Sports

Sports

Demise of a tradition!
Times are changing! About two decades ago if an Indian or a Sri Lankan team spoke about bringing a contingent of tear-away pacers who promised to reshape your bodywork and helmet it would have met with lot of derision.

This morning there was a headline reading "Indian pacers rock Pakistan". This prompted me to sit back and delve into the past while taking stock of the present.

At present in India in the post Kapil Dev era a new generation of fast and fast medium bowlers have surfaced. Even in Kapil Dev's time it was a lone man who kept on bowling from one end till he captured a world record haul of 414 wickets. But now any side who is taking on India will first have to be contended with Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, and Irfan Pathan before talking the slower stuff. Besides this trio India still has another second string of medium pacers led by Ashish Nehra.

In Sri Lanka the story is not so different. In the inaugural Test Sri Lanka went in with a lone paceman in Asantha de Mel while from the other end operating was its skipper Bandula Warnapura who was really the opening batsman.

In the pool of 18 players in preparation for the tour of New Zealand the Sri Lanka selectors have named seven fast bowlers in Chaminda Vaas, Ruchira Perera, Nuwan Zoysa, Nuwan Kulasekera, Lasith Malinga,Farvez Maharoof and Gayan Wijekoon (named into the allrounder's slot), -- a rich choice indeed.

Is this the current global trend? Or is it the need of the hour? Or are we just doing as the Jones' do? A while ago the notion was that the Asian wickets were slow wickets according its climate and the people were slightly built so they were more akin to bowl slow medium and spin rather than going in for raw pace.

In the late sixties and the early seventies even in India when Bedi, Prasanna, Venkatraghavan and Chandraseker foursome prevailed it was the opening batsman Abid Ali who more often used the new ball. The others who used the seam were bowlers like Solkar and R.F. Surty.

When one looks at the above names it reads of four match winning spinners. Then in the mid seventies once again in Sri Lanka it were the names of D.S. de Silva, Ajith de Silva and Lalith Kaluperuma in the side with a bowler in calibre of Ranil Abeynaike unable to stake a permanent claim.

Apparently what happened was that sides from the subcontinent going on tour found that their batsmen could not cope with the bouncy wickets of Australia or the seaming wickets of England. At the same time the gentle medium pace bowlers whom they carried were mauled by the local batsmen leaving them in a catch 22 situation.

India moved first and sought the help of legendary Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee who in turn set up a fast bowling academy in India. Sri Lanka too took the full advantage of this facility just a few hours away and sent in a battery of fast bowlers for training. Our own Champaka Ramanayake taking over the job of producing homemade fast bowlers followed this.

However the question is that are we following the correct path? Aren't we forgetting our own strengths? Quality spinners generally revel on our dusty turning tracks. Two decades ago as minnows we could not turn strengths into real use just for the pure reason of not learning the art of winning.

Especially in Sri Lanka we have just forgotten this main fact. One of the most neglected aspects of Sri Lankan cricket at present is spin. With Murali injured Sri Lanka is looking into a bare barrel of quality spinners. Named in the squad for the tour of New Zealand are the best of the available in Upul Chandana and Rangana Herath. Under any circumstances one cannot name either of the bowlers as match winners or real test material.

For this situation one can not point the finger at the selectors. It is the present system that has created this monster. Even at the school level that prevailed with a on going tournament. The coaches were more interested in creating sustainers rather than match winners who could buy their wickets.

But finally the question that we must ask ourselves is can we make wickets which are fast and bouncy which could last for five days? Or will these wickets turn into beautiful batting tracks full of runs after the first two hours of seaming? Then where will we stand while playing in Sri Lanka? Dusty Lankan tracks arn't they more conducive to spin?

Top