Cricket Devoid of Polytricks
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The ICC’s match fixing machinery is totally focussed on SLC, of course they are wearing blinkers since, the bigger fry in the neighbouring country are having their last laugh. They have timed it so well;one hopes that our cricketers are not mentally off balance to face the upcoming Test series against a cock a hoop England.
Skimming through the young batting talent we have, namely, Dickwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrema, Charith Akalanka they should not be gullible to the tentacles of the Indian syndicate of bookies. I stress the fact that they should be managed by the SLC and not by devious individuals.There should be a strong man devoid of politricks, manning the sinking ship. Vijay Malalasekera who manned the SLC for a short period had the most number of test wins and he has good credentials.
Delving a bit deeper into our young batting talents; Niroshan Dickwella is cheeky with his lateral and longitudinal movements relative to the crease trying to offset the line and length of the bowlers, he has an excellent eye and a bat speed to match. He however lacks mental intelligence in the sense he cannot control his emotions and gets carried away and cannot sustain himself mentally to play a long innings. He is unable to adjust his batting to suit the match situation. This god fearing bundle of talent also must put a price tag on his wicket whenever he goes into bat. Kusal Mendis the pocket size dynamo oozing with talent too lack mental intelligence. His greatest draw back. He cannot control his emotions and gets carried away. A brilliant timer of the ball picks the gaps well. He should look at the bigger picture and play for the team, and he does not read the match situation which is extremely important in white ball cricket. Kusal is always on the overdrive. A batsman like Sachin Tendulkar or Kumar Sangakkara can change into any gear as the match situation demands, they both have the ingredients of the greats and those are hard work, intellect, mental intelligence, talent and fitness.
Dhananjaya de Silva has all the above characteristics but is short in experience. His batting has class and he is a cool customer but in the white ball game he does not get into overdrive quick enough. He is a heady bowler and a good fielder who reads the game well. The pencil slim cricketer who faced a stunning setback in his family life came out it unperturbed. He sure looks good captaincy material for the future.
Our batting larder is well stocked with young talent and two of them caught my eye. They are Sadeera Samarawickrema and Charith Asalanka these two should be slotted in and persisted with instead of Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne who are not gazelles in the field. Tharanga of course has done yeoman service to Sri Lanka and should gracefully call it a day in International cricket.
Dinesh Chandimal has to lift the flagging moral of Sri Lanka cricket when time has come for the heads to roll.
S. Tilak de Silva Borella