The World Cup! The biggest cricketing event that is staged once in four years is a just around the corner! It is the opportunity that Countries wait for! The chance to be crowned the World Champions! A mantle that gives a country the added recognition and finances of course. The West Indies were the original Champs in 1975 and then followed it up in 1979. But the cupboard has been barren since then. Australia the runner up in 1975 has won the plum in 1999, 2003 and 2007 and before that in 1987 and could be called the most successful World Cup side up to now! India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have solitary showings in 1983, 1992 and 1996 respectively. But no joy for two of the top teams England, South Africa or the Kiwis so far with Bangladesh yet to be called a major contender.
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It is with such a history that countries approach the much talked about and hyped 2011 World Cup which will be staged in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The question which is foremost today is how prepared are the teams for this big event? A look at the cricketing world makes it abundantly clear that Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan will have Cricket at the highest level almost up to the end of January which could be considered more than useful in terms of selection and fine tuning.
Though one of the pre-tournament favourites Sri Lanka will be idle during that period and so would be the West Indies and Bangladeshi’s who are also in the top bracket of teams. Zimbabwe too will not be playing any International cricket prior to the big event.
It will be particularly interesting to focus the build up of Sri Lanka for the 2011 World Cup as surely they are one of the top contenders with India being the other. Former captain and the only World Cup winning Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga along with the former Pakistan great Imran Khan have tipped the Lankans to win the plum whilst Kapil Dav and Sir Vivian Richards seem to think it’s India. With the type of following and expectations in their respective countries both teams are bound to start the tournament with some pressure. In 1996 where the Lankans won, they were never pre-tournament favourites though Sri Lanka always had an outside chance. They became real contenders only after reaching the last four. But in 2011 the situation is vastly different!
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| In the last Cricket World Cup played in the West Indies, the Lankans ended up as the runners-up |
One of the issues that the Lankans would want to master as early as possible will be the conditions that prevail at the local venues. And on the subject of the venues, I believe it is important that the entire nation stands behind Sri Lanka Cricket to make the World Cup a success as it is the reputation of the country which is at stake! Petty difference between individuals should be forgotten for the greater good of the game and country and the World Cup should be a success story from a Sri Lankan perspective come what may and irrespective who is at the helm at SLC.
The reason being it will be the country that will either be recognized or simply condemned on the organization of the World Cup as Individuals will always come and go. Hence my appeal is let’s see the World Cup through and make it a success!
As for the grounds itself the Sri Lankans should be confident of the Premadasa Stadium and the Pallekelle International Cricket stadium as they have played there before and understand the conditions, but the issue will be Sooriyawewa where Sri Lanka will thankfully only play Canada. The good news and most importantly all three grounds are expected to be ready by the deadline which is the 15th January 2011, which must be a huge relief to everybody.
However back to the familiarization factor, one cannot take any team for granted and hence Canada too should be given its due respect as we did see how the Indians and Pakistanis became early causalities in 2007! Besides coming up with a balanced team of players and utilizing the home advantage has to be right on top of the Sri Lankan agenda and the recent bad weather and the cancellation of the West Indies ODI games weren’t helpful at all. Whilst it is earnestly expected that the West Indies will come back for a three match ODI series the recent media reports which suggests otherwise, if accurate could be a huge blow to the Sri Lankan preparations as International Cricket and a contest at the toughest level is a good way of horning one’s skills and the Lankans would have wanted such a contest to test the squad which would be picked to do battle. Let’s hope that the West Indies tour will prevail.
But if it doesn’t Sri Lanka will have to work on their home made remedies to overcome these issues. I believe one of the easiest methods would be to play practice games using the current squad at the respective venues which will give the players the much needed practice and understanding of the pitch and ground conditions itself and to the selectors an option to have a closer look at the few border line players to complete the squad of fifteen. This might be an easy option though one wonders whether the selectors would want to peruse it considering the headaches it could create such as an earmarked player failing or an outsider coming up with something special causing an issue to a possible plan. Hence one wonders whether that route would be taken at all. The second and the next obvious one will be to have extensive training at the said venues though it is pretty plain to all and sundry that there exists a gulf between a match and practice. That’s a call the selectors will make and it will depend on the fact as to what extent the squad has been finalized.
Under whatever circumstances it is important that the Lankans be battle ready for this important event as I maintain that Sri Lanka has never had a better chance to win a World Cup. True we won it in 1996 but the circumstances and the build up was different! So let’s make it happen this time.
Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading
cricket promoter and an
international cricket commentator
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