Connect with us

Sports

No saint without a past, no sinner without a future

Published

2 years ago

on

Virat Kohli and Niroshan Dickwella clash during Calcutta Test in 2017.

by Rex Clementine

Our criticism of Niroshan Dickwella hasn’t gone down too well with some people.After a career with the Sri Lankan side that lasted for nearly ten years, Dickwella was finally axed last year in favour of Sadeera Samarawickrama. He is back in the reckoning now having joined the team in Bangladesh as a last minute replacement for Kusal Perera.

Dickwella and his successor Samarawickrama have contrasting lifestyles. But that’s none of our problem. As the great Richie Benaud, one of the finest journalists once said, ‘Our job starts when players go on to the field and it ends when they come out of it. What they do in between is none of our business.”

Our evaluation of Dickwella is purely based on what he has done on the field. Yes, there is a bit of anger. As we said last week, Dickwella is the most talented person to play for Sri Lanka since Angelo Mathews. Add to that his fighting spirit and a sharp cricket brain, we even predicted that if someone were to emulate Arjuna Ranatunga, it had to be Dickwella.

Any coach who has worked with him from the great Graham Ford to affable Mickey Arthur would vouch for his precious talent. But what he has done with that talent is disappointing indeed.

Early in his career when Sri Lanka toured India, during a Test match in Calcutta we saw for the first time what Dickwella is capable of. It was a Test match that Sri Lanka were going to lose. But Dickwella saved it.

His time-wasting tactics and getting under the skin of the opposition was great to watch. More than that was his game awareness when he reminded the umpire the rule of three players behind square on the leg-side had to be a no ball. You had not seen that kind of combativeness since the days of Arjuna.

Dickwella stood up to Virat Kohli, of all people. They had a go at each other. Given the helm with which Kohli is held in world cricket, most people get their tail between the legs when Kohli has a crack at them. Opponents are just happy to click selfies with the Indian captain after the game. Not Dickwella. He stood his ground and told Kohli where to get off.

The Indian captain, known for his competitiveness, didn’t have an axe to grind with Dickwella after the incident. At the post-match media briefing he appreciated the confrontational attitude and told us that we are seeing a special talent. That was like music to the ear.

“I like to see that character. I liked that competitiveness on the field. He is someone who takes a lot of pride in his cricket, impressed with what I have seen so far from him. He has got great ability to do something very special for Sri Lankan cricket,” Kohli said in response to a question posed by Sunday Island.

“In the heat of things, I will do anything for my team to win. Dickwella is like me. Afterwards we had a chat on the flight. When your opponent is competitive you’ve got to respect that. He is a very feisty character and that works for his game. Credit for him for maintaining that and I am sure he will do many good things for Sri Lankan cricket.”

Then in the final Test match in Delhi, Sri Lanka were again staring down the barrel. A partnership between Dickwella and Roshen Silva helped them save the blushes. Sri Lanka had already lost the series having been beaten in Nagpur in the second Test. To everyone’s surprise Dickwella told his partner not to settle for a draw but try and chase down the target.

“We have anyway lost the series. It doesn’t matter whether we lose 1-0 or 2-0. But if we try and win this game, it will be our first Test win in India. We will create history,” those were Dickwella’s words to his partner.

Roshen Silva wasn’t so adventurous. He wanted to play for a draw. We all came home from that tour thinking what a precious talent we have unearthed. Sky was the limit we thought for Dickwella.

Well, we all know what Dickwella has gone on to achieve and done for Sri Lankan cricket. He has been an absolute waste of talent. You can not blame the administration at all. They have realized his skills and given him ample opportunities. But he has failed to grab them.

However, having said that, there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future. Hopefully, Dickwella’s second coming brings the best out of him. Kudos to the selectors and the management for the manner in which they have guided him along this time. They’ve given him an ultimatum wanting more accountability. That’s the way it should have been always.


Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

Chamodi Prabodha to lead Sri Lanka women’s U19 National Team for the tour of Australia

Published

3 hours ago

on

2026/04/3

By

The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Panel has named a 15-member squad for the upcoming Tri- Series tour of Australia, which will also feature England.

During the tour, the team will play a total of six matches, comprising two One Day and four T20 games, scheduled for the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 17th, and 18th of April.

The squad is scheduled to depart for Australia today [3rd April 2026.]

 

Continue Reading

Latest News

Sri Lanka Cricket Appoint National coaches for Bowling, Fielding and Spin Bowling

Published

3 hours ago

on

2026/04/3

By

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced the following appointments to the National High Performance Center:

Ryan van Niekerk – National Bowling Coach

Ryan van Niekerk, who served as the bowling coach and interim head coach of the Netherlands national team from 2023 to 2026, was appointed as the national bowling coach of Sri Lanka Cricket.

In this role, he will oversee fast bowling across all national teams, including the national men’s team.

Before taking over the interim role, he worked as the assistant coach and bowling coach of the Netherlands national men’s team.

During his stint with the Netherlands team, Ryan has contributed to the team’s participation in major international tournaments such as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.

He was appointed for a two-year tenure, commencing on 15th April 2026.

Jordan Gregory – National Fielding and Spin Bowling Coach

Jordan Gregory, who has worked as a fielding consultant for Netherlands Cricket, was appointed as the national fielding and spin bowling coach.

He will be responsible for overseeing fielding and spin bowling across all national teams at the High Performance Center, including the national men’s team.

During his time with Netherlands Cricket, Gregory has contributed to several bilateral and multinational tournaments, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2023.

Jordan will begin his two-year tenure on 15th April 2026.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Klaasen fifty, Travishek onslaught hand Sunrisers Hyderabad first points of the season

Published

12 hours ago

on

2026/04/3

By

Heinrich Klaasen scored 52 off 35 balls [Cricinfo]

Sunrisers Hyderabad [SRH] became the first team in IPL 2026 to successfully defend a total, and for that, they had to post 226 for 8, the highest score of the season so far. Even that did not look safe at one point, but in the end, Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR]  fell short by 65 runs.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma set the platform for SRH by adding 82 in 5.4 overs. Head made 46 off 21 balls, and Abhishek 48 off 21. KKR did make a comeback in the middle overs, but Heinrich Klassen’s  52 off 35 deliveries ensured they picked up 51 in the last four overs.

Finn Allen, batting on the same strip where he had scored a blazing hundred against South Africa in the T20 World Cup semi-final, started the chase by smashing 24 runs off David Payne. But Harsh Dubey had him caught and bowled from the other end. Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 27-ball fifty steered KKR to 110 for 3 in ten overs, but his run-out soon after proved to be the turning point. Rinku Singh’s brief resistance was futile, and KKR were eventually all out for 161 in 16 overs.

Ajinkya Rahane, playing his 200th IPL match, opted to bowl after winning the toss. Vaibhav Arora started with three dots, beating Head’s outside edge on all three occasions. But that was the proverbial calm before the storm. Head pulled the last ball of the over for four before picking two more fours off Blessing Muzarabani in the next over.

Muzarabani was trying the short-ball ploy that had worked for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Jacob Duffy against the same opposition in the tournament opener, but it backfired here. Abhishek rubbed it in by pulling yet another short ball from Muzarabani for a six.

After Head smashed two sixes and two fours in Vaibhav’s next over, Rahane turned to spin. Sunil Narine conceded only three runs from the fourth over, and even induced a miscue from Head, but it landed safely. However, Abhishek took Varun Chakravarthy apart from the other end, hitting two sixes and three fours in a 25-run over.

Kartik Tyagi ended the stand by dismissing Head, but not before the batter had smashed him for a four and a six. SRH finished the powerplay on 84 for 1.

Muzarabani pulled things back for KKR by dismissing Ishan Kishan and Abhishek in the space of three balls. Kishan was caught at deep cover, and Abhishek at deep square leg, where Varun dived forward to complete a low catch. The third umpire had multiple looks at it before deciding it in KKR’s favour.

In the next over, Anukul Roy had Aniket Verma caught at long-off to make it 118 for 4. After that, Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy decided to go into consolidation mode. As a result, only 37 runs came from overs 10 to 14.

Klaasen and Reddy picked up a four each off Narine in the 15th over, but Tyagi gave away only seven runs in the next. When Vaibhav conceded only three off the first five balls of the 17th over, it started looking like the final flourish might never come. But his final ball was in the slot for Reddy, who launched it over the bowler’s head for a six.

Klaasen then reverse-lapped Tyagi over deep third for a six, before Reddy hit him for back-to-back fours. Vaibhav hurt SRH by dismissing Reddy and Salil Arora off successive deliveries, but Klaasen, with the help of Dubey and Shivang Kumar, took them past 220.

Allen gave KKR the start they needed, with 25 runs coming off the first over. While Rahane was struggling and eventually fell for 8 off ten balls, Raghuvanshi didn’t let the scoring rate drop. He hit two sixes off Abhishek in the third over, and smashed back-to-back fours off Jaydev Unadkat in the fifth. After five overs, KKR were 67 for 2.

Cameron Green, though, was run out in the following over. As Raghuvanshi drove one back towards Eshan Malinga, the two batters set off, only to find the bowler had stopped the ball with his boot. Both Raghuvanshi and Green froze for a moment before deciding to keep running. Malinga picked the ball up and broke the stumps. Initially, it looked like Raghuvanshi, who was running towards the non-striker’s end, was run out. But the TV umpire found out the batters hadn’t crossed when the wicket was broken, and it was Green who was out.

Raghuvanshi and Rinku, though, kept the chase on track, and took KKR to 100 in nine overs, with SRH’s poor ground fielding also contributing towards it.

Soon after that, Reddy got rid of Roy and Rinku in back-to-back overs. Narine and Ramandeep Singh took KKR to 155 for 6 in the 15th over, before falling to Malinga’s slower balls. Unadkat then wrapped up the win with two wickets in two balls.

Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 226 for 8 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 52, Abhishek Sharma 48, Travis Head 46, Ishan Kishan 14, Nitish Kumar Reddy 39; Vaibhav Arora 2-47,  Blessing Muzarabani 4-41, Kartik Tyagi 1-48, Anukul Roy 1-16) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 161 in 16 overs (Finn Allen 28, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 52, Rinku Singh 35, Ramandeep Singh 10, Sunil Narine 12; Harsh Dubey 1-17, Jaydev Unadkat 3-21, Eshan Malinga 2-14, Nitish Kumar Reddy 2-17) by 65 runs

Eshan Malinga and Shivang Kumar celebrate after running out Angkrish Raghuvanshi [Cricinfo]

[Cricinfo]

Continue Reading

Trending