Why cannot our Cricket team be at the top all the time?
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There are times when our National Cricketers perform very well. On those occasions they are on par with other top cricketing nations. But, they do not perform well all the time. There is an inconsistency in the players’ performance and it would be good to find out what causes this. It is not an easy task for any team to be at the top all the time. If our cricketers are consistently failing to deliver the goods, then it is necessary to discover the real reasons for this problem. I believe there are many factors for the present poor performance of Sri Lanka cricket. In this article, I wish to put forward some points for our Cricket Board to ponder and, hopefully, take necessary action.
1. When a player is selected to represent the National side, he does not get a fair chance to show his class. If he is allowed to play only one or two matches and afterwards discarded, then he will find it very difficult to be a world class player. Also, if a player is brought into the team every now and then, without giving him a permanent place in the squad, it is wrong to expect him to perform miracles. Such a player is not in a good frame of mind to give his very best to the team.
2. So many Clubs in our country play 1st Class cricket. Such a situation will not help our top players improve their game. There should be only 8 Clubs playing in the Premier Tournament. Only then can the Selectors ‘pick the cream’ for our National Team. If many Clubs play in the 1st Class tournament, players will not work hard to give their best, with the result that our National Team becomes weak.
3. Matches of domestic tournaments should last at least 4 days. If you play only for 2 or 3 days, then our batsmen will not learn how to play long innings and how to stay at the wicket. If matches are played for 5 days, the batters will have to stay at the wicket and play tedious innings. This will help them to perform well in limited-overs tournaments as well. Very often, we have seen our players dismissed under 50 overs. The reason is that, they do not have the necessary ‘staying power’. If we play 4-day games, our bowlers will have the opportunity to improve their skill and develop their stamina.
4. Are the Selectors travelling around Sri Lanka to harness the best talent? I doubt whether this is happening. They must journey around the country and look for the best cricketers in the island. The Cricket Board should at least have a Selection Committee in each province. Members of this committee can then pick some good players and inform the main selection body to follow-up these budding players and eventually, bring them into the national pool.
5. Our players are not mentally fit to play this great game. When players are mentally ‘down’, they cannot give their best to the team. Our Board must pay more attention to this aspect of the game. Often, we are not aware of the mental fitness of our players. Professional help must be sought to make our players mentally strong!
6. Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that has allowed politics to creep into the game. Such a situation ruins our cricket. Politics and politicians should be kept far away from Sri Lanka cricket. For that to happen, honest people should run cricket in our country. If not, then we cannot expect to form a World Class National Cricket Team.
7. Players should be trained to play home and away matches equally well. If our players perform well only in Sri Lanka, then it is not a good sign. A good team should be able to show its colours in any part of the world. At present, our performance on foreign soil is very bleak.
In the above points, I have given some food for thought. I hope that some good will come out of it. In the end, it is up to the men in authority to put our cricket team firmly on the world map.
Rev. Bro. Nimal Gurusinghe