Sports
It’s time; Ashley
By Rex Clementine
Channa Wijemanne and Supun Weerasinghe are two busy CEOs of reputed private sector companies . The former responds to emailed queries within a day while the latter does it within a few hours. How long do you think the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket takes to respond to emails? Six days!
Ashley de Silva is one of the nicest blokes that you will ever come across, but being a top CEO requires more than being a nice guy. He needs to be a visionary, efficient, bold, innovative and at times capable of taking unpopular decisions. Cricket’s CEO has done none of those in recent times.
Heads rolled after the painful series defeat to England. Ashantha de Mel stepped down as Chairman of Selectors and 24 hours later Sri Lanka Cricket sacked the physiotherapist and a trainer. But those in cricket circles believe that we were merely changing pillows to cure headaches.
During our steady decline in cricket in the last six years, we have sacked captains, coaches, players and selectors. To what extent has the CEO been held accountable for his role in all of this ?
Ashley became CEO of SLC in April 2013, technically on 1st April! Eight years on the job we have made little progress. Our current ICC rankings make sorry reading and there’s little effort being made to address the decline.
There are all sorts of controversies in the sport. Discipline among Sri Lanka’s cricketers has hit new lows. Two players are slinging mud at each other using social media. There’s been a breach of their contractual obligations but the CEO has failed to put them in their places.
Kusal Mendis’ hit and run a few months ago should have earned him an immediate suspension. He and his notorious agent not only buried all evidence but failed to honour their word of building a house for the family of the deceased. The CEO turned a blind eye claiming it was a personal matter. Mendis can’t buy a run since knocking down and killing the poor cyclist who was riding to work. Karmic forces maybe at work.
Suranga Lakmal should have been sent home on the day he was caught on camera playing cards during the first Test in Galle but nothing was done. Instead a few rookies were told to pack their bags several days later. The whole nation was condemning the actions of some of our senior players and the only organization that didn’t see anything wrong with it is the one that employs them.
Some may ask why we are singling out the CEO when the whole board is responsible for the current mess. CEO’s job is not only making major corporate decisions but managing the overall operations as well. He is the public face of the company. Plus no board official has lasted as long as this CEO. The image of Sri Lanka Cricket has suffered irreparable damage in many areas in the last few years and Ashley has yet to be taken to task for any of them.
Under his charge, SLC saw its biggest financial fraud; an insider instructing television partner Sony pictures to transfer a sum of US$ 187,000 (approximately Rs. 35 million) to an off-shore account in Mexico.
On field, the national cricket team suffered back to back series defeats at the hands of South Africa and England and the fact that the team was not adequately equipped to face the challenges was quite evident.
The gap between the LPL final in Hambantota and the Boxing Day Test at Centurion was ten days. That was hardly the preparation one needed for a tour of South Africa. Quarantine regulations meant that the players had only a couple of days to train and Consequently went into the opening Test match without even a warm-up game.
Majority of decision makers at SLC including the President were against going on the tour. The tour went ahead on the insistence of Ashley. The players made a mockery of the Test match with half of the team picking up injuries during the game. Clearly, they were not ready for Test match cricket. What was the mighty hurry in going to South Africa? England had just abandoned their tour to South Africa due to a serious second wave caused by a new variant of the virus. Australia did the same earlier this week. Why did Sri Lanka have to take that huge risk?
Centurion and Wanderers are the two paciest pitches in South Africa. Maybe in the whole world now that WACA is gone. If the hosts were so desperate to stage the Boxing Day Test and New Year Test to prevent loss of television revenue, SLC should have negotiated to play at a venue favourable for them. Ideally play both Tests at Port Elizabeth. Most readers would agree with us. But not our CEO.
It’s a little known fact that the Sri Lankan team flew home from Johannesburg on a chartered flight. It cost the board an arm and a leg – something in the range of Rs. 50 million. Was this colossal expenditure justified at a time when the country itself is grappling with serious financial issues ?
With that 50 million SLC could have easily conducted two ‘A’ team tours. But ‘A’ team cricket is something that Ashley is allergic to. In a country where First Class cricket is so diluted, a responsible CEO would have seen value in ‘A’ team cricket and the exposure the younger emerging talent should have. Instead SLC under Ashley’s stewardship have virtually swept ‘A’ team cricket out of the system because it costs too much money.
Ashley is SLC ‘s longest serving CEO. Even James Sutherland of Cricket Australia couldn’t survive the ‘sand paper gate’. His successor Kevin Roberts barely lasted 18 months. Ashley bats on regardless while SLC is steeped in Scandal after scandal.
We are at the very lowest ever in our Test, ODI and T20 rankings, sixth, eighth and seventh respectively.
After eight years in office if this is the end result surely it must call for urgent remedial action? . Deliver or depart Ashley. Given our dismal standing in world cricket after eight years in office the option seems obvious!
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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