Sri Lankan Cricket Strikes Discordant Note (9 Dec 1996)

9 December 1996

Sri Lankan cricket strikes discordant note: Who`s fooling whom?

By Sa`adi Thawfeeq

Much water has flowed under the bridge since Sri Lanka won the Wills World Cup, nine months ago.

Their recent failure to qualify for a place in the final of the three-nation Singer Champions trophy in Sharjah is part of the metamorphosis.

What can be easily stated here is that the Sri Lanka team of today is not the same which won the Wills World Cup. In this period, so much of changes have taken place within the team, that one could say that it is not the same happy family it once was.

One of the biggest effects that has rubbed off on the team is the resignation of their coach six months ahead of time. If one could adduce the exact reasons behind such a move (which we hope will be done in the near future), the answers to some of the recent performances of the team could be found.

Wasn`t it the former US President, John F. Kennedy who said: You can fool some of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.

Therefore, however much one tries to cover up the truth which maybe acceptable to an ordinary layman, there is no doubt that one cannot hide the real facts from those who follow the game very closely.

It is sad to note that due credit was not given to the coach by the people concerned which could have been one of the factors for his leaving.

Nevertheless, the Sri Lanka team that went to Sharjah was not in the same frame of mind, shall we say, as when they participated in the World Cup. If that is so, the next question is why ? If the answers to that question can be found, then it provides part of the reasons for the team`s poor performance in the desert.

The other factor why Sri Lanka fared pathetically is that their top order batsmen failed to produce the same form which won them the World Cup. There was no doubt that Sri Lanka were so successful in the World Cup because their top order batsmen made the runs, so much so that some of the middle and late order batsmen hardly got a knock.

One could place the blame on the wickets in Sharjah, which were totally different to that provided in the past. But if you are playing at international level one must be able to adjust accordingly. Did not the team go three days ahead of the tournament proper?

One could also assume there were certain tactical blunders made along the way in selection which proved detrimental to the team`s success.

Despite all these shortcomings, Sri Lanka can gain comfort from the fact that their record after winning the World Cup is very much better than some of the previous winners.

Sri Lanka have played in four tournaments since and won one, finished runner-up in another and failed to enter the final on two occasions. In these four outings, they played a total of 14 matches, won 8, lost 5 and tied one.

Comparatively, the records of our Asian neighbours Pakistan (winner of World Cup in 1992) and India (winner in 1983) are rather mediocre.

In four tournaments (or tours) after winning the World Cup, Pakistan won the Wills trophy in Sharjah, failed to qualify for the final of the World Series Cup in Australia, and lost two one-day series to England (1-4) and New Zealand (1-2). In these encounters they played a total of 19 matches, winning 6, losing 12 with one tied.

India`s record was even worse. They won the inaugural Asia Cup in Sharjah and a one day series (2-0) against Pakistan, but subsequently lost two other one-day series against West Indies (0-5) and Australia (0-3) for a record of 4 wins, 8 losses and 1 tied game in 13 matches.

Australia (World Cup winners in 1987) and West Indies (winners in 1975 and 1979) by comparison, have better records than Sri Lanka.

After their World Cup triumph, Australia added the World Series Cup title, and lost the finals to West Indies in another. They also lost a one-off match to Pakistan and drew 1-all (1 tied) with England. Overall, Australia won 16 of their 25 matches played in these four tournaments (or series), losing 8 with one tied.

West Indies won the World Series Cup and beat Pakistan 3-0 after their World Cup victory in 1979. Against that, they lost a oneoff match to New Zealand and drew 1- all with England for a favourable 9-6 record from 15 matches.

After their triumph in the inaugural World Cup in 1975, West Indies played four one-day series, losing 0-1 and later drawing 1-1 to Australia, and beating England (3-0) and Pakistan (1-0) for a total of 5 wins and 2 losses from seven games.

The bowlers have never had it so good in Sharjah which is normally a batsman`s paradise. The wickets for some reason or another were very much in favour of the bowlers, and this resulted in some fantastic bowling figures being recorded in the tournament.

Of the top 11 bowlers, eight sported economy rates well below four an over which meant that for once the ball dominated over the bat in the desert.

One needn`t have to look far how difficult life was for the batsmen. Only Pakistan opening bat Saeed Anwar met with success on those surfaces reeling off two consecutive undefeated hundreds against New Zealand and Sri Lanka to finish with an average of 92.66.

The rest of the batting could not average more than 39, which is a rare occurrence for a tournament held in Sharjah.

Quite apart from the happenings of our cricketers in the desert, there was also a furore created over the two beneficiaries, both two former captains Anura Tennekoon and Bandula Warnapura.

The failure of the Cricketers` Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) to officially recognise the Sri Lanka Cricket Board`s two nominees during the tournament, and also the exclusion of their profiles or names in the official souvenir created a division in the Cricket Board`s ExCo.

Although the ExCo had earlier decided to nominate these two past cricketers as the beneficiaries, one section was now opposed to them being handed the money because they were not officially recognised by the donors CBFS, who presented US$ 40,000. They felt that part of this money should be channelled for the promotion of the game.

A vote to revoke the early ExCo decision was defeated 13-8 largely by a percentage of non-cricketers, which meant that the two beneficiaries will after all, receive their purse for US$ 20,000 each very shortly.

However, the question remains, why the names of the two cricketers failed to appear in the official souvenir and, as is customary, why they were not invited to receive such monetary presentations in Sharjah as two previous Sri Lanka cricketers did - Duleep Mendis (in 1990) and Abu Fuard (in 1995).

The CBFS beneficiaries in Sharjah on this occasion were Pakistanis Ijaz Ahmed, and former cricketers Sadiq Mohammed and Talat Ali, all three of whom were featured in the official souvenir.

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