Army’s coach Roger wants players to be better all-rounders in life 

by A Special Sports Correspondent 

Army Sports Club lived up to expectations when its cricketers won the Major Club T-20 cricket tournament a few days back by defeating Colts Cricket Club in the decider. Led by Thisara Perera and coached by Roger Wijesuriya, did the security foces team proud and put them back in recognition in the domestic cricket scene. Last season Army finished as losing finalists in the same tournament.

The person behind the success story of the Army SC team, Wijesurya, in an interview said that his players are blessed. “I’m saying this because I am a Christian. I don’t want to use the word lucky. These players have careers with Sri Lanka Army and a beneficial retirement programme awaits them. That’s why I maintain that they are blessed,” said Wijesuriya. He said that most of the other club cricket players don’t have that security because they only concentrate on cricket. Most of these players are employed to play cricket for a specific period like a few months. “What are they going to do when they cannot play the game anymore because of old age or injury,” asked Wijesuriya.

The former Sri Lanka cricketer, who represented the country in both forms of the game, said that when a player is employed because he knows a trade enables him to be a better thinker of the game. “When you work in a company or establishment you come across superiors who are intellectuals and this is one way to gain wisdom. Otherwise despite you being a champion cricketer you may be thinking like a kid,” said the Army coach who said that he had worked over 25 years in the Mercantile sector in the field of sales.

Wijesuriya said that during his time players were gainfully employed in the mercantile sector and managed cricket and work. According to him the cricketers in his era had concentrated on office work in the morning and playing cricket had been done only in the evenings. Still a good many of them went on to represent Sri Lanka. “The present set-up of taxing players to train from morning till 1pm ruins their chances of being employed in any firm,” warned Wijesuriya. He had praise for the Army authorities for employing many cricketers. There are more than 10 regiments in the Army and each unit has its cricket team that plays competitive cricket. Army players are also given the liberty to represent other teams (during periods when they are not representing the Army) and also to travel home during weekends.

Sri Lanka Army also produced its share of national cricketers and a player like HIK Fernando stands tall. At present they have Seekkuge Prasanna who was at one time a regular at the national side. He was the match winner in the final shinning with both bat and ball. According to Wijesuriya Army recruits enjoy a pension after retirement and before they call it a day with the forces these employees are offered training in a selected profession so that they can be gainfully occupied in their retirement.

So the parting words by the winning coach for Army were, “Keep working at a career outside cricket because, who knows, that job could be a career later in life. God has given you a talent, so may be you are destined to be a great barber or a salesman and not necessarily a national cricketer. Everyone who takes to cricket doesn’t make it to the national team so its essential to have a career or interest outside cricket”. Wijesuriya said that players in general who are employed part-time (referring to players outside the Army) in cricket must think beyond obtaining a contract and think of full time employment.