“There is something rotten in the State of Denmark”
View(s):The writer was reminded of the above lines in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, when a palace guard Marcellus, speaking to Horatio, having seen the ghost of the dead king walking over the palace walls made these memorable lines. Much the same seems to be happening in our local Cricket Board. Players are dropped/picked willy-nilly in a most authoritative manner.
This phenomenon appears to be nothing new. A few decades ago there was a Hitlerian cricket administrator, a former national player himself – albeit with a dubious school background as well – and who had the last word in picking/dropping players as he wished, and there was no one to cross swords with this person since he had a lot of political influence. Finally, due to complaints made by the players themselves, and the Minister to save face,‘Hitler’ was ‘sacked’ and replaced by another Manager.
Is Sri Lanka Cricket facing a similar situation today?
For instance look at the treatment meted out to former skipper Dinesh Chandimal? Recalled to the Test squad at the eleventh hour (from Canada, in desperation, where he had been invited to play in a T20 tournament) to meet the visiting New Zealanders, yet was finally made a reserve to sit out in the dug-out. Of course, only eleven can play. But it is common etiquette that this type of treatment should not have be dispensed to a former captain of Sri Lanka who had done yeoman service to our cricket. This is typical treatment reminiscent of the past Hitler of yore. In other words, this seems pre-planned. Wonder who is mainly responsible for this: Probably one with a political clout. Going back to the recently concluded World Cup, a player was parachuted into the team from only those in the know must be aware and then has vanished from whence he came from.
Getting back to current Test –the first game for the World Test championship – at Galle:
Batting first, Sri New Zealand batted first and managed a total of 249 with spinner Akila Danajaya capturing the first five wickets to fall (5/80) while Lakmal ripped through the tail with 4/29 in his 15.2 overs.
In reply Sri Lanka was cruising at 143/2 (Kusal Mendis 53, Angelo Mathews 50, Karunaratne 39)and then plummeted to 161/7, losing 5wickets for 18 runs. Then eighth wicket partnership between Dickwella (61) and Suranga Lakmal (40) steadied the ship with an 81-run partnership and brought about a semblance of respectability while enabling the hosts to eke out a lead of 18 runs.
However the visitors were soon in trouble and were looking down the barrel with their star batsmen, skipper Williamson and Taylor back in the hutch with the total at 3/25. Left-armer Lasith Embuldeniya was the chief wrecker and ended on Day 3 – when bad light stopped play – with 4/71 while Dananjaya de Silva chipped in with 2/16. But with wicket-keeper batsmen Watling with a chanceless innings of 63 herded the tail-enders from 81/4 to ended Day3 to 195/7 – a lead of 177 runs with 3 wickets in hand. Sri Lanka’s fielding was well below par with 4 catches being grassed. A lead that can be consideredhandy, and another 30-40-run lead can cause problems to the hosts in their run-chase.
Rain is expected (85% possibility) on Day 4 as well at the Galle cricket stadium.In this regard credit must be given to ground-staff how they cover the entire ground to resume play as early as possible. This is a lesson ground-staff across the cricket-playing world can take a leaf out of their book.
In any event, barring rain a pulsating game is on the cards on Day 4 and 5.