Inquisition begins following dire NZ tour

ODIs and Test Captian Angelo Mathews addressing the press conference. Others from left: Sri Lanka National team Manager Jeryl Woutersz, T20Is Captian Dinesh Chandimal and National Team Head Coch Jerome Jayaratne - Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe

By Madushka Balasuriya

The inquest into Sri Lanka’s poor showing in New Zealand began yesterday with barely any time for players to even catch a breath, as the national team captains and coach made their way to Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters for a media briefing a short while after touching down at Katunayake airport.

The briefing, which was announced last Friday, was set to be an uncomfortable event in any case but had taken on even more significance in the preceding 24 hours, with news breaking that Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera had called for an outright investigation into allegations of ‘scandalous behaviour’ by some members of the team during their tour down under.

“I have been informed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) that the Sports Minister has requested a report regarding the allegations. I will be making that report in a few days and handing it over to SLC, and they will take it up with the Minister from there,” explained Team Manager Jeryl Woutersz, neither confirming nor denying the veracity of the allegations, as he addressed the press alongside ODI and T20 captains Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal and Coach Jerome Jayaratne.

The Sports Minister on Tuesday had told AFP that he had been given photographic evidence of players attending all-night parties ahead of crunch matches against New Zealand. In addition to that, Jayasekera asserted that there had been a certain level of disharmony in the camp and squabbles between players. Moreover there were also rumours of a rift between Mathews and Jayaratne. When this was put to the captain, he laughed it off.

“I’ve been hearing so many things, to be honest, up to now and… Coach, you want to comment on that? [laughs] But seriously, as far as I’m concerned we have a very good relationship. I’ve known Jerome for the past eight or nine years, maybe more than that, and we’ve never had any differences or issues. So I’m actually clueless where [these rumours] came from.”

“This is not the first time it has happened though; it happened straight after the World Cup last year as well. People come up with so many allegations when the team doesn’t perform well. But as far as I’m concerned, as Captain, if someone has violated team rules they will be brought to task,” he added.

Alleged ill discipline aside, the New Zealand tour was largely one to forget for the Lankan outfit. In nine matches (two tests, five ODIs, two T20Is) the tourists only managed one win, albeit a comprehensive one. However, while Mathews was disappointed with his side’s performance and their failure to implement plans in all three formats, there were several positives to hold on to.

“There were lots of positives when it came to individual performances such as Chandi [Dinesh Chandimal] stepping up and Dushmantha [Chameera] also had a great tour. He bowled with lots of fire, lots of pace, and he was able to go hard at the New Zealand batsmen. [Jeffrey] Vandersay also bowled well in patches, while guys like Kusal Mendis played a few good knocks.”

“Yes it was a difficult tour for us, it was quite demoralising and embarrassing, but we had our chances. Whenever we got them, though, we just let it go. It was sometimes just one mistake, but those are mistakes you can’t afford to make. We definitely have the talent, it’s just a matter of fine tuning and coping better with the pressure.”

Mathews also touched on the fact that this was the first overseas tour for Sri Lanka in the Post- Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara era. He believes this has really opened their eyes as to what elements the team is missing following the retirement of the two greats.

“Following the departure of Sanga and Mahela we now understand what the team is missing. This is not an excuse, but the experience those two brought to the table was invaluable,” he said. “This is a very talented, but also, very inexperienced team. You could see that the youngsters found certain match situations difficult to handle. We’re all still learning, but the more games we play, the more we will improve.”

With the T20 edition of the Asia Cup next month and the World T20 in India less than two months away, Sri Lanka will be hoping that that improvement comes sooner rather than later. Coach Jerome Jayaratne though admitted that the New Zealand tour had posed more questions than it answered.

“The games did not go according to plan. We’re having to reevaluate our squad and we’re currently having several conversations with regards to how to proceed, and to identify the best 15 players for to take to the World T20.”

“Even guys who have not been called up to the national side but are doing well domestically will have a shot of going to India,” he added.