THE ‘GENTLEMAN’S GAME’ CAN BE TRICKY

While our cricketers deserve better, our cricketing hierarchy needs to understand cricket better

There is no denying that Sri Lankan cricket has been in the dumps. Although our cricketers came up with flashes of brilliance, too many matches have been lost pushing the cricket loving public into halls of gloom. This doomsday feeling also provoked expert and non-expert criticism. It also resulted in questions re garding our cricketers’ perfor mances that stir red only tongue-in-cheek responses that made a bad situation worse. In fact many Lankans have given up on the chances of a national cricketing resurrection.

Axe comes down

In this depressing climate, familiar inquiries like ‘what’s’ the score?’ or ‘how are our guys doing?’ have only drawn unenthusiastic ‘don’t know’ or ‘didn’t watch the match’, ‘it’s another fiasco’ type of responses. Spectator interests in enjoying real- life cricket had also dipped while television viewers spent more time watching soaps or cricket re-runs on satellite channels.

Admittedly, recent scenes in our cricket were depressing with the game at inter national level faltering and floundering leaving everyone wondering what the devil’s going wrong with our cricket. Our cricketers’ lacklustre perfor mances in South Africa recently put the lid on the cauldron. Red faces of cricketing authorities got redder with the sports minister stepping into the scene with an allpur pose axe. As disillusioned as his ordinary countrymen, he ordered a revamp of our Cricket House. Consequently the executioner’s axe fell on the cricketing elite literally from top to bottom with the heads that fell into a gory basket being replaced by other heads thought to be functioning better than the axed ones. (Some of the new heads were not really new but recycled ones.)

Lions stir and growl

In this axing scenario, a rather unusual thing happened–almost concurrently. After being dictated to by the Proteas, Lankan cricketers began to stir and growl.

On a Lion run chase, rain interrupted play that resulted in a Duckworth Lewis based 4-run Proteas win. A Duckworth-lewis victory by such a nar row margin is hardly a victory because despite the for mula to overcome rainfouled matches, it has controversial l oop holes. Soon after, a winning streak began for Sri Lanka. Chasing imposing 300 plus run totals in two consecutive matches, Sri Lanka won both games. How did this happen? Was the of ficial caning of the whole class be ginning with the prefects responsible? Was it be-

The condition ‘out of form’ is a temporary mental phase that could be corrected. The syndrome should be recognized and accepted as part and parcel

of a cricketer ’s life

cause of a psychological pep-talk? Or, did the Sri Lankan team finally attain an age of sorts? Importantly after sterling perfor mances in previous matches, what went wrong with the perfor mances of the South Africans? They all point fingers at the intangible uncertainties of cricket.

Intricacies of cricket

Anybody who has played cricket on turf wickets would appreciate the subtle characteristics and vagaries in every niche of the game. Beginning from the pitch, the g rounds, the weather, the toss, spectators, umpires, the physical and mental make up of players up to the belief that gods can help to score a ton, bag 5-wickets and win matches, cricket is full of surprises.

Before a match, a pitch can be considered as ‘a good batting wicket’, ‘g reen’, a ‘seamer’, ‘flat’, ‘slow’, ‘likely to take spin later’ etc. And based on these observations decisions are taken whether to bat or field first, if the toss is won. However, despite the analysis and winning the toss, wrong choices are made in batting or fielding first bringing the analysis of the pitch to naught. Many other factors could also creep in like ill omens. For example, umpires blunder and if the number of appeals has been exhausted to get a decision reversed, the blunder stands: it can affect the outcome of the game. Yes, and they are all part of cricket, the game with profound and plentiful variables making cricketing duals unpredictable. In that context, cricket is a game of chance. Yet, how many recognize and accept the multitude of vagaries that affect the game as well as the players who are as human as we are?

National pool

It must be remembered that Sri Lankan Cricket and

its host of affiliates will die without our

cricketers

All our cricketers who make the National Pool have been picked because of their excellence as batters, bowlers or all-rounders. Some have natural qualities in leadership, others don’t. But noone is taken on board simply for a ride or to see the world. And once in the pool, players’ talents are honed by coaches and their levels of fitness enhanced by trainers. And in the cricketing world of today players are trained to play and win. Unless a cricketer is in tow with book makers into match-fixing, any cricketer worth his salt strives to do his best. Trouble brews when this ‘best’ does not appear to be forthcoming in the eyes of the cricketing hierarchy or fans who expect their heart beats to perfor m heroics every time they car ry a bat to the crease or tur n their bowling ar ms over.

Beginning from the pitch, the grounds, the weather, the toss, spectators,

umpires, the physical and mental make up of players up to the belief that gods can

help to score a ton, bag 5-wickets and win matches,

cricket is full of surprises

The ‘out of form’ syndrome

In addition to the multitude of ‘exter nal’ factors that could af fect a cricketer’s perfor mance, a player can be put off balance by ‘internal’ considerations. Consider the oft heard comment, ‘he is a classy bat, but he is out of for m’. Apart from bad trots of l ow scores, dearth of wickets, a technical fault, or simple staleness by too much cricket, the condition called ‘out of for m’ is triggered by negativity. It is a mental issue that can even extend to what an individual player’s stars foretell. This internal climate is seldom or never noticed by coaches, captains and se- lectors until it becomes obvious. The ‘out of for m’ phenomenon does not pronounce the end of the road of a g reat cricketer. It only signifies a temporary phase that should be recognized and accepted as part and parcel of a cricketer’s life. Consequently, it is unfair to jail out of for m players, some without parole, because there are remedies to cor rect disabilities that could hit the best of players putting them ‘off for m’.

Apolitical remedies are best

While politicians deny it vehemently, the common consensus is that extra-heavy politics interferes with our cricket. Politicians and politics have no place in cricket or any other sport for that matter because the games politicians play clash with the very essence of sports–sportsmanship and playing the game.

So the answers to under perfor mances in cricket do not lie in quick fixes with axes in the hands of a minister and his ‘Yes, Minister,’ men. But events suggest that the Sri Lankan cricket hierarchy not understanding the high degree of mental and physical preparedness needed in inter national cricket treat our cricketers like expendable chess pieces. Our cricketers deserve better. They have to be understood, encouraged and nurtured by an above-board authority with correct hands manning it. Most importantly it must be remembered that the existence of the current authority, Sri Lankan Cricket and its host of affiliates depend on our cricketers. Simply put Sri Lankan Cricket will die without our cricketers.

Lavender, jasmine and rose

Virtually from its inception, Sri Lankan Cricket has been associated with stinks. Foul smells emanating from this mother body of Lankan cricket need to be countered with air fresheners. This is the job of the minister in charge who has a choice of using spray cans of lavender, jasmine and rose. In fact, they have been lying at his feet for quite awhile.

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