by Rex Clementine
Following Sri Lanka’s embarrassing exit in the ICC Cricket World Cup, where they finished ninth and suffered first ever losses to Afghanistan and Bangladesh and missed out on the Champions Trophy, you expected many changes to be made. However, barring the selectors nobody has been held accountable for the horrible show.
The selectors also would have survived if Sri Lanka Cricket had the authority to retain them. However, the appointment of selectors is with the Sports Minister and Harin Fernando cracked the whip. Fernando also should ask his friends at the cricket board to get rid of the coaching staff now that his political boss has soft-pedaled with SLC.
The World Cup campaign was the worst by a Sri Lankan team in history and losing out on a slot for the Champions Trophy was a bitter pill to swallow. This will be the first ICC event Sri Lanka will not be taking part since playing the inaugural event in 1975.
There were too many batting collapses during the World Cup campaign and the 55 all out against India in Bombay was not just a one off. Sri Lanka were not able to utilize their quota of 50 overs in six of their nine games. Their fielding was a laughingstock as 16 catches were spilled and they cost them dearly. Sri Lanka were the worst fielding unit in the competition. Both the Batting Coach and Fielding Coach have survived after such an embarrassing performance.
With a few months left in the coaches’ contracts, there is no harm in allowing them to finish their terms, but do they need to remain in the set up of the national team for obviously they have failed to deliver and should be held accountable.
Former captain Mahela Jayawardene continues to throw his weight around causing much displeasure within the team. His policies have not only brought disaster for the national cricket team but has affected even the Under-19 side as evident by the recent performance in the Asia Cup. The structures he has introduced to school cricket and domestic cricket has been criticized not by observers like us but by both former and current players.
Any person with self-respect would have stepped down after such a poor show in the World Cup but now that nobody has stepped down, SLC should take matters into their hands. If the board doesn’t act, the Sports Minister has to intervene.
Fresh thinking is the need of the hour after Sri Lankan cricket hit new lows with people holding key positions often contradicting themselves.
For example, lack of skill levels of players have been pointed out for the poor run of the national cricket team but those people have conveniently forgotten that it is they who kicked out half a dozen seniors from white ball cricket.
Poor fitness levels has been pointed out as the reason for fielding standards going down but for years the authorities have tolerated players who had failed the two-kilometer run or the skin fold test.
Their theories are often outdated as well. While the masterminds in Sri Lanka used someone who is capable of building an innings like Dhananjaya de Silva at the number six slot during the World Cup, rest of the world was going in opposite direction utilizing finishers at six. While India had Suryakumar Yadav, South Africa employed David Miller. Glenn Maxwell of course was a godsend for the Aussies.
While the new selection panel has made efforts to address several of these issues, we need to have changes in other areas as well and all members of the coaching staff need to be taken out with the exception of Chris Silverwood. Why spare Silverwood, one may ask. Well, the only thing that showed some improvement last year was the team’s fast bowling.
