Saturday, 21 June 2014 00:00
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Winning the toss is an opportunity. The choice to bat or bowl at the start is important in a five-day test match. If the weather is predicted to be inclement, the choice can be crucial, certainly useful. Even otherwise, when weather gods are benign, what would the choice be? Bat first or offer to the other side the first lease of the pitch? When our batting has depth and bowling susceptible, common sense application would favour batting.
The incumbent captain has shown his mettle in his batting in adverse circumstances – he has guts both in and out of the field. We salute him for that, but offering the first lease of the wicket to your opponents in ideal batting conditions proved disastrous and very nearly lost the match. 575 runs were formidable. It was an immature decision and we were lucky to have survived. The psychological impact of a massive total would naturally tell on our batsmen. Yet, we did well and our thanks go to Mahela, Sanga, Captain Angelo and others who withstood hostile bowling and only gave a 140 run lead.
Sri Lanka’s selection of captains on many occasions has not been the best man for the job. We have lost matches and winning opportunities have not been exploited. All good cricketers are not good captains. This not a cliché, but a proven fact. The mantle falls on the selectors. Then selectors must be above bias and prejudices.
A selector’s shocking prejudice against a Sri Lankan batsman considered one of the best in the world – not only as a cricketer but Sangakkara has proved himself as a superb orator with a sensorial voice. He was encored many times during his speech at the Cowdrey Memorial. He visits outstations promoting sports activities and in charitable endeavours donating cycles and sports equipment. Sri Lanka has a name not only for cricket but Sangakkara has carved a niche for his all-round talents.
Our cricketers have done well and would continue to do well but when hare-brained selectors have political patronage and some who don’t agree also nod in agreement does not augur well for our cricketers.
On a previous occasion a rich and reputed businessman from India visited Sri Lanka and after a powwow at the top, our cricketers succumbed to the threat and had to give the match away. The talent of this small country was subdued to surrender. Great pity. Cricket mad Sri Lanka gasped.
Selectors’ obligation is the success of the team to persuade those who are good at the job of captaincy to take the mantle. It has been said a few times in cricket commentaries that we have in our team one of the best captains. He may have refused earlier, but have the selectors made serious attempts to persuade him to think it over?
Besides, the million-dollar question is, why did he refuse? Is it something unmentionable? We pray that Mahela and Sanga will accept the mantle for the World Cup next year.
