Sports
Spare the rod and spoil the child
by Rex Clementine
There is something special about these cricketing talents from Moratuwa. They tend to throw caution to wind taking on the best of fast bowlers and often fortune favours the brave. Young Avishka Fernando, the latest sensation from St. Sebastian’s College was putting the world’s leading fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Antrich Nortje to sword very much like his predecessors Duleep Mendis and Rumesh Kaluwitharana had done in years gone by.
It was Avishka’s third ODI century. The previous two had come against the West Indies – at Hambantota and during the 2019 World Cup. However, the knock that most talked about is his counterattack on England during the World Cup at Headingley, where Jofra Archer was made to look ordinary.
Avishka has been destined to greatness from the time he piled up runs in the school season. His twin hundreds against England Under-19 helped Sri Lanka Under-19 record a series win in the UK in 2016. Soon, he was drafted into the senior side. Two attributes of Avishka stood out; the shots he plays and the time he has to play them. That flicked six off Kagiso Rabada on Thursday was stunning. There’s little doubt that this boy is Aravinda’s heir.
But Avishka’s success is not instant. He had to be put through the mill. Hats off to Head Coach Mickey Arthur and then Chairman of Selectors Ashantha De Mel for putting their foot down and demanding that he gets his act together.
Avishka was going to make his Test debut in January when England were in town. But he failed a fitness test. De Mel, who was also the Team Manager, sent Avishka home. There was a public outcry. Arthur stood firm. They insisted that there is no coming back unless he met minimum fitness standards.
Damn shame that a 23-year-old could not run two kilometers in eight minutes and 30 seconds and that his skin folds were high.
But Avishka got his act together. He missed out on three series in a row and having got a clear message he worked on his fitness and fought back to earn his place. His batting on Thursday was so breathtaking. Not only is he clearing the boundary, when bad balls are few and rare, he’s rotating the strike well with quick singles. He’s also converting two into three. For seven years, Sri Lanka have not beaten a team ranked at number five or higher in an ODI series. Avishka has given them new hope.
You wonder whether some of the troublemakers like Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka would have got their act together had they been shown the same firmness. Kusal and Danushka are not bad people. They are immensely talented young athletes who need guidance. But the problem was every time there was a misdemeanour, the authorities turned a blind eye and let them off the hook with a slap on the wrist.
When the bubble was breached in Durham, immediately after the names of Kusal and Danushka were mentioned, you wondered how Avishka missed out on the expedition. These are gentlemen who wine and dine together.
The difference was that having missed out on three tours, Avishka had learned some harsh lessons. He wasn’t willing to take any more risks. Whereas the other three, particularly Danushka and Kusal, had been treated with kids’ gloves. They should have been taught a golden rule. ‘If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.’ Sadly, we have spared the rod and spoilt the children.
B Sai Sudarshan strengthened his case to retain the No.3 spot for the upcoming Test series in Sri Lanka, with his 168 for India A against Sri Lanka A in Galle. Sudharsan converted his overnight 104 not out into his career-best score for India A, helping his side stretch their lead to 175 by the end of the third day’s play. India A closed out the day on 541 for 8 in response to Sri Lanka A’s 366.
Devdutt Padikkal failed to add to his overnight 94 and Ruturaj Gaikwad retired hurt on 13, but India A zoomed ahead thanks to Sai Sudharsan, captain Dhruv Jurel (53), Shaik Rasheed (45) and Saransh Jain (68*).
Jurel’s innings was cut short when he was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Dilum Sudeera, who also claimed the wicket of Sai Sudharsan. Allrounder Keshara Nuwantha, meanwhile, claimed the wickets of Padikkal and Shaik Rasheed, and Gurnoor Brar late in the day. Overall, he had figures of 4 for 158 in 50 overs.
Sri Lanka A toiled away, using as many as eight bowlers, but only Sudeera and Nuwantha were among the wickets until captain Sahan Arachchige struck late in the day.
India A’s bowling allrounders Saransh and Auqib Nabi (30) combined for an 81-run stand to take the visitors past 500.
Scores:
India A 541 for 8 in 142 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 168, Devdutt Padikkal 94, Druv Jurel 53, Saransh Jain 68*, Shaik Rasheed 45; Keshara Nuwantha 4-158, Dilum Sudeera 3-101) lead Sri Lanka A 366 in 110 overs (Sahan Arachchige 127; Gurnoor Brar 4-77, Saransh Jain 4-92) by 175 runs
(Cricinfo)
Vaobhav Sooriyavanshi at just 15 years and 99 days, has become the second youngest cricketer to play for a Full Member men’s team*, making his debut against England in Manchester. He enters a list of other precocious talents who had burst on to – and sometimes, gone away – from the international stage in their teenage years.
Hasan Raza (Pakistan), 14y 227d
Hasan Raza was a wonderful timer of the ball. He took the field against Zimbabwe before turning 15 in October 1996, and batted once, scoring 27 off 48 deliveries from No. 5.
Doubts, however, later emerged about his age, and the PCB withdrew the claim that Raza was the youngest men’s Test debutant in the history of the game.
Whether he was 14, or 15 as some claimed, he showed tenacity at the international stage but without the results. He played just one more Test before the turn of the century, and then was dropped from the side. A recall in 2002 resulted in his only two Test fifties, against Australia – slow knocks of 54* and 68. However, he never quite found the same success as he did in first-class cricket, where he scored 13,949 runs in a 20-year career.
Jhon Arias scored the only goal as Colombia beat Ghana 1-0 in sweltering conditions in Kansas City on Friday to reach the World Cup round of 16, continuing a quietly impressive campaign that has established them as dangerous outsiders.
Arias struck in the 14th minute, guiding home a cross from substitute Luis Suarez, and Colombia’s disciplined defence did the rest as Nestor Lorenzo’s side extended their unbeaten run and booked a meeting with Switzerland in the next round.
Colombia had largely flown under the radar at the tournament, despite going undefeated against Portugal, Uzbekistan and DR Congo to top Group K.
Their breakthrough on Friday came from two players who had not been expected to combine, as Suarez, thrust into action after Jhon Cordoba was forced off with an apparent groin injury in the eighth minute, delivered a pinpoint cross to the back post where Arias had somehow drifted unmarked.
With time and space to pick his spot, Arias calmly guided the ball into the bottom corner to hand his side a deserved lead.
The stadium felt more like Barranquilla than Kansas City as tens of thousands of Colombia supporters turned the clash with Ghana – a team ranked 60 places behind them – into a de facto home game, giving the South Americans a level of support rarely seen so far from home.
The stands were a writhing, dancing sea of yellow jerseys, twirling scarves and black-and-white sombrero vueltiao hats, that many used to fan their faces in the oppressive 30-degree Celsius (86-degree Fahrenheit) heat.
They bounced in unison, roared their team forward with every attack, and regularly broke into chants of “Vamos Colombia! Esta noche tenemos que ganar!” (Spanish for ‘Let’s go Colombia, tonight we have to win!’).
They need not have worried. Colombia were the better team by some distance.
Luis Diaz had numerous scoring chances. He fired into the side netting in the first half, then celebrated what he thought was the game’s second goal early in the second half when he slotted home Arias’s cross, but it was disallowed for offside.
Lorenzo’s men continued to push for a second goal, and Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who was excellent all night, made one terrific save after another in the dying minutes as Colombia’s fans cheered every one of their team’s touches of the ball.
Antoine Semenyo was Ghana’s biggest attacking threat, yet Colombia’s disciplined defence denied him a clear sight of goal.
Colombia became the fourth South American team to reach the last 16, joining surprise package Paraguay, who stunned Germany, along with Brazil and Argentina, both of whom survived scares of their own.
Colombia – whose best finish was reaching the quarterfinals in 2014 – play the Swiss on Tuesday in Vancouver.
[Aljazeera]
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