Have The Sri Lankans Lost Their Cricketing Marbles Or Is It Sheer Apathy ?
Posted on May 28th, 2014
Top Spin By Sunny
May 29th 2014
There will be many excuses over this present performance by Sri Lanka in the Third ODI at Old Trafford.
England have bowled out Sri Lanka for 67 on a decent batting strip so what are the excuses pray tell ?
Too much extra curricular activities ?
( who cares if they toured Manchester United and Jayawardena was
gifted a Ryan Giggs signed T.shirt that Russel Arnold bragged about in additioin to his sometimes Malapropian comments far removed from the true dialogue nature of a cricket commentary!
which bring a degree of amusing entertainment to the art of cricket commentating in the wake of Ranjith Fernando who has mercifully exited the scene after years of his particular brand of entertaining nonetheless but the fact of the matter is there seems to be
something amiss in the Sri Lankan Camp whether it is gross neglect, resting on their laurels after that resounding thrashing of England at Durham or simply feeling sorry for the Brits and letting them have a win to appease the remorse of the last game.( tongue in cheek of course) and keeping them honest and competitive which hardly must be the case realistically beyond a titter or two.
While there is also much speculation over the exclusion of the Perera duo of Kusal and Thisara bar injury attributable to the Gothamic selection traits of some of the head honchos in the Selection Committee bearing well in mind their performance capabilities this seems to be a real shambles on the part of all concerned!
Although the game isn’t over at the time of writing it isnt likely England will crumble for less than 67 runs. Sri Lanka surely needs to re-assess their strategies and maintain the choke hold they had on England after the last game. Blaming it on conditions and pitch which aren’t
simply good enough excuses and this time they have truly put their foot into it through careless batting Pun intended that none of the recognized batsmen seemed to have their feet in the right place today
as well as that scourge of Sri Lankan batting~ apathetic runouts! without which a game involving the Lankans seem to be somewhat of an oddity these days.
But then again these are the glorious uncertainties of the game of cricket and what is most certain are the probabilities that the Lankans despite their capability to bounce back will always leave a horde of skeptical fans wondering about the inconsistencies of their game and apalled that they have dropped their status in the ratings and if their dismal performance of the current game continues they are more than likely to drop further down while their ardent fans continue to browbeat over the possible reasons for it knowing fully well what their true capabilities are.
Hopefully they have not as yet lost their cricketing marbles through neglect, apathy or both and will fight back! or else they just might have to switch pack to marbles or the proverbial Gudu!!
May 28th, 2014 at 3:51 pm
The have lost the match but we need marbles for the next match.
Where are the Pereras who use marbles (only) to save face ?
May 28th, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Mahela, Sanga and Dilshan should have gracefully retired after the T20 world Cup victory.
It is not too late to do so even now!!
They have lost their clout and are preventing younger players to make their mark.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
May 28th, 2014 at 7:44 pm
I too think the 3 senior players ought to retire gracefully from ODIs. Otherwise Team Sri Lanka will have an early exit at the 2015 World Cup just like in 1999. Big names and senior players without consistency is a defeating combination. The 1999 early exit ended legendary Arjuna’s career along with a few others. Sanath Jayasuriya as the Chief Selector is not helping it either although he is sensible in his selection. We also need a better batting coach. Axing the 3 seniors is very unpopular although it is the right thing to do. Given its political ramifications, he would not do it. At least the senior players need to be rotated with younger players.
Given the current status of the team, we will not make it to next year’s World Cup final. It must change.
May 29th, 2014 at 8:34 am
It’s really not about senior players bowing out ~ albeit needed in a transitionary manner but the capacity to play in English and similar conditions where the opposition dominates with thir pace.This game as usual found our players floundering and groping in defence in the manner they would in a Test Match.They did this in new Zealand also.Heck! if Aravinda, Sanath, Kalu and the likes were able to once collar the best pace on offer why not these fellows? It’s a simple matter of application and the efforts of the coaches to model their approach in a positive manner.Chaminda Vaas was able to prime the Kiwis in a manner they dominated Sri Lanka so could there be a reverse process of this where they can face upto and overcome the variations of pace in English conditions?The batsmen seem to approach their game with straightjacketed defence whereas what’s probably needed is attack from the word go! All in all they seem to be a bunch of players not adaptable to English conditions as the case appears. A panacea for this seems imperative and thats why Kusal and Thisara may have made and might in the future make a BIG DIFFERENCE! And there arew other attacking players worth a seconfd look waiting in the wings~ bring them in!
May 29th, 2014 at 8:55 am
Yes what makes it even more disappointing is this is a very weak England team that Sri Lanka which won the asia cup and T20 trophies 2 months ago. With many of their best players retired. They lost the Ashes 5-0 and lost the one series 6-1 5 months ago. This was one of the weakest England teams ever. I would have thought Sri lanka would have come and made a clean sweep of victories against this very weak England team. This should have been Sri Lanka’s best chance to win a test series and one day series in England in a long time. Yet it seems as the above author suggested Mahela Jayawardena, Russel Arnold SL commentator and the SL team are more interested in visiting Manchester United which built its success on being a very greedy wealthy sporting corporate entity in a very OVERRATED football league called the English Premier League, and getting signed Manchester United shirts than actually concentrating on the all important task of beating this very weak England side in the one day and test series. Sri Lanka will never get a better opportunity to beat England (A very weak side at the moment) in a test series and one day series in England. Their attitude in England doesn’t seem right. It seems apathy. Only a few weeks ago they were world beaters. Hopefully they will give their fans something to cheer about by showing more fight in the remaining matches. Else it will be a repeat of the tour of 2011 where they lost in Cardiff in one session and the series. We don’t want a repeat of that. Anyway Good luck Sri Lanka hope you win the one and test series as fans in Sri Lanka expect nothing less.
May 29th, 2014 at 1:31 pm
Sunil,
“thats why Kusal and Thisara may have made and might in the future make a BIG DIFFERENCE!” –
Agreed. This is why “Mahela, Sanga and Dilshan should have gracefully retired after the T20 world Cup victory”. Otherwise there is no way of letting those youngsters play and learn.
But unfortunately Kusal failed in few early matches as well as (if I remember correctly) last time we visited.
But we must not condemn our buggers that quickly, let us give them 1 more match.
May 29th, 2014 at 4:53 pm
You win some matches lose some. NO BIG DEAL.
LEARN from the losses and move on.
When Khan won the WC he was 39. When Sanath almost won it again he was 38. When Sucking Tendulkar won it he was 38. When Murali almost won it he was 38. AGE is NOT the main thing. PERFORMANCE.
But if they continue to UNDER PERFORM, kick them out. Don’t include Tamils and Muslims in the team just to make it look MULTICULTURAL. PERFORMANCE should be the ONLY criteria.
May 30th, 2014 at 12:32 am
I think the rotten weather did us. But it is really good for the ECB because now there will be crowds for the next two matches!
Sri Lanka must win the next to stay in the competition if they do the fifth will be a final.
May 30th, 2014 at 2:29 am
After 1996 big match we had to wait 18 years to win the next one.
Now we are loosing almost every match since 2009 May big match.
Time for big corrupted seniors to retire and give the places to young honest buggers.
If we wait 18 years, there will be no Sri Lanka to play cricket.
May 30th, 2014 at 2:30 am
Marble problem is affecting the country.
May 31st, 2014 at 11:15 am
The comments posted here come from a mixed bag of opinions.We cannot phase out the seniors like some want as the latest game today proved this through Dilshan and Sanga.We have retained “the marbles” thank goodness but omly just.
Angelo needs to brush up his field placing strategies and hopefully Thisara will play at Edgbaston Birmingham. We need to win the series to maintain our ODI Rankings surely. Lorenzo’s comments on PERFORMANCE says it all, and please don’t use the term “corrupted seniors” as this is totally unfair.What’s really corrupt are the actions of some of the officials in BCCI whose flagrant decision making and apparent helping themselves to unwarranted perks are questionable and I do not mean Sanath Jayasuriya either!. Rohan Jay’s comments too sound quite meritworthy bears a resemblance to a certain cricketing personality from Toronto, Canada with a similar sounding handle but I could be mistaken.The Lord’s game truly was a thriller where in the end the hero was Malinga not Butler but then again it’s a matter of choice and opinion.
May 31st, 2014 at 1:01 pm
It was a thrilling and nail biting encounter.
I believed in the Sri Lankan team to do well especially at Lords (certain pride at the home of cricket) with the weather conditions warm and sunny (most parts) to suit the brand of cricket they are accustomed to.
Josh Butler deservedly received the man of the match (hero) award in him and Ravi Bopara turning the match to an enthralling end when England were all but lost towards mid innings. He was astute enough to acknowledge the great penultimate over bowled by Nuwan Kulasekera which enabled Malinga to bring it to a closure.
I believe the senior players like Sanga & Mahela have a role to play to nurture the young aspiring Lankan cricketers to think on their feet, adopt and apply themselves to the conditions.
I recall the same arguments were put forward when the likes of Kalu, Mahanama, Sanath, Arjuna, Aravinda (some delayed their carriers to an embarrassment) when the likes of Sanga & Mahela were knocking on the door.
One should gracefully retire from the game without making a spectacle of embarrassments.
Dilshan (possibly due to his groin injury) was rather lethargic on the field. I don’t doubt his innovative and explosive batting skills, but I see him going the Sanath way.
Sri Lanka will only be invited to play in England in Spring (early summer). Playing and training in such conditions is foremost important. The Indians have similar unfamiliarity of seaming, swinging and bouncy pitches but due to the gate receipts they have a better pick of the cherry.
Good luck to Sri Lanka at Edgbaston and lets hope the weather conditions will suit the brand of cricket.
May 31st, 2014 at 2:28 pm
Marco,
I watched the game too: it was indeed a nailbiter … until the last 2 balls from Malinga it was not clear that SL was going to win.
I came away thinking that it was TOO CLOSE for comfort ….. and that SL, coming to England with ALL VICTORIES, should have done much better.
I have always felt that the Sri Lanka Team over the years has this BIG FLAW: INCONSISTENCY. They are usually BRILLIANT, but with no warning they fail CATASTROPHICALLY.
The Aussies, on the other hand, are CONSISTENT. How can SL become MORE CONSISTENT like the Aussies? If they do, SL will become a TRULY marvellous invincible team.
Let us hope SL will clinch the last ODI in Birmingham on June 3rd!
May 31st, 2014 at 3:54 pm
Sunil,
You did not read between line. I didn’t mean cricketers in that line.
But since last world cup I was judging Kulasekara should be the 1st one that must GO.
But in Australia he silenced me. This is the problem. He should GO.
There are much better bowlers now and having Kula is a big burden in ODI’s.
But his time to time performance make it is impossible sack him.
May 31st, 2014 at 4:30 pm
There you go.
PERFORMANCE and CONSISTENCY wins the day.
May 31st, 2014 at 4:31 pm
Sorry.
CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE wins the day.
June 1st, 2014 at 1:35 am
LTTEirs don’t care about SL cricket team. Micro cannot be a LTTE r. Lorenzo is wrong.
June 1st, 2014 at 5:54 am
It was indeed an excellent game of one day cricket and a fitting offering at Lord’s, the so called Mecca of cricket. The choice of man of the match is often open to debate. Yesterday there were arguably more than one player deserving of that award – there were, apart from Butler, other contenders for that prize, among them, Sanga and Malinga I’d like to say that it was a great team effort from the Sri Lankan team. Dilshan’s innings was also crucial, with him putting on a great second wicket stand with Sanga, and later in the innings the contribution from Mathews was also important. Nor can we overlook the small but critical contribution from Senanayake and even Ajantha’s last ball four. And for Kula to come back, after the thrashing he earlier received, and bowl a very economical penultimate over says a lot of the quality and cool headedness of this fine servant of SL cricket. They all counted. Congratulations to the team.
Edgbaston has historically favoured England (and the weather there is usually quite miserable) but nothing is set in stone. SL may be better off bowling first, if that is possible but however the toss goes, the team should be going into that game with enough confidence and form to win that game and the series. Good luck to the boys.
June 1st, 2014 at 2:00 pm
Nanda,
No. They do support the SL team.
e.g. VP called Arjuna to wish the team well in 1996. After winning, VP celebrated it.
e.g. In 2007 VP was watching the final match. NO ONE else in Vanni had electricity. We BOMBED his manhole. He retaliated back!!
June 3rd, 2014 at 3:01 pm
Rajapakse should learn from Senannayake how to use marbles, if has any.
June 3rd, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Well done SL.
Nanda,
Some say MR’s marbels were surgically removed in 2010 in USA due to testicular cancer. May be true. His conduct changed after 2010.
June 3rd, 2014 at 6:24 pm
Lorenzo,
FYI it is NOT TRUE. Trust me on this.
That is why it is inexcusable.
June 3rd, 2014 at 6:36 pm
“”We gave him a fair chance,” Jayawardene said. “Twice. Before the first warning, we told the umpires that he was taking too much of a lead and then he was warned again. We had to do that, because they kept doing it.
“We analysed our game after Lord’s. They took 22 twos in the last 12 overs. Ravi Bopara and him ran riot. And most of the time they were taking starts that are not legal by the written laws. We just wanted to make sure we got a fair chance. We warned them and we warned the umpires, but they didn’t listen to us, so we had to take the right steps.
“We always try to play in the right spirit, but if the other team is not playing in the right spirit and not going with the law, then unfortunately we had to take the law into our hands. It was the third time. It is fair enough, I think. We all need to play by the rules.
“If the other sides are not going by the rules, then they’re not playing by the spirit, so what can you do?”
Well said Mahela. MR did the same and said the same before 2009.
June 3rd, 2014 at 9:23 pm
Nanda,
Indeed, Suchitra Senanayake has BALLS: he gave as good as he got in the criticism of his bowling action by the English team, by running Buttler out, after WARNING him TWICE not to attempt to steal a head start at the bowlers crease.
Amazingly, both the English team and the English Coach had the affrontery to complain about Buttler’s run out, after getting caught red-handed with their hands in the cookie jar, instead of gracefully accepting the run out and apologizing for their bad behavior.
The English team and Coach, reminds me of the TNA leaders, who wail as VICTIMS charging discrimination and war crimes, after failing to win their Eelam through MURDEROUS TERRORISM! When AGGRESSION fails, pose as VICTIMS!
Incidentally, I think the RULES should be REVISED, to eliminate the Captain of the fielding team being given the option to excuse the offending batsman, and being demonized if he upholds the rules. If the batsman is run out for sneaking a head start, the umpire should rule him out …. no questions asked!
Lorenzo,
I am very impressed by Angelo Mathew who invariably fights like a LION to help Sri Lanka win. He truly deserves the honor of being the Sri Lanka ODI team Captain.
Here is a Tamil Sri Lankan cast in the same mold as Murali and Laksman Kadirgamar, to name two: a Patriotic Sri Lankan FIRST, and everything else second. There are many other law-abiding Tamil people like this; I happen to personally know quite a few!
Incidentally, could Mathew and Kadiragamar being married to Sinhala spouses have anything to with it? I have always held that inter-community marriages are the best medicine for communal ills for LOVE seems to conquer ALL.
June 3rd, 2014 at 10:01 pm
Ananda,
NO. But that certainly helps.
EVEN BEFORE their marriages they were PRO-SL. Angelo and Kadirgamar.
1. I think it is because THEY SCHOOLED in Sinhala MAJORITY schools (Trinity and St Josephs). THEY SPEAK SINHALA.
2. Their parents were fluent in Sinhala. Spoke in English at home.
3. They BOTH are Tamil CHRISTIANS. GENERALLY Tamil Christians are NOT as racist as Tamil Hindus.
e.g. SL army had/have MORE Tamil Christians than the LTTE-ITAK-TNA camp. Including its FIRST commander!!
e.g. Jaffna, Delft and Kyts are the ONLY Christian majority areas in Jaffna. These are the ONLY places UPFA/SLFP/UNP has ever won. Still holds the municipal council and PS ONLY in these 3.
e.g. LTTEs first victim was a Tamil Christian Alfred Duraiappah.
I don’t trust Murali too much. Generally GOOD but had a hidden agenda at least at some times. After the tsunami in a place called Habarana he had shouted at a policeman (when he stopped Murali going to LTTE controlled areas with LOADS OF tsunami aid) saying if not for the LTTE there won’t be any Tamil left in SL! He was SEVERELY BLASTED by an army officer then and there. Apart from that he played the game WELL.
However a good cricketer and a good gentleman may NOT be what they seem to be when it comes to POLITICAL VIEWS. In that event we should TAKE AND PRAISE the good and DISCARD the rest.
AD and MM GREAT cricketers. No one can dispute that.
June 3rd, 2014 at 10:43 pm
Ananda,
“Incidentally, I think the RULES should be REVISED, to eliminate the Captain of the fielding team being given the option to excuse the offending batsman, and being demonized if he upholds the rules. If the batsman is run out for sneaking a head start, the umpire should rule him out …. no questions asked!” -Absolutely ! In fact I was telling some one just that.
From today on our team should apply this rule to English buggers without warning, because warnings have been given and enforcement done.
June 3rd, 2014 at 10:49 pm
Ananda/Lorenzo,
Few days ago I met an old class mate with first two qualification Lorenzo mentioned , after a very long time. Cricket crazy as any SL he has never been pro LTTE. Similarly there is another old friend I met two years ago with same qualifications but I believe he is pro LTTE.
June 3rd, 2014 at 11:59 pm
Nanda,
Those 3 are NOT ways to filter out a TE from a SL.
They are reasons for the 2 individuals (AM and LK) to be what they are.
If you want to know if a Tamil falls in the 3 following categories you must know.
1. If he supports UNITARY SL. If YES, he is a SL patriot. Ethnicity doesn’t matter.
2. If the answer is NO, he is NOT a patriot. If he does not support TE, TNA and LTTE he is a Tamil moderate.
3. If he supports TNA or TE and NOT LTTE, he is a Tamil racist.
4. If he supports LTTE he is a Tamil terrorist.
Don’t think all those who LOVE SL cricket loves SL. As I said before VP loved SL cricket.
Arjuna despite winning the WC and being a patriot later joined TNA Gonzeka.
June 4th, 2014 at 2:12 am
““Mr Munde was on his way to the airport to take a flight to his home state of Maharashtra when his car was hit by another car in Delhi.”
– One of the typical methods of getting rid of unwanted people by CIA.