Aussies will send best possible side (3 July 1999)

3 July 1999

Aussies will send best possible side

Sa'adi thawfeeq

Any doubts that Australia would send a below strength team to Sri Lanka when they tour in August were dispelled by Australian Cricket Board (ACB) operations general manager Richard Watson.

"I can assure that every series that Australia participates in we play to win. To do that you must pick your best team for that particular series," said Watson.

"The conditions laid down to our selectors is to pick by far the best team possible to win the series in which Australia are participating. That leads to the policy we now have, where we select specific players for Tests and one-dayers. We will be doing the same for our tour of Sri Lanka to be followed by Zimbabwe," Watson told a press conference held at the Cricket Board headquarters on Thursday.

Steve Bernard, the Australian team manager, who was part of the three-member pre-tour party sent to Sri Lanka by the ACB to check on the facilities for players, was equally assertive.

"As world one-day champions and the leading Test nation we have a lot to live upto. I am sure the Sri Lankan side also had the same problems when you won the previous World Cup," said Bernard.

"That puts an onus on us to maintain our standards and keep playing well. Our players are jealous of their reputation as a very good international side. They are always very competitive. For us it doesn't matter where we tour, we want to be competitive. We want to win," Bernard said.

On the availability of leg-spinner Shane Warne for the tour, Watson said: "Retirement from the international level of the game is something Shane is considering. We can't speak for Shane. He is currently on holiday. But if Shane decides to continue at international level, I can assure you that he has also made a statement that he will be available for selection to tour Sri Lanka".

Warne along with other Australian players declined to visit Sri Lanka for their World Cup match in 1996 citing security concerns after the bombing of the Central Bank building. He said that it was dangerous to do shopping even in Sri Lanka. That remark prompted Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar to comment that "shopping is for sissies".

This incident apart, Sri Lanka's ace spinner Muthiah Muralitharan was no-balled for throwing on tours to Australia in 1995-96 and 1998-99 which strained relations between both teams.

The brief visit of the ACB three-member pre-tour party therefore had a two-fold effect.

Apart from ensuring that facilities for the Australian cricketers met with the required standards, the visit also went a long way towards mending the strained relations that existed between the two countries since December 1995.

"There is no acrimony between the Australian and Sri Lankan Cricket Boards. The relationship between the two boards have always been very friendly. Many years ago Australia played a great part in supporting the introduction of Sri Lanka to Test match status and we have a great relationship with your Cricket Board," said Watson.

"The certain incidents that happened can occur between any nations. It would cause a bit of a problem for a while, but they have been sorted out. The working relationship I can tell you between the administration of this body here and the ACB have never been better".

"We are very impressed with the arrangements that are in place for the tour in front of us and the facilities that will greet our players when they get here in August," said Watson.

"Hotel facilities we witnessed in Galle, Kandy and in Colombo at the Taj are superb, quite outstanding actually. The facility in Galle we can see by the time the match is played there will be a tremendous setting.

"We have a criteria that we go through and we have a number of things on our check list. As far as we are concered it meets the criteria," he said.

What any pre-tour party of representatives to Sri Lanka or for that matter to any country look for, are simple things like net balls to practice facilities, facilities for the players, movement of players from hotel to the grounds, security matters and, a whole range of issues that are now important in organising tours of this significance.

Apart from visiting the match venues where Australia will be playing during their five-week tour, the delegation which also comprised Tim May, the Australian Players' Association chief executive, also met officials and security police.

"We have been assured that everything is right and we are confident of that. We are extremely happy with the arrangments. I might say we have been received superbly and looked after very well," said Watson.

If the ACB expressed concern over security to their players it is quite understandable after the recent experience in the Caribbean and during the World Cup in England.

"In the tour of West Indies which Bernard managed there were some very ugly incidents where the players felt very much threatened, particularly with ground invasions where the players were jostled. In the World Cup the same thing occurred. We don't want that for our players. I don't think it should be in existence for any player in the world. They are professional cricketers and they should not be put under such stress," Watson said.

Australia are due in August 20 to play in a one-day triangular series with Sri Lanka and India, and stay back for a three-Test series.

Source :: The Daily News