Sports
Basking in past glories
By Rex Clementine
Some cricket buffs may forget their wife’s birthday, but they will never forget March 17th or to a lesser extent April 6th. One was the day when Sri Lanka won the Wills World Cup in Lahore and the latter was when they won the World T-20 in Dhaka. Thursday marked the ninth anniversary of Sri Lanka being crowned as champions in T-20 cricket and Sanga and MJ quit on a high.
From 2007 to 2014 in the seven-year period Sri Lanka were so consistent in ICC events they reached five World Cup finals. Although there were heartbreaks in four of them, 2014 brought lot of relief. In that period even when the team didn’t reach the finals, they had done well finishing in the last four and so on. Even in Test cricket Sri Lanka were pretty consistent. It was also in the year 2014 they won their first ever Test series in England and two years later whitewashed Aussies 3-0.
We can not just put the blame on the administration and close the book. At that point when the team was winning everything the administration was far worse perhaps.
So you are left with the question what has been the root cause for a team that was so consistent to suddenly lose its bearings unable to automatically qualify for ICC events. Mind you Sri Lanka had to play the qualifying round in the last two T-20 World Cups and now will be doing the same in the 50 over format. What a pity for a proud cricketing nation.
You don’t expect your team to reach the finals every time but the least you can do is to qualify for the event automatically, which can only happen if you maintain healthy rankings, winning bilateral series consistently.
To start with you obviously don’t have the skillful players that you had yesteryear. Sanga, MJ, T.M. Dilshan, Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga were all match winners and they were well backed up by other skillful players.
Currently we don’t have that many match winners and that’s been one major reason for the sloppy show. Secondly, even the ones who are capable of winning us games like Angelo Mathews have been given the cold shoulder resulting in the status quo while other key performers like Kusal Perera have not been looked after well.
Our selection policies have been flawed and unless we bring in someone with a proven track record like Sidath Wettimuny, Marvan Atapattu or Aravinda de Silva we are going to struggle.Obviously teams like India have taken their cricket to a new level thanks to the IPL. For teams like England and Australia the transition period when their key players retire and new ones take over is much less compared to teams like Sri Lanka’s as their domestic cricket is strong.
The least said about our domestic cricket the better it is. We have introduced a provincial tournament called National Super League to address the woes as the best players in the clubs tournament compete in this elite competition. But what’s the point if players who have performed well there don’t get a go at international cricket? Young Sadeera Samarawickrama for example toured both India and New Zealand but was warming the bench.
You tend to get the feeling that the generation before this that brought us much international fame was far more committed and disciplined than the current one. If you see the current lot quite a few of them have been sanctioned for indiscipline and you don’t drive home a point when suspensions are ended prematurely. Probably that’s an area we need to look at.
Sri Lanka batting coach Vikram Rathour has hailed middle-order batter Pavan Rathnayake as one of the finest players of spin in the modern game, saying the youngster’s nimble footwork and velvet touch were a “breath of fresh air” for a side long troubled by the turning ball.
Drafted in for the second T20I after Sri Lanka’s familiar struggles against spin, Rathnayake looked anything but overawed by England’s seasoned tweakers, skipping down the track with sure feet and working the ball into gaps with soft hands.
“He is one of the better players when it comes to using the feet,” Rathour told reporters. “I haven’t seen too many in this generation do it as well as he does. That is really impressive and a good sign for Sri Lankan cricket.”
Sri Lanka went down in a last-over nail-biter but there were silver linings despite the hosts being a bowler short. Eshan Malinga was forced out after dislocating his left shoulder and has been ruled out for at least four weeks, a blow that ends his World Cup hopes. Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan and Nuwan Thushara have been placed on standby.
Power hitting remains Sri Lanka’s Achilles’ heel and Rathour, who carries an impressive CV from India’s T20 World Cup triumph two years ago, pointed to a few grey areas in the batting blueprint.
“There are two components to T20 batting,” he said. “One is power hitting, but the surfaces here, especially in Colombo, are not that conducive to clearing the ropes. The wickets are slow and the ball doesn’t come on to the bat. The other component, just as important, is range as a batting unit.”
Even when Sri Lanka lifted the T20 World Cup in 2014 they were not blessed with a dressing room full of big hitters, relying instead on sharp running, clever placement and a mastery of spin. Rathour preached a similar mantra.
“If you are not a team that hits a lot of sixes, you can still find plenty of fours by utilising the whole ground,” he said. “Most of them sweep well, reverse sweep and use their feet. That is encouraging. If you don’t have the brute power, you can make up for it by using angles and scoring square of the wicket.
“These wickets perhaps suit that style more. They are not the easiest surfaces to hit sixes, and I’m okay with that. If they can use their feet and the angles well, that is as good.”
Rex Clementine
at Pallekele
ITF J30 Colombo Week 2 Tennis
Annaya Norbert in the girls’ category and Ganuka Fernando and Saha Kapilasena in the boys’ category registered first round victories in the ITF J30 Colombo Week 2 Tennis tournament in Colombo.
Results
Girls’ Singles 1St Round
Annaya Norbert beat Armani Naiavadi of India 6-3, 6-3
Boys’ Singles 1st Round
Ganuka Fernando beat Yush Kumar of India 7-6(4), 6-0
Saha Kapilasena beat Abbi Yadya Misa of India 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4)
Under 19 Cricket
Javindu Madusanka with a century and Janith Mihiranga wth a knock of 85 runs helped Gurukula post 312 for nine wickets against St. Sebastians’ on day one of the Under 19 Division I Tier A match at Moratuwa. While Javindu held the top order together with a 179-ball 106 runs (8x4s, 4x6s), Janith kept the late order batting together with his knock.
Malintha Silva with a five wicket haul was the pick of the bowlers for the home team. Koshendra Fernando took three wickets.
In their essay, the Sebs lost two wickets for 45 runs with Sahas Induwara accounting for both wickets.
In a similar scenario, open batsman Hirun Liyanarachchi (100 in 167 balls) with a century and former Holy Cross College all rounder Himaru Deshan with a half century guided Royal to 260 runs in their Tier A match against St. Anthony’s in Kandy. The home team were 22 for no loss at stumps.
In a Tier B match at Kurunegala, Dimath Abesinghe hammered 126 runs in 102 balls (20x4s, 2x6s) and put on a vital partnership for the sixth wicket with Pehesara Bandara to propel Maliyadeva to 372 runs against De Mazenod.
In a traditional encounter, St. Joseph’s posted 313 runs against St. Benedict’s at Darley Road. A century by Senuja Dinhas and a five wicket haul by Mewan Dissanayake were the highlights.
by Reemus Fernando
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