SRI LANKAN CRICKET – DOWN TO EARTH
Posted on March 18th, 2015
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
In 1996 when Sri Lanka won the World Cup, almost all our players were financially poor. Some players came to Australia with broken shoes. Not many of them had the glory as top class cricketers. They had a hunger to be the world best, just like Bangladesh today. But today Sri Lankan cricketers are mostly rich businessmen play the game to enhance the Goodwill of their private businesses. Its a prestige to call that ” This is my Crab Ministry”, ” This is my new Entertainment Paradise”, “This is my Hotel”.
Was there an effective curfew for Sri Lankan players in Melbourne? The most celebrated high profie Sri Lankan batsman was selling his old Bat in an Auction in Melbourne for AUD 12,000 and the other most Senior Batsman who did not contribute much with his current bat, sold his old Bat for AUD 8,000.
The photo shooting with families of these Great Sri Lankans, late night parties, provided no stamina for them to face South African, let alone Scotland in a sudden death shoot out. Continuation with Tissara Perara was a dead loss. He was no where near an all rounder.
Sri Lankan fans have spent thousands of Dollars to cheer our team and the country, travelled from Melbourne to Sydney Cricket Ground, but our Rich and Proud Team let us down.
We always wanted unity within the team. Chaminda Vass exposed his anger in public, perhaps he must be a happy man now.
Lets get rid of Ministry of Crabs, Hotels, Entertainment Centres, but involve a team similar to 1996.
If Sanath has failed, Arjuna should be back on the saddle!
March 18th, 2015 at 4:39 am
NO MAHINDA, NO FINAL.
I have been to ministry of crab – a restaurant by Sanga and Mahela. My grandma spat out in distaste what they called Jaffna crabs. The preparation was not Jaffna style.
ALL our top cricketers are BUSINESSMEN SELLOUTS. Matthews was sold out to an Endian IPL thing for $1.5 million. Sanga and Mahela sold their bats for money. Already sold for UK, Aus teams. For them it was a BUSINESS TOUR.
Today Sanga batted for his PERSONAL RECORD to hell with SL. He ate balls without scoring. Thiri had to step in and only one batter was firing. He paid the price.
March 18th, 2015 at 5:56 am
Supporting our cricketers was like climbing a heavily greased pole.
Now we have come sliding like greased lightening leaving our skins on the pole.
Serves us right for being IDIOTS.
Like I said earlier there is nothing in this damned country that gives us a touch of happiness and joy. our so-called representatives and so-called heroes treat this country like a HARLOT, for use and abuse at will.
I am too old to migrate. I pine for not having done so in my youth.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
March 18th, 2015 at 1:12 pm
These cricketers are like SL politicians. Make AS MUCH MONEY as they can to hell with the country. Play cricket to BOOST their money making.
Our 1996 heroes never went after personal records. Records followed them!!
Did players from other teams go after personal records? NO.
But the businessmen playing cricket have turned this BUSINESS TOUR into a success. During this tour ALL of them were sold out to the shops IPL, BBL, Sussex, other England county, etc. So who is complaining!!
The country LOST. BIG NAMES won more business!!
Use the country as a STEPPING STONE to climb to great heights and then sell the stepping stone for DOLLARS.
We should have LOST to SCOTLAND strategically. Then we play Endia which we can beat in these conditions. They were given so much exposure to the BEST – 5 ODIs against Endia (Endia leads pool B) and 7 ODIs against NZ (NZ leads pool A). What more you need! But BOTH were turned into BUSINESS TOURS.
Anyway a GREAT and FITTING farewell to the legends!! They deserve it.
March 18th, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Everything started to go wrong after Run-nil the HARBINGER OF DEFEAT skyped the players!!
March 18th, 2015 at 2:33 pm
We were not ready for the world cup.
South Afric came to Sri Lanka end of last year. We lost to them with the same team.
Mahela got out to Tahir 4 times but Tahir was destroyed by one of our batsman when he came to bowl initially. He was not so successful in Sri Lanka but our weakness against him as a team was very evident.
What did our coaching team do to make sure they can comfortably attack Tahir ? – Nothing.
JP Duminy is a batsman. He got a hat trick. But he too played against us in the recent past. He too showed some success in Sri Lanka.
What did our coaching team do to make sure they can comfortably attack Dumny ? – Nothing.
Why kept out Chandimal, Kaushal, Chameera , Kusal , Nuwan pardeep without giving training to them for 2-3 months, instead letting players like Perera, Kelasekara , Gamage ?
What did we do to rectify reasons for loosing to India 5-0 few months ago ? – Nothing.
May be we need another useless commission to investigate why we lost !
March 18th, 2015 at 4:28 pm
With Yama Palanaya all are loosing out!The country is down the drain! The cricketers are in disarray! No proper leadership, No teamwork. Just like Yamapalanaya!
March 18th, 2015 at 10:11 pm
Mario,
It is the same on the other green pasture. Looks greener but when you go there it is different.
March 19th, 2015 at 1:22 am
Lorenzo,
“NO MAHINDA, NO FINAL” ?
Please stop this nonsense. In the last world cup final a lot of people complained Mahinda gave instructions to loose the final to India. Haven’t your heard of that.
March 19th, 2015 at 2:41 am
It is hard to believe that Sri Lanka’s top two cricketers have embraced a wrong livelihood that the Buddha has condemned in no uncertain terms.
One can understand poor fishermen engaged in a vocation that the Buddha never approved and is in conflict with the Buddhist first precept. They i.e. fishermen, have very little choice due to their poverty. But not our new rich multi – millionaire cricketers. They have enough and more choices to invest their money in.
If they care to investigate they will find an entirely new field called ‘Ethical or Social Conscious Investment’ which encourage investors to choosepursuits that are morally and ethically defensible, are managed ethically, generate social benefits and are sensitive to the natural environment and the various fauna that inhabit it.
According to the Buddha five types of vocations comprise wrong livelihoods. They are:
1. selling weapons,
2. selling human beings [slavery],
3. selling animals to be killed for food, or selling the flesh of animals that one has killed oneselfor caused to be killed by others ( This also covers restaurants)
4. selling intoxicants,
5. selling poison.
One of the cricketers has attended a leading Buddhist school in Colombo while the other attended a leading Christian missionary school in Kandy.
While their parents’ choice in choosing a school for their children must be respected what is difficult to accept or approve is the choice of a vocation in addition to cricket that requires innocent animals i.e. crabs, to be killed and sold as food. The manner of killing is horrendous. Legs of the live crabs are ripped apart and both the legs and torso are thrown into the boiling pot. Recent studies show that both Lobsters and crabs i.e. crustaceans, feel pain and stress. These findings add to growing evidence that even crabs like all other animals can suffer.
Our top sportsmen and sports women must always bear in mind that Sri Lanka is still a pre-dominantly Buddhist country and that we take pride in Buddhist values that inculcate reverence for life i.e. respect for all forms of life.
As role models for both the young and the old, one expects sports people to have at least a basic understanding of the Buddha Dhamma (if they are truly Buddhists) and putting it to PRACTICE!
Sri Lanka has a rich variety of vegetables and fruit. It is upto the GOSL as well as our top sports persons to promote the benefit of this diet to the nation.
They must champion healthy foods and healthy lifestyles. In Sri Lanka we see everywhereunhealthy men and women particularly in urban areas like Colombo due to this decadent life style and poor choice
of food lacking adequate nutrition and freshness.
The real shame is noting that when the West is gradually adopting ancient Eastern and Buddhist values (including learning the sublime dhamma and practice of meditation via mindfulness ) and also replacing their diet with vegetarian or vegan food our local “kalusuddas” are adopting the unhealthy KFC/McDonald diet to their detriment and long lasting harm.
We need moral leadership on these issues not only by our political leaders, but also from the Buddhist clergy and the rapidly rising and influential sportsmen particularly the top cricketers who have become national icons, soon before it is too late. Nothing is more telling than leading by example.
Finally, when our top national cricketers venture into investing in private enterprise, they have an obligation to take into account the moral sensitivities of their cricket fans and the growing public distaste for committing cruelty and killing of animals.
March 19th, 2015 at 3:23 am
Teams in 1996 and before played for the country and not for money. But after 1996 things changed. As mentioned above they became ´Businessmen´. Went to India to play for money ,opened up restaurants and other business ventures. In the 60 minutes program once they showed how much time the Australian cricketers devote for practice. Apart from normal practice sessions they go to the gym, they do Yoga, do meditation and so on. Hope the Sri Lankan cricketers learn from their downfall from this world cup matches.
March 19th, 2015 at 4:33 am
Independent,
NO MAHINDA, NO FINAL.
It is true and a fact. We lost in the final but getting to the final is a MAJOR achievement.
NEVER without a SLFP PM.
SL has NEVER won or reached the final of ANY serious cricket championship when the PM was NOT from the SLFP.
March 19th, 2015 at 6:31 am
The South Africans were never regarded as easy-beats, and going into this game, a loss to SA always seemed possible. What really hurts, then, is the way SL collapsed for a paltry 133. That said, however, such collapses have happened before and no doubt will happen again. They are in the nature of the game.
So, SL lost a game. But that is not the end of the world. SL ought to accept this defeat sensibly and with good grace – and that is one of the things that cricket is also meant to teach us. Remember only a few days ago the England team dropped out of the competition without even making it to the Quarter Finals? How that must have hurt! And England is the country that gave the world the great game! Mention has been made of the money SL fans have spent travelling between Sydney and Melbourne to see the SL team play. Spare a thought then for the English supporters who have spent even more and travelled even further in support of their team, only to be rewarded for the most part with loss after loss. But the English supporters have not gone into disconsolate mourning; they have taken those losses stoically in their stride.
Clearly, much needs to be done to lift SL cricket from its present state, and let’s hope the SL cricket authorities set about putting things right, without delay
To be eliminated from the World Cup at the Quarter Final stage hurts but there is always the next competition to look forward to. In the meantime, there is a lot of good cricket left in rest of this World Cup tournament for us to enjoy, and let’s make the best use of that. And, as for the Final, may the best team win.
MPDD,
1996 was 19 years ago and that World Cup was played in the sub-continent in conditions more suited to SL than in Australia. It is not relevant to make comparisons of the SL team then with the SL team now, especially based on the specious grounds you have stated. It is incorrect to say that in 1996 “almost all our players were financially poor”. True, they were nowhere as well off as today’s players, but ALMOST ALL of our players were NOT financially poor at the time. And I have not heard before that “some players came to Australia with broken shoes”. I think this is just a product of someone’s fertile but not very attractive imagination.
You state that “today Sri Lankan cricketers are mostly rich businessmen play the game to enhance the Goodwill of their private businesses. Its a prestige to call that ” This is my Crab Ministry”, ” This is my new Entertainment Paradise”, “This is my Hotel”.
In stating this, you seem to be picking in particular on Sanga and Mahela. That is patently churlish. Today’s professional cricketers make good money and if they earn it legally and honestly, why should we complain? And if they then choose to invest in commercial undertakings, what’s wrong with that? I’d say to them, ‘Well done, and may good luck go with you’.
You have asked about effective curfews for the players. Whoever speaks of curfews these days? And surely what is wrong if professional cricketers do party and relax and enjoy life so long as they don’t overdo these things to the detriment of their playing ability? Relaxation off the field is a great tonic for sportspeople.
You have also said that SL’s two most senior batsmen sold their old bats at an auction in Melbourne for $ 12,000 and $ 8,000. What you have not said is to whom the proceeds of the sale went. It is negligent to not say who benefited from those sales for the reader may well conclude that the beneficiaries were the two players themselves. I imagine the bats were auctioned for the benefit of some charity or some such worthy cause.
Yesterday Ian Chappell the former Australian captain and respected cricket commentator said that the retirement of Sanga and Mahela will be a loss not only to SL cricket but also to world cricket, adding that both of them had been ornaments to the game. And I note that today the likes of Tendulkar, former SA skipper Smith and Australian cricketer Shane Watson have added their messages of good wishes on Twitter. These compliments should make every Sri Lankan proud. Sanga and Mahela have been great servants of SL cricket, and I find it extremely disappointing that while the cricketing world sees fit to pay fine tributes to them you and others have only seen fit to be unfairly critical of them. That’s most ungracious – sad, very sad.
Lorenzo,
I am sorry your “grandma spat out in distaste what they called Jaffna crabs” because “The preparation was not Jaffna style”. I cannot see what that has to do with SL’s loss to SA yesterday but may I add that those who go to a posh restaurant expecting to find a traditional dish made ‘just the way mother used to make’ should not complain if they are disappointed. These restaurants cannot ever replicate exactly, traditional dishes made the traditional way.
I do not agree that SL “should have LOST to SCOTLAND strategically”. No way! That is not what cricket is all about, that is not the way the game should be played, and I, for one, am glad the SL team did not choose to go down that opportunistic path.
And if “Everything started to go wrong after Run-nil the HARBINGER OF DEFEAT skyped the players!!” could you please tell me what good luck MR brought the SL team when he chose (along with a mega entourage of course) to go to the last two World Cup Finals when SL was one of the teams competing?
Independent,
Not so long ago, Vass came in for a lot of criticism for the SL’s bowling woes. Yesterday what let SL down was the batting. So, the questions you have raised are indeed pertinent. Maybe, now they will train their guns on the batting coach!
March 20th, 2015 at 1:54 pm
It is indeed disparaging, distressing and sickening to read comments about a team simply bercause they lost in the quarters to a team that was far superior. Comments by some who probably never even held a “Pol Pithi Bat or a Kaduru Ball!” that need to be stifled!
Yes we are all dissapointed heavily at what happened at the SCG but its only a game and in the best sporting manner should be taken ib stride to incorporate The Joy of Victory and the Agony of Defeat! considering the high level it was played at! being the zenith of international limited over competition.
Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and the least predictable of all sports presumably given all the related prevaricating aspects of the game. Indeed to a degree the Administrators and selectors have to take the blame and the choice of the eleven questionabla as much as the batting order and choice of bowlers but to insult and incarcerate verbally these fine players who have in the past brought much so glory to the cricketing world hardly deserves the berating that some of you have chosen to dish out to them at times dragging in irrelevant anomalies like their occupations and preoccupations which have nothing to do with the game or their performances.They were simply not good enough on this given day and were humbled by the stronger team.The important issue is not to lose heart but go back to the drawing board and start re-building the team towards the next tournament as well as the games to come.We are all hugely dissapointed as Lankans but should never rub salt in the wounds of our national team for losing as it is an apathy based on ignorance!
March 20th, 2015 at 2:18 pm
Cassandra,
Bangladesh a team worse than SL made 193 against Endia. Had we played Endia we would have made 293. Sanga’s century hunt defeated SL.
The bottom line remains, NO MAHINDA, NO FINAL!
While I’m saddened by the loss, on the other side I’m happy because the UNP government will NOT be able to capitalize on a possible WC win for election work.
ALL govt.s USE sports wins for political gain. Now UNP is stuffed they can’t use it.
SL cricket and athletics have NEVER achieved world beating performance under UNP. Always it was under SLFP it came to FINALS and a silver medal. In 1948 SLFP was with the UNP.
March 20th, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Too much salaries has some adverse effects on players. Since they get more money from Ads there is no need to pay high salaries to both officials and players.
Please don’t bring Mahinda into this for your personal popularity. You are not a cricket fan.
People have forgotten the team was forced to play with India and lost 5-0 not allowing them to properly prepare for the CWC. This the key. Real fans do not forget this
March 20th, 2015 at 6:03 pm
Lorenzo,
“The bottom line remains, NO MAHINDA, NO FINAL!”
That’s reflects some queer logic. In 1996, not only was SL in the Finals, SL also won the Cup – and that was without Mahinda.
If you must drag in politicians to this discussion, it is pertinent to note that the SL Cricket administration had not been in a greater mess than under MR’s dispensation!
March 20th, 2015 at 8:10 pm
Cassandra,
In 1996 MR was a VERY SENIOR govt. minister!! Not that ponnaya Run-nil.
Results speak for themselves. During MR’s time cricket was doing SO WELL that we for the first and may be last time made it to 2 consecutive finals!!
I’m no fan of MR but these are FACTS.
March 20th, 2015 at 8:57 pm
Lorenzo,
OK. I see your ‘logic’. But, to me, it is still curious.
Cheers
March 21st, 2015 at 2:11 am
Cassandra,
I’m no fan of MR. I worked against MR at the last election. But FACTS AND FACTS.
Remember the time when Run-nil was the PM and sport was under UNP in 2003? Marvan was almost framed in a match fixing nonsense!! SLC money was STOLEN by Run-nil’s financier (who later joined MR) and ruined it.
MR never allowed that. No surprise SL made to 2 finals!
Never again.
March 21st, 2015 at 4:27 am
Lorenzo,
Sure, facts are facts. And I won’t try to dispute what you have just said. But I do not accept as a FACT your assertion, “The bottom line remains, NO MAHINDA, NO FINAL!”
Cheers
March 21st, 2015 at 4:34 am
Actually politicisation of cricket worsened during that period.
Which country has a MP as a selector, A stadium in the jungle having 1 match per year ?
Anyway, most fundamental reason for our defeat at this CWC was forcing the team to go to India to please them.
March 21st, 2015 at 4:46 am
Had MR remained president, the fate of the team would have been different this time.
There were POLITICALLY INFLUENCED changes at SLC after the election. There are new rifts between various political groups involved in cricket. Arjuna has not been very helpful after he became a politician. They all started to interfere in cricket after MR. During his time no one could interfere.
Like the country.
A group of thugs aligned to the govt had forcibly grabbed a STATE LAND in a HSZ in Colombo today!! They have put up a fence around it too!!
SL IS NOW A FAILED STATE where FACTIONS run parts of the country. A very senior minister’s son abducts an under-aged girls and makes love!! But law is not working at all. Under MR such losers were at least arrested. So the new law is GRAB WHATEVER you can and its yours!!!
One part of the country sings one national anthem while the other sings a completely different one!! ONLY in SL! How such a country can have a winning cricket team is beyond me.