Will’s will and Lankan challenges
View(s):Simple Simon says — in Sri Lanka, cricket is king. Cricket gives you the ticket to big time and that cascades into fame. Once you are there you change in every way. Cricket gives you a special name and fame and a special face — and for many this is the ultimate goal.
It is just over 20 days left for the 'A' team to England, yet the final squad is not finalised
Yes, since the 1996 ICC cricket World Cup win, the cricket stocks kept growing and thus became the dreamland for many a budding cricketer who wanted to be ‘it’ in society. They learned that with cricket one does not have to pass examinations to be accepted. If you are a cricketer with talent, you became ‘it’ with untold wealth and acceptability in the higher echelons of society.
Yet, ironically our cricket technology did not grow at the same pace that the game of cricket would have liked. At the same time none of the main stakeholders of the game did pay much heed to the needs to stay with the ‘Joneses’. The year 1996 became a landmark year for not only Sri Lanka but other cricketing nations as well. With Sri Lanka’s innovative approach that brought instant success, many cricketing nations began to change their strategies and sharpen the edges where it needed. But unfortunately, Sri Lanka lagged behind and opted to rest on their laurels.
A few moons ago, an influential insider while talking to me lamented about the substandard facilities Lankan cricketers are saddled with. He said the centre that we have at the R. Premadasa Stadium was archaic and not fit enough to train a full-blooded national team.
Right now the Premadasa Stadium is saddled with the entire gamut of national cricket. Be it any age group, they are there for their scheduled training programme. At times one wonders how these young lads go through their paces without banging on each other. Remember they have to share this facility even with the cricketers of the fairer sex.
We know for sure, the insiders did bring the shortcomings to the notice of the authorities, but in Sri Lanka when the curry has less salt, they sack the cook, but do not buy a new sachet of salt. Due to inside politics, the wrong doer becomes the blue-eyed boy and becomes bigger than the manager in charge.
At the same time, the life of a cricket coach is like walking among the slithery rock-stones while moving down stream. During the past few moons the casualties have come from many segments. They include Marvan Atapattu, Chaminda Vaas, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Upul Chandana. So, life in these quarters is not high-tea by any means.
It was against this backdrop that Sri Lanka Cricket requested us to meet Simon Wills – High Performance Manager of SLC. He left his comfortable abode at Kent to take up a challenge that would take him up to the next cricket World Cup in England.
During this period, Wills will be working along with SLC cricket mentor Aravinda de Silva, Head Coach Graham Ford and Chief Selector Sanath Jayasuriya. Wills’ job will be to sew the Lankan talent together for the consumption of the main stakeholders. He explained it in this manner; “For me it’s about Sri Lanka Cricket working together, because from my understanding, there’s been a small disconnect between the national team and what’s going on underneath. I see myself as the glue that links those two things together, and the departments all come in my area. I will make sure that we produce a player pathway that heads to the national team.”
For this, he says, first he would have to provide an oversupply and turn, create competition. He says he wants players banging down the door to get into international teams — both men and women. But they should be capable of winning matches on a consistent basis. In the same manner that Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene did just prior to this present lot of players.
Wills says: “We can develop a central data base, and from that data base, we can look at trends. There might be players who play only white ball cricket, some only red ball cricket. Why is that the question? Or it might be the players better at home than away? This central data base will give us the facts rather than just opinions. With facts, we can take better informed decisions.
“It’s about succession planning too. We should never appear in a game without knowing our next best batsman, best bowler or the best wicket keeper. That’s the challenge we’ve got. We should be planning two or three years ahead. See the potential retirement of players or the potential gaps in the national team and to work really hard to fill those gaps as a natural process. Not just as a reaction.
“Around these guys, give a national team a more depth, particularly from the batting point of view. If we can go to the field of multi-skilled players, we’ve got a better chance to beat our opposition.”
This is a superb overview of things in a general perspective. But, the real cricket ordeals in store may be different. The administrators even have not designated him in a proper manner. The High Performance Manager of SLC should operate from a high performance centre. But what we have at the R. Premadasa Stadium is a lame excuse to a practice facility. If they intend having a High Performance centre they should build a state-of-the-art facility. There is no use of catching a bird and then trying to build a cage around it.
We are aware that the idea of adding the expertise of Wills was mooted by head coach Graham Ford who was visibly disturbed by the standard of the senior intake at the ‘A’ team level. Then they got to the job of looking for a person who could make a change in the structure and thus bridge the existing gap between the talent at hand and the real international cricket requirements.
Yet, at the same time the tournament structure is in utter disarray. Now it seems there is a tussle building up between club cricket and provincial cricket vision — and the yo-yo contest is on display. It was only last week, SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala was pushing for an under 21 tournament to be played in the 50 over and T-20 formats at club level and then stage the Provincial Under 23 tournament from those strengths. But, sanity prevailed and the tournaments — club and provincial — are now going to be under 23.
The challenges are many. We know a foreigner always would have ears drawn on to him than a local expert however good he may be. There is nothing that could be done about. It is the third world mentality and a fact that we have to live with.
Nevertheless we all want the ultimate product to be almost perfect. We wish Wills all the best and hope that he would have the will to fulfil his obligations.