‘Pop’ goes the whistle

By S.R. Pathiravithana

The magic of Mahela the maverick kept us enthralled on Tuesday night with a knock that could have been described with all the plus words in anyone’s English vocabulary. For me it was his best knock in his long career so far – a well calculated, very professional and exceedingly mature innings. Thus, the Lankan lions are now on the hunt with an unexplainable hunger for success and now when you are reading this on your easy chair you will definitely know if the feline managed to kill its prey.

It was a good win on Tuesday but it had its own little draw backs too. Still I am trying to understand as to why the lion chose to play with the gasping Kiwi when nine wickets had fallen. Then why unprofessional Dilhara Fernando was preferred over the person who won the man-of-the-match award in their last game in the super eights. Just imagine one of the sixes which was hit off the bowling of Fernando nearly brought down the maha-roof of the Sabina Park pavilion.

In an afterthought of that bashing the Lankan selectors had second thoughts on Fernando. "Most probably it will be Maharoof," said the head of the Sri Lankan Selection committee Asantha De Mel from the Caribbean. "We were not satisfied with Dilhara's performance." Alas! We here at this end were not satisfied with Dilhara Fernando for the past two years or more and have been expressive in our views without any reservations. Nevertheless Sri Lanka do have that canny ability of carrying at least two passengers in their final Xl and still win matches. This plus point alone makes them a special outfit which is a cut above the rest in the pack.

Not done
It also must be pointed out……the treatment meted out to the experienced Marvan Atapattu needs some explanation from those selectors who think they are infallible. Surely there are better ways of saying “Hey! Mister you are not needed here in person” – Rather than shutting the door on his face in front of the entire world. It looked like a real corporate type ‘kick-out’. However that was only one disaster that occurred during this very volatile 2007 World Cup that saw the end of the road to many a ‘star’ career that had lit up the cricketing world for many…many years.

It was already news that the Australians – John Buchanan (coach), Glen McGrath would bid adieu after their Caribbean excursion. However the first bombshell fell in the little islands when ‘nowhere people’ in big time cricket Ireland took Pakistan by the scruff and showed them the door in the preliminary stages. Though still a mystery, it is well believed that the death of Pakistan former coach Englishman Bob Woolmer had some bearing on this occurrence. Following this demise and their dismal performance led to the hanging up the boots of their much respected captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.

A few days after the Pakistan debacle, another followed when India a much hyped team in the pre-World Cup build-up also became a casualty when they lost both their matches to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in apparently what looked like the toughest group of the whole tournament. With that elimination out went the tough talking high profile then Indian coach Greg Chappell.

India which is generally considered the commercial hub of cricket which runs into millions of dollars worth of cricket related transactions fell flat on a heap. Flabbergasted Indian cricket machinery went on their knees picking up the pieces. Anil Kumble the champion leg spinner retired from one-day cricket while the other two champions – Sachin Tendulkar and Sauvrav Ganguly were taken away from the ODI teams in their matches against Bangladesh in their pending series. However the real casualties were off spinner Harbajan Singh, Ajith Agakar and Irfan Pathan who were not even considered for the tour.

Two bads does not end in one good. England had a bad tour of Australia in their Ashes defence and then had an even worse World Cup where they looked a side which took part to make the numbers. Now their Zimbabwean coach Duncan Fletcher is looking for another job while skipper Michael Vaughan is facing a tentative future within his ranks.

The hosts the West Indies also faced some debacles. They started their quest in a very encouraging note beating Pakistan, but since that they just took a ride down hill till they crash-landed with a heavy list of casualties. The most known in the list was their champion batsman Brian Lara, who first said that he was leaving the Limited overs arena and then went back on his word and just announced that he was calling it a day from all forms of the game. Lara was followed by their Australian coach Bennett King, manager Clive Lloyd and all rounder Ian Bradshaw.

End of Fleming
Moving on to the semi-finals first came the announcement made by Stephen Fleming that he was stepping down from his role as captain of New Zealand – a cross that he carried for ten long years. This came upon their failure against the Lankan cricket machine on Tuesday. The same day Sri Lanka’s mediocre middle order batsman Russel Arnold also decided to stop riding his luck by announcing his retirement.

While all these upheavals are causing various vibes in the cricketing circles it seems that the fortune hunters are also seeking for their slice in the cake. The most prominent among them are former Sri Lanka coach and the incumbent Bangladesh coach Davnell Whatmore who now has relinquished his ties with them and seems looking for greener pastures. The next is the present Lankan coach Tom Moody who is refusing to talk about his future with the island nation, but is reported among the curriculum vitaes in so many other openings.