by Rex Clementine

Since the arrival of the new set of selectors, there has been a revival for the Sri Lankan team. Scorebooks say they have won five series inside two months, but what has happened behind the scenes has gone unnoticed.

Discipline and hard work are the buzz words in the new set up. The number of players who turn up for training during day offs is great to see. You also see seniors early at venues on match days to do their warm-ups. These are all good signs. There is a new culture within the team. But now that Niroshan Dickwella is in the side what will happen to that culture? It remains to be seen. Hopefully it’s not back to square one.

The selectors have taken so many steps in the right direction and their first mistake is to back Dickwella. Apparently, some harsh words had been spoken reminding Dickwella of the need to remain grounded, but if what we have seen from him all these years is an indication, this is a bad call. There’s enough evidence to suggest that here is one player who is impulsive and incorrigible. Someone who doesn’t want to learn or improve.

Why Sri Lanka has suffered for so long is because they were backing the players with wrong attitudes. Dickwella was one such. At the same time, they gave the cold shoulder to players like Sadeera Samarawickrama, who had all the right attitudes.

Dickwella is the most talented cricketer to play for Sri Lanka since Angelo Mathews. A confident and fearless cricketer you expected him to go places the moment he scooped a Kagiso Rabada thunderbolt clocked at over 150 kmph over the wicketkeeper’s head. But indiscipline curtailed his career.

Selection committees for a decade treated Dickwella with kids’ gloves. None tried to drive home the point that his casual attitude was unacceptable for a professional sportsman. How can you explain 54 Tests and no hundreds?

Dickwella is no fool by the way. He is a very intelligent man. Probably no one else in the team has read and understood Laws of Cricket than him. He should have been groomed as a captain but he himself ruined his career.

Such is his impulsive nature that bowlers get the better of him by playing with his ego. Here’s a classic example.

In Galle, in 2021, Dickwella was on 92 and James Anderson was playing with the batsman’s patience. He was operating with an extra cover and an unconventional fielder at wide mid-off. The trap had been set for the left-hander to drive. He could have seen off Anderson’s spell in a bid to reach his maiden Test hundred. But discipline is something in short supply for Dickwella and he ended up driving one straight to Jack Leach.

Such is his disruptive behavior that even when lady luck is smiling at him all day he can’t go on to score a hundred. Want another example. Here you go.

In Antigua in 2021, he was dropped at gully. Then he edged one and was caught down the leg-side but was not given out. In the same innings the ball rolled back into the stumps but the bails weren’t dislodged. He moved on to 96 and a maiden century was there for taking. Then there was a ball just outside the off-stump which he tried  to cheekily send to third man region by opening the face of the bat and ended up dragging the ball onto the stumps.  Anyone else would have been gutted with such a mode of dismissal. Not our man.

Dickwella has also cost the team dearly with his poor reviewing. Obviously he has got the best view and captains ask for his counsel. But due to his rashness  rational is overtaken by emotions. There have been some games where he has burned reviews even before the team’s best bowler Rangana Herath had come on to bowl. To trust Dickwella with your reviews is like handing the Central Bank to Arjun Mahendran.

Why our cricket has suffered is that we have backed the wrong guys over the years. Dickwella has been a bad influence to the side and there is very little indication to suggest that he has changed. When he was finally axed in 2023 after an extended run we thought good riddance of bad rubbish. But now he is back. Is the circus back too?