Sports
The need to treat legends with dignity
by Rex Clementine
The scathing remarks of Professor Charitha Herath during a COPE hearing pertaining to Sri Lanka Cricket exposed severe deficiencies in our cricket administration and the public could get a firsthand experience of how poorly the sport has been run as SLC took on former great Chaminda Vaas earlier this week.
Rather than sorting matters out behind closed doors, like it happens in professional environments, SLC opted to wash dirty linen in public and did not adhere to the best of corporate practices.
When the national cricket team’s Fast Bowling Coach David Saker left Colombo in January without informing his employers, SLC treated the Aussie with kid’s gloves. The board even didn’t mind going for an amicable settlement. Saker is a proven coach and SLC needs to be commended for the way they handled matters.
However, two weeks later, they were on the war path with another fast bowler – Chaminda Vaas. Was Vaas treated in that way because he is a local?
SLC paid Saker US$ 15,000 a month. They pay Vaas only US$ 3500. That is not correct. Vaas only asked for US$ 5000 more. But SLC made to look as if he was asking for the pound of flesh.
Interestingly, the decision that Vaas will replace Saker for the tour of West Indies was taken in the second week of February. But SLC had little communication with Vaas. Instead, they issued a media release announcing his appointment. But, the terms and conditions had not been discussed as it would happen in a professional environment.
Vaas was officially informed only on Friday, 72 hours before the team left for the Caribbean.
In previous instances when other coaches had to come in as replacements, SLC had compensated them handsomely. Nic Pothas is an example. When he replaced his former mentor Graeme Ford as Head Coach in 2017, the board paid him well. So why not Vaas? Again it’s back to square one. Is it because he was a local? Black lives do matter.
What Vaas wanted was a raise of his daily allowance from US$ 75 to US$ 200. What it meant was a raise of US$ 5000 for the entire tour of the Caribbean. But SLC chief Shammi Silva was not willing to negotiate. He would not budge an inch from his stance, which was go on the tour and come back and then we shall negotiate. Rather than taking the nation’s most successful fast bowler head on, Silva could have been better off had he handled matters diplomatically. But he did not. It has been claimed that he refused to meet Vaas. SLC has denied.
SLC officials claimed that they were willing to pay Vaas a sum of Rs. 750,000 on his return from the trip. Although it is slightly less than what Vaas had asked for, the former fast bowler would have been foolish to turn down that offer. Here’s the next interesting question. There have been several e-mail exchanges between Vaas and SLC. Did in any of those exchanges SLC mention that he will be paid the said Rs. 750,000?
There have been similar crises in cricket before. There are individuals within SLC who have handled matters completely differently.
Jayantha Dharmadasa was President of SLC when suddenly the selectors decided to fly in Sanath Jayasuriya as an additional player to England in 2006. The team and in particular Head Coach Tom Moody resisted. Dharmadasa intervened and drove home the point that having Jayasuriya in England early could turn out to be productive as he could acclimatize and be ready by the time the limited over games come. True to form Jayasuriya was in red hot form and slammed two hundreds in the ODIs and was named Player of the Series as Sri Lanka completed a 5-0 drubbing.
Mohan de Silva, another former President of SLC had to face a similar predicament after the tsunami in 2004 when players were adamant to return home but New Zealand Cricket wanted the series to go ahead. De Silva did not antagonize the players and in the meantime dealt diplomatically with hosts New Zealand and promised that the team will return the following year to complete the series. Accordingly in 2005, Sri Lanka made two trips to Kiwi land – in March to play Tests and in December to play ODIs. It was a win-win situation for all.
Such diplomacy was missing in the case of Vaas. The media release that SLC put out should have only said the board and Vaas had parted ways. Instead, it went to minute details. It should not have happened.
SLC seem to be having not many supporters these days. Their biggest supporter seems to be Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, who took the side of the board addressing the Parliament. Namal needs to watch his steps here. As his Parliamentary colleague Professor Herath pointed out at the COPE hearing, the public does not have a good image of SLC.
South Africa won their first away T20I series under Shukri Conrad, and second successive bilateral series, with a convincing performance over New Zealand in Christchurch. Put in to bat, they posted the highest total of the series of 187 for 4- and defended it with a six-player attack to seal the series 3-2.
After poor batting performances in the second and third T20Is,2 South Africa went from good to better in the next two. Three of South Africa’s four highest partnerships of the series came in this match, and they have unearthed a potential future star in Connor Esterhuizen. He scored back-to-back fifties in matches four and five and anchored their efforts in the decider. While Zak Foulkes and Josh Clarkson were economical, the rest of their attack conceded at over nine runs an over. Offspinner Cole McConchie’s 0 for 48 was the most expensive.
New Zealand were without their first choice top five and also had to do without Tom Latham, who was due to lead them but fractured his thumb in the third T20I. They were never really in the chase against a disciplined South African effort. None of their batters scored more than Bevan Jacobs’ 36 and they only had one partnership which threatened: 52 between Jimmy Neesham and Jacobs for the fifth wicket.
Overall it was a messy affair on both sides, with nine dropped catches in the game, the most for any men’s T20I as per ESPNCricinfo’s ball-by-ball data logs since June 2018
Rubin Hermann has been involved in half of South Africa’s top stands and looked set for a big one today. Early in his innings, Hermann took down Ben Sears no matter what length he bowled and took 14 runs off four balls. Later, he showed his strength against spin when he joined Esterhuizen in targeting McConchie. But then Hermann did not hit a boundary for 12 balls and needed to take it on. When Sears went hard length, Hermann pulled but got his timing wrong and skied the ball towards mid-off. Nick Kelly ran from mid-on, made his ground and then stuck out one hand to take a superman catch, flying low to the ground. Hermann was out for 39, and the second-wicket partnership was broken on 59.
While Hermann’s promise only peeped through, Esterhuizen went from excellent to exceptional and topped up his maiden international half-century from game four with a new career-best: 75 off 33 balls in the finale. His on-side dominance was on display, as he scored 52 runs in that half of the ground, including five of his six sixes. The biggest ones came off McConchie who he hit back over his head, then over midwicket and over square leg. In total, Esterhuizen scored 21 runs off 8 balls but wasn’t shy to show what he could do against the quicks either. In the last two overs, he took 25 runs off Kyle Jamieson and Sears. His innings ended when he tried to send a Sears full toss to Neesham with two balls to go and he ended the series with a total of 200 runs, 100 more than his nearest competitor, Devon Conway.
It’s been a tough few months for Jason Smith. He only played one game at the T20 World Cup, despite being a first-choice pick in the squad and has not managed to get one score over 20 in five innings on this tour. And then things seemed to become tougher. Smith was at extra cover when Dane Cleaver, on 1, backed away from a Gerald Coetzee ball and smashed it to him. It was hit hard and could have taken some holding onto but Smith let it burst through his hands. Luckily for him, three overs later, the chance to do better came. Ottneil Baartman drew a leading edge from a Cleaver and the ball looped to him at point. He made no mistake and Cleaver was dismissed for 22. New Zealand were 46 for 2 after the powerplay and well behind the chase.
Contrastingly, Coetzee has had a wonderful 10 days after missing out on T20 World Cup selection and recovering from a torn pec muscle. He finished as the joint leading wicket taker, and the one with the lowest economy rate in the series. In today’s match, he didn’t concede a boundary until the final ball he bowled, and by then New Zealand were out of the game. Coetzee bowled two overs with the new ball, for 11 runs, and should have Cleaver’s wicket and then returned for the 17th and 19th overs. His penultimate over was a mix of quick short balls with the odd change of pace and cost two runs. Reward came in his last over, when he had Josh Clarkson caught off a leading edge at cover and McConchie caught at long-on trying to clear the ropes off a cross seam ball. Coetzee finished with 2 for 21 in four overs.
Brief scores:
South Africa 187 for 4 in 20 overs (Tony de Zorzi 12, Wiaan Mulder 31, Rubin Hermann 39, Connor Esterhuizen 75, Dian Foresster 21*; Zak Foulkes 1-22, Ben Sears 2-37, Josh Clarkson 1-14) beat New Zealand 154 for 8 in 20 overs (Tim Robinson 25, Dane Cleaver 22 , Nick Kelley 14, Bevan Jacobs 36, James Neesham 24, Josh Clarkson 13; Gerald Coetzee 2-21, Wiaan Mulder 2-28, Ottneil Baartman 2-33, Keshav Maharaj 1-35)by 33 runs
(Cricinfo)
Kingswood College are riding high on confidence after ending a decades-long wait for victory against arch rivals Dharmaraja in their annual Big Match, but the Kandy school has little time to celebrate as they now shift focus towards securing promotion to Division I in the Under-19 Schools Cricket tournament.
Following their historic triumph on Sunday, Kingswood will next compete in the knockout stage of the Division II Tier ‘A’ competition. Victories in both the quarter-final and semi-final will secure the much-anticipated promotion to the Division I of the premier Under-19 cricket tournament.
Kingswood had spent several seasons in Division II before coming under the guidance of coach Susantha Basnayaka. Their steady progress over the last few years saw them reach the final of the Division II Tier B tournament last season, which earned them promotion to the Tier ‘A’ segment. That gradual development has now placed them on the brink of Division I status.
The school has also gained recognition for producing players capable of performing at the national junior level. One such product is Kavija Gamage, who represented Sri Lanka at the last ICC Under-19 Youth World Cup.
Gamage delivered a remarkable all-round performance to lead Kingswood’s historic win — their first Big Match victory over Dharmaraja in more than 60 years — and was undoubtedly the standout performer of the contest.
No player in the big match season had dominated a game as comprehensively as Gamage, whose contributions with both bat and ball helped Kingswood punch above their weight against a side competing in a higher division.
Despite Kingswood’s growing strength, Dharmaraja entered the encounter as favourites, having held the Big Match trophy for an unprecedented 68 years.
Gamage’s influence was felt from the very first innings. Batting on a difficult surface, he produced a superb knock of 112 — the only score above 20 in the Kingswood innings. His 149-ball effort included 13 fours and two sixes as Kingswood struggled against the bowling of Sasith Bandara (5/80), Sumeda Prasad (2/37) and Keshan Gunawardhana (3/53).
Coach Basnayaka later described the innings as the turning point of the match.
”The century in the first innings was the turning point. We were six wickets down for 99 runs at one stage. Kavija’s century helped us recover and post a formidable total on a difficult wicket,” Basnayaka told The Island.
In the second innings, Kingswood adopted a more aggressive approach as they aimed to accelerate the scoring before declaring. Gamage once again rose to the occasion.
”Our plan was to score as much as possible in the first 15 overs in the morning and declare. Kavija was in his 90s at the end of those overs and we decided to declare after he reached the century,” Basnayaka explained.
Opening batsman Aadhel Sheriff provided excellent support during that phase. Sheriff — the team’s leading run scorer of the season with more than 700 runs — shared a valuable 70-run stand with Gamage for the third wicket.
Gamage went on to complete his second century of the match with an unbeaten 100 off just 80 deliveries, striking six fours and five sixes as Kingswood declared soon afterwards.
Dharmaraja, chasing the target, were eventually bowled out for 166. Spinner Kenula Pihilianga delivered a match-winning spell to claim a remarkable match haul of 11 wickets, while Gamage capped off his outstanding performance by finishing with eight wickets in the match.
While Kingswood now look ahead to the possibility of earning promotion to Division I, Dharmaraja face a contrasting challenge. They currently sit at the bottom of their Division I Tier ‘B’ group and are battling to avoid relegation.
Kingswood team celebrate after recording a historic victory. Coach Susantha Basnayaka is seen in the centre with the trophy.
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