Lessons learnt in defeat as Mathews stands majestically

The Sri Lankan cricketers being whitewashed five-nil by India in the five match one-day series in India will be described by the cyclopic critics as humiliation, calamity and shame and whatever other degrading adjectives they could think of.

But to those who have played the game and know what the game is all about, cricket like all other sport must have a victor and the vanquished. And there are lessons learnt. Otherwise it cannot be called sport, because that is what sport is all about.

To be wise after the event is the refuge of the scoundrel. In favour of Sri Lanka Cricket the Selectors and our gallant cricketers, it must be said and appreciated their readiness and willingness to answer the Indian call and help out was admirable. Winning and losing is part and parcel of sport. In losing, the Sri Lankans were certainly not disgraced.

The defeats came because the advantage was India playing before their partisan milling wildly cheering crowds and a formidable Indian team.

When the great scorer comes....

It is said that when the great scorer comes to write he will write not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game. And to the credit of the Lankan cricketers it can be said that they played the game to the best of their ability in the circumstances and that speaks volumes.

Sri Lanka Cricket did not dive into and take this tour to sacrifice our cricketers like lambs.

They had their reasons for doing so and chief among them being to front up cricketers against formidable opposition who could be considered having in mind the grueling World Cup 2015 where we are training our guns to shoot down all opposition and bring home the WC.

And in that aspect it helped to know where our strengths and weaknesses are. Had all cricketers performed to ability and the way we know they can, the Indians could have been brought down to earth. Before going on to dissect or analyze where we went right or wrong, we must congratulate Captain Courageous ANGELO DAVIS MATHEWS for his amazing efforts with bat, ball and on the field and his excellent leadership.

Angelo Mathews stood taller than tall

Mathews stood taller than tall and added to his growing stature although, except for Tillekeratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene who supported him, the rest did not put their hands up and push for success. For most of the games Mathews was the lone warrior. After scoring in most of the games he blasted one of the best centuries in the annals of the limited-overs game when he punished and had the Indian bowlers and fielders kneeling to his magic from the bat when he slammed six fours and 10 power-packed sixes that sailed into the crowd off just 116 deliveries. What if his other renowned batsmen delivered.

Then in his lone endeavour to save Sri Lanka from being whitewashed after an energy sapping innings, he took the new ball and showed the high scoring Indian openers Ajinkya Rahane 2 and Rohit Sharma 9 back to the pavilion in a paralyzing spell. Rahane went at 1 and Sharma at 14.

Mathews proved by knocking back Sharma’s stumps that the record-breaking 264 Sharma made in the previous game was a flash in the pan. He did the early damage and when his other wicket taking bowlers were expected to deliver which would save Sri Lanka from a 5-nil defeat they flopped. And so the whitewash could not be avoided.

Captains Mathews, Dhoni only show

It was a Captains only show at the JSCA International Stadium in Ronchi on Sunday. Lankan skipper Mathews and Indian Captain Kohli making the identical score of unbeaten 139. Kohli took 126 balls and hit 12 fours and lofted 3 sixes. These are efforts which history is made of and which will go into the record books for posterity. The tour is history now.

The Lankans were found wanting in a solid pair of opening batsmen. While Dilshan delivered which was not enough at his level, Kushal Janith Perera and Upul Tharanga who were given opportunities and Niroshan Dickwella were not obliging. In this style of cricket solid starts are paramount. If that is not forthcoming, then the rest of the batting comes under pressure.

The middle order batting was woeful. Thisara Perera, Ashan Priyanjan and Chaturanga de Silva were completely off colour. Dinesh Chandimal has lost his confidence and is playing all the wrong strokes. True he is talented and expected to prop our future. But for how long are the selectors going to persist with him. In this aspect brings to mind that immensely talented and punishing batsman Chamara Kapugedera. From information Kapugedera has not been considered and not in the SLC contract radar which is a travesty of justice on the young batsman who has a lot more to offer.

Lahiru Gamage a good investment

Of the bowlers, although he could not get among the wickets, the tall and strongly built Lahiru Gamage showed good talent and with our number one bowler Nuwan Kulasekera dropping form, should be a good investment for the future and the 2015 World Cup. The selectors and the coaching staff better go shopping for bowlers who could in addition to restricting the scoring can also capture wickets. The bowling to say the least is extremely poor.

The batsmen might score. But their efforts will be in vain if there are no bowlers capable of restricting and bowling the opponents out. The bowlers were bowling all over the place and not in areas of importance. As for the fielding, ground and catching was putrid. Like we said new fielding coach Zimbabwean Trevor Penney will have to work for every penny that Sri Lanka Cricket is paying him work with the squad showing them how when it comes to catching ground fielding.

Indians show the correct catching style

At the moment the fielders are displaying baseball catching style and dropping catches because they are unsighted by that style. The Indian fielders took catches waist high and keeping their eyes on the ball till they cupped them which was the correct style. Penney must stuff into them that age old and treasured axiom that catches win matches and this axiom was never better exemplified and demonstrated than when Thisara Perera dropped Rohit Sharma at 4 which helped the batsman make 264 and a world record. Accepted that dropped catches does not necessarily mean losing matches, but it can make winning that much more difficult.

But now the Indian tour is history the SLC, the selectors, the coaches must put that debacle behind them and be determined to start all over again, using the England team that is here to regain their lost glory. On the Indian tour what was very evident was the fitness of the Sri Lankan players. And for that trainer Chandrishan Perera, the former rugby winger who was a gazelle in motion can take a bow.

Enjoy life now. It has an expiry date on it.

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