About the big bad wolf

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Was it the three little pigs or no one? I just cannot get my mind off this little anecdote when ever I think of the sudden vanishing trick made by our Rumesh Ratnayake after he had agreed to take over the mantle of the Assistant National coach of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Though he had cited family reasons for his pulling out, the stories that we hear down the grapevine is that two former stalwarts had huffed, puffed and blown the latter’s mind out of the job. Well the latter version is more plausible than the official banter that was made public.

What is intriguing is that when once a very high official of the Interim Committee was speaking to me on the subject was of the view that it was high time that Sri Lanka earnestly looked at having a home grown coach and Ratnayake would be offered a four year contract so that once any one who filled the void created by the leaving of Tom Moody also decides to go back after his tenure of two years, the local coach would be there to have continuity of the system they build-up during the next two years. This meant that Ratnayake with an approximately $80,000/- per annum salary would have had the full backing of the incumbent administration because it was exactly their line of thinking. However there was a huge slip between the cup and the lip.At the same time one feels that it was better that Ratnayake made his decision well on time if he did not have his full weight behind the new task at hand. The new coach that Sri Lanka has signed up – Trevor Bayliss may have the right qualifications, but he is of unknown quantity and certainly he is not another Tom Moody, John Dyson. At the same time one wonders as to how Bayliss is going tackle the senior craftsmen in the Sri Lankan side of proven quality. Either he will have to stamp his authority over the Lankans through sheer ingenuity, or else run with the wind or take a walk. Then if he has a guy who is also not fully behind his own self the whole issue could turn into a tangled web.

Dav Whatmore made his presence felt in Sri Lanka in 1996 coming in as unknown quantity, but, Sri Lanka cricket was several fathoms behind to what it is today. At that time the Lankans were an up and coming combination, but were complete outsiders. Today’s scenario is different, at present, the Lankan team is one of the best in the business and the team comprises some of the best exponents of the game in whatever the discipline you name it. So anyone taking on this combination has to be sure of what he is capable of and back himself more than a hundred per cent in accomplishing whatever his targeted task is.

With the withdrawal of Ratnayake the Sri Lankan Interim Committee have had a change of heart all of a sudden and now is looking for another foreign animator who could fit into the slot of a bowling and fielding coach and Bayliss has been given the task of finding someone of his ilk. But, then I wonder what happened to that very ambitious and encouraging path that the authorities were driving at? Why was the sudden change of heart? Were there any outside opinions to the contrary which the Interim Committee had to take very serious note of?

Sri Lanka has been in the official international arena when they qualified as an associated member to take part in the inaugural World Cup in 1975. Then soon after the 1979 edition of the World Cup, Sri Lanka was taken into the fold as a full member and played their maiden Test against England at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1982. Since then Sri Lanka has produced a total of 105 cricketers which runs up to young Malinda Warnapura who made his debut against Bangladesh at the just concluded Test match.

In the past Sri Lanka had Test players of the calibre of Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias performing the role of coach till the then cricket Board president Ana Punchihewa and his team thought of employing a player with a bigger horizon to guide the fledgling nation. However since then the Lankan cricket has kept marching forward and has been producing cricketers of good quality.Is the cupboard bare as they say? Cannot we find another Lankan coach to act as the assistant coach to Bayliss? Just for argument sake, take Ruwan Kalpage who is in the system at present. He has been with the national side in various capacities and has experienced the systems that the coaches like Dyson and Moody or even Trevor Penny had adopted and at the same time he was one of the best fielders within the Lankan ranks and was selected to play International cricket for his bowling capabilities. This name seems to be a name that one can go headhunting as it fits the bill. However this is without taking other local internal cricket politics whatever they may be into consideration. At the same time it was the easiest guess of a name looking at the list. There may be more, if Sri Lanka is genuinely interested in promoting a Lankan to keep the second mantle to keep the flames burning when the need arises they may have to shuffle the pack a little and they will certainly come through. But, who knows what is happening behind the curtains?