Whilst talking about pads, the readers should note the following: Brendon made his debut in an ODI against Australia in 1983, Greg Chappell was the captain of Australia, Brendon was in his element that day whacking Bruce Yardley over midwicket for two mighty sixes, and he was equally harsh on Dennis Lillee and Rodney Hogg. He ended up unbeaten on 72 and Greg Chappell was so impressed by Brendon’s knock that he gave his own set of pads to Brendon which he cherishes to this day.
Getting back on track Brendon, the gentleman that he is and modest to fault. I found it difficult to extricate some of his views on cricket in some instances, during his era. Was it frustration or was he keeping to his norms as a gentleman cricketer? One wonders!
Brendon stated that he played Test cricket from 1987 to 1991, those were the days that Test were few and far between (these days Test fixtures are so saturated and as a result it has taken the lustre out of the noble game, I really feel that we need squads of about 50 to 70 to sustain match-winning performances from the players. It’s the money that matters, even during live broadcasts they show snippets of some highlights on a previous match, which to me is annoying and this to me is hard on the connoisseurs, we simply cannot absorb the beauty of a well timed hit or the sheer class of an in-dipping yorker will it be like baseball or is it the Indianisation of cricket!)
Back on the groove again, I have already written about Brendon’s epic double hundred in 2017 July in this column and hence I need not harp on that any more. During that period of 1987 to 1991 Brendon pointed out that he was an automatic choice as a dashing opening bat cum wicket keeper.
According to Brendon the best bowler he faced was Sir Richard Hadlee, being an opener he must have got the full brunt of Hadlee, who according to Brendon was a class apart on the green seaming wickets where he seamed the ball in or out at will or in other words “ let the ball talk.” On batting friendly wickets he swung the ball late at will, and had change of pace, to cap it all Brendon insisted that all this assortments of deliveries were sent without a hint of change in action.
This came from the horses mouth since he got that double hundred at the CCC against Hadlee and Co. I can still recall that Brendon was lucky to get an lbw decision in his favour against late Martin Crow, who was so annoyed that he bowled a thundering beamer to Brendon who managed to weave his head away.
Ashantha de Mel came for high praise from Brendon due to his late outswing at brisk pace. He also mentioned that in that era the only noteworthy spinner was Don Anurasiri - his line and length was good all the time although he was no Ajith de Silva when it came to sharp turn.The other left-arm spinner who was in the fray at that time was Roger Wijesuriya who was rather mediocre in comparison to Test level. Brendon also recalled that tall Ranjith Madurasinghe was a useful off spinner.
Amongst the batters according to Brendon, Sir Viv Richards took pride of place. In the 1987 World Cup Sri Lanka played against the Windies and Viv Richards came to the wicket when Gordon Greenidge and Richie Richardson were back in the hatch in next to no time. Brendon watched the proceedings at close quarters from behind the wickets, Richards at first started sedately consolidating with Desmond Haynes whose defence as we know was water tight. Once Richards got his eye in, he picked Don Anurasiri who was bowling accurately till then slammed him for four consecutive sixes through mid off, cover, mid-on and mid-wicket, he was well set by then and there was no stopping him stated Brendon. Towards the end of his mammoth innings of 189, he was hitting sixes at will the ball sailing about 40 meters from the boundary line. Brendon noted that it was sheer power, timing and good balance. He was full of praise for Abdul Qadir’s fastish leg spin, googly and flippers.
Brendon retired from international cricket in 1991 at the young age of 27 years! I inquired from him why he retired at a comparatively young age. Brendon didn’t say anything but the expression in his face said it all. Romesh Kaluwitharana was drafted in as the new wicket-keeper. Brendon opted to coaching and begun the Brendon School of cricket. Brendon is also the international tournament director at Red Bull, from 2012 to-date.
When asked about his comments on the recently concluded Nidahas trophy, Brendon was of the view that the team blended well, however he pointed out that our bowlers should be trained to bowl on the spot on good batting tracks. He noted that during the last 2 to 3 years there has been constant changes in the team thereby players never had time to settle down.
Brendon was the team manager for the national team on several different occasions and he picked out Mahela Jayawardene as one of the best skippers who stood by his decisions without wavering. In his tenor as the cricket manager, he managed all the top Sri Lankan cricketers at the time.
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