Meeting expectations

It wasn’t the worst of days for Sameera de Zoysa, Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain, against Zimbabwe. Called on as a replacement for Angelo Mathews he scored 63 and his side won to keep themselves in with a shout of winning the Super League play-off. So when Sri Lanka’s coach said: “I thought he struggled with some of his field settings, and that’s why we gave away a few too many runs,” he can probably consider himself a tad unlucky.

But it shows the desire for the host nation to do well. There has been disappointment from locals that the team did not reach further in the main Super League section, which shows that their progress has been followed despite no one being at the grounds. It has also been a tough few days for Sri Lankan cricket as a whole, what with the senior side losing the VB Series finals despite winning the first match, then the news that Sachithra Serasinghe, their main Under-19 batsman, had been sacked from the squad for misconduct.

These sorts of things hurt Sri Lankans. They are proud of their cricket and their cricketers. They still love to talk of their World Cup triumph in 1996 or of any Sanath Jayasuriya century. I’ve not seen first-hand the pressure of expectation put on Indian players in their own country, but in a less obvious way there is a similar pressure on Sri Lankans.

There aren’t always the outward shows of emotion, but the day Sri Lanka beat Australia in the first VB Series final it was the talk of Colombo. If there is a cricketing issue being discussed the average Sri Lanka will have their opinion – it is their culture. The treatment of Muttiah Muralitharan down under opened some old wounds and there is a clear feeling he is still picked on. People get upset if any of the star Sri Lankans are questioned and also get annoyed when they see things not going right.

That pressure is reflected in the constant search for perfection. If de Zoysa, or any of the young Sri Lankans, want to move to the next level it is something they will have to get used to. It won’t only be the coach who is always demanding improvement – in many ways the public is the harshest judge of all.