The cricket debacle

Cricket is called a “gentlemen’s game”, played in accordance with norms maintained historically. But of late it has become a “must win by any means” game with no ethics or any respect for the “spirit” of the sport. This was evident when the Bangaladesh team chose to ‘time out’ Angelo Mathews who may have been a threat to their winning the game.

Of course Mathews should have in the first instance got permission from the umpire before calling for a replacement helmet, but he obviously never bargained for what happened. We eventually ended up at the bottom of the 2023 World Cup table.

Excuses were many both from the team and its managers. Perhaps we in the recent past have created many records not only in cricket but even in politics having as President of this country a person who even lost his parliamentary seat.

The Chairman of the Selectors, on arrival in Colombo, said he’ll reveal the reasons for the defeat two days later. He’s since written a long letter with many vague statements. Then Angelo Mathews claimed the team was united and denied a conspiracy.

The captain known as “Mendis Special” denied a conspiracy and accepted that the team fared poorly, twice losing to India scoring just 50 and 55 runs as India had a superior team in terms of both batting and bowling. I would like to ask him how relatively new entrants like Netherlands and Afghanistan scored much more than us every time they faced India despite our having a more experienced team? Does he have leadership qualities to be the captain? Excuses given by Mahela for removing his predecessor were lame indeed. Mahela Jayawardena did his best to defend the team but accepted that the team fared very poorly.

The manager of the team when interviewed seemed to be in a huff and appeared temperamentally unsuited for the job given the deplorable way he conducted himself.

Poor application and commitment

Most cricketers whom I know attributed this loss to the team being thoroughly unfit or with poor fitness levels to face a World Cup after playing IPL in Sri Lanka. It was certainly not the best team as most of the cricketers were injury prone and despite our having much talent we made the wrong selections.

Poor management

There was zero discipline in the team and the managers failed to enforce discipline. We have beaten many teams at home but going overseas there seems to be a lot of dissipation with no monitoring of movements or proper training schedules. This was evident when our teams were in UK and Australia. Our managers are mere puppets and must take most of the blame for what happened.

This team had a head coach, batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach , fitness coach and a so called manager with no management capabilities. It appears that none of the officials including the chairman of the selection board had proper communication and co-ordination in handling a young team. There are many more reasons other than what I have mentioned and one wonders whether Indian bookies had a field day!

A comprehensive investigation is a must. An investigative journalist like the late Lasantha Wickrematunga would have busted the story! Unfortunately we do not have anyone of his caliber or of the caliber of our former CID Director Shani Abeysekera who would have done a thorough job establishing reasons for the poor performance.

Cricket Board too must take the blame

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board has certainly to be blamed for their lack of transparency in not preparing the team for a World Cup and making erratic decisions in conducting an LPL. The main objective seems to have been money making rather than fielding the best team with good fitness levels and tight management.

As the chairman of SLC says he cannot escape by pointing fingers at the team’s poor performance or the selection board and the coaches. The Board’s management skills are certainly questionable. If any organization does not deliver good results to the shareholders, the board must take the blame.

It’s time that politics is kept out of all sports. We must have dedicated sportsmen to manage various sports organizations and require a suitable legal framework to achieve this objective.

Nihal de Alwis