By Rex Clementine

President J.R Jayewardene in July 1981 pardoned underworld kingpin Gonawala Sunil, a convicted rapist.  Just a reminder that Presidential pardons were nothing new. The government didn’t stop there. Sunil was made a Justice of Peace. Thirty years later, Sri Lanka’s selectors borrowed a leaf out of the ex-President’s book. They appointed Kusal Mendis as the national cricket team’s vice-captain less than a year after he was arrested and released on bail for causing a motor accident in Panadura killing a 64-year-old man.

SLC gave thumbs up while Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa ratified it. Today, all three would not touch Mendis with a barge pole.

Into the bargain, Kusal had lost his place in the side. He was out of form and there were concerns about his off the field demeanour. Still the selectors thought he was the best bet to be groomed as our next leader.

We keep hearing that Kuasl has got talent and all but talent alone will not help you succeed. There are other ingredients like discipline, hard work and commitment.

Both Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella are serial offenders and very little effort was made by powers that be to put the players in their places. Hence, we are faced with today’s shame where Sri Lankan cricket has become the laughing stock in front of the public.

It is earnestly hoped that SLC deals with the trio firmly. Another slap on the wrist due to club or other affiliations is only going to do the game more harm. The signals that you are getting from Maitland Place are mixed. Here’s why?

If you wonder who was the last Sri Lankan player to be sent home from a tour, it was Jeffrey Vandersay. A night out in St. Lucia during Sri Lanka’s tour of West Indies cost him dearly. He has not represented Sri Lanka for two years but suddenly he is back in the reckoning now ahead of the India series as he has entered the Bio Secure bubble. Has he done anything significant to merit selections? That’s not the case. So why all of a sudden go back to someone who has a colourful history when it comes to discipline?

When Sri Lanka left for England, you sensed this was going to be a 6-0 affair. But then, England did not field their best team. There’s no Ben Stokes and Joffra Archer while Jos Buttler and Jason Roy have appeared sparingly.  

Even then you would say that England are too strong and you can understand Sri Lanka’s struggle. But surely, we could have done much better. We made some strange decisions on tour and our think tank has been exposed. Both selectors and management have little clue on what has happened in the last two or three years and they have failed to keep pace with the game globally.

Not just Kusal Mendis as vice-captain, even their choice for captain was rather strange. Kusal Janith Perera did not captain Royal. He was vice-captain to Yasitha Abeykoon in 2009, a remarkable year for Royal. After school, KJP joined Colts Cricket Club and has remained there for 12 years now. He succeeded Angelo Mathews as captain but has skippered the club for barely three games or so.

So on what basis you pick him to captain the side? If it is experimental what you do is that you hand him the captaincy in one format. But KJP was given both ODI and T-20 sides’ leadership when there was already Dasun Shanaka who had skippered the side to a series win in Pakistan against world’s number one ranked team. As Kumar Sangakkara once said, like God, selectors move about in mysterious ways.

When Dimuth Karunaratne was appointed captain for the last World Cup, he had not played an ODI for more than four years. But the selectors then had very good reason. Sri Lanka were struggling to bat out the full 50 overs and Dimuth was expected to bat through the innings, a role he did to perfection. But all of a sudden he is sacked as skipper and dropped from the side. Again old problems resurface as Sri Lanka are not able to bat 50 overs in England.

What’s the toughest position to bat in cricket? There will be many opinions but most would agree that it is number three.  There’s this promising young cricketer Charith Asalanka who makes his debut in Chester-le-Street and where does he bat?  Number three.  Who’s batting for England there? One bloke by the name of Joe Root. Who’s batting for India in that position? There’s someone called Virat Kohli? What about Australia?  Oh, they have got Steven Smith. And Pakistan? Well, they have world’s number one ranked batsman in Babar Azam. Pramodaya Wickramasinghe gets a debutant to bat at number three! That was one of the most bizarre decisions you have seen in cricket.

You feel for players like Asalanka and Oshada Fernando. The whole world is laughing at them but the problem doesn’t lie with them.

It is earnestly hoped that at least now without wasting further time that authorities invest on the Inter-Provincial competition. Officials in order to show solidarity with clubs avoid the Provincial tournament like the plague and if we continue to do so the world will keep laughing at us.