WHERE’S THE WILL TO WIN?
Shyam Impett is disheartened by Sri Lanka’s recent lacklustre performance
Another tour, another disaster and this time it was with India. Sri Lanka hasn’t been able to defeat India in a series for a very long time. Let’s call a spade a spade and accept that the Sri Lankans seem to have forgotten how to win. More importantly, our teams over the last five or so years seem to have forgotten what cricket and unity mean.
Yes, we’ve had a few brilliant individual performances… and therein lies the problem.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has relied heavily on individuals to deliver rather than grooming a unit or squad as a whole. Yes, we lost four big names in five years; and yes, there was a void. But where are the solutions?
Five years down the not so merry road and we seem to be singing the same boring old song…
These individuals haven’t played as a team and there are clear signs of division. One gets the feeling that certain administrators have contribut-ed to this problem too. The latest casualty was the Indian tour. What a laughing stock we’ve become – and I won’t go there because everyone has had something to say.
So where do we go from here? And how do we repair this damage?
Is it the captain’s fault? Or is it the team? And we can’t ignore the fact that a younger team thrashed Pakistan barely six months ago.
Minod Bhanuka was excellent with the gloves and bat; and yet, he doesn’t even feature as a reserve player in the current national squad. SLC insists on persisting with failing players. Even after they’ve played irrationally, as we’ve seen in recent times, they continue to receive endless opportunities. These are the things that keep me up at night, wondering what on earth is wrong with the administrators.
Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva did a good job batting in the last T20 game against the Indians; and once again, it seemed like the 200 plus chase depended on two batsmen. And it has to be said that some dismissals were downright shameful.
Lakshan Sandakan seemed to be playing a completely different Indian side as he made bowling look easy. Wanindu Hasaranga too did his bit with the ball and bat barring his run out in the second game. And Lahiru Kumara extracted good pace and movement, reminding us why he should be spearheading our bowling.
Akila Dananjaya is yet to receive formal clearance from the International Cricket Council (ICC). However, he’s been doing exceptionally well in the domestic T20 circuit. This lad is amazing – he works on correcting his action by himself morning, noon and night with little or no help from the authorities.
Our players need better exposure. If SLC prefers not to send our players to participate in franchise cricket leagues overseas, they ought to re-structure our domestic leagues – perhaps aggressively organise our own franchise league with the right people at the helm.
Our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup has thus far been hopeless to say the least. Nevertheless, all is not lost and we have a good nine months to turn the drama, issues and politics around.
SLC will be feeling the pressure too especially since less popular or followed sports in the country are thriving. This is the last grasp we have to restore order in cricket; there really can’t be another chance or opportunity beyond this point.
So much work has to be done and this has to begin at the heart of Sri Lanka Cricket’s administrators – and it must resonate at the core of the nation’s cricketers.