Sports
Dulla’s insatiable appetite for excellence
by Rex Clementine
Most cricketers reaching 70 these days prefer the comforts of their homes, their holiday spots or spending time with their kids looking after their grandchildren. Even before reaching 70, Ian Botham is tasting wine and relaxing in Ravensworth in Yorkshire. Viv Richards is in Antigua sipping rum while Imran Khan is contemplating his political future. They have got nothing to do with cricket and even the other septuagenarians who have some interest in cricket like Sunil Gavaskar or Michael Holding, they prefer the air conditioned comforts of the commentary box. Only those who have the insatiable appetite for excellence in cricket take up coaching at the age of 70. They are a different breed. Duleep Mendis belongs to that category. In fact when it comes to cricket, he’s a different beast. He leaves nothing for chance, isn’t afraid to tread on the roads less travelled and moves about with a single-mindedness as if history is there to be created.
Duleep’s association with Oman cricket had not only seen the emergence of a new regional powerhouse of the sport but a cricketing nation that’s ever improving and increasing its stakes in big events. From a little known entity in world cricket, under Duleep, Oman have gone onto receive T20 and ODI International status. The country also had qualified for the ICC T20 World Cup and earlier this week reached the qualifiers of this year’s 50 overs World Cup which will be played in Zimbabwe.
Cricket has been Duleep’s life and in the last 50 years he has been in the limelight first as a player, having played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka’s journey to Test status and then skippered the nation for their inaugural Test win. Post playing career he dedicated another 20 years for the game as coach, manager and Chairman of Selectors and his contributions were vital during every milestone of our cricket.
A lot of people think that what makes Dulla special is his ability to put people in their places. While that maybe true, his speciality is his ability to read the game. He is also not afraid to make tough decisions and his single-mindedness has often helped Sri Lankan teams to come out of tricky situations.
The Sri Lankan team benefited immensely during his direct involvement with the them for two decades and it is these expertise that is helping Oman currently on their march towards being a strong cricket force. What Duleep has achieved in such a short span has marveled everyone for Arabs are not much into cricket in Oman and it’s the Indian and Pakistani communities employed in Oman that is keeping cricket at a good standard.
Duleep during his Sri Lanka days was at one point dragged out of the national team and was handed bigger responsibilities. As Director Cricket Operations he took the game to grassroots and currently if outstations are feeding more players to the national team than established centers like Colombo, Kandy and Galle it is due to Duleep’s visionary thinking in putting up practice facilities, providing turf wickets and investing on provincial and district coaches.
It is as CEO, Duleep dazzled most. That he was the head of the board never occurred to him. He mingled with all employees of the board without maintaining distance and that’s why he’s popular even to this date. That doesn’t mean that he tried to please everyone. Sometimes he warned his elected bosses of consequences of certain ill advised decisions. He was firm during certain pay disputes and encouraged mechanisms to look after retired players although they never bore fruit due to some men with vested interests. Duleep could be ruthless when it came to negotiations. The South Africans were in town in 2006 and were hammered in the Test series. This was the same series where Sanga and MJ put on the World Record partnership. A few days later there was a bomb blast half a kilometer from the team hotel and the South Africans wanted to go home without playing the limited overs leg.
The CEO, the Board President and the IGP Chandra Fernando met the South African team management at the Cinnamon Grand. Even after being offered security provided to heads of states, the tourists didn’t change their stance. They wanted to go home. Duleep warned the South Africans of dire consequences. With the series called off, the press asked the Board President for a comment. He played it down diplomatically. But Duleep didn’t mince his words. He said, ‘I have a headline for you.’ So what was the headline ‘Proteas chicken-out’.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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