Broad
- a broader outlook needed
 If the Test defeats to England and Australia are an indication,then
one cannot fault critics and even supporters concluding that Sri Lanka
cricket is on the skids and going downhill.
As to how the men installed to take the game forward are going to
arrest this trend will be interesting to watch. We lost the Three Tests
series in England 1-nil. It would have been three-nil had it not been
for the fickle and unpredictable English weather.
Then back in Sri Lanka, albiet in familiar wickets and conditions, we
lost the Three Test series one-nil to Australia. It would have been
two-nil had it not been for the rain and bad light in Pallekele coming
to our rescue during the Second Test.
High hopes
When the Australian tour began, hopes were high-- hopes of a clean
sweep by Sri Lanka, considering that we the hosts, as we were playing on
wickets and conditions that our cricket has been nurtured and nursed.
And then we were taking on the Aussies who were a young and
inexperienced side.
After the England tour we had enough time to get back to the drawing
boards, study where we went wrong, recognise the drawbacks and plug the
gaps with cricketers who could deliver and take our cricket up the
ladder.
But now as the end of the Australian tour shows we have not done our
homework right and accumulated the right talent and the cricketers who
could deliver. A great pity and a missed opportunity.
Our troubles started with the Test defeat in Galle. Before going on
to comment on that debacle, we would like to reiterate that there is an
unwritten law which states that the home team has the right to prepare
wickets to suit their bowlers.
Important toss lost
Curator Jayananda Warnaweera had apparently done just that. But where
things went wrong was that the Sri Lanka Captain lost the all important
toss. From that moment began Sri Lanka's cricketing woes. With each day
the wicket began to crumble and with the Aussies adjusting and playing
the better cricket, they completely outplayed the home team and won a
hard fought Test . The Aussies got a stranglehold on the game which they
did not release it till the final ball of the final Test was bowled at
the SSC on Tuesday.
The Galle Test ended in four days which was not to the liking of ICC
Match Referee, former England left-handed opening batsman who
immediately fired off a letter stating that the wicket for a Test match
was poor.
Inexplicable
Now this was inexplicable. How can a wicket that produced a result
and the only result in the Three Test series be poor? Michael Hussey,
Michael Clarke of Australia and Mahela Jayawardena and Angelo Mathews of
Sri Lanka with high class batting proved the contrary.
It was just that Australia played the better cricket, that gave them
victory inside four days. It was a result oriented wicket. And is the
wicket to blame? Like we stated earlier, it is wickets like this that
brings about results which will in turn bring back spectators who are
shunning the longer version of the game because they were ending in
stalemates with nothing exciting for the spectators.
It probably was poor thinking on the part of the match referee to
file an adverse report to the ICC on the wicket. But now that he has
done so, the ICC as usual will probe. But we can't see anything damaging
being said about the wicket and the curator Jayananda Warnawerera. Does
Broad want a dead wicket like what was the SSC wicket? It is time that
Broad thinks broader otherwise his match refereeing could be in
question. Michael Clarke the Australian Captain praised the Galle wicket
saying it helped bring about a result.
Sad on SLC
When the D.S. de Silva administration was in power, it must be said
to their credit that the game, in the one-day and Test cricket arena was
in the ascendancy. But with these losses to Australia, our cricketing
fortunes have plummeted.
We are certainly not putting the full blame on the new
administration. But when things go wrong they too must be held
responsible.
The problem is that our nurseries from where talented cricketers
should flow, are not producing. This is inexplicable. Those in charge of
the game will have to do some hard thinking, go talent searching and
bring out the cricketers like the ones gone by who could win games for
the country.
Excuses no good
Finding excuses that we are missing bowlers of the calibre of Muttiah
Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas who could win matches for us is
unacceptable. That Baila must stop. They are now part of history. It is
the present that our think tanks should concentrate on. Let us not hear
the familiar refrain of missing Muralitharan and Vaas again.
There is a lot of talent around. In Lahiru Thirimanne, Tharanga
Paranavitana, Dinesh Chandimal, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Seekkuge
Prasanna, Shaminda Eranga, Chanaka Welegedera and Suranga Lakmal we have
cricketers who could turn out to be champions.
What they need is the encouragement and consistency to perform.
Playing them in a game or two and if they fail and dropping them is
going to be conter productive. Patience and persistence is key.
Urgent need
Sri Lanka cricket' urgently needs a match winning all rounder. At the
moment we are lacking in this. The only one who could turn out into
being one of the best all rounders in the game here, and abroad Angelo
Mathews is nursing an injury and is not making progress and performing
in his capacity as an all-rounder. As a batsman he has been performing
amazingly.
He has been carrying this injury for far too long. It is time that
the doctors with the squad got down to working with him seriously,
diagnose his injury and if the need be send him abroad for specialized
treatment.
He is still young and has a future ahead of him, considering that he
is being groomed as our next Captain. Then it is paramount that he be
taken in hand and brought to full fitness.
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