E Rodrigopulle: Sri Lanka Cricket Board On A Sticky Wicket (10 Dec 1996)

10 December 1996

Cricket Board on a sticky wicket

THE Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka is apparently on a sticky wicket, unable to decide who they should get as coach for the national team.

Many names are being spun around-among them being former Aussie coach Bob Simpson and former England player, South African born Allan Lamb. These are the only two names to have leaked out of the secret moves to employ a foreign coach. There are other names too and it will be interesting to see who will finally bat for Sri Lanka.

NO EASY TASK

In support of the CB it must be said that their task is not an easy one. Several aspects have to be looked into before they and the coach could sign on the dotted line.

However the most problematic must be the stipend to be paid to the one finally picked. Coaches who have been contacted must definitely be asking for nothing but the best.

The best man must be asking for big money. That is understandable. This is true of the saying - cheap things no good, good things no cheap. Apparently the top men in the CB are in cricketing parlance, batting not only on a sticky wicket, but on a tricky wicket as well.

UNENVIABLE JOB

However the men who matter know that their`s is an unenviable job. They will have to scan through all credentials before finally settling for the best.

It will do the CB good if they could get somebody with coaching experience. A famous player will not necessarily make a good coach. Coaching experience is vital.

In this aspect the former CB played the master stroke when they caught prized catch in Davenall Whatmore. What Whatmore achieved with the assistance and expertise of the team that made the World Cup squad is history now.

SOUR TASTE

Any story has two sides to it. And it is no different in the Whatmore episode. But that it all ended with a sour taste in the mouth is something that cannot be understood.

When the first signs of the cracks were noticed, those who matter should have stepped in and brought the warring factions together. Sport it is said is the great leveller. A handshake and a bit of give and take would have mended fences. That there was no one in the CB to do just that will always remain a black mark in our cricket setup.

APPOINT MENDIS

With the CB still undecided on the next coach and till such time as they sign someone on, it will be good if the CB appoints the manager of the team Duleep Mendis to do the job.

Mendis lacks nothing in credentials. He has the ability, the experience and the support of all including the players and members of the CB. With the New Zealand tour a few months away, the CB cannot afford to be caught napping. They must act now and act fast. We beat the Kiwis on the last tour where we also registered our first historic test win abroad. There is cricketing prestige to guard and to be guarded jealously. So the ball is now in the court of the CB.

WINDIES FLOP

On the foreign cricket scene while the Indians and the South Africans are fighting it out splendidly, it is sad to see the decline of the once famous West Indian cricket.

When they landed in kangaroo land the Windies promised to provide the cavalier game that they are famous for. But sad to say the Windies now fronting up to the Aussies, are a disgrace to their predecessors like the terrible Ws, Sir Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and the incumbent ICC chairman Clyde Walcott, Sir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Larry Gomes, Allan Rae, Jeff Stolmeyer, Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith, Joel Garner, Malcom Marshall, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Sonny Ramadin and Alf Valentine to name a few who rewrote cricket`s history books with their brilliance.

DISINTERESTED

The present team not only seem disinterested, but are also physically unfit. Above all there does not seem to be anyone around, including manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcom Marshall who can motivate them.

There is no doubt that they are individually brilliant. But it is sad that they cannot play as a team and give the Aussies a run. The West Indies team of `60 and `61 that toured Australia had individual brilliance. And it fell on that great cricketer and gentleman Sir Frank Worell, who crossed the great divide prematurely, to use his persuasive ways to get them to play as a team and what the Windies achieved on that tour is part of the game`s history now.

Nearly 100 thousand cricket fans flocked to the MCG to see them play. similar number lined the streets to give them a ticker tape send off. That was because they brought the game alive with their cricketing magic.

The present Windies are a sad sight!

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)