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| Sunday, 5 February 2006 |
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Letters to Sports Editor Who controls Sri Lanka Cricket? There has been much written in the media about the mafia, underworld, Godfathers and Sicilian connections. We are now told about the mafia in the media and mafia in cricket. Allegations on the media mafia come out during elections and are soon forgotten once the elections are over. But, the cricket mafia seems to carry on regardless and irrespective of the consequences, whether the National team wins or not, they care not. It is a matter of regret to note that though millions of Rupees are paid per month to players, contracted by the Board - they must be the highest paid professionals in any game in the country - yet like the local underworld, they hate any intrusion into their domain. Like the local mafia, they do not approve of any young lad who has loads of talent. They fear that these young ones will ultimately challenge their authority and eventually replace them. They forget the difficulties they themselves faced when they came into the side. During the old days, the Royal - Thomian mafia controlled cricket. Thereafter the SSC-NCC-Tamil Union combine took over the mafia. The Royal- Thomian mafia prevented Ananda and Nalanda talent from blossoming. Ultimately, the Ananda-Nalanda-SSC mafia is now left fighting the Bloomfield mafia to gain control. The cricketing mafia comprise three or four senior players who will do everything possible to prevent young players from exhibiting their talents and playing for the country. It is a well known that the appointment of Chaminda Vaas, as vice-captain, created a big furore in the team. Vaas, being a senior player and who had captained Colts, is the best medium pace bowler Sri Lanka has produced. With his ability and seniority, Chaminda Vaas should have been named captain of the National side. Instead he became a pariah or an untouchable in the team. Instead of playing for the country, the team played in a manner to show the cricketing world that Chaminda Vaas was unsuitable to be the Vice captain of the side. Can anyone rationalise how, after winning the Indian Oil Cup in Sri Lanka, the team got hammered in India an slid from No: 2 to No: 7 in the ICC rankings. Similarly, can anyone explain how having lost to Victoria Bush Rangers in Australia, they beat the world champions Australia. There seems to be something horribly wrong with Sri Lankan cricket. Can the selectors or the Chairman of the Interim Committee explain why Marvan Atapattu is refusing to open batting and batting at five-down. He has been selected as the most technically perfect batsman in our side. Commentators mentioned that Marvan Atapattu can only be compared to Rahul Dravid, known as the Wall, the other most technically correct batsman in world cricket. When Marvan Atapattu drops down and makes a 30 or 40 runs without any proportion to the number of balls he faced, it makes it difficult for other batsmen to score fast. Is he a leader who leads from the front or a person who is motivated towards preserving his position in the team? In contrast, Rahul Dravid had decided to open with Sewag and he is scoring century after century and has given his best to the Indian team. Can anyone reason out why we cannot have a recognised wicketkeeper like Prasanna Jayawardena, who also is a good batsmen. Kumar Sangakkara to further strengthen his batting. In the last few matches he has missed few stumping chances which changed the matches against us. Rahul Drawid kept wickets for India in ODIs and his batting suffered, then Dhoni replaced him behind the stumps and Dravid has become a very prolific scorer, both in Tests and ODIs Can any gentleman explain why the selectors continuously select Russel Arnold, who has failed in batting, bowling and fielding. What contribution has he made towards the success of the team? He is only depriving a number of young and talented players from entering the team. Is the Mafia above the chairman of the Interim Committee and the selectors or are they also a part of the gang. Can these gentlemen tell us why Marvan Atapattu has not understood the principle of 'Super-sub'. Why was Malinga Bandara, who was the most economical bowler and who took a number of wickets against Australia, kept in the pavilion without bowling a single ball and why was he sent in as a batsman ahead of Vaas and why was Muralitharan, whose highest score is 19, sent before Nuwan Kulasekera who has a much better batting average. If you want an example do not go far, India has done it, Chappell sacked Ganguly and the Indians are doing well. He is also one of the four batsmen who has scored over 10,000 ODI runs like our Sanath. Past laurels do not matter in any form of sport. If players are out of form and unfit, the selectors must be in a position to take firm decisions to drop them. India tried several opening batsmen but they blossomed only to fail. Similarly in Pakistan, Sohib Akthar the world's fastest bowler was dropped for lack of form and he came back mightier then ever. The form of the past does not matter at all. Why has Australia become world champions? Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Damian Martin, Mathew Hayden, who had all excelled with the bat and ball were dropped for lack of form. Adam Gilchrist, the hardest hitter of the cricket ball was 'rested'. Glen McGrath, the best ODI bowler, was dropped but diplomatically was 'rested'. The wheel of 'resting' has taken a full turn and Ricky Ponting himself was 'resting' to give Brad Hodge a chance. In fact there is no one except the captain who has a permanent place in the Australian side, so everyone has to paly fiercely and play for their country. The selection of our team does not depend on ability and the fitness but on their closeness to the mafia. Ability and fitness do not count. Only the past laurels are counted. Their position in the team must be intact, although the image of the team is in tatters. by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya Lanka pick up courage ! When Chaminda Vaas took over as captain of the Sri Lanka team after the injury to regular skipper Atapattu, in the VB Series he (Vaas) with all the experience handled the team well. His field placings were good and his rotation of the bowlers was a good play, but on the verge of victory, a little bungling took place in Perth when Sri Lanka played against Australia. From near victory, the Lankans succumbed tamely to the Aussies after the stand-in skipper Vaas messed up a bit in the handling of the bowlers that helped the Aussies a great deal. However, we should not write off the Lankans. There is a lot cricket in Atapattu and Co, but what we lack is finesse. We should go flat-out in the matches to follow and results are bound to come. Seevali Abeywickrema |
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