Aravinda damns positions at Sri Lanka Cricket

Former skipper goes global in talent search by launching academy in Dubai :

by Allaam Ousman

DUBAI: December is election time at Sri Lanka Cricket but a legend of the game from the island-nation wants to stay clear of politics and positions to serve the sport he adorned with great panache.

"That's an area I want to stay out of. I don't need any positions. I am one person who has not gone behind positions or anything," said Aravinda de Silva who was head of the selection committee when Sri Lanka made it to another World Cup final in 2011.

"I'm always there to help the youngsters. If they need any help, I'm there any time for them," said the former Sri Lanka batting great who has gone global in his search for talent.

"I've been doing it for seven years privately through my foundation. It has been very successful. We do a talent search and cover about 500 schools. Whenever there is talent we see at a young age, we try and pass them on to the cricket board to try and work with them at the provincial and district level where the coaches are there," said Aravinda who has now launched the Future Legends Cricket Academy in Dubai. "This is something I wanted to do in Sri Lanka and then after that talent search and everything, I realised there is an opportunity to give something back to the global cricketing community. That's when I thought I will bring in a global flavour to this whole thing," said Aravinda who was a household name in world cricket for his cavalier approach to batting much like his childhood idol the great West Indian Sir Vivian Richards.

A former Sri Lanka captain, Aravinda believes Angelo Mathews is capable of leading the team in all three formats. "I think he will most probably take over very soon once (T20 captain) Lasith (Malinga) retires. He has done a wonderful job. Mathews as a youngster has taken that responsibility and performed so well over the last few years. I wish him good luck since he has been a very good leader for the Sri Lankan team and at that kind of young age to be a very confident and astute leader, he has done very well," said Aravinda who led Sri Lanka in the 1992 World Cup but never managed to win a Test as captain.

However, Aravinda carved a niche in the history of the game by stroking a magnificent unbeaten century to steer Sri Lanka to victory against Australia in the 1996 World Cup final. He has no regrets not playing in the exciting era of Twenty20 cricket, calling it quits after the 2003 World Cup with a career record of 6,361 runs from 93 Tests and 9,284 runs from 308 ODIs.

"That's destiny. We should never regret. Just imagine if I say I regret not playing in the T20 era, what would people like Anura Tennekoon, Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias say because they were really good and talented cricketers who did not have any other opportunities compared to what we had. You should never regret anything in life," said Aravinda, 50, a devout Buddhist.

"I always look at the people who have probably not had the same opportunities as I had. You will be always happy looking at those people and help them, rather than the ones who had more opportunities," he said philosophically.

However, he cited lack of planning for the vacuum created by the retirements of two greats of the game Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara. "It's not going to be easy because you have to plan properly to bridge a gap which is going to be created. The vacuum will take a while to be filled but with the kind of talent Sri Lanka has with players coming through, it's not impossible," he said optimistically.

He was not pleased with the manner in which Lahiru Thirimanne has been treated. "I thought Thirimanne was one guy who would fit into that spot easily. But I think he was messed about in the batting order and also dropped a couple of times. It was a case of him losing confidence. At the end of the day, cricket is a game of confidence. If the selectors don't believe in someone's talent and creates some doubts in their minds, about their ability, then I think that is where things go wrong," he said when asked about the omission of Thirimanne from the Test squad to New Zealand but being included in the shorter formats.

"Like I said Sanga and Mahela had a run when we were there. We realised that those were the two guys who were going to take Sri Lanka cricket forward. We gave them every possible opportunity. Like Arjuna (Ranatunga) said they were given the opportunity to keep playing and get the exposure while the seniors took the responsibility. That was important. When Sanga and Mahela had the responsibility, there should have been juniors playing right through and getting the experience, the confidence and belief in their ability which when you keep chopping and changing, you break that trend that leads to all sorts of issues that we are faced with right now," he pointed out.

Asked whether the explosion of T20 cricket is good for the game, he said: "I think it's a good concept. It generates revenues for the other two formats to sustain for the cricket boards. It is entertaining. Sport is always an entertainment creation. So if that entertainment is created and there is enough people to appreciate it, why not," said Aravinda.