DIALOG sees Sri Lanka’s cricket future today

When corporate giants display leadership by helping to promote sport at the national level, it provides a huge boost to the particular sport that is being sponsored. And so it is for Sri Lanka Cricket where the giant mobile company Dialog Axiata PLC has been magnanimous in in its sponsorship. Since padding up to serve sport, Dialog has met with resounding success in that it sees Sri Lanka’s

cricket’ future today’ echoing the company’s tag line the Future Today!

Realising the value that could accrue to the company, Dialog stepped into sports sponsorship with a rare passion. And if the company was looking for a Return on Investment, then it can draw ample satisfaction from the fact that sports from cricket to rugby improved and it did not take long to hit the big time.

Fortunate to have two great sports promoters in Dr. Hans Wijesuriya as Chairman and Amalie Nanayakkara as Group Chief Marketing Officer, Dialog’s sponsorship has enabled sport to attain new heights and more importantly breathe new life into the sport the promotion of which were being hampered by lack of strong sponsorship.

Cricket - number one sport Dialog gave cricket the number one sport in the country a great fillip when they took over the sponsorship of the national team for a mind boggling sum and now made cricket their own by agreeing to sponsor the annual cricket awards show.

Not only cricket, Dialog is quick to spot sports that deserve sponsorship and have over the years sponsored athletics, wheel chair athletics, rugby and also the primarily poor man’s sport football.

With the cricketers and ruggerites delivering, Dialog have got the mileage they were looking for and with more sponsorship these two sports will soon hit big time which will do the country proud.

ASHES leaves much heartburn

Since the beginning of the ASHES cricket series between the two cricketing giants in the world – Australia and England never has a series left so much heart burn, controversy and ill feeling as the one that was just completed in England.

True, the bodyline series in 1931 with Australia who were at the receiving end of Harold Larwood’s stingers accusing England of not playing the game which nearly ended the cricketing ties between the two countries.

But thanks to the cricketing gods, saner counsel prevailed and the Ashes series continued and still continues with the game being played with no quarter asked or given. It was no different with the ASHES series just concluded.

But never before has the Ashes series left a bad taste in the mouth like the one that was just concluded. The pot was boiling over with controversy, ill feeling, allegations and accusations, poor umpiring and cheating allegations.

Winning at all costs that matters

Obviously all these ill feelings, apparently stems from the fact that in the context of the game today, it is the winning at all costs that matters, with the time honoured and sacred axiom – that it is not the winning or the losing that matters but how one played the game – being hit out the grounds.

The ASHES series is the ‘mother of all battles’ in the game. There was much hype before the series began, with Australia and England promising to go for each other’s jugular which built the series into a crescendo.

England were the holders of the Ashes having comfortably beaten Australia in their own den and being the holders they were expected to stuff the Aussies and hug the Ashes urn.England did hug the urn beating the Australians 3-nil in the Five Test series winning the First, Second and Fourth Test with the Third and the Final Test being washed out by rain.

England was the better side

That England was the better side there was no doubt. In addition they had the conditions and the wickets in their favour and were expected to win without having to raise much sweat and above all not having to resort to tactics that were not cricket.But some of their tactics were inexplicable , especially that of all rounder Stuart Broad who refused to walk when, it was obvious to everyone that he had nicked a catch to Michael Clarke in the slips off a rebound from wicketkeeper Brad Haddin’s gloves.The Aussies had exhausted their referrals and they swear that had Broad walked, they would have won the First Test which they lost by just 14 runs and which victory would have given them the momentum to fire all cylinders in the remaining Tests and probably regain the mythical Ashes.

Australian coach Darren Lehmann belatedly took Broad to task for his unsportsmanship, calling on the Aussie spectators to give Broad the ‘works’ when he tours Australia in December for another round of Ashes series.

Lehmann slapped 20 per cent fine

Lehmann’s comments warranted that he be slapped a fine of 20 per cent of his match fee for his outburst. Former stormy petrel of Australian cricket and captain of the successful teams of the 1970s Ian Chappell felt the urge to pitch into Lehmann for his remarks and call him a hypocrite.

Chappell said Australians, who’ve traditionally always waited for the umpire’s decision, were in no position to complain about opponents who did exactly the same thing. ‘I don’t like to be called a cheat and basically he (Lehmann) is calling all people who don’t walk a cheat, which would include himself’, Chappell had told BBC Radio Five.‘Cheat is not a word you should use very light-heartedly, and even if you are being light-hearted that’s a word you should steer away from’ added Chappell. Chappell it must be admitted was a captain marvel, leading with success and in the manner born.Incidentally Chappell was arguably the best player of spin bowling that Australia had produced. Seeing the present crop of Australian batsmen especially left handers such as Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Chris Rodgers and Michael Clarke and Shane Watson falling easy prey to off spinner Graeme Swann, had Chappell been there he would have hammered the daylights out of Swann.

Ian Chappell best player of spin

Chappell a dashing right hand batsman made former West Indian off spinner Lance Gibbs look ordinary in the series in the 1970s. He was a firm believer that spin bowling is best played using the feet and getting down to the pitch of the ball and not treating it manacled to the crease.

Incidentally it would also be of interest to readers to know that Chappell is not one who advocates ‘walking’ after having snicked a catch. In the 1970s during a series against the West Indies, he tickled a delivery from Michael Holding to the wicket keeper and stood his ground.Holding who was quite young and making his first tour ‘down under’ stood in bewilderment when the umpire turned down the appeal and Chappell quite nonchalantly stayed put. Holding went on his knees imploring the umpire to give Chappell out, but to no avail.

So it will be seen Chappell has not forgotten that incident and so his taking to task Lehmann for taking to task Broad for not ‘walking’ which action by Broad deprived Australia of victory in the First Test.

Aussies looking for consolation win

Back to the Ashes, and like the Third Test the rains came down to spoil the final Test at the Kia Oval in London. In an attempt for a consolation win, Clarke made a bold declaration on the final day setting England 227 to win in 44 overs.

England who had already pocketed the urn, made a bold bid for victory.

But with 21 required off 24 balls and with five wickets in the Bank, umpires decided that the light was bad even with the floodlights on and called off the match.Also during the series one noticed the preparation of wickets to suit the home team bowlers, especially off spinner Graeme Swann. From the first morning Swann was able to get enormous spin.The Aussie batsmen have over the years shown a distinct weakness against off spin. A case in point was the devastation caused by Jim Laker in the mid fifties when he had the Aussie batsmen in a flat spin claiming 19 wickets in a Test.Although there is an unwritten law, home curators are known to make wickets to suit the home tram bowlers. It happens in all countries and it was no different even in Sri Lanka.

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