The fall of the once mighty West Indies has been steep across formats, yet in T20 cricket they still land the odd knockout punch. Sri Lanka, too, have slipped from the heady days when they were perennial contenders at ICC events and nowhere is the decline more glaring than in the shortest format. Still, old pros refuse to write them off. Nasser Hussain has tipped the islanders to spring a surprise while Jason Gillespie pencilled them in as semi-final material.

The faith is not blind. Sri Lanka know these conditions like the back of their hand and their bowlers possess enough tricks to put any batting line up in trouble. The worry lies elsewhere, a middle order that resembles a jigsaw with pieces missing.

In the modern game an IPL contract is often a golden ticket to the national side, yet Sri Lanka’s initial move to overlook Kamindu Mendis in favour of Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva raised eyebrows. It betrayed a mindset stuck in a different era.

Sunday’s scare against Ireland rammed home the point. Sri Lanka went 57 balls without a boundary until Kamindu broke the shackles with a cheeky reverse sweep, innovation that is the lifeblood of T20 cricket. How such a weapon was left in the holster in the first place is anyone’s guess.

Sri Lanka remain the only side juggling three captains across formats while playing all three of them in the T20 side.

The team’s top order generally fires out of the blocks, tearing along at more than ten an over in the Power Play, but from the seventh over the wheels begin to wobble. The innings turns into a grind and too often they fail to bat the full 20 overs.

When the field spreads and spinners take centre stage, the basics come into play, “milking the bowling”, running hard between the wickets, pinching “one for the throw”. These old school charms may be out of fashion but they still win matches. Soft hands, using the feet, rotating strike, virtues that have been tossed out in the pursuit of the glory shot.

Even associate sides such as UAE and USA boast thriving franchise leagues. Sri Lanka have the LPL, but it has been a stop start affair and has yet to produce a conveyor belt of finishers. Power hitters are thin on the ground. Kusal Janith Perera remains the cleanest striker in the country yet barely scraped into the squad and appears to be cooling his heels among the reserves.

Most nations pick a squad and then anoint a captain. Sri Lanka appear to have done it the other way round. Of course there have been exceptions. Mike Brearley never managed a Test hundred yet marshalled Botham, Gatting and Willis to Ashes glory; Bob Simpson was hauled out of retirement at 41 to steady an Australia stripped bare by the Packer exodus and did a sterling job.

Dasun Shanaka, however, is neither Brearley nor Simpson. For a side searching for direction, he has begun to look like deadwood rather than driftwood. Sri Lanka need to ask some tough questions.

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Sri Lanka lost another boxing icon in Melbourne, Australia with the passing of Douglas Pereira, who succumbed to a heart attack aged 74.

Douglas Pereira ruled the boxing ring with authority during the late 1960’s and early 70’s winning at most prestigious meets in Sri Lanka such as the Stubbs Shield for St. Mary’s College, Dehiwala where they were a dominant force winning a triple crown in 1967, 68 and 69.

He was a fleet footed fighter with lightening speed with his hands.

He joined the Sri Lanka Air Force later and continued his skillful dominance winning his weight class at the Layton Cup, Nationals and other national events before being selected to the Sri Lanka team to the Asian Boxing Championships in Thailand in 1973.

He was part of a three- member Sri Lanka contingent which included fellow Marian Chavo de Kauwe, the latter, who claimed a Silver medal after losing on a split decision in the Gold medal final.

Douggie as he was fondly known to all, was a cheerful larrikin and a lovable soul. Despite being involved in a sport that could sometimes be brutal, he didn’t have a bad bone in his body and was always a pleasure to be around.

Boxing aside, he captained St. Mary’s at rugby at a time when the little school in Dehiwala was at the forefront of many sports.

During his time as a member of St. Mary’s Stubbs Shield team that won the triple crown in the late 1960s, he was blessed to be in an era, where the boys from Dehiwala dominated the ring for around a decade or more.

The team that dominated the Stubbs Shield during that time comprised some of the best pugilists in schools at the time with revered names like Bernard de Zilwa, Hans VanCyulenberg, Godfrey Van Heer, Chavo de Kauwe, Douglas Pereira, Nigel Jansen, Milroy Byrde, ML Peris, Vasantha Perera, Andre Vanderwert and a few others that many on that era would recall.

That tradition continued with more success afterwards as the later generation kept the standard going after Douggie’s team exploits.

Since migrating to Australia, Douglas Pereira chose to live a life away from the limelight unlike his days in Sri Lanka where he was well known and respected as a leading sportsman.

Douggie was ill for a long period before he left us.

The Marian family in Australia and around the world, including his school in Sri Lanka, mourn his passing.

Trevine Rodrigo in Melbourne.

Under 19 Cricket

An unbeaten century by Osanda Pamuditha helped Nalanda post 349 for nine wickets in their allotted 80 overs in reply to Mahinda’s massive total of 507 for seven wickets declared as the Under 19 traditional cricket encounter between the two schools ended in a draw at Campbell Place on Tuesday.

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‎Petes earn first innngs points against Sebs

‎Janith Panditharathna and Sadeesha Silva took four wickets each for St. Peter’s (319) to restrict St. Sebastian’s to 255 runs and take first innings points in a Division I Tier A match at Moratuwa. In their second essay the Petes were 251 for eight at close with Savi Fernando overcoming the first innings dissapointment with a half century. For the home team Adesh Almeida was the standout performer taking five wickets and scoring a half century.

‎‎At Ambepussa, Ameesha Rasanjana anchored the top order batting line up with a knock of 90 runs for Richmond to post 283 runs against St. Anthony’s Katugastota (34/0).

‎In the Tier B tournament, Wesley’s Sri Lanka Under 19 paceman Jeewahan Sriram took six wickets to restrict Sri Sumangala to 245 runs at Bandaragama, while Kushan Subasinghe top scored with 129 runs to set the stage for St. Anne’s to post 411 for seven against St. Anthony’s Wattala (60/1).

‎In the other Tier B match at Weeraketiya, Deneth Sithumina held Moratu Vidyalaya batting together with a 198-ball 85 runs for them to post 171 runs against St. Aloysius’ Galle (84/3). (RF)