|
|
|
| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Windies stars Worrell, Ramadhin and Sobers thrilled fans in Sri Lanka by A.C. De Silva The internal problems with the cricket set up in the West Indies had a deterrent effect on the team that is in Sri Lanka and they lost the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka in no uncertain manner by 240 runs and thereby surrendered the two-Test series to the home team 2-nil. The huge loss by the visitors in the second Test against Sri Lanka inside four days despite the rain interfering at the Asgiriya Stadium, cannot be blamed on the wicket alone. True the wicket was not the best of strips laid out for the match, but apart from the West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, there was hardly any resistance shown by the batsmen to stand up to the Sri Lankan bowlers Chaminda Vaas in the first innings and Muttiah Muralitharan in the second innings, Playing Test cricket with half-baked teams is not good. The home team too suffers as the crowds will be kept away from matches as was quite evident at Asgiriya and "gate money" too will be reduced, making it a loss of revenue to the home team. Money, they say, is the root of all evil. This was the main reason of the problems that cropped up before the Windies team came to Sri Lanka and I wonder what the International Cricket Conference has to say about half-baked teams being sent on Test tours. It is really not fair by the home team, as there won't be many spectators to watch the matches and the home team stands to lose revenue as overhead charges for the matches will be high. Foremost allrounder Garfield Sobers is a name very familiar to Sri Lanka and he was one of the foremost all-rounders the game of cricket has come to know. The bat, the ball and his hands had done a 'lot of talking' during the years he has been associated with the game. He played in 93 Tests for West Indies, scored 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78. He also took 235 wickets and his fielding prowess was only too well-known collecting 109 catches and it was quite natural that one of the five top players in the 20th edition of Wisden Cricket Almanac. He has some unique records. The bat with which he hit a world record of six sixes in an over was auctioned at Christie's Melbourne on 4th October 2000. The short handled Slazenger fetched a record $146,875. Sobers had a unique achievement when he hit six sixes in one over, playing for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in a County Cricket Match at Swansea on 31st August 1968, coming to the wicket 10 minutes before the tea-break on the first day, with the scoreboard reading 308 for 5 wickets, the Nottinghamshire and West Indies captain Sobers had made 40 in 30 minutes and then the fireworks began, Sobers struck the first four balls for giant sixes off Malcolm Nash. The fifth ball was caught on the boundary line by Roger Davis but as he caught the ball he fell on the ground and his shoulders crossed the line and it was declared a six and the last ball was thumped in to the garden of the cricketers pub. As the crowd stood cheering, Sobers closed the innings at 394 for 5 wickets and his score was 76 not out in 35 minutes. Indian batsman Ravi Shastri now a renowned commentator equalled this feat in 1985. Then before that memorable day, the West Indian maestro made 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958 and that performance fetched him $129,250. Sri Lanka's cricket fans had the opportunity of seeing Sobers at play in 1967 in a two-day match at the Colombo Oval, now the Saravanamuttu Stadium on January 22 and 23. It was fine batting by Ceylon captained by Michael Tissera and the West Indies led by Sobers. Ceylon batted first and made 290 for 9 wickets, with Tissera making 52, David Heyn an elegant 69, a bright 42 by Lionel Fernando and a forceful 42 by wicket-keeper H.I.K. Fernando. Then Neil Chanmugam (72) and Ian Pieris (46) hit out with gay abandon for the last wicket partnership to take Ceylon past 400 runs. It was a real cricket carnival as the Windies were equal to the task of making runs and making them in double-quick time. There was a technically perfect 152 by Basil Butcher, 138 by Clive Lioyd, but the icing on the cake came when Garfield Sobers came to the wicket to make a star-spangled knock of 115 cover drives sizzled to the boundary in a flash, hit the cemented steps of the pavilion and the ball returned to the field of play, pulls, hooks and delicate glances highlighted his repertoire of strokes and it was fine cricket all-round. With such attractive batting displays, the West Indies closed their innings at 549 for 8 wickets. Lankan excels Though it was batting of rich quality, there was one Sri Lankan bowler Sarath Wimalaratne who kept his cool and went on to take 4 for 141. In the second innings, Sri Lanka made 163 for 3 wickets at close of play with Anura Tennekoon making 54 not out, D.P. de Silva 28, who with Lionel Fernando (72 not out) put on 112 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket partnership. When Garfiled Sobers was born in 1936 in Barbados, little did the people of the West Indies realise that here was a star cricketer born to the game. He did not disappoint his followers. He was a star-class allrounder and the figures speak volumes of his cricketing ability. He held the world batting record of 365 not out until his fellow countryman Brian Lara made 375, and improved on it making 400 runs not out. Sobers was the first player to score 1,000 runs and take 50 wickets in an Australian first-class season. The West Indies all-rounder achieved this feat twice-in 1962-63 and 1963-64 his second and third seasons with South Australia. In this first-class career spanning from 1952 to 1974, Sobers too played for Barbados, South Australia and Nottinghamshire, scored 28,315 runs and took 1,043 wickets. Batting is what everyone looks for in a cricket match, though the bowlers too catch the eye of the spectators to a slightly lesser degree. The West Indies were known to produce batsmen of real class and two that stands head and shoulders above the rest are: Garfield Sobers and Sir Frank Worrell. The highest individual innings in Sri Lankan cricket was produced by one-time West Indies Captain Sir Frank Worrell for Commonwealth XI against Sri Lanka at the Colombo Oval on February 16 in 1951. He made 285 and with W.B. Sutcliffe (95) added 301 runs for the fifth wicket which is the highest partnership for any wicket in first class cricket in Sri Lanka. Worrell batted for only 274 minutes and tucked into his knock 5 sixes and 31 fours. Lankans - doing well Sobers was then seen in coaching stints, first in Sri Lanka in the 1980s and then in Chennai (Madras) at the MAC Sports Foundation in 1998. In an interview, Sobers said that Sri Lanka had many talented cricketers that he was able to see, but was somewhat sorry that he didn't get the opportunity of seeing at any stage the batting of Mahadevan Sathisivam. Speaking about cricket in this country, the great West Indian cricketer said that Sri Lanka were going into a world of fast bowlers and if the Lankans had ideas of becoming a force to reckon with in the future, they would have to learn to play fast bowling. This was my job in Ceylon when I took up the job of coaching. I am very pleased to see how they are playing now. The Lankans are a team to reckon with now." It was a comment that Sobers made in Madras seven years ago and which is bearing fruit right now. Although not bracketed among the Test playing countries in the early days, Sri Lanka too produced batsmen of quality. No one will dispute the capabilities of two former Royalist cricketers C.I. Gunasekera and Mahes Rodrigo who held their own against top-class foreign teams. 'C. I.' 212 The highest individual innings by a Sri Lankan on home soil is 212 in 285 minutes by one-time Ceylon captain C. Ivers Gunasekera for Ceylon against Madras in a Gopalan Trophy match at the Colombo Oval on March 7 in 1959. Mahes Rodrigo of rugby fame, was a cricketer par excellence, He became the first Sri Lankan batsman to score a first-class century on debut on home soil. Opening Ceylon's second innings against the West Indies at the Colombo Oval on February 20 and 21 in 1949, Mahes carried his bat, contributing 135 not out towards a total of 318 in 382 minutes. The West Indies were known to produce pace bowlers of real quality in the past like Wesley Hall, but they also had two champion spin bowlers- Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine. Ramadhin had an unique record being the bowler bowling the highest number of balls in a Test match - 774 against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham in the Test played between May 30 and June 4 in 1957. Having taken 7 for 49 in the first innings in the England innings of 186, Ramadhin, however, was thwarted in the second innings by a record fourth-wicket partnership of 411 by Peter May and Colin Cowdrey. England totalled 583 for 4 wickets declared as Ramadhin bowled a record 98 overs to take 2 for 179. A finger spinner who mesmerized batsmen by turning the ball either way without any obvious change of action, Ramadhin found himself treated as a straight forward off-break bowler and, after this traumatic experience, was never again so effective at Test level. At the start it must be mentioned that the West Indies contribution to cricket in Sri Lanka, gained much from Sir Learie Constantine who indulged in a coaching stint here. Sir Garfield Sobers, was knighted for his cricketing deeds for the West Indies just like Sir Frank Worrell. Sobers was of special importance to Sri Lanka as he was Sri Lanka coach at a certain time when the Lankan team was led by Duleep Mendis, who is now the CEO of Sri Lanka cricket. |
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
