Where is the accountability?

by Rex Clementine

Being held accountable for the decisions you make is not just an area pertaining to the corporate world but to every walk of life. If you behave in an irresponsible manner not only do you get kicked out from a club, even your relatives tend to distance you. The only species that seem to be exempted from this rule are the selectors.

The current national selection panel resumed its tenure with a highly publicized fitness regime. They looked to be targeting some of the seniors but to their credit, the seniors fell in line meeting minimum fitness standards. Then, inexplicably they were kicked out from white-ball cricket as the selectors launched a youth policy.

Risk-taking is part of the job of selectors. But they should not behave like a bull in a China shop. There’s no point in burning bridges.

Leading up to the last World Cup, the selection panel at that point realized that one of the problems the national cricket team faced was that they were unable to bat out 50 overs. They realized that someone who could play the anchor role was needed and Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne was not only brought back to play ODI cricket after a five-year hiatus, he was made captain as well.

Dimuth was a limited ODI cricketer but he did a decent job both as captain and opening batsman. But the current selection panel ended that experiment without doing proper research. It was like the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government terminating the Light Railways project.

Now we are feeling the pinch with the Sri Lankan team getting bowled out for totals like 73 and 76 in back-to-back ODIs unable to last 20 overs leave alone 50.

The selectors’ much hyped-up fitness regime has been thrown out of the window as well. When the fitness protocol was started the media was constantly kept in the loop as to how the players fared in their fitness drills, but now it is a well-kept secret. Wonder why? That’s because some of the selectors’ pets have failed miserably to maintain fitness standards.

Why the national cricket team fared so badly in the T-20 World Cup in Australia last year was because they carried players who had failed fitness tests. We challenge the selectors to deny our story.

The selectors’ tenure should have ended soon after the T-20 World Cup as Danushka Gunathilaka was arrested in Sydney. The selectors had blundered by retaining their blue-eyed boy on tour even though he was injured. Eventually, he brought the nation shame and condemnation as New South Wales police arrested him moments after Sri Lanka were knocked out of the World Cup. It will be interesting to find out whether Danushka also had failed fitness tests last year although the selectors kept picking him.

Now that Sri Lanka have failed to qualify for the World Cup directly, there needs to be fresh thinking that will ensure there are no more mess-ups during the qualifying round and you pick a team that lasts 50 overs, not one that becomes an international shame unable to last 20 overs.

Yes, Sri Lanka did win the Asia Cup in the T-20 format under the current selectors’ watch but instead of that success becoming a springboard for higher achievements, they became cocky and thought everything was tickety-boo tolerating unfit and undisciplined players.

There’s very little progress you are going to make in any walk of life without discipline.