ICC must not shy to 'chuck the chuckers'!

The determination of the International Cricket Council to quite rightly chuck the chuckers from international cricket, has not gone down well with some former cricketers who opine that with the 2015 World Cup only months away the ICC have acted in haste.

Former Sri Lanka Captain Arjuna Ranatunga, current Pakistan coach former fast bowling ace Waqar Younis and former West Indian master blaster Sir Vivian Richards have spoken out against the ICC move.

Firstly to the bowlers who have been called for illegal actions. Sri Lanka's Sachitra Senanayake, Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal and Mohammed Hafeez, West Indies Sunil Narine, New Zealand's Kane Williamson, Zimbabwe's Prosper Utseya and Sohag Gazi from Bangladesh.

Must execute without fear or favour

The ICC must not be sensitive to criticism. They have been installed to do a job of work and must execute without fear or favour from who or what ever administrator, cricketer or quarter that criticism emanates.

Throw bowlers must be found, named and eradicated immediately. To let them bowl just because the 2015 World Cup is around the corner should not stall the ICC. The World Cup must be won fair and square and with no team having the advantage by playing bowlers with unfair actions that are advantages to them.

One player who has spoken clear and loud and supported the action of the International Cricket Council to ban bowlers with illegal actions is former Australian Captain and master batsman Ricky Ponting.

Illegal action allowed for far too long

Ponting says that bowlers with illegal actions have been allowed to go on bowling for far too long. He says that for the last 15 years there have been bowlers with suspect actions have been allowed to go free.

Not only Ponting, there are several other cricketers who are supportive of the ICC action. Joining in the chorus to keep bowlers with illegal actions out of cricket is Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni. He backs the ICC on their move to clamp down on illegal bowing actions.

Dhoni cites bowlers like Ravindra Jadeja and Amrit Misra of having clean actions and says that bowlers who don't have good actions have an advantage over others and should not be allowed to bowl.

Ponting supports Petersen

Ponting was also in the news giving full support to the South African born Kevin Petersen's autobiography on the problems in the England camp and the allegations he has made.

Obviously what has angered Petersen is his dropping from the England team with no apparent reasons being given. Petersen was in the England squad that was given a 5-nil bashing in the Ashes series in Australia.

With one drop batsman Jonathan Trott complaining of depression and off spinner Graeme Swann deserting the sinking England ship midway during the series, England needed a scapegoat to slap their disgraceful showing on and Petersen fitted the bill.

No punches pulled autobiography

Petersen in a no punches pulled autobiography has slammed coach Andrew Flower and players Matt Prior, Graeme Swann and James Anderson and making other allegations which autobiography should be a best seller.

Petersen however was hoping to make a comeback to the England squad by making his bat do the talking and scoring tons of runs in the county scene playing for Surrey. But one thing is certain and that is that no amount of runs he scores will help him to ever sport the England cap again.

The allegations that Petersen has made must get the England Cricket Board to wake up from its slumber and probe the allegations and if the allegations are correct to put the house in order and not harbour any grudges against Kevin Petersen.

Thank you Real Admiral Fernando

In the gloom that was the debacle and disaster that was the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea it warmed the cockles of all scribes to read the soothing and encouraging words expressed by the likeable and efficient Chef de Mission of the contingent to the Games Real Admiral Shermal Fernando.

The Rear Admiral expressed his gratitude and commended the Sri Lanka media team for a task meticulously executed to the admiration of the sport loving Sri Lankans. 'The enthusiasm shown by them to cover each and every match and event Sri Lanka took part was unparalleled in the annals of sports history.

'They rushed from stadium to stadium to keep Sri Lankans abreast of ups and downs in Incheon. Media is indeed one of the vital pillars that could contribute towards securing elusive gold medals for Sri Lanka in sports and as a sports administrator I salute them for the sheer commitment displayed with very limited basic facilities. I am truly proud of them', concluded the cheerful Real Admiral.

Onerous jobs by journalists

Now how many others have been known to admire the onerous jobs that journalists do to keep their readers abreast with the latest happenings in the sports world. Once on the job journalists heave a sigh of relief and relax only once they have made headlines and met deadlines that they heave a sigh of relief.

Rear Admiral Fernando had a good innings in his first term asSecretary, Athletic Federation of Sri Lanka. But unfortunately was stalled in his tracks and not allowed a second innings, much to the detriment of the sportsmen and women.

Men of the calibre of Fernando are the need of the hour to resurrect the declining standards of sports in the country has shown in the debacles that were the Commonwealth and Asian Games. Thank you Rear Admiral Fernando for appreciating the work done by journalists.

Cycling great Trevor de Silva writes

It came as a pleasant surprise to receive an email all the way from London from one of Sri Lanka's former cycling greats Trevor de Silva who won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1966 - 48 years ago.

Trevor says he stays in the news reading the 'Daily News' and 'Sunday Observer' every day/week and that he follows my excellent columns regularly about sport in general.

De Silva says that the last few weeks have been of particular

interest regarding the performance, or lack of it, of Sri Lankan sportsmen and women at the Asian Games, except cricket. '48 years ago, in 1966, I won two cycling Bronze medals at Asian Games in Bangkok and Desmond Goonewardene was placed sixth. Since then no Sri Lanka cyclist has achieved these standards. 'Desmonmd, Mauice Coomarawel and I used to train together in the 60s. Maurice represented Sri Lanka at the Rome Olympics in 1960. I was nominated by the then Ministry of Sport for the Munich Olympics in 1972 as I had reached the required standard while racing in the UK. But I had lost the passion for the hard training required (800km a week) to have a chance of winning a medal. So I withdrew from the team.

Saddened and surprised

'The question is. If Maurice, Desmond and I could reach these standards a near 50 yeas ago why not today? I am very saddened and surprised by this as I am sure the talent is there. I am 72 and I still train runners and cyclists. I am a Senior Coach for UK Athletics and I coach cyclists at an international level.

It was nice hearing from Trevor after so long. In the good old days there was a lot of cycle races like the Tour de Lanka etc. Names of other cyclists that come to mind are Placidus Schroter, Anthony Symonds, G.H. Henderson, Kamal Palitha and A.M. Sumanaweera and the energetic and hardworking secretaries of that time C.T. Devaraja and Amal Suriyage. But now sadly cycling has gone off the track.

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

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