Beyond 2007

The much awaited World Cricket showpiece is fast approaching and for the last two years or more every full member of the cricketing fraternity has been gearing themselves up and focusing towards this eventuality which will take place in the Caribbean in less than fifty days hence.

At present the main topic among these top cricket playing nations is how they have geared themselves up for the ‘big one’ and where their chances lie. For instance the rejuvenated West Indians are happy that they have found form at the correct time when the World Cup is played in their own backyard while the hapless Englishmen are still picking up the pieces after the 5-0 ODI thrashing at the hands of the Sri Lankans on their own soil and then the bashing that they are being subjected to by the ruthless Australians who are still licking their wounds after their narrow “Ashes” loss in England two years ago.

So much for the World Cup preparations so on and so fourth. Here in Sri Lanka the focus has been much the same. Cricket administrators and the coaching staff also have been driving all their vehicles towards the West Indies and that’s that. So the Musings was rather curious on how the wagon wheels would turn for Sri Lanka beyond the 2007 World Cup hype. Besides that we needed to know “Are we ready?” For the answers there was only one avenue --- Get it straight from the horses’ mouth.

To fulfill our endeavour we met the ‘big boss’ at the Sri Lanka Cricket Jayantha Dharmadasa to get what they had up their sleeves to go beyond 2007. The cricket Administrator began by saying how all this while their focus was mainly on the world cup but at the same time how they had been putting certain systems into place. Then he added that they are happy now that the systems they put into perspective are beginning to function. He said “For instance we have taken over the custody of the Pallekelle Stadium on lease and within two years we should have a fully fledged international stadium over there. Besides that the Khettarama Stadium will be redeveloped especially the outfield areas and the wickets while the Moratuwa Stadium will be brought back to the level of playing ODIs.

“We are also redeveloping the Galle Cricket Stadium in its original location and are striving to bring this ground back to its pristine glory. In the reconstruction process initially we had some drawbacks, but, with the intervention of the President we managed to overcome the hurdles. Besides this the Uyanwatte Stadium, Matara will also be redeveloped to the stage where a 3-4day game could be played. At the same time the programmes on the Hambantota International Stadium and the Development of the Badulla Stadium are also rolling on.

“While the above programmes are running the SLC has earmarked a sum of over Rs.119 million towards the development of other local infrastructure which includes some of the leading clubs along with the needs of material”.

School Cricket
Moving on to the cradle of cricket – schools, Jayantha Dharmadasa revealed that the local cricket administration have set aside a sum of Rs.250 million to be spent on the development of cricket at its base stage over the next five years with Rs. 50 million set apart per year. At the same time he was also happy that they were able to get the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association to come under its purview after negotiating with the Ministry of Education. With this development the SLC will take over the nursing of schools cricket. Dharmadasa said “Apart from providing needy schools with material and equipment we are also ready to help them with coaches provided by the SLC if the necessity arises. If a school finds it difficult to employ a qualified coach the SLC would provide them with a coach at its own expense. At the same time we also have banned limited overs cricket in schools from under 13 to 17, as we noticed a deterioration of technique at the junior levels. I hope with this move once again we will be able to produce more Marvans and Mahelas from the school base.

While the schools’ programmes are running on those lines the provincial and the district cricket programmes will also take its own course and it will be run on Provincial and District-wise levels.. At present the inter-provincial under 13 tournament is in progress with Prima Ceylon coming in as the sponsors. The SLC also have negotiated with a bank to sponsor the under 15 and the under 17 district tournaments. Dharmadasa added “There are 7000 cricketers in the junior arena and what we strive the most is to set up a bridge between the schools and the club levels so that there would be a lesser number of dropouts from the game”.

Club Cricket
“We are looking to make the top premier league tournament lean and mean. The PLCT will be pruned down from the current fourteen teams to ten teams shortly and then the entire national squad and the ‘A’ squad will be featured among these teams and the tournament will become immensely competitive. At the same time we are also negotiating to get one or two top grade overseas players per team to be featured in this tournament in another bid to make the tournament sharper. We have also decided that our main cricket calendar will run from November to April. This move will also facilitate the players who are engaged in overseas cricket especially in England.

Moody and beyond
Then Musings took up the crux question….the Moody matter. We pointed out that it is no secret that some countries are seriously looking at the present Lankan coach Tom Moody to take over their reins as coach in the post 2007 era and if Sri Lanka was ready for any eventualities. To our surprise the answer was a big “NO”. The SLC President explained “Moody’s contract runs up till May. So far he has not given us any indication that he intends leaving. The last time we met up prior to the New Zealand tour we had a discussion about the development of the game in the country during the next five years. Thereafter he was in New Zealand and from there he flew off to the West Indies to have a look at the World Cup preparations and the wickets and he is due back soon. However so far he has not given us any indication about leaving and until such time we are in no position to approach any other coach. It is not the done way of doing things. At the same time we have Trevour Penny as the fielding and assistant coach along with Champaka Ramanayake and Ruwan Kalpage (Specialist coaches) Chandika Haturusinghe (A team coach), Roger Wijesuriya (under 19) etc and with this wealth of back-up coaching we would be able to handle the senior side without rocking the boat too much even if there is a sudden situation that may spring up.

“At the same time it also must be mentioned that at the initial stages when the national team started losing a few matches there were many who criticized Moody. But, then he was able to inculcate more purpose into Sri Lanka Cricket and to turn cart around. There was a time when Kapil Dev and some others said that Sri Lanka in spite being good at home will never be able to win overseas. But, we beat England 5-0 in the ODIs and we even could have won the Test series if not for few bad umpiring decisions. Even in New Zealand it was the same story. What I am trying to say is that now Sri Lanka is regularly winning matches while playing overseas.

“At the same time the team is also performing to expectation. For instance now in the middle order where it was very lean a while ago there is heavy competition. There is T.M. Dilshan, the two Chamaras and Russel Arnold fighting for two places. Then in the longer version of the game even a batsman in the calibre of Thilan Samaraweera who has a very high average is finding it difficult to get back into the side.

Speaking on the subject of spinners and the dearth of such talent coming up the ladder the SLC President had this to say “It is not that we do not have the talent coming up in this department. The simple answer is that we have a World Champion in Muralitharan out there and there is no bowler around the world today who could oust him from the team. At the same time in the ODIs we have Jayasuriya who could send down his ten overs effectively. So it is very difficult for any other spinner to get into the playing Xl. For instance Malinga Bandara is a promising bowler and he has been on almost all the tours, but, he has hardly played any cricket just owing to this reason.”

Finally when asked about what his opinion on home grown coach to take over the mantle one day, Jayantha Dharmadasa said “Yes, we must explore that eventuality one day, but see India, England, The West Indies and so many other countries are going in for foreign coaches though they have their own home grown greats, but the system works that way”.