Leadership vital in life and sports (13 January 1999)

13 January 1999

Leadership vital in life and sports

P Epasinghe

Just as in life, leadership is an important, and vital aspect in sports. A person in charge of a ship or civil aircraft is known as a captain. In sports, a person given authority over a group or team is called a leader or a captain.

Success of a cricket team will always lie on the shoulder of its captain. He can make it or break it. Undoubtedly, it's the most challenging task for any player. Experience is certainly an asset. In short, a sovereign virtue in a captain is unselfishness. A captain must put others before himself.

When tracing the history of cricket, Sir Don Bradman, Ritchie Benaud, Alan Border, Mark Taylor, Clive Lloyd, Sir Frank Worrell, Michael Brearley, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Hansie Cronje and our own Arjuna Ranatunga the most experienced cricketing leader today, have been ornaments to the game in all the years they have played. Not only in their cricketing prowess but their public relations made all of them great captains. In the pavilion and on the field, captain can do much to keep the morale of their team.

Discipline is essential in every walk of life. Cricket is no exception. The type of discipline a captain imposes may vary with his character and that of the players under his command. The best result will come from loyalty to, and confidence in, the captain himself. However, one thing must be quite clear that he is the only master. The captain is directly responsible for the welfare and happiness of his side.

The duty of a captain is not only to guide and lead ten men onto the field. He must be able to deploy whatever skill his players have at disposal. He must get the best out of his team by helping them to play together without suppressing their flair and uniqueness.

During my career as a radio commentator, spanning nearly three and half decades, I have seen captains impose the strength of their personality on the team. Clive Lloyd, Imran Khan, Alan Border, Hansie Cronje and Arjuna Ranatunga are some of the names that come to my mind as outstanding captains. They have some undefinable qualities called Charisma.

A cricket captain must at all times be polite and must be a sporting ambassador for his country. :What happened to Kumar Dharmasena and Sajith Fernando?

Sri Lanka cricket authorities announced a 30 member squad led by Arjuna Ranatunga to prepare for this year's 1999, World Cup in England. Apart from Asanka Gurusinha, who is now playing in Australia and Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan, all-rounder, who represents Bloomfield, the squad includes all players from the 1996 team that won the Wills World Cup.

It was rather unfortunate that Kumar Dharmasena was not included in the 'pool'. Although no umpire called him for throwing or chucking, he was reported to the ICC for a suspect action after the English tour 1998. I wonder whether the BCCSL has already taken action regarding this matter. If they have not taken it, its high time that immediate attention be drawn to this matter. It is believed that a similar scenario took place with Muralitharan too. It seems, that the BCCSL was informed regarding Muralitharan's action, but they turned a deaf ear to it at that time. The ultimate result was poor Muralitharan was no-balled seven times at Melbourne in 1995 in front of 80,000 people by Australian umpire Darrel Hair.

We do not know for what reasons Dharmasena was not included in the 30-member squad for the World Cup, whether it was for his current form or suspect action. If he gets the green light for his bowling action from ICC or if there is a fault and if he corrects it, I strongly feel, that an experienced fighting cricketer like Kumar Dharmasena should be in the 'World Cup pool'.

Another notable absentee in the World Cup squad is Sajith Fernando of Colts, whom I feel should have been included, in the 'Pool'. Our selectors know the best. I am sure they will always be fair by the players.

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