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Lessons to learn from Bangladesh
By S.R. Pathiravithana
It was not even a week ago when Sri Lanka's former captain Arjuna Ranatunge went on record saying it is not very far away that the day will dawn when Sri Lanka starts losing to lesser rung nations in the Test arena.

Whether it is a prelude of things to come one does not know, but, last Sunday the first nail in the coffin seemingly was driven in when the Sri Lanka under - 15 team lost to Bangladesh in the final of a Tri-nation cricket series also involving Malaysia. Mind you! Adding to the woes of cricket in our island, the debacle took place on our own soil.

The story goes on to say the Bangladesh under - 15 team batting first ran up a score of 237 all out in 43.1 overs with half centuries coming off the bats of two of their youngsters. When it came to Lanka's turn the home team toiled for 42.1 overs to score just a paltry 128 all out with the Bangladesh skipper Humayon Kabir capturing 5 for 33 with his leg spinners.

This is no matter to laugh off or to consider a mere passing occurrence. This is a case of high concern with the roots running very deep into the very structure of the game we love so much.

The very first question that comes to mind is that who is responsible for this unforgivable situation? It is an easy answer -- The Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association! Why? Because they are the custodians of the local cradle of the game and are responsible for all junior cricket played within the schools sphere (barring international schools) in the island.

As a result it was they who were responsible for the selection panel which finally selected the team of schoolsboys under the Sri Lanka banner. It is a fact that Sri Lanka at present lies second in the ODI rankings and fifth in Test rankings at the highest grade and when a fledgling team of this nature performs badly it does not augur well for the future of the game.

The local under-15 selection panel names read as Gamini Weerawansa, Saman Hewavitharana, K.N.S. Kasturi, Sujeewa Perera and Prasanna Mohotti. Hmmmm... as I far as I know none of the names ring a bell neither in the exploits of the game in the middle nor as suitable material to give the final verdict on a side which is to represent the country in sport at any given level. The report that has cascaded here is that they are mere masters in charge of cricket in schools and by reason of that fact they hold positions in the SLSCA. Is this a criteria to become a member of a selection panel for a team that is to represent the country? Holding positions in that association may be their right. But, if you get them to select a cricket team at any level to represent the country it looks akin to Tom and Jerry given the task of selecting the post of Walt Disney Corporation CEO.

This is not all. There are other pointing of fingers too. The age group limits keep on changing like changing your garments. Why? Some say they happen to please certain individuals who are influential. They must not confuse matters as they are handling young minds which are not corrupt and they cannot comprehend as to why the age limit changed and they had to stay at the dressing room for yet another year while it was their turn to play.

It is a well known fact that during the last two decades or so, after the period of the late Prince of Wales stalwart B.A. Mendis, it was B.S. Perera who ran the affairs of the SLSCA for over 17 years as the secretary of the Association and it was a one party government like in Cuba. But there was one difference here. Here the heads ( who were school principals) kept on changing from time to time but the rest of the bandwagon kept on batting may be with minor changes.

The expansion of the SLSCA began under the secretaryship of B.S. Perera and a few others like Frank Cooray etc. To give them due credit they did a lot of good deeds for the game by taking it far and wide in to the countryside and thus encouraging the unsung village lads to don pads and show their prowess. However when things went on for too long, the avenues for new thinking was nullified and school cricket seemingly started getting stale. The standards dropped. The spectators who thronged to watch the matches faded off and at present even a high octane match between two top Colombo schools could muster only a handful of people.

In short when things tend to get stale a lot of people start losing real interest and the whole endeavour fizzles out. At this point square plugs start trying to get into round holes which should never happen. Then final result becomes one big jumble.

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