Pied Piper and the dangerous trends
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It was not so long ago, a senior cricketer who was in the serious business of run making at that time, called in to clarify a certain point with me. The point of discussion was whether the player played a certain shot intentionally, as I had worded it to be or, was it just bad shot selection that was repeated. The shot was a lofted drive that nearly missed the reach of the clutching hands of long-on but, the second landed safely in the palms of the waiting fielder. I argued that, by playing that shot, the Lankans slid from a point of victory to a sudden demise. The player argued that his intentions were different and he was not in the business of match fixing, which, even remotely, he has not thought of.
He agreed it would have been wrong shot selection but, at that point the score was such, they had to keep the scoreboard ticking. Then he argued as to why I was trying to tarnish his name, when there is a player in the same dressing room who is up to all the villainy. Without mentioning who that was, the senior play said the player he is referring to has committed every wrong in the book, and the media was quite aware of what was going on, on the playing field but, no media personnel took on him. He said however, when it came to a matter of wrong shot selection, they are very hard on him. Though we both knew who he was referring to, that was the end of that episode and we did not open the can of worms.
I admired the senior players’ decision not to divulge the name of the player concerned, officially. Generally, on a level playing field, players do not break the bond between them, even though individual players may have their own dressing room differences. Dirty linen always looks bad and smells foul. Then, last Sunday, we were the recipients of another open-air show for public consumption. Veteran T.M. Dilshan, who has had a few issues during his playing days, opened a can of worms. No one was spared. He thus opened the dressing room doors wide and exposed what usually stays locked within. It was a feast to relish for the local and international media.
Quite a lot of secrets will now not live within Cricket’s private domain. Dilshan bared it all. Personally, I don’t agree with Dilshan’s tirade, because the Captains he refers to have now retired, and his baring of dressing room secrets will not make any difference to any player, barring present Captain Angelo Mathews who is on a rescue mission of Sri Lanka’s cricketing image. Lanka’s Cricket has just got up from the mat and is about to step on to a higher pedestal. We feel this was not the time and place for that tirade. He said he does not believe in looking up and spitting but, I feel he did just that with his tirade. If he meant well for Cricket, he could have restrained his anger.
May be, he could write his own book one sweet day and give the inside story of the dressing room, and no one would have found fault with that but, Dilshan’s timing was a little suspect. Sanga, Mahela bashing is becoming fashionable or, ‘open sesame’ for some. Sometimes, some lesser beings also may heartily welcome the idea of bashing the image of someone one in the calibre of Sanga or Mahela – just because they cannot do what Mahela and Sanga did. Dirty linen always looks bad and smells foul. Quite against the tide, suddenly, Lanka Cricket is on track achieving unbelievable goals. Its good for the game and the country as a whole.
The game of Cricket is a great leveler and, when things are good, even some of the public issues burning in other spheres are forgotten. The plain and simple proof to that is that, during the first ODI in Dambulla, to a capacity crowd of 18,000, 45,000 thronged the venue to watch proceedings. While we read so much about the rising cost of this and the rising cost of the other, people had spare cash to travel to Dambulla in their thousands and be a part of Cricket. Then, what about the people who watched it on TV? Ironically the second time around the people were in for a surprise as a result of the authorities being ill-prepared.
Still, this means something is going right in this sphere of activity and someone, at some critical point, has pulled the right wires and turned things around. The other day, team manager Charith Senanayake, out of the blues, said, “We are just one win away” but, for that to occur, something right had to take place. Then, when we spoke to coach Graham Ford, he was honest enough to admit that he was astounded with the thought of beating the Australian three times in a row but, in reality, now we have a reputation to live up to. But, at the same time, we must also be aware of over indulgence. Now, we hear a pied piper playing his tune incessantly.
He is playing a tune which is sweet music to some, but remember, for some it does not sound very good. They feel the pied piper might lead the flock right into a bottomless pit. While the pied piper played the hosannas, the glory seekers danced right across the idiot box and on to the podium. Once or twice it may look and sound like a novel feature but, when that act is being repeated game after game, it looks boring and sounds irritable. Anything in small doses goes down well but, over indulgence may be very detrimental. Then we learn about the selector who has gone wild. Once he had a private issue at the club by the field.
At the election, one faction won and the other lost. Well that is part of give and take. But, the selector who lost did not take it kindly, and now he is out for vengeance. Now players are leaving the field club by the score. The result could be devastating. A club which produced half the national team, may be left without a single national cap. This is because the selector has made a rule that if someone wishes to wear the lion cap, he has to be out of the field. Amusingly, the good fortune has gone towards the club with the crescent. We will live with the parables for the time being but, these dangerous trends should be rooted out forthwith.