Time to turn over a new leaf
by Rex Clementine
Cricket is in a crisis. For the first time in the history Sri Lanka suffered losses in a World Cup to teams like Afghanistan and Bangladesh. While those two teams finished ahead of Sri Lanka and qualified for the Champions Trophy, the 1996 champions finished a disappointing ninth and were knocked out of the Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka Cricket has borne the brunt of the criticism but the persons who were responsible for the team and players have been exempted from scrutiny.
There are arguments that these are the best set of players we have. That may be true, but we could have been smarter with how we used some of our players. If we are short of skill, then sidelining so many seniors was a no brainer.
It was sheer arrogance to leave Angelo Mathews from the World Cup campaign but eventually the selectors had to bite the bullet and draft him in as an injury replacement. Thisara Perera suffered a similar fate but unlike Mathews he had thrown in the towel soon after being left out. He did a Roshan Mahanama by retiring hurt.
How badly Sri Lanka struggled not having a finisher in their ranks during the World Cup and Thisara would have been ideal given his experience and the ability to clear the ropes. Not that Thisara was completely flawless. He did have issues but that’s why you need mature selectors to deal with professional sportsmen.
The selectors burnt more bridges than building them during their three year tenure. It was a period of disaster for the national cricket team. Now the nation is in mourning, but nobody has resigned.
The selectors need to be held accountable no doubt but so does the mastermind who has been calling the shots from behind the scenes.
Another popular slogan for the team’s poor World Cup campaign is that we play on bad wickets at home. That is of course true. But you did not complain when you beat Australia in an ODI series. You were covering yourself in glory saying you had just beaten Australia but conveniently forgot that it was achieved on doctored wickets.
You knew pretty well that the World Cup was going to be played on belters and not rank turners. You only have got yourselves to blame. You hoodwinked the public and took them for a ride while giving the players a false sense of security.
You’ve also packed all key positions of the side with your club mates and several requests to draft in capable men like some former captains fell on deaf ears. But now that you are on borrowed time, you don’t mind having some of those former captains in key decision-making positions. What a pity.
Some consultants have created so much havoc and inflicted much damage. We can not afford another year of mediocracy, poor planning and continue this blame game. You come in with so many conditions that you will not do this and that and you want your own people. When all that has backfired, it’s time to shut up and pack your bags.
There’s no point in crying over the spilt milk. Every individual barring Head Coach Chris Silverwood who oversaw Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign should be discontinued and there should be no renewal of contracts. Why Silverwood is spared one may wonder. That’s because the only area Sri Lanka have shown some improvement in the last two years is fast bowling and that’s credit to Silverwood.
The culture of the Sri Lankan team definitely has to change. The term optional training has its benefits, but it will not work with a bunch of fat, unfit, lethargic and lazy players. The number of catches that Sri Lanka spilled during the World Cup is a case in point. Fielding is one discipline which does not require enormous amount of skill and can be mastered with sheer hard work. You don’t see that happening with the current team.
Even the young players who come into the system showing so much hunger and desperate to become the best they can be are caught up with the lazy system we have, and you fear the worst for young players like Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage.
We have already seen precious talents like Niroshan Dickwella going waste and not able to stage a comeback. How many more talents we will let go astray before we realize that it’s time to fix the mess.
Injury management has been another area that we have been awful at. The team was plagued by injuries in Australia last year with half a dozen players returning home. Assurances were given that the issue will be addressed but precious little was done, and injuries again affected Sri Lanka’s campaign in India.
Lack of power hitters is an acute problem facing the team. Every team has an excellent finisher in white ball cricket. There’s Glenn Maxwell for Australia, Suryakumar Yadav is doing the job for India, David Miller has turned out to be Killer Miller for South Africa while Glenn Phillips has settled in at New Zealand having moved from South Africa seeking greener pastures. We Sri Lankans are trying out Test specialists at the finishers’ role. There is a lot that needs to be done to put cricket right. Let’s start it by fixing the think tank.
