Sri Lanka’s batting performance against Australia in their World Cup match at the Oval, London on Saturday was so dismal that cricket fans from over the world who follow the team’s fortunes are at a loss for words for the downfall of our cricket and to the low standards it has reached compared to such great sides the country has fielded in the international arena in the not too distant past.
One past cricket administrator who is well respected and held in high esteem even today wrote: “With a foundation as was with the opening pair our cricket that followed was so pathetic that I could not believe that we were watching our national team performing.”
“Both application and professionalism were conspicuous by their absence and one could not but be embarrassed by the waistlines of a few of our prominent players.....and the withdrawal towards the square leg umpire of ten and eleven at the crease adding to the humiliation.
“All this in a WORLD tournament!
“A huge disappointment after a start that promised much.”
What the match against Australia revealed was that there was no fighting spirit in the team and despite all the hype of the players being disappointed at the mounting losses the manner in which they perform in the middle leaves much to be desired. The expression in the face of the players when they return to the dressing room after being dismissed is not one of sadness or anger of getting out but with a grin from ear to ear. What does that imply?
This is a sad reflection of our cricket and the players today and, for it the Sri Lanka Cricket administration must take a major share of the blame.
When Sri Lanka shamed the cricket world by the ball tampering incident followed by refusing to take the field on the third day of play of the second Test against West Indies at St Lucia’s and thereby ‘breaching the spirit of cricket’ that resulted in the ICC imposing bans on the captain, coach and manager in June last year, Sri Lanka Cricket did nothing. They never took the trouble to conduct an inquiry of their own like Cricket Australia did when Warner, Smith and Bancroft tampered with the ball, but allowed the perpetrators to go scot free. So how can one bring discipline to a team when the employer who pays them their salary is lax and allows such incidents to take place thus creating a precedent that even if you commit the gravest of crimes no action will be taken.
This is the sort of attitude the national team has, for when they perform badly as they are doing at present there is no one in Sri Lanka Cricket who has the guts to come out boldly and tell them to either play proper cricket or quit.
The entire cricket team and its management need a complete overhaul and drastic steps and decisions taken to put the game on the right track.
With businessmen and politicians entering the fray the game has been politicised to the extent that people who run cricket don’t have the game at heart but are there only to gain the benefits from it without a care of what happens to the national team. Wonder whether they realise that their sole survival depends on how the national team performs. And if the team sinks they sink too. This is the sad state of what Sri Lanka cricket is all about today.
With each and every game they play Sri Lanka’s chances of qualifying for a place in the World Cup semi-finals is diminishing. They were never in the first place rated as one of the favourites to make it to the last four, but two complete washouts through rain has given them a lifeline and brought them a bonus of two points equivalent to a win.
With four points in the bag from five games Sri Lanka needs to win at least three of their remaining four matches to be in with a chance of qualifying, but the manner in which they lost to Australia after being in a great position to pull off a heist against the defending champions doesn’t offer much confidence that they can do it especially when two of the four opponents are tagged as favourites England and India. Their only hope is to up their ante and try to beat the other two sides South Africa and West Indies and hope for the best against England and India, for without a minimum of 10 points no team can come within the qualifying mark.
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