by Rex Clementine

As Sri Lanka were crashing to another heavy defeat in Cardiff, former England coach David Lloyd reminded us some harsh truths. He said that Sri Lanka probably needed an Arjuna Ranatunga to get under the skin of England. Arjuna had many ways to skin a cat. He would walk those singles, arrive late for the toss, target opposition’s best bowler 24 hours before the contest by calling him overrated. Then he would purposely forget his opposite number’s name, calling Alec Stewart by the name of Michael Atherton, just to remind the England captain that he was there by default than merit.

Bumble saw it all during his tenure as England’s coach. Sri Lanka recorded their maiden Test win in British soil when he was the coach in 1988.

Sri Lanka under Kusal Janith Perera aren’t showing any such bold tactics. They are playing limited overs cricket like what England used to do in 1990s. On Thursday in Cardiff, Sri Lanka failed to score a boundary during the six overs of Power Play!

Cardiff is a beautify city. It’s a two and half hour train ride from London. There are busses from the station to the ground, but if you are ever going there walk from the station to the Sophia Gardens. It’s a ten minute walk passing the monstrous rugby stadium and the 11th century Cardiff Castle. Along the road you find many pubs and restaurants until you reach River Taff. Partying in Cardiff, the capital of Wales continues well beyond 2 am. Pity the Sri Lankan players, their bio-secure bubble life means that they can have no outside interaction as they are restricted to the hotel, team bus and ground.

There was a famous bread and breakfast place on Cathedral Road, right behind the ground that Sri Lankan reporters frequent. The first time we were there, the waiter asked us what we would like to eat. All of us were unanimous that we wanted ‘English breakfast’ and told the waiter so. His name was Gruffydd, he banged the  table and told us that in Wales what you get is the ‘Welsh breakfast and not English breakfast.’ Welsh or English it is the same; bacon egg and sausages. But Welsh think they are being constantly undermined by the English. They are damn good at many things and Welsh – English rivalry in sports, particularly in rugby, is legendary. 

Coming back to cricket, if you take the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, England was a team that failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. They had no clue how to play limited overs cricket. In that competition, in the clash against Sri Lanka, they set a target of 310, which Sri Lanka reached with nine wickets and several deliveries to spare. Yet, four years on, they are World Champions in the 50 over format and ranked number one in the T-20 segment.

While they have done something right in the shorter formats of the game, we Sri Lankans have gone on the reverse gear. The composition of England side in 2015 and now hasn’t changed much. Morgan was captain and Moeen, Root, Buttler and Woakes were all part of the side. England are at the moment playing an aggressive brand of cricket while Sri Lanka are struggling to hit find the ropes even during Power Play when fielding restrictions are on. That was the biggest insult to our cricket in a long time.

Captain Kusal Janith Perera cracked under pressure. He loves when width is on offer and when England rarely offered a chance for him to free his arms, he ran out of ideas. Had he only shown the aggression that he showed during the contracts negotiations, Sri Lanka could have bowed out with their heads held high. But this was such a one-sided affair in Cardiff and the series was handed to the hosts without a contest. 

There’s a dead rubber on Saturday at Rose Bowl followed by three ODIs. Fans are burning the midnight oil with the hope that their team will turn things around but the ‘fearless cricket’ that KJP promised us is nowhere to be seen.  

The players have made a hue and cry before going on the tour refusing to sign central contracts. Performances such as these are not giving them a voice to negotiate or bargain against the performance based contracts that have been offered.

KJP has been entrusted with a young team with the hope that he will be able to build up for the future after four years of struggle. He will have lot of backing if he helps the team win again and put them on the right track. His voices will be then heard but not when the team has been ridiculed for not being able to find the boundary during the Power Play.