The road to cricketing glory
Throughout history there are instances and occurrences that have changed our meandering path to human evolution. Sri Lanka is no exception. Volumes of this country’s history have been chronicled in the Mahawansa, but, I humbly delve into a part of our own cricketing history that changed Lankan sporting destiny forever.
This we could mark proudly as the 1996 Cricket World Cup win and how since then, the manner in which Lankan sportsmen and women began to think about international sports and their attitude towards it changed irrevocably. Now we do not see giants in the opposition. Now we are equals in the international arena. We may win or lose, but we treat our opposition as mere counterparts.
Here my effort is to roll out the part that was not put in print before. The role that a dedicated and professional team of administrators played which also became an inherent part of this famous game changer.
Since we gained full membership of the International Cricket Council(ICC) in 1981 and played our first Test match in 1982, we were in the big league of cricket but as minnows. In most of the instances, our cricketers felt the pangs of being patronized, the ‘little brother’ attitude, seen in instances such as the nature of the Darrel Hair saga which was the culmination of a very painful controversy between the ICC and the then Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka over the bowling action of young fledgling off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
In the midst of this, Sri Lanka possessed one of the most talented and experienced cricketing ensembles in the ICC realm under Arjuna Ranatunga, but what we lacked was the due recognition and acceptance. In 1994 the BCCSL team under me recognised this huge anomaly and pondered ways of bridging it.
While the cricketers were battling out their own wars on field, the BCCSL executive committee decided to do away with the minnows cricketing image. We came up with the slogan of “Best Test Playing Nation by the year 2000” and backed it with an innovative five-year development plan with the help of some of the best cricketing and marketing brains in the county.
Today, cricket is a mighty dollar churner which even could take on a gigantic task of monetarily helping a project of the calibre of the Commonwealth Games. But, in 1994, the cricket headquarters at Maitland Place was similar to Old Mother Hubbard. The cupboards and the coffer under the keys of unforgettable Tissa Gunaratne – the Cricket Administrator were practically empty and luckily the national cricketers indulged in their business while being attached to a rich conglomerate to ensure their take home pay at the end of the month.
It is under these circumstances the executive committee managed to convince Cricket Australia to release Lankan-born Australian coach Davenell Whatmore to become Sri Lanka’s first-ever fulltime professional overseas coach.
The year was 1995 and the Lankans were just about to venture into a gruelling Test series against New Zealand. For the first time the Lankan team was treated to a grand send-off at a plush five-star hotel under the theme “We are the champions”. 15 March 1995, Sri Lanka won its first overseas Test match under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga against New Zealand, when they beat them by 241 runs at Napier. This win also
resulted in their first overseas Test series victory, 1–0.
The Lankan cricketers had broken the shackles. The upward trend in Lankan cricket began to get visible.
Then came the Cricket World Cup 1996 in India, Sri Lanka and
Pakistan. Ironically the strife-ravaged Lankans had their own share of problems, but the BCCSL and the Lankan Government were willing to give full security to the players and the respective World Cup matches. Nonetheless both Australia and the West Indies opted to stay out for games played in Sri Lanka citing security reasons. Adding insult to injury also initially the ICC came up with the decision that no points would be given to Sri Lanka for the boycotted matches. Yet, we fought, thoughtout-of-the-box or call it whatever name you prefer, but, the decision was reversed by one vote and the Lankan cricketers had four points in the bag without playing a single game, also making sure that they were a part of the next stage of the tournament. The rest is Lankan cricketing history.
Our tiny island nation won the 1996 Cricket World Cup beating Australia in the final and remaining unbeaten in the tournament.