the scourge of the batsmen are the darlings of the spectators. In recent times two speed guns who made waves and sent batsmen ducking with life threatening missiles and brought spectators rushing to watch them deliver their thunderbolts retired from the established game without much fan fare.

Rawalpindi Express

The first was Rawalpindi Express Sohaib Akhtar and our own Lasith Malinga. The likes of Akhtar and Malinga will never again surface in the longer version of the game, which game cricket is all about.

While the circumstances that forced Akhtar to quit were sad, a career threatening knee injury forced Malinga out. While Akhtar is out of the game, Malinga is exploding in the IPL. Malinga is the top bowler with the most number of wickets in the IPL and at the time of writing and with many more matches to be played and if he continues to capture wickets will be in line to win the glittering limousine that is on offer to the Best Player. We will be in England covering Sri Lanka cricket team's tour describing all that is happening. Stay with the SUNDAY OBSERVER and the DAILY NEWS.

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