MAHELA'S BIG MOUTH

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

When SL scraped to win the second ODI in India by 5 runs, skipper Mahela said in his press conference " any team wants to beat us, will have to play very good cricket". After losing the series he said " when we came to India we had a problem regarding our middle-order batting, now it is good to see middle-order is playing very well". So, Mahela made India a very good cricket team and failed to realize the real batting problem was not in the middle order but at the top, he himself being the biggest culprit.

SL cricketers, as reported are scheduled to receive a 40% pay rise from March 2007, for seniors around USD 100K per annum. There is no harm done in paying higher salaries, if performances are rewarding. It is fair to say, if Sanath Jayasuriya fails, then all others follow him like a bunch of Penguins in the Philip Island of Victoria. This puts enormous pressure on SJ, one of the world's best batsmen, naturally realizing the poor quality of batters in the team, he tries to accelerate the run rate and becomes a victim.

Arjuna Rantunga in his days, never made comments such as Mahela's. If he ever said something about the greatness of SL cricketing team, it was only after " delivering the goods" at the highest order.

Needless to say, Mahela is an effective skipper but he should refrain from making controversial statements. He should look at his own recent score card in several matches instead of getting too "big headed". Mahela, please don't talk big, if we beat Bermuda and Bangladesh at the World Cup Group B! Can you beat India in the same Group?