No shore in sight, but the rudderless Lankan cricketing ship just sails along. It was in mid-December 2008 that Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge decided to remove the then SLC interim committee chairman Arjuna Ranatunga from that post for reasons other than cricket itself.
Good, as the good book says good plus bad does not make it good or bad plus bad also does not make it good.
When Ranatunga was removed there was much speculation, but, when the competent authority who was hogging the chair instead, people began to think.
During the tenure of Ranatunga the cricketing relations between India and Sri Lanka hit an all-time low, but as soon as he was pushed out from the pedestal, like a wave of a magic wand there came an Indian tour to Sri Lanka.
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At the same time there was another development. If there is a cricket tour to Sri Lanka there also should be a good TV coverage, especially when the opponent is going to be India. Ironically Sri Lanka did not have a readymade TV sponsor for this short-notice tour which also came courtesy the Ranatunga administration.
But that anomaly also was looked into with Nimbus TV undertaking the task of telecasting, but giving a tuppence of a mere six million US$ from the expected 12-13 US$.
However from reports reaching this desk Nimbus after paying the initial 40% of the fee on due date as promised, are now seeking permission to delay the rest of the payment.During the same time frame the Competent Hierarchy also closed the other long term TV deal with Ten Sports, thus ending a lot of speculation about people tending to take over positions in the elected bodies or interim bodies of cricket plainly owing to the attraction of the spillovers from TV deals. The minister for the sake of the cricketing fraternity of this nation took charge of that task and did that with the powers vested in him from the prevailing Sports Law of this country.
Now that the difficult tasks are accomplished and only the mundane day-to-day affairs of running cricket is only left, why can’t the minister hand it over to more competent persons than the competent authority that he has appointed. Ironically this person whom the minister has appointed is very incompetent on the very technical aspects of the game of cricket.
Now the situation is becoming more volatile by the hour. Cricket in this country is not being run the way it should be and the barnacles are sticking all over the hull and may wreck the ship if proper care is not taken in time.
Time is running out minister, but please do not let cricket run it self out in this country.
Now can we look at the other side which takes place within the periphery of the boundary-lines?
Thank god the Lankan drop of guard for a brief moment drew forth some adrenalin from the millions of Lankan and Pakistani people who otherwise were bored to death watching one of the worst Test matches that was on display in the history of cricket during the past one hundred years.
After being on the field for a marathon 993 minutes which means just five minutes short of a mind-boggling seventeen hours in one go, I suppose that could happen to any side. A sudden drop in guard just knowing that your bowlers toiled so hard during that time just to bag only six wickets in which one was a run-out just tells you the mind frame with which Malinda Warnapura and Tharanga Paranavithana walked on the crease for the second time.
The Lankans lost one wicket and then followed another four before they could realize what hit them, but, they must be thankful that ever maturing Thilan Samaraweera now thrives on situations of this nature and he was there at the right place at the right time. I tend to think what went through the Lankan camp during those 154 minutes of batting in their second innings on the fifth day of a Test match.
As far as I can remember, I have seen it happening to Sri Lanka thrice before. First it was in their inaugural Test match at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, when the mild mannered John Embury turned into a terror, then at the Asgiriya Stadium, when the Lankans crashed against the New Zealand fast bowler Richard Hadlee and then under very similar circumstances Sri Lanka managed to salvage a defeat by only 16 runs at the hands of the Australians at the SSC grounds, after they had more than dominated the game in the first four days. So always that vulnerability haunts like a bad dream in the Lankan dressing room.
The second Test starts in Lahore today. But, it does not mean that there would be any harm in discussing the merits and demerits of our team composition.
Though Paranavithana failed to get into the runs, the nine runs scored was even enough for him to be retained at the top slot and besides that there is hardly anything that could be pointed at the Lankan batting when it comes especially to Test cricket.If at all the only piece of advice that could be thrown at Tillekeratne Dilshan who even after a good stint of international exposure still has a very weak shot selection and could be lured into indecisiveness by the opposition without much haste.
However can the same be written about the much spoken about Lankan bowling attack? For instance take the performance of the two leading spinners in the side – Danish Kaneria and Muttiah Muralitharan. In the match Kaneria had figures of 55-5-205-5 while Muralitharan finished with 65-14-172-1. The equation is that Kaneria’s bowling against the much experienced batting line up finished with five wickets while marvel Muralitharan bagged only one, bowling against a relatively greenhorn batting line-up. Do we have to discuss the rest of the Lankan bowling?
However if Test cricket is allowed to be played on surfaces of this nature you do not need to invent T20 cricket to kill it. It will die a natural death without anyone noticing it.
However the Lankans have taken a positive outlook in that direction. According to a very knowledgeable source the R. Premadasa surface is quite similar to the Karachi National Stadium surface while playing in daylight. That is why the last Test match in that venue was played way back in 2005. |
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