Changing the willow for cricket’s headaches
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The Education Minister has sought the assistance of a very high forum to spell out his new venture. The turnkey guy for this project will be former national cricketer, national selector and cricket administrator – Jayantha Seneviratne. Some of the pilots of this project are well known cricketers in the calibre of Sidath Wettimuny, Mahela Jayawardena, Roshan Mahanama and coaches in the calibre of Roger Wijesuriya, Carlton Bernadus, Thilina Kandambi and Sampath Perera. Definitely, this is a powerful think tank which could transform and rejuvenate the flagging school cricket system which is gradually getting too meaty for a healthy existence.
At the same time, the Sunday Musings is excited about this development because such a forum should be in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day cricket in all spheres. We feel the majority of these experts honestly are keen to turn the game of cricket around. At the same time, they do have the vision and the charisma to accomplish these tasks without hidden agendas.
Yes, we are elated, after sometime we hear some good news about Lanka’s favourite pastime.
Yet, the other side of the coin is dull and discoloured. The Thilanga camp which is still hanging on to the main parasol of cricket and looking to make certain changes. Once again the job is expected to be accomplished by Sumathipala loyalist – Aravinda de Silva.
The most urgent among them is to find a band of selectors to clear the first hurdle. They have to appoint a few selectors to name the squad for the Pakistan tour. In the fray there were names such as Roshan Mahanama, Brendon Kuruppu and Graeme Labrooy.
Now it is said that former national fast bowler Graeme Labrooy has given his consent to take over the role of selector and wish him the best, but with the prevailing circumstances how effective he could be is another question altogether.
The new selectors will step into the shoes of erratic Sanath Jayasuriya, ‘Little Kalu’ Romesh Kaluwitharana, former off-spinner Ranjith Madurasinghe and fast bowler Eric Upashantha.
Their foremost task is to find a team to face a Lankan team that is going to play a “pink ball” day-and-night Test match for the first time, and then move on to play a T-20 in Pakistan, besides the others.
Well, for sure, Aravinda de Silva and Asanka Gurusinha are respected cricketers who played leading roles for Sri Lanka to bring home the country’s cherished Trophy, sports or otherwise, in 1996. So, one in a right state of mind would come out and say that they do not deserve the accolades or the position that they are bestowed with the cricket system in Sri Lanka.
Aravinda’s input came in right from the beginning. The moment the Sumathipala administration took office he wielded the willow and thumped hard. Among the primary tasks that were accomplished was the changing of the existing set of selectors led by Kapila Wijegunawardena and company, and brought in the selection lot that even included the name of none other than Kumar Sangakkara. Yes, he did make it very clear that it was a very short term task. A while later the job was handed back to Sanath Jayasuriya who earlier was replaced by Wijegunawardena during the Interim Committee led by Sidath Wettimuny.
Then there was the other administrator who played a pivotal role in this yo-yo affair. It is the now Chief Administrative Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket – Jerome Jayaratne.
Originally, Jayaratne was the head of the Max Academy which is the coaching arm of Sri Lanka Cricket. Though he once trained along with the present ICC CEO Dave Richardson, later he was buckled down by administrative tasks of the coaching arm. In spite of the SLC existing facilities being archaic, the coaching arm accomplished its tasks under Jayaratne’s supervision, and the testimony to its feat was that Sri Lanka Cricket, during that time, produced cricketers fit enough to occupy from the third to first slots of most ICC rankings.
It was not a matter of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena occupying slots in the ICC top ten batting, but, there were cricketers such as Nuwan Kulasekera heading ODI rankings in 2009, Rangana Herath having an almost permanent slot in the top ten. This is without the input given to Lankan cricket by Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.
My argument is that the system that prevailed at that juncture helped Sri Lanka produce cricketers of such calibre. For instance, physically, Kulasekera boasted of nothing that is synonymous with fast bowlers of yore, but the system that Sri Lanka Cricket had adopted at that time helped them sustain cricketers of that nature. Kulasekera stayed in the ICC top ten for quite a while.
But, that system was changed and the gamut of the coaching tasks was given over to Englishman Simon Wills – a good friend of Aravinda de Silva from his Kent days.
A host of insiders feel this is where the Lankans missed the cricket bus. Once again I argue whether it was the sole fault of Jayasuriya which finally led to this despicable situation. I have had the privilege of having numerous chats on cricket, not necessarily for publication, with Jayasuriya a while ago. The man who spoke to me at that juncture knew a lot about cricket and was also was aware of its driving mechanism. So, the debacle is un-Jayasuriya like. But, if he was made to entertain different opinions by lesser men of a cricketing sense, Jayasuriya should have resigned a long time ago. The cricketer that played those memorable innings was more worth than any of these two-bit administrators of today.
During the mid-series of this episode, the Sumathipala administration brought in the expertise of Asanka Gurusinha. Though Gurusinha was well versed in the subject of cricket, he too had a snag. Once he opted to make his home in Victoria soon after the World Cup victory, the dogged southpaw lived in a state of hibernation, and his return spelled the exit of Chief Coach Graham Ford.
These were the moves that helped them lose its queen on cricket’s chess board. In the post-Sanga-Mahela-Dilshan era, yes, Lankan cricket lived in a state of uncertainty, and the wins against Australia and may be against Zimbabwe gave indications they could stand up from the mat and begin to walk. But, in reality, if anyone could spell out what really occurred since then, I mean the dressing room and Maitland Place stuff, the twist would begin to unravel.
Today, cricket in Sri Lanka is in a state of shock. Things are happening so fast, some feel it is occurring at lightning speed. Yet, the biggest task in the post-Jayasuriya resignation was to find four eligible cricketers to take up the post of cricket selectors. So much so, the provisional squad of 25 names was picked by some backroom officials who think that they know cricket – may be with the help of the outgoing selectors. So far none has given his consent to stand up to the raging challenge.
We are aware that some are trying to plug the leaks, while some others are asking the captain of the ship to jump into the sea — with or without life jackets.
This is the real background; the people with the flaunted names would have to make up their minds. One such person who was approached, but the name has not surfaced as yet, told the Sunday Musings, the game of cricket definitely has given us something and we are in this pedestal because of this game, so we are willing to work along with the system but with certain changes.
Yet, at the same time, others feel strongly. To turn around, there should be a complete change. If one says that, just by bringing in a couple of new faces into some committee, this would change, they are only fooling themselves.
Also counting the last international loss against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka has lost ten matches in-a-row and now it is taking Pakistan in their backyard …. any guesses?