Our World Cup defeat…is it worth that big a cry?
Posted on April 4th, 2011
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
I must admit being deeply affected by our cricketers snatching defeat from the jaws of probable victory. When the final team selection was announced the foreign commentators summed it all up very succinctly. They said that the strength of Sri Lanka had all along been the bowling with its quota of unorthodox and mystery spinners, but the team on display was clearly indicating a strengthening of the batting. Sri Lanka was no longer playing to its strength but trying to plug its weakness. It had strengthened its weakness and weakened its strength. The final result is now history. Plugging our weakness did not make us stronger, and weakening our strength did not make us stronger either. With two such negatives no positive could result.
However reflecting calmly over this unfortunate episode of our national life the following thoughts flitted across my mind. I recalled the county cricket scene in England of several decades ago. At that time for a foreigner to qualify for playing country cricket, he had to be resident in England in whatever capacity: having a British or european bride, or a long duration scholarship for example.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I especially recall Srilankans such as Gamini Goonesena, Clive Inman,Stanley Jayasinghe and Dan Piachaud belonging to such categories. They all had long standing English connections and were resident there. The situation is now changed. No need to be such a resident. Playing for a country is now of the nature of a commercial deal. Just a question of offer and acceptance. In the past several years many Srilankan cricketers have enjoyed such benefits, somewhat like our labour on the world market: stay a few years on the other side, do as they do andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ come back with a well earned buck. So English cricketers and other nationals, including the Sri Lankans become chums playing as they do for the same team in another land and in another clime. Such chums when they play for their country are only differentiated by their costumes and the national anthems.
I recall a test match between England and India several decades ago where an Indian player had represented an English county just prior to joining the national squad. An Indian spectator was shouting out to him telling him not to forget that he was no longer playing county cricket with buddies but representing his nation. He was being reminded that he was no more one with the opposition but that precisely he was different. Today this trend has gone miles further and at lightening speed with the introduction of the IPL.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Many of our cricketers are auctioned and bought up by Indian IPL businessmen, and represent Indian ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”countiesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. Such players are internationals and represent foreign interests (with their own interest in mind!), somewhat the same way that mercenaries were recruited into foreign legions. In fact the IPL was being advertised while the WorldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Cup was in progress.
The point is that international cricket with players representing nations, nevertheless showing the glow of their commitments as internationals in and for foreign countries, does not generate the feeling of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”differenceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ from the opposition as before. Such international contracts tend to dilute the sens of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”othernessƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ when players confronting each other over the national divide. Sometimes the man behind the stumps and the man at the batting crease are buddies of the same ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”countyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. Sometimes some players have captained teams which included cricketers now in the opposition and representing a different country. This situation somehow casts a shadow on the spirit of competitivity that characterized matches between nations of the past. The national flag which is a symbol does not strike as being an exclusive factor when the men on the field have played together under some other flag before and feel the physical nearness and warmth of one another. Examples are galore, but only the principle counts.
This existed long before in football. The French football team is quite remarkable on this score. I recall a French friend telling me that he did not feel any national pride when his countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s football team stormed into the field. They were a collection of players originally of other nations, all except France. He said that when France played against an African nation, it seemed to him that the match was between two similar countries. An example in the field of cricket was the team from Canada. There was hardly a player that the spectator could consider as being typically ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”CanadianƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. There was even a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”CanadianƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Sri Lankan playing against Sri Lanka! With the IPL just around the corner, and so many of our boys auctioned and bought (by Indian magnates) and so many other young aspirantsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ expecting to join the fray meaning to be bought up by Indians, because ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”money makes the mare runƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, the difference between ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ThouƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that formerly chacterised international matches between test playing nations is being watered down beyond recogition and redemption.
So perhaps these reflections provide some consolation for those still smarting under the defeat, more apparently imposed by the team management through bad undue last minute selection induced more by sudden panic than by cold conventional reason. The match was contested by players who will very soon be singing county anthems (if there are such), and wearing county colours, and earning hard cash paid by their Indian employers, the type of cash they do not earn from their own national boards. Indeed atleast one of our Indian ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”countyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ cricketers was figuring in an Indian advertisement and being paid by Indian business while the competition was in progress. How one could be independent under such circumstances is a moot question naturally without casting aspersions on anyone.
So for those who cry like me, I would say, dry your tears, for our boys for whom we mourn will soon have their arms over the shoulders of their Indian ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”counterpartsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of yesterday and will be chanting: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”all for one and one for allƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ which was the slogan of the four musketeers (the three official ones and dƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢Artagnon, the recruit), and maybe also ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”the more we are together, the merrier we will beƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, singing all this to the music provided by the jingling in their pockets or purses of the stuff that really counts. National pride and national honour could well be proved ultimately to be the refuge of simpletons.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
April 4th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Nice consoling wise sayings.
But some people say the match was fixed. Sanga, Kapu and Kula , usually excellent fielders let the ball go.
Crying will stop and anger will take over.
April 5th, 2011 at 7:12 am
A beautiful piece of creative writing by a very observant, talented, sensitive and impassioned writer with a flair for memory and anecdotes, making it great reading.The euphemisms relative to how commercialised the game of today is however, quite thought provoking and a billboard for the many transparencies exposing the extent to which money talks and bullshit ( pardon the expresion) walks! By this token the World Cup Of Cricket has to be no more than a commercialised farce involving many pretences which defeat the concept of national pride and integrity where the killer instincts of some are probably directed at how much money can be made rather than rising to the heights of glory associated with winning the supreme trophy! But in the overall scheme of things it needs to be said that Sri Lanka will surely rise again as a Phoenix from the ashes of defeat to reign supreme and there will be better days ahead!
April 5th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Our team was always good.somebody has to win or lose that’s cricket but my question is why Sanga continued with KULA when Malinga,Dilshan and Murali had more overs to bowl? If Malinga continued he would have got a wicket or contained the runs even Murali like in the semi finals would have got a wicket as it was his last match who knows but why Kulasekera was given continuously to bowl while the Indians hammer him? It’s a big question and I was so dissapointed because that was our match 100%. Only God knows the truth for losing the match but I tell you the country and your self -respect is more valued than green notes.
April 5th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
The simple reason why we lost the World Cup to India was poor fielding by …. PAKISTAN !! They dropped Tendulkar 4 times. Otherwise Pakistan would have won and the final would have been SL vs PAK, where we would have better chance of winning.
April 5th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Lots of people say we should be proud that we were the runners up. But, the whole world talks only about the World Champions (India) and not us. This wiil be the case for the next 4 years. We will soon be forgotten. In 2007 we gave up the Championship to Australia because our team management did not know the rules. Sufficient number of overs had not been balled when bad light crept in. Our idiots (including the then Captian Mahela) agreed to play in total darkness. According to the rules, it was an abandoned match – means the cup should have been shared between Australia and Sri Lanka, or a 2nd match should have been organised. Our idiots gave into to Australian pressure and obvioulsy and knowingly they played and lost. This time (2011) we could have easily won the Cup, if not for the incompetence of Sanga, Chamara Kapugedera and Kulasekera. It was a very selfish act for Murali to play with an injured leg.
April 5th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Dhanushka,
You posted this twice but very true. We lost two world cups because of stupid idiots.
Only thing I cannot agree with you is playing of Vaas. I thought Dilhara would have been the better choice. The curse of discriminating this fine player will haunt us many years to come.
April 5th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
For the kind attention of Sunil Mahattaya
Thank you for your generous and encouraging comment.
Kindest regards,
Mario Perera, Kadawata
April 6th, 2011 at 1:38 am
This is an interesting article but I am not sure what the author is really getting at. Is he insinuating that IPL contracted Sri Lankan cricketers would play with less patriotic fervour than they would otherwise do, because of the IPL connection? I don’t think it is fair to suggest that the players would conduct themselves in that manner.
It is true that it seems easier now, than it was before, for overseas cricketers to play English county cricket. But the phenomenon of overseas cricketers playing for the English counties is itself not new. The likes of Sobers, Kanhai, Holding and Lloyd were playing for English counties as far back as the 60s, at least. So did players from Australia, Pakistan and India. When these players represented their countries against England, however, they were not inhibited by some sort of divided loyalty. They played for their national teams with uncompromised commitment and without making any special concessions to their English county colleagues who were in the England team. And if these players can demonstrate professional independence I cannot see why overseas players who play for the IPL should not be able to do the same. When the Australian Brett Lee was bowling in the game against India in the recent game, was there any hint that he was ‘soft’ on his IPL colleagues?
There are some unattractive features of the IPL but one good thing it has done is to bring together players from different countries playing for a single team. These players come from different cultures and with different mind sets and their coming together helps them to better understand each other’s viewpoints and attitudes. And the friendships that come out of playing together can only be helpful even when those players find themselves on opposite sides when playing for their national teams. Teams from the subcontinent often have ‘problems’ when touring Australia, for instance, in part, because of the cultural gap between the teams. If the players from the two sides knew each other better much of that could be avoided.
To my mind, it is a good thing when players from different countries are able to play together even if later they have to face each other on opposite sides. The more communication there is between people – even professional cricketers – the better. It is isolation that is to be decried.
But to get back to the title of the article, ‘Our World Cup defeat…is it worth that big a cry?’ my short answer is ‘No’. Let’s not overreact. Let’s take what positives we can from the game and let’s move on.
April 7th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Cassandra,
Lesson to be learned is we need good brains to manage cricket. Chief selector should be the best intelligent man we could get and for that purpose we should probabaly get a educated past cricketer even if he is 80 years old than people like Aravinda.
Aravinda has accepted that asking Murali to play with injuries because he is better than all the bowlers we have, even with one leg. This the most foolish man on cricket world. We will have to get someone probably never played competitive cricket because most recent cricketer (except Snagakkara) are uneducated.
April 7th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Nanda, nowhere have I ever stated that Vaas should have played at the World Cup. Vaas is unpredictable, somewhat like Kulasekeara. He can get hammered all round the ground. Thanks to Vaas we have won matches, and have lost many matches too.
Ada Derana has started to attack Dilshan so that he will not get the Captaincy but Matthews. Ada Derana published so many negative comments about Sanath and stopped him from playing the World Cup. Either they are enemies of the Nation or pure dumb
April 8th, 2011 at 12:18 am
Sanga a very poor captain and had sometimes being disgrace to the Nation. Sends so many bokkus and missed opportunities (catches and stampings). If he is appointed because of his English, well then appoint him as an English Professor not Sri Lanka Captain. Sanga appeals for hora outs knowingly they are hora outs. He teaches the up and coming young players to cheat – remember how he abused final Randeev at the WC for not appealing when it was not out. Poor Randiv did not know what to do – Captain asking him to make hora appeals. I think Sanga had been punished for abusing other western cricketers and doing dodgy things behind the wicket. After he became Captain he reformed himself. Sanga never encourages the fielders from behind the wicket saying things things that Kaluwitharana used to say “lami den hondata allanna etc”. Dilshan encourages other players. Dilshan may abuse others only when others are useless like Kulasekera and Kapugedera. When Murali abuses others in utmost filth it is still good for everyone, they only have a problem with Dilshan, who is a really down to earth man. Matthews is not a permanent cadre of the team to be appointed as Captain. He is too young any way and untested material. Samaraweera should never be allowed to step into a one day side. Dilshan for Captain Malinga for Vice Captain.