Big names, great stories and records… or the biggest blow
Wednesday, 25 February 2015 00:00
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By Leonard Ratnayake
For every Sri Lankan cricket fan, the World Cup 2015 was already won by them even before it commenced. Winning the T20 World Cup in 2014, they had proven that they are no more the runners-up in ICC events.
The Sri Lankan Cricket Team has the greatest of batsmen, the most-feared bowlers and the smartest of cricketing brains in the field. To add to it, we have a bunch of coaches, selectors, and managers to guide the currently most experienced team in the cricketing world.
Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and Lasith Malinga have become bigger names than Sanath Jayasuriya, Asanka Gurusinghe, Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga in 1996. But have they got what it takes to deliver to an appealing nation’s hopes?
For me, it is only the young skipper Angelo Mathews who is fighting a solitary battle to earn the crown and to his misfortune, there are too many cooks to spoil the soup.
Expectations are high on the big names to perform. Dilshan’s approach to batting and the manner he got out against New Zealand, while a maturing Tirimanna was scoring at ease on the other end, cast doubts on whether we are to rely on big guns or young blood.
Then against Afghanistan; both succumbed to ducks. The pair does not play the role of dashing openers, who could have risked their wickets like in the 1996 experiments.
Sure, Sangakkara is a better cricketer than Gurusinghe but not a batsman who at number three could consolidate any pressure situation like the latter used to do. In his day, Sangakkara would do wonders to keep the scoreboard clicking until he reached a landmark.
The good news is that Jayawardene is among runs. He could always adapt to situations with his crafty knocks. He is also another record maker, but there is the question of how far he has matured as a match winner for Sri Lanka and if he has the patience and courage to bat out tense endings to convert them into victories.
A lot was said about Malinga’s importance prior to the World Cup while he was nursing an injury. Many thought he couldn’t make it to the big tournament. When the Sri Lankan team walked to the middle, I mistakenly thought it was Arjuna Ranatunga walking in for Malinga.
The oversight for similarity was not because Malinga was fortunate to be regarded as a World Cup winning Captain or I was confused by their coloured hair, but it was due to their 10-pound bellied chubby figure. This is the feared pace bowler that Sri Lanka should rely on to win a World Cup. No doubt, Malinga is a better talent; if only he had been well-educated in all areas.
The World Cup is a big and a long tournament, which needs consistency and commitment right throughout from every single person in the dressing room. Additionally, in 1996, Ranatunga’s team had sheer determination and a lion-mauling attitude with a correct approach which helped them win the World Cup. I doubt this Sri Lankan squad has got that right, although they are better bunch of great individuals.
With a bagful of hopes, in 1999 Ranatunga led the best Sri Lankan team ever on record for a World Cup and the then BCCSL organised and sponsored a ‘Let’s do it again’ campaign which was launched at the Nawam Mawatha building.
Attending the launch, incumbent President Thilanga Sumathipala’s ally reached me and whispered “rather than preparing for the World Cup, got to prepare for the BCCSL elections, as Clifford Ratwatte has come forward to contest for the presidency.”
Ratwatte was a nominee of the Upali/Jayantha Dharmadasa camp with the State’s blessings, being the uncle of then President Chandrika Bandaranaike, thus high profile politics was entering cricket administration, which was rich and famous, to make it what it is today.
Meanwhile, the defending World Champions Sri Lanka got lost in their campaign ‘Let’s do it again’ and did exactly again what we used to do – a group stage exit from the World Cup.
Come today, in the light of the ongoing World Cup, Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake intelligently postponed the elections to the end of April to give enough time to prepare for cricket’s political campaigning. Ironically, with Bangladesh sharing points with Australia due to a wash-out, yet Sri Lanka is not ruled out of a group stage exit.
