Welcome Rumesh. This is the time that Sri Lanka needs you and your knowledge of the conditions that prevail in the Indian subcontinent. When Rumesh Ratnayake made his Test debut in 1983 he was still a teenager. First trying his arm out as a leg spinner at school level, Rumesh, a strong lanky cricketer, was later converted into a fast bowler who terrorized the Lankan schools arena in the early ’80s.
Though injury kept away Rumesh from providing his full potential as a fast bowler to Sri Lanka a few world class batsmen like Larry Gomes of the West Indies of yore would explain to you what a menace this Lankan lad with a whippy action could do to batsmen of any calibre. Wish he had been in the fray today.
He will be in Sri Lanka taking a break from his duties with the Asian Cricket Council to guide the Lankan squad ONLY during Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka. In short, he would be Sri Lanka’s interim coach during this period.
As a matter of fact during the past two decades the Lankan cricket has been in the upper echelons of world cricket. Yet, our victories could be mainly attributed to the bowling skills of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas who were always staying one step ahead of any opposing batsmen in the cricketing gamut.
Yes, to complement the skills of the Murali-Vaas combination Sri Lanka had a line up of skilled batsmen in the calibre of Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Asanka Gurusinha, Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. But, this was in the post World Cup victory era where the oppositions took their Lankan challengers very seriously.
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| In his very stature Rumesh will not demand respect, but, will get it with his known skills and international performances in this department. |
During his heyday as a young fast bowler Rumesh learnt the realities of world cricket the bitter way. Yes, he did manage to get fifers (five wickets in an inning) on a couple of occasions, but the Lankan batsmen were not equipped to convert those advantages into winning positions barring Sri Lanka’s maiden Test win against India at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1985 when he ganged up with Asantha de Mel and Saliya Ahangama to pilot the fledgling nation to a 9 wicket victory. In fact in that game Rumesh bagged nine wickets.
This exposure has given him an inside knowledge about Sri Lanka cricket and how we play the game. Besides, he is a roving cricket ambassador developing cricket in the Asian region and this makes him privy to most of the latest coaching methods developed by the ICC.
Now in the post-Murali era what we need is a man who could handle and hone the bowling skills of the Lankan cricketers.
In the recent past, Sri Lanka’s cricket coaches such as John Dyson, Tom Moody, Trevor Bayliss and Stewart Law had their forte in batting skills.
Right now Lanka’s batting larder is full. It became a bit tentative when the Lankan selectors kept on persisting on the negative skills of Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva who in turn put a load of pressure on T.M. Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara. However, of late, the selectors have opened the doors for batsmen like Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne who have proved that they willing to take up the challenge at that level of cricket. So hats off to those coaches who kept Sri Lanka’s batting driving on the main lane.
Sadly, what have been left behind in the arsenal are the bowling skills. A similar crisis but to a lesser degree occurred in Australia. After the departure of Shane Warne and Glen McGrath the rest of the world breathed a sigh of relief and for a while their international ratings began to take a beating with the oppositions putting on a bold face against Aussie bowling attack. But, with bowlers like Doug Bollinger, Bret Lee and Mitchell Johnson, they have managed to salvage their seam attack. Sadly, they are out of context where the spin arm is concerned.
Like we pointed out week before last, the Lankan attack with the departure of especially Muralitharan, looks utterly wayward with the exception of off spinner Suraj Randiv who is beginning to grow his spinning fangs. Even Lasith Malinga who spearheaded the Mumbai Indians bowling attack in the IPL T-20 was found wanting at times due to the lack of quality support.
This is where a person in the calibre of Rumesh fits in like a glove. He understands what a bowler needs and knows how to hone it. As a matter of fact it was Rumesh who initially nurtured the fast bowling arm of Sri Lanka Cricket, when it was groping in the dark.
In his very stature Rumesh will not demand respect, but, will get it with his known skills and international performances in this department.
At Sri Lanka Cricket, there is a school of thought that advocates home grown coaching, but, some sceptics tend to think that they may not be able to hold their own against the big names like Dilshan, Sangakkara, Mahela and Malinga. I disagree on this point. It is not the colour of the skin or your nationality that matters in a case of this nature. But it is the ability to understand Sri Lanka cricket’s needs to keep competing at the highest level and find ways of supporting them to do so that matters..
Down the grapevine we have learned that even some of the foreign coaches who were in Sri Lanka with hefty dollar pay checks could not command the due respect and at times were lost themselves.
This is a golden opportunity for the 47-year-old Rumesh Ratnayake to prove that what he has learned is of use to the Lankans. He could rebuild the flagging bowling arsenal to fit the need of the international demands with this opportunity.
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