Cricket in Sri Lanka not dead by any means, Let us be sporty and acknowledge Bangladesh
Sri Lanka did lose to Bangladesh which is lamentable. That the loss was the result of certain mistakes by the home team in a see sawing contest that the minnows of Test cricket came on top is how the game went. The costly follies by the Sri Lankans like dropped catches, poor run out throws, and four specialist batsmen getting out on the trot were contributory factors.
There have been certain grey areas mainly the fielding that needs to be nipped in the bud. While the Sri Lankan camp has to get back to the drawing board and recoup addressing those grey areas, a very dismaying factor is to find a good part of the local media in a seeming exultation at this loss; rather low delights like getting carried away with RIP headlines on Sri Lankan cricket. Nobody likes to lose and the loss is heartburning to Sri Lankans. But are we so cussed as to party on it crucifying our cricket? Are we to descend to the low depths of begrudging Bangladesh of their maiden Test win against Sri Lanka? Are they to remain minnows forever? Did not Sri Lanka beat big muscle nations like the masters of cricket the English from whom the game originated. Did we not beat India and Pakistan, and was it RIP write offs for their cricket? In a great sport that essentially binds mankind in a festering of revelry where to win or lose is part and parcel where critical lapses do occur, is there to be bad blood spilling to bashing our cricket to coffin funeral depths? The best answer to this absurdity that Sri Lankan cricket by no means is dead but very much alive and rearing to go is the hard facts of that historic clean sweep 3-nil Test series drubbing handed to the world’s mite Australia not so long ago. Was that coffin burying stuff?
In an obvious local media environ of certain quarters having axes to grind at the Sri Lankan cricketing establishment, let not this defeat hasten our cricket to a grave, but let it be a lesson to spur our cricketers, mind you, literally the thrust of which is starry eyed youngsters on the blocks not so many moons ago. Similarly, let us be sporty enough to extend a hand of congratulations in the true spirit of this ‘Gentleman’s Game’ as it has been regarded down the ages for all the murky bad trappings that have invaded it. Are we knave enough to sacrifice this next generation of cricketers by pointing a finger at the grave? Surely haven’t these young blokes already shown their salt going ton up in so short a time since their inductions such as Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, and wasn’t it off the Australians at that? Wasn’t young Mendis our match winner at Galle? That this our young find fell along with Chandimal and Dhananjaya to a telling burst of reverse swing was a part of brilliance by the bowler Mustafizur Rahman to be put down to RIP level? Are we so mean as to begrudge the minnows of Test cricket their maiden win? Isn’t it significant that Bangladesh did it in their hundredth match that is a fitting testament of a coming of age in the ultimate of the stretching length? Isn’t it an achievement that we Sri Lankans must be man enough to acknowledge in the true spirit of the game? Or have we shrunk so low as to react in fowl spirit and shove our cricket to the grave?
For all the bad blood, let us remember that cricket is the great reveler. No amount of tearing down overtures can tear down the game in Sri Lanka. The youth investment Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has unearthed in a grassroots concentrated drive is the best answer to the despondent who believe cricket in this land is dead.
By Srian Obeyeskere
-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-