Sports

It’s all De Mel’s faults

Published

4 years ago

2021/01/29

by Rex Clementine

A senior sports writer warned us that less than ten percent of people who read this article are going to like it. But facts are stubborn. As one visionary priest – late Fr. Bernard Quintus OMI used to say, ‘cheap popularity is not going to get us anywhere.’ With the stepping down of Ashantha De Mel, cricket has found a scapegoat on whom all sins are pinned. It’s as if Sri Lankan cricket hit rock bottom due to De Mel’s blunders. The truth is far from it.

De Mel has been shredded to pieces in social media. At this rate, he will be even blamed for the extreme heat that people are experiencing in Mannar these days and not Rishad. Most of the things said about De Mel are not true. For example that his wife is related to Shiranthi Rajapaksa, the wife of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa! That’s a total fabrication.

However, what is true is that De Mel was Chairman of Selectors when Sri Lanka reached the finals of three World Cups – in 2007 in the Caribbean, in 2009 in London and in 2012 at RPS. For record’s sake, he was also Chairman of Selectors when Sri Lanka whitewashed England in their own backyard 5-0 in 2006. During his tenure, the national cricket team won Test matches in Pakistan, New Zealand, England, West Indies and South Africa.

There’s a lot to like about De Mel; lot of things that people dislike. The foremost of them being that he minces no words and calls a spade a spade. Selectors are supposed to take unpopular decisions. He has taken plenty of them, including the sacking of Arjuna Ranatunga. He was the Chairman when Marvan Atapattu was picked in the 2007 World Cup squad but benched for all games. When Marvan vented his anger calling his selection panel ‘a bunch of puppets headed by a joker’, at the Gabba, De Mel bore the brunt of it and never spoke against Marvan. That’s a hallmark of someone who has matured doing the job.

People who have stoned and crucified him have conveniently forgotten that he was Chairman of Selectors when Sri Lanka recorded one of their greatest wins in the history 18 months ago – a Test series win in South Africa. He was vilified when he picked Oshada Fernando and Lasith Embuldeniya out of the blues. The press, including yours truly, asked what they had done to merit selections. But as uncle Percy says, ‘De Mel knows his onions’. He has this rare ability to spot talent and persevere with them.

Those two selections proved to be a masterstroke. Both players made match winning contributions as Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to win a Test series in South Africa.

We Sri Lankans by nature tend to find quick fixes rather than going to the bottom of an issue. So as our batting crumbled against England, all blame was placed on De Mel’s doorstep. Is he also doubling up as Batting Coach apart from his multiple roles as Chairman of Selectors and Manager? It’s so sad to see that nobody is holding Grant Flower accountable.

This is not to say that we agree with all decisions of De Mel. His biggest blunder was appointing Lasith Malinga as T-20 and ODI captain. Once he gave the captaincy to Lasith, it was extremely difficult to get it back. Lasith and captaincy is like Ranil and UNP leadership. Cricket being a gentleman’s game Lasith eventually gave in. Ranil bats on regardless – no shame whatsoever. Sir John Kotelawala must be spinning in his grave.

De Mel’s other biggest fault was giving in to political pressure and accommodating that ‘three dimensional’ cricketer Jeevan Mendis into the World Cup squad in 2019. We always think that Jeevan Mendis is the Michael Jordan of Sri Lanka. Once in every four years the Bulls legend made a cameo appearance for the Dream Team during the Olympics and so does our hero who is indispensable when a World Cup is around the corner. His Thomian pedigree took him places – if you can read between the lines.

You can blame De Mel as much as you want but you better find out a new scapegoat by April when Bangladesh are going to be here. We have already got one in mind – Ashley de Silva.

Cricket authorities need to take both long term and short term steps to avoid a catastrophe against Bangladesh. The short term answers are getting two ‘A’ teams to visit Sri Lanka and get our second string to play competitive cricket and try and see whether the replacements for Dilruwan Perera and Niroshan Dickwella can be found. At the moment, these guys have had it too easy. There’s no one breathing down their neck.

The long term solution is fixing domestic cricket. This SLC is hell bent on not doing because they will be antagonizing those clubs who vote them into positions. The Sports Minister has promised to address the issue to introduce a competitive domestic tournament. So did his predecessors. The only thing that is certain about a politician and his promises are that they can be broken.

So instead of blaming De Mel, we need to address the real issues. Unless we do that, we are fooling ourselves. No individual is at fault for this mess. The blame needs to be placed on the doorstep of SLC and their short sighted policies. The initial plan was to have eight teams play First Class cricket. When people triple it, we are asking for trouble. And then we are blaming De Mel for all our problems.

As said at the start, there is a good possibility of 90% of our readers not liking this article. Thank you for being one of them.

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MLC 2025: Boult’s sixes help MI New York eliminate Unicorns in thriller

Published

4 hours ago

2025/07/10

Priyan

Trent Boult's sixes turned the game back in MINY's favour [Cricinfo]

MI New York and San Francisco Unicorns rode a rollercoaster in Dallas with unending twists and turns, till inaugural champions MINY edged last year’s runners-up Unicorns to a two-wicket win. In a game that featured several small but crucial contributions from various players, Trent Boult stood out with his returns of 2 for 19, and even more the back-to-back sixes towards the end of the tense chase of 132, which took MINY to victory and to Qualifier 2 and eliminated Unicorns.

MINY will now face Texas Super Kings to decide who takes on Washington Freedom in the MLC 2025 final.

Unicorns were lagging behind in the game almost from the start, when they were reduced to 16 for 5 in the powerplay. The twist came when No. 8 Xavier Bartlett powered them to a respectable 131 with a 24-ball 44.

MINY were then cruising in their chase with an opening stand of 43, before Mathew Short’s three strikes started their slide and Hasan Khan’s two double-wicket overs added to the Unicorns comeback. MINY were left needing 24 to get off 19 balls but with only two wickets in hand. The final twist came when Boult smashed two sixes off Hassan to turn the equation into a comfortable five to win from nine balls. MINY did not falter thereafter.

MINY made the most of their decision to bowl, with Boult and Nosthush Kenjige removing Unicorns’ top four for single-digit scores. While Boult had Tim Seifert and Jake Fraser-McGurk edging behind, Kenjige had Short and Sanjay Krishnamurthi out caught. The last wicket was thanks to a sharp running catch, with Boult running backwards from short third and finishing with a juggle.

Unicorns’ problems were compounded when Hassan Khan was involved in a mix-up with Cooper Connolly, falling short to a direct hit from Nicholas Pooran while on a golden duck.

Bartlett then rebuilt the innings in partnerships with Hammad Azam and Brody Couch, smashing towering sixes down the ground. He helped Unicorns race from 50 to 100 in just four overs after the halfway mark, and finally fell when he slapped a slow and short delivery from Kieron Pollard straight to midwicket in the 18th over. Rushil Ugarkar dismissed Liam Plunkett and Couch on either side of Bartlett’s wicket to finish with 3 for 19.

A rain break delayed the start of the chase but didn’t reduce any overs. Monak Patel and Quinton de Kock were going steady, scoring 37 runs in the powerplay. But then came Short’s double blow: he trapped de Kock lbw from around the wicket, and four balls later struck the top of middle stump by going through Pooran’s bat and pad.

Monank led the chase, going at just over a-run-a-ball. But he soon pulled a Short delivery to deep square leg and MINY were 81 for 3. The alarm bells went off when Pollard, who had scored two fifties in the last three games, chipped an innocuous delivery to long-on. Fraser-McGurk took a diving catch, and suddenly, Pooran was looking worried in the dugout.

The alarm bells rang much louder when Hassan struck on consecutive deliveries, first going through Michael Bracewell’s pull to knock his stumps over, and then drawing an outside edge from Heath Richards that stuck in Seifert’s gloves. MINY were now 98 for 6, still 34 adrift with 31 balls to go.

Hassan struck two more times in the 17th over. MINY were in a lot more trouble, with the equation soon reading 19 to get from 12. Boult stepped up with consecutive sixes off Hassan and even farmed the strike to deny Kenjige much exposure.

In the end, Kenjige himself went on to hit the winning runs with three balls to spare.

Brief scores:
MI New York 132 for 8 in 19.3 overs (Quinton De Kock 33, Monank Patel 33, Michaell Bracewell 18, Trent Boult 22*; Xavier Bartlett 1-27, Hassan Khan 4-30, Mathew Short 3-22) beat San Francisco Unicorns 131 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 23, Hammad Azam 11, Xavier Bartlett 44, Brody Couch 19; Rushil Ugarkar 3-19, Trent Boult 2-19, Nosthush Kenjige 2-43, Tristan Luus 1-32, Kierron Pollard 1-11 ) by two wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Spinners set up historic series win for India Women

Published

9 hours ago

2025/07/10

Priyan

Radha Yadav was named the Player of the Match [Cricinfo]

After their 3-0 ODI series sweep in 2022, India Women achieved another milestone with their first T20I series victory on English soil. The result is especially significant, coming less than a year before they return to these shores in pursuit of their maiden T20 World Cup title.

Wednesday’s victory at Old Trafford was shaped by India’s spinners – Radha Yadav and Shree Charani – who picked up a combined 4 for 45 in eight overs to restrict England to 126 for 7 after they chose to bat for the second match in a row.

Four overs are all it took for India’s openers – Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana – to prove those runs were hardly adequate. Where England hit all of eight fours in their innings, they conceded nine in four overs alone. India’s openers put on 56 in seven overs to set the tone for a dominating win.

India applied early pressure with spin, removing both England openers inside the powerplay. After being struck for a four and a six by Sophia Dunkley in her first three deliveries, Charani hit back in the same over, as Danni Wyatt-Hodge miscued a slog to long-on.

Dunkley, looking in fine touch, fell in the sixth over as she was lured into an uppish drive by Deepti Sharma, who cleverly deceived her in flight with Radha completing a sharp diving catch at point. The wicket was a significant one, taking Deepti past Nida Dar’s tally to become the leading wicket-taker among spinners in Women’s T20Is. Overall, Deepti is now only six behind Megan Schutt’s tally of 151.

Tammy Beaumont showed glimpses of a revival, as she took the attack to Sneh Rana in hitting her for two well-placed cuts to split a packed off-side ring in the eighth over. But her counterattack was short-lived; she holed out to long-on attempting to go big off Radha. India soon had a double-strike five balls later when Alice Capsey was lbw attempting a reverse sweep off the hugely impressive Charani. England slumped from 68 for 2 to 93 for 5 by the 15th over.

The innings stagnated through the middle overs, with no boundaries coming off the bat from the middle of the 10th over until the end of the 19th, for 56 deliveries. Poor running between the wickets added to England’s struggles, including a costly mix-up that led to Charlie Dean’s run-out from backward point. India’s ground fielding, catching and cutting off angles was massively impressive. Arundhati Reddy proved pivotal in the deep, taking three well-judged catches at long-on during this dry spell.

Right towards the end, marking her 100th T20I in front of a home crowd, Sophie Ecclestone finally broke the boundary drought in the 19th over, shoveling Amanjot Kaur to the midwicket fence. She topped that off with two slog sweeps for sixes off Deepti, taking advantage of the wind, to give England a late surge. They closed on 126, the final over producing 16.

Shafali came out firing, matching England’s short-pitched attack with fearless aggression. Hard lengths and deliveries dug into the pitch posed no threat as she simply backed away to swing, shovel and slap her way to three fours and 14 runs in the second over off Lauren Filer, setting the tone for India’s chase. Coming off two low scores at the start of the series and left out of the ODI squad, this was a crucial knock for her confidence.

Not to be overshadowed, Mandhana joined the charge as she took the attack to Dean with a clean strike over mid-on. The pair raised the half-century of their partnership in the seventh over to keep the pressure on England. Ecclestone fell just short of catching Shafali on 29, running back from mid-off at the end of the powerplay. But England didn’t have to pay for it, as Shafali hacked one to deep square on 31.

India soon lost Mandhana too as she sliced a catch to short third, and the visitors went boundary-less for 40 balls from overs 7.2 to 13.6, Jemimah Rodrigues breaking the drought with a lofted hit off Lauren Bell. Harmanpreet Kaur too struggled for timing, and was nearly worked over on a number of occasions by Ecclestone, as she teased her in flight, loop and guide in a terrific exhibition of spin bowling – her figures reading 3-0-11-1 at one stage.

It wasn’t until India needed 27 off 34 that Harmanpreet managed a boundary, off her 20th delivery – a lofted hit over extra cover off Dean. The struggle was over as she put the next ball away to the deep square leg fence. Victory wasn’t far away from there on.

Harmanpreet and Rodrigues put on 48 off 42, along the way ensuring India didn’t slip up like they did earlier in the week. While Harmanpreet wasn’t around to see her team home, Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 24, bringing up the winning runs with a paddle as India cruised home with 18 balls to spare.

Brief scores:
India 127 for 4 in 17 overs (Smriti Mandhana 32, Shafali Verma 31,Jemimah Rodrigues 24*, Harmanpreet Kaur 26; Charlie Dean 1-29, Sophie Ecclestone 1-20, Issy Wong 1-18) beat England Women 126 for 7 in 20 overs (Sophia Dunkley 22, Alice Capsey 18, Tammy Beaumont 20, Paige Scholfield 16, Sophie Ecclestone 16*, Issy Wong 11*; Amanjot Kaur 1-20, Deepti Sharma 1-29, Radha Yadav 2-15, Shree Charani 2-30) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Sri Lanka eye T20 climb as Bangladesh series begins

Published

15 hours ago

2025/07/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

Dasun Shanaka is set to feature in the Sri Lankan side after almost a year in the first T20 International against Bangladesh that gets underway today at Pallekele.

Having turned the corner in One-Day Internationals with seven series wins out of nine since the Champions Trophy heartbreak, Sri Lanka now shift focus to the shortest format where their progress has been more of a stop-start affair.

Ranked seventh in T20 Internationals, Sri Lanka begin their three-match series against Bangladesh at Pallekele today aiming to tighten screws ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup, which they will co-host with India.

“We’ve made headway in ODIs, but T20s still remain a work in progress,” skipper Charith Asalanka told reporters on the eve of the game. “Our target is to get into the top five. The key is consistency and for that we need to get our combination right.”

Sri Lanka have done changes to the middle order. Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Chamindu Wickramasinghe were given a go, but both have been sidelined for the series. In their place return the seasoned campaigners: Chamika Karunaratne and former captain Dasun Shanaka.

Shanaka is expected to bat at number six, but may float up the order depending on the situation, while Karunaratne slots in at number seven.

“We’re trying to be flexible. Shanaka can be used as a floater if we need early acceleration,” Asalanka explained.

Sri Lanka have about 15 games left to fine-tune their plans before the World Cup and Asalanka stressed the need to back players with extended runs rather than short-term trials.

“With seven months to go, we have time on our side. Managing workloads and keeping players in form is vital,” he said. “If the LPL goes ahead before the World Cup, that will give us another window to assess options.”

Among the key tactical moves is a role change for Avishka Fernando, who has been moved down the order after years at the top.

“Avishka batted at number four for Jaffna in the LPL and did a good job. We’ve earmarked that role for him. He’s no longer just an opener,” Asalanka revealed.

Sri Lanka, however, have been dealt a blow with the absence of Wanindu Hasaranga. The talismanic leg-spinner suffered a hamstring injury in the final ODI and has been ruled out of the series.

“Wanindu is our white-ball superstar, so missing him is a big setback,” Asalanka admitted. “But Jeffrey Vandersay has been quietly effective in recent years, and this is his chance to step up.”

The three-match series will be played across three venues – Pallekele, Dambulla and RPS – which Asalanka believes is a good thing.

“World Cups don’t happen at one ground. Playing across three different venues helps us adapt. It’s good preparation,” he said.

Rex Clementine at Pallekele