Time to Get Real with our Cricket!

This indeed is an eye-opener where we really stand in-terms of Test cricket. You can thrash Bangladesh and praise century makers and get hopes up high, till reality hits you like thunder.

If there was anything good that came out of this Gabba Test it was the sound glove work of Prassana Jayawardena. Commentators from Ian Chappell to Ian Healy to Richie Beanud almost ran out of words praising his behind the wicket exploits.

Not playing Lasith Malinga was insane! In 2006 Lord’s Test against England a similar foolhardy decision was made, playing Maharoof and Kulasekara as bowlers, while slinger was warming the bench. These one-day type non-penetrative reasonably economical bowlers are plenty in Sri Lanka, but not the wicket taking bowlers in Test matches with healthy Test bowling strike rates.

In terms of Test bowling strike rates It’s always Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Murali who lead the pack and, apart from Vassy, others are nowhere near. They remain SL’s main wicket-taking bowlers and despite an odd bad day or two, these three remain our best bet to take those 20 wickets in a Test match.

Then the Jayasuriya saga; unravelled in mid-2006, a very emotional Jayasuriya base convinced after his impressive one-day performances is basically leading the rot in Test matches. How important is a good start in a Test match and compare that to Jayasuriya’s individual Test record in the last two years. We keep mixing his one-day exploits with Test cricket and hoping and simply hoping the same would happen in Test cricket. When would common sense thinking happen?

In terms of batting slots only No 3, 4, 5 of Sanga, Mahela & Chamara apart we do not have a settled pair of openers and a solid No.6.

Vandort with age on his side looks a good bet as an opener, but except for the aging Marvan where is or who is the other candidate? Tharanga is a flasher to the core and always makes it a point to increase the stats of the opposition slip cordon. While he’s primarily a one-day type batsman, even in the one-day form, he‘s struggling. Why was he included in the present Test squad to Australia?

Let Marvan stay as the opener along with Vandort till his replacement is groomed, but this should’ve happened long time ago. It speaks volumes for our planning and policy.

Another big hole is the No.6 position. This was Dilshan’s and Ian Chappell showered him with praise, how Dilshan would come handy on fast pitches. Also, it was mentioned how he relishes on power hitting and compromises placement of the ball in the process. Summing it up - “he himself doesn’t realize how good a batter he is”. It’s one thing to have the talent, but another to put it to good use. Unfortunately he has been given an extended run which has been utterly wasted in Test matches by Dilshan himself.

Thilan Samaraweera is an ultra-defensive player, apart from those centuries made in his hay days on SL pitches; can the same be said of this off-spinner cum batsman with very limited array of shots. Even when he makes a century on a Colombo flat pitch, it takes too long and gives the Team hardly any advantage in terms of winning. What he does is not crease occupation but day’s occupation. Again a serious searching and grooming should be done for this No.6 slot.

Marvan has come out strong against the selectors. Some of it is personal animosity, no doubt. To be fair to the current set of selectors, the blunders cannot be purely blamed on them alone. Identifying players with potential and carefully grooming them with ‘A’ team tours outside SL, and inducting them to the national team has to be done over a period of years. Constant changing of selectors, not having a clear selection policy and politicians interfering with selections have contributed towards our blunders.

Part of the problem is senior cricketers themselves.
They simply don’t retire gracefully when their time is up and when they are dropped (Jayasuriya in Tests-2006, Marvan Word cup 2007) for valid reasons they simply don’t accept it and start making things difficult. Then the politicians come into play and the emotional fan base enhanced the drama. It becomes a vicious cycle!

What we should avoid, is getting our egos involved and starting a blame game. It is common place for that to happen after a disastrous tour (lets hope Hobart Test will be different), which makes it a double disaster as nothing productive comes out. A sound selection policy and forward thinking decision making with future in mind should take place. Its time to get real!

Hiran N.P Liyanage
New York, NY.