The curious case of Sadeera Samarawickrama

by Rex Clementine

These days selectors are appointed on club loyalties or personal friendships. There was a move a few years ago to bring Marvan Atapattu as the Chairman of Selectors. One legend resisted. He didn’t want Marvan there. The reason being that there would have been no place to carry out his agendas with Marvan at the helm. Instead, he pleaded with the powers that be to install a puppet. Since then, we have all been treated with a puppet show. It’s been a comedy of errors! It truly has been.

We have had some fantastic chief selectors overs the years. There was Mr. Michael Tissera, who was instrumental in bringing Aravinda de Silva back into the fold. Aravinda had given up hopes of making a comeback, but Mr. Tissera offered him a chance on one condition, get fitter and bat at number four for Sri Lanka again. The rest is history.

That’s what a selector should do. International sportsmen have big egos and sometimes you don’t see eye to eye with them. Confrontation may work with some players, but not all. As Mr. Tissera used to say, ‘there are many ways to skin a cat.’

We also had Ashantha de Mel, who very smartly detected that Kumar Sangakkara will be better off as a specialist batsman in Test match cricket than wicketkeeper batsman and it proved to be a masterstroke. De Mel by the way was Chairman of Selectors when Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to win a Test series in South Africa.

Then there was late Guy de Alwis, bless him, who feared no one. He took over at a time when there was undue political influence being placed on team selections. Guy resisted them all and had an honourable exit refusing to carry out the Sports Minister’s request. Guy de Alwis was a rare breed.

Graham Labrooy became chief selector in 2017. Out of the blue, he picked Sadeera Samarawickrama, who was 21 at that time. Sadeera had not scored heavily in domestic cricket. He wasn’t a permanent fixture in the ‘A’ team either. But Labrooy was convinced that he had seen all the right attitudes in young Sadeera.

A player who loved to attack, was excellent on the field, gave you the wicketkeeper’s option, trained hard and remained grounded. That type of young player like Sadeera was very much the need of the hour Labrooy felt as there were too many young players who were getting into trouble for their off the field activities.

Labrooy was proved right. During Sri Lanka’s tour of India in 2017 former great V.V.S. Laxman spoke so highly of Sadeera and so did Indian captain Virat Kohli.

Sadeera was fielding at short leg in the Delhi Test when he copped a nasty blow to his head from Kohli. Instead of retiring to the comforts of the dressing room, Sadeera carried on regardless. Kohli liked that attitude even though it had come from the opposition camp.

But there was a complete overhaul in 2018. The selectors changed, team management changed and there was a new Head Coach. Sadeera was given the cold shoulder.

It has taken Sadeera six more years to cement his place in the side. Quite strange indeed for in those six years our players haven’t been covering themselves in glory. We had tried many young players during that period with little success. Some of the promising players had got into trouble multiple times and had got suspended. But we even tolerated them time and again.

In the meantime, poor Sadeera suffered in silence. It goes onto show that how badly our selectors have managed the national cricket team. Anyone who watches Sadeera train or carries himself off the field should have got convinced that here is a player who needs to be preserved with. Sadly we did not. Perhaps, Sadeera didn’t represent the right club in domestic cricket.

A move from Park Road to the right Maitland Place club would have helped him to get a break and a permanent slot much earlier.

At halfway mark of the World Cup, Sadeera is not only Sri Lanka’s highest run getter but the sixth top run scorer in the competition.

There are often complains that our system doesn’t produce players who are capable to face the demands of international cricket. Sadeera has proved it wrong. There are players who can produce results at the highest level. Just that they need to be picked and backed.

At the age of 28, Sadeera has played just 27 ODIs. Had we preserved with Labrooy’s policies, Sadeera would have by now played over 150 ODIs and won us lot more games. Better late than never though. Now that Sadeera is here, let’s enjoy his batsmanship and his excellence on the field. You can be guaranteed that here is a player who will not get into trouble on or off the field. This kid is so focused on his game. Sri Lanka badly needs players like him. He can be our Virat Kohli.