One size does not fit all
Mario Villavarayen, former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh national team’s strength and conditioning coach, calls for a formation a ‘national fitness policy’ as he believes the theory of ‘one size does not fit all’.
“During my stint as Strength and Conditioning coach, we had a bunch of Sri Lankan players who were between the age of 20 to 40, and we focused in getting the maximum performances from the players. We never sidelined them considering their fitness level,” said Villavarayen, who is a graduate of a three-year Sports Science degree from an Australian university.
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“Sanath (Jayasuriya) was in his 40 or 41, (Tillekeratne) Dilshan, Mahela (Jayawardene), Kumar (Sangakkara) were in the range of 34-36 and Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal were in their 20s. So I didn’t treat everyone equally,” explained Vellavarayen, who was with the Sri Lanka national team from 2011 to 2014.
“We implemented fitness trainings and plans according to the individual needs considering their cricket experience and performance. The fitness level was not the main criteria for selections,” added Villavarayen, who has a vast experience taking nearly 450 First Class and List ‘A’ wickets at an impressive average as a medium fast bowler.
Sri Lanka recently overlooked power hitters Bhanuka Rajapaksa for the West Indies, Bangladesh and England series and Avishka Fernando for the series against West Indies and Bangladesh considering their performance at the 2km running test. After Fernando was included in the England series, his performance were beneath the usual and also had to sit on the bench missing a few games due to an injury.
“There is an injury history, playing history and the age factor for each player. Therefore, we should get them all and make our fitness programme for a single player. We cannot implement the same fitness programme for a player at 20 and another player at 40,” said Villavarayen.
“We should not underestimate a player’s cricket experience of more 10 to 15 years. It’s amazing to have experience of players playing in different conditions. If the player has the skill, we should formulate a prgramme to get the maximum performance from the player,” he explained.
“We don’t have a depth of players like India, England, Australia or New Zealand, who have an extraordinary bench strength to replace the national players at anytime without any deterioration in standards of the side,” observed Villavaryen.
“Fitness failure is not the main selection criteria in countries such as England, India and Australia. It’s not for sidelining players. Their target is to play their best XI in a match. If someone fails the fitness mark, players are given a particular time period to upgrade their fitness with a relevant Board’s trainer,” Villavarayen explained.
Vellavarayen questioned as to why Bhanuka Rajapaksa had to find a personal trainer and reduce his weight and improve his fitness if he is a major player in Sri Lanka cricket. Rajapaksa, 29, had to go under a personal trainer to improve his fitness and was later eligible for selections for the ongoing limited over home series against India.
Earlier, it was seen the then-captain Kusal Perera, playing with a shoulder injury before the start of the series in England, yet he had to bat with the pain. Ultimately, he missed the most important home series, which Sri Lanka badly needed his explosive batting at the top of the order.
“Sri Lanka Cricket should formulate a ‘fitness policy’ with a collective decision of Cricket Technical Committee, Selection Committee and the Coaching Staff to get the maximum results from available players. Some players are short term and others are for the long term plans,” said Villavaryen, the Strength and Conditioning Coach of Lankan Premier League franchise Jaffna Stallions and Indian Premier League’s Sunrises Hyderabad.