{"id":103510,"date":"2020-06-14T14:51:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-14T21:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103510"},"modified":"2020-06-14T14:51:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T21:51:20","slug":"recognise-sri-lankan-cricket-lovers-unique-contributions-to-world-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/14\/recognise-sri-lankan-cricket-lovers-unique-contributions-to-world-cricket\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognise Sri Lankan cricket lovers unique contributions to world cricket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rohan Abeygunawardena Nugegoda<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Over the last couple of decades we\nhave seen with great pride the emergence of a highly distinctive brand of Sri\nLankan cricket that has exploded on the world scene winning the admiration of\nthe cricket world. Consequently, Sri Lanka is no longer treated as a minnow or\na mighty atom but as a respected member deserving a place at the high table of\nworld cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be tantamount to an\nunpardonable lapse if cricket followers worldwide were to confine their\nadmiration exclusively to the Sri Lankan players while leaving out from their\nattention and gratitude several Sri Lankan cricket lovers who have made unique\ncontributions to the development of International cricket through use of modern\ntechnology.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Wijesinghe<\/strong>, a former Secretary of Sri Lanka\nCricket Foundation and now a prominent cricket writer first suggested in a\nwritten paper to the ICC \u2018\u2019the concept of third umpire\u2019\u2019 in cricket. The\nsuggestion was to have two more umpires watching television monitors and action\nreplays in a special TV room in addition to on field (ground) umpires. In the\nabsence of sophisticated equipment that is used now, he recommended the use of\nwalkie- talkie system to communicate between on field umpire and umpires\nwatching the screen. As a result on field umpire can clear up any doubt by\ncontacting screen watching umpires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda\u2019s paper was presented to the\nICC meeting in July 1984. The idea was reported but not supported\u201d stated the\nWisden Almanack. South Africans grasped the importance of it. They were the\nfirst to use video evidence in Tests and international matches between South\nAfrica and India in 1991\/92 series after ICC reinstated South Africa as a\nTest nation in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cricket journalist and editor of\nthe monthly London Cricketer International Christopher Martin- Jenkins reported\nsome time back that the rightful owner of this \u2018\u2019third umpire\u2019\u2019 concept was\nactually Mahinda Wijesinghe, the Sri Lankan cricket writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong>,\nthe Sri Lankan lawyer who conceived an unique concept called \u2018player referral\u2019\nas far back as 1997 to minimize umpire errors in the middle. His letter to the\nEditor entitled \u2018\u2019Third umpire should perform the role of appeal judge\u2019\u2019 was\nfirst published in the \u2018Australian\u2019 (Australia\u2019s national newspaper) on March\n25th 1997, and thereafter in several newspapers and Journals all over the\ncricket world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept of the Sri\nLankan lawyer is undoubtedly revolutionary in its scope because it challenges\nthe validity of a fundamental rule since the inception of cricket \u2013 the\ndecision of the Umpire is final. Weeraratna has argued with vehemence that in\nthe interest of achieving greater accuracy in decision making this cardinal\nrule must be discarded to enable players to appeal against an umpire\u2019s decision\nto a Third Umpire located outside the boundary with access to play back video\ntechnology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mechanism he has suggested is\nsimilar to a review of a lower court decision by an appeal court judge.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proposal was adopted by the\nInternational Cricket Committee of the ICC in 2006 and later introduced to the\nCricket world as the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS also called DRS). The\nlynch pin of the UDRS or DRS is Senaka Weeraratna\u2019s \u2018player referral\u2019\nconcept.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUDRS was first tested in an India v. Sri Lanka Test match in 2008, and was\nofficially launched by the ICC on 24 November 2009, during the first Test\nbetween New Zealand<\/a> and Pakistan<\/a> at\nthe University Oval<\/a> in Dunedin<\/a>. It was first used in a\nOne Day International (ODI) match during the January 2011 tour of Australia in\nEngland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An examination of all available\nevidence clearly reveals that Senaka Weeraratna was the first to suggest a\n\u2018player referral\u2019 system for cricket. No one has so far been able to challenge\nWeeraratna on this score. Even Duncan Fletcher the English Cricket Coach who\nhas claimed authorship of \u2018player referral\u2019 concept in his book \u2018Ashes Regained\n\u2013 the Coach\u2019s story\u2019(2005) has withdrawn his claim once he came to know that\nSenaka Weeraratna \u2019s publication of the concept in 1997 had anteceded by two\nyears Duncan Fletcher\u2019s first pronouncements on the subject in 1999. With no\none in the world to challenge Weeraratna\u2019s claim of authorship it has now\nbecome a one horse race. This is a world class achievement for Sri Lanka. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, it also appears that\nWeeraratna\u2019s brain child \u2018player – referral \u2019 has also been adopted in several\nother sports such as Soccer, Rugby Football, Tennis, etc.  There was no\nsuch Player Referral system or mechanism in any sport prior to the publication\nof the aforesaid letter of Weeraratna in \u2018The Australian\u2019 on March 25, 1997.\nWeeraratna had sent his papers on the subject  not only to leading\nnewspapers in the world but also to the ICC and the cricket authorities of all\nthe Test playing countries, including the Board of Cricket Control of Sri\nLanka.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conventional practice in any\nsphere of activity be they sports, science or technology, is accurate\nattribution of authorship for any innovation or discovery. In other words, the\nname of the founder or author is ascribed to the invention(s). Two Englishmen\nFrank Duckworth and Tony Lewis worked out a mathematical formulation to\ncalculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket<\/a> match\ninterrupted by weather or other circumstances.  It was introduced in 1997,\nand adopted officially by the ICC in 1999 and was colloquially known as\nthe Duckworth\u2013Lewis method (D\/L).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However in respect to the Player \u2013\nReferral mechanism, now employed in all three formats of the game, i.e. Test,\none \u2013day and T20, the ICC led cricket world has yet to give due recognition to\nSenaka Weeraratna, who has been fighting a lone struggle for recognition for\nthe last 20 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is heartening to know that Sri\nLanka Cricket (SLC) has finally decided to recognize Weeraratna at a formal\nmeeting of its Executive Committee held recently and accordingly SLC armed with\nan exhaustive and very thorough legal opinion prepared by two leading lawyers\nnamely Dr. Harsha Cabral, P.C. and Mr. Kushan Illangatilaka, has submitted a\nmemorandum to the ICC seeking formal recognition for Senaka Weeraratna\u2019s\ncontribution towards amending the laws of cricket to achieve a higher degree of\naccuracy in Umpire decision making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While awaiting the decision of the\nICC, it is imperative that the Govt. of  Sri Lanka should seek India\u2019s\nsupport for this endeavor. The most powerful member of the ICC is India which\nwields enormous economic clout these days. Its help plus the support of other\nSouth Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh should clinch the deal\nbringing enormous recognition not only to the author Weeraratna but to Sri\nLanka as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Indian journalist Varsha Thakur (\nETV) recently wrote \u2018\u2019 A careful analysis of the essence behind Senaka\nWeeraratna\u2019s UDRS or DRS is the spirit of religion, justice and Satyamev Jayate\nthat constitute the foundation of the civilizational links between India and\nSri Lanka since eternity. The time has come for the values of religion, justice\nand Satyameva Jayate to be spread to all corners of the world and influence the\nwhole of humanity.\u2019\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She further says \u2018\u2019Modi Government\nstarted International Yoga Day all over the world which was extremely\nsuccessful. Elevating sports and honouring the people associated with ground\nbreaking achievements in sports also signifies successful foreign policy.\nTherefore honoring Senaka Weeraratna and his contribution to the development of\ncricket rules, by India, the world\u2019s leading country in cricket, will not\nonly strengthen India’s leadership in world cricket but will further\ndeepen Sri Lanka’s relations with India. Therefore, the Ministry of External\nAffairs of India needs to take cognizance of this matter immediately so that\nthe Indian High Commissioner in Colombo can be directed to take appropriate and\nnecessary action without delay.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varsha Thakur calls\nSenaka Weeraratna the Dharmaraja of cricket and the father of DRS. This is\na good sign for not only 21 million Sri Lankans backing him but also the\nrealization that there will be a potential 1.2 billion Indians to support\nWeeraratna to gain recognition for his rightful claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranjith Fernando<\/strong>, who was a former Sri Lankan\ncricketer (Batsman\/Wicketkeeper) who later became a prominent International\nCricket Commentator coined the term \u2018\u2019Aerial route\u2019\u2019 to describe a sixer. Today\nyou can hear many commentators using this term whenever a batsman hits a six.\nMany of them also acknowledge fact that the term was first aired by Ranjith\nFernando.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important  message that must\nbe conveyed to the world is that Sri Lanka has unlimited talent not only in\nrespect of high attainments on the playing fields but also \u2018Cricket brains\u2019 to\ntransform the rules of the game radically which is what Senaka Weeraratna\u2019s\n\u2018player referral\u2019 and Mahinda Wijesinghe\u2019s \u2018Third Umpire \u2018concepts have done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohan Abeygunawardena<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nugegoda<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rohan Abeygunawardena Nugegoda Over the last couple of decades we have seen with great pride the emergence of a highly distinctive brand of Sri Lankan cricket that has exploded on the world scene winning the admiration of the cricket world. Consequently, Sri Lanka is no longer treated as a minnow or a mighty atom but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}