Saturday 4th November, 2023

Cricket is said to be a game of glorious uncertainties, but the present-day Sri Lankan cricketers seem determined to disprove this aphorism; they have made their humiliating defeats almost certain and predictable, if their pathetic performance in the past several international tournaments is any indication. It looks as if they specialised in queering the pitch for themselves and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so to speak.

Cricket has come to a pass where the SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket), with no match wins as such to celebrate, seeks to bask in the reflected glory of outstanding sportspersons other than cricketers by donating money to them.

It can be said, with apologies to Groucho Marx, that live telecasts of matches that Sri Lankan cricketers play have become very educating of late; whenever someone turns the television on to watch them, others go elsewhere and read books!

No sooner had Sri Lanka suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of India in the World Cup ODI played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday than SLC called for ‘an urgent and comprehensive explanation’ from the coaching staff and the selectors. It also expressed its ‘deep concern and disappointment’ over the performance of the national team during the ongoing World Cup 2023, particularly the disappointing loss against India on Thursday’.

The SLC is apparently labouring under the misconception that Sri Lankan cricket lovers are a bunch of suckers. There is no way it can hide the fact that it has sought to deflect criticism by throwing the coaching staff, the selectors and the players to the wolves.

Sri Lankan cricketers’ performance has been so abysmal, on the watch of the incumbent cricket administrators, that one may say a school cricket team would have put up a better fight in Mumbai on Thursday. The less said about the coaching staff and the selectors, the better. They obviously do not earn their keep, and the national cricketers can definitely maintain their current ‘performance’ at the same level without the help of so many coaches! Who needs expensive coaching to lose matches so consistently?

The SLC bigwigs cannot absolve themselves of the blame for the mess in cricket. A fish is said to rot from the head down. SLC is to be held accountable for what has befallen Sri Lanka’s de facto national sport more than others. It must therefore be dissolved forthwith. One can only hope that Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe and President Ranil Wickremesinghe will pluck up the courage to grasp the nettle. It may be recalled that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga did so; she appointed an interim committee consisting of eminent persons, who delivered. Her example is worthy of emulation.