Early in my international career even I used a light bat – Mahela
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This is when Mahela played his final Test inning for Sri Lanka and it was a fitting finale given by the next generation of Test players at his home turf at the SSC grounds
In a majority of instances, there is little difference between a trail of a skunk and a politician. The skunk looks innocent and cuddly but, his backfire smells foul and is unbearable. Likewise, the politician pretends to be honest and seems to be serving the interests of the people, but, he too leaves a trail of a smelly fume that is unbearable and some call it dishonesty.
Last Friday, I had that feeling of stumbling upon a rare gem, though, I walked into a government department. I had walked into the Education Department Auditorium to take part in a workshop on School Cricket Development. It was chaired by Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. To my surprise, the minister spoke only a few words. While confessing to his limited knowledge on cricket, the minister handed over the task to the experts — Sidath Wettimuny, Mahela Jayawardena and Ruchira Palliyaguru and retreated to his comfort zone — Parliament.
The subject was how the Jayantha Seneviratne-headed Experts Panel of Experts which also included Carlton Bernadus and the Schools Cricket Association of Sri Lanka, was going to give our School Cricket a new lease of life. The trio who are the drivers of this three-year project, which also consisted of a ‘Think Tank’ comprising big names such as Sidath Wettimuny, Mahela Jayawardena, Roshan Mahanama, among a plethora of other experts who are thorough with the subject.
The panel of experts was keen to share its knowledge and some personal experiences with the first XI school cricketers and coaches, and show them how to use those experiences for the greater good of developing Junior Cricket in Sri Lanka.
Addressing the workshop, Wettimuny explained the importance of doing the right things in batting. He spoke about the importance of being on top of the basics in batting — the use of the batting grip, especially, the top hand and the huge part it plays in batting. Having said that, Wettimuny stressed that, if someone is on top of his game, while using an unorthodox grip, it should not be changed. For instance, he said, “Sanath Jayasuriya made a lot of runs for Sri Lanka, in spite of being comfortable with an unorthodox batting grip. But, the majority of cricketers would be better off with the proper basics”.
Then, Wettimuny also explained the advantage of possessing the right technique and basics. He said that, once he asked former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar about his ability to leave the right ball. To that Gavaskar explained that, while batting, he draws a mental line of where his off stump is and inculcated the ability to leave balls outside the off-stump.
Mahela Jayawardene, addressing the workshop, took cricket beyond the basics of batting. He said that, once a cricketer has the proper basics of batting, it is not difficult to master the other intricacies. Once Mahela’s narrative was over, we took some of his time to clarify some points.
We began asking about the past cricketers from well established schools like Nalanda College, where he did his early studies. These schools had a system that encompassed most aspects of batting techniques and, as a result, there were many batsmen who were technically sound, in comparison with the present lot, which is broad-based in numbers. Mahela explained that it’s all a fine balance. He said, “Even in outstation schools there is a huge bank of talent. So, it is imperative we use the provincial and district coaches who have been introduced into the system to harness that talent and also work with the school coaches. What is important here is identifying the right people to coach, so that the outstation schools will also benefit. What is important here is to have a strong base in Junior Cricket.”
Then we inquired about the provincial cricket structure they are hoping to set in place. Mahela said, “Right now we have a provincial tournament that is rather ad hoc. Provincial cricket should be made into a very professional system where cricket as a whole benefits.”
At the inception of this workshop, they stumbled upon a disturbing discovery. It came to light that, in Sri Lanka unlike in the days gone by, Junior Cricket is played with the ‘senior’ ball, which would bring more problems to the existing list, and should be dealt with immediately. Mahela stressed upon it and said, “It’s a very important aspect in Junior Cricket. For a Junior Cricketer it is very difficult to grip a ‘senior’ ball, because of its bigger circumference. So, for the smaller hands it would be difficult to spin the ball, while the fast bowlers would find it difficult to swing. So, when they cannot grip the ball in the proper manner, they tend to ‘throw’ the ball to get better purchase off the wicket.”
He pointed out that it is at that age that a cricketer should learn the proper basics and to do that, they must use the right equipment. They can use the lighter ball for the Under (U)-13 and U-15 age groups, and once they move into the U-17 and the first XI, they can easily move to the 5 1/2 oz ball.
Mahela also does not approve of weightier bats for Junior Cricket. He said, “I never advise a junior cricketer to use a heavy bat. To carry a heavy bat is difficult, simply because they are not strong enough. So, automatically, what happens is that, the junior cricketer tends to put more weight on to the bottom grip, to get better control of the bat. This means he has begun on a wrong footing.”
He said, “As for me, I would always recommend a lighter bat. At that level, you can get the same distance from a shot with a lighter bat. I even played my early international cricket using lighter bats.”
It was pointed out that it is always easier to inculcate proper cricket basics while using a lighter bat.
When asked whether Sri Lanka under 19 has the wherewithal to win the age group ICC World Cup, Mahela Jayawardena said, “We are not far off from that point. There are a few things that we have to do in the proper manner and once that is put in place, yes, we can be competitive in this age group”.