Writes Ashok Malik on Cric Info …..
Murali-Mendis combination: a great mix of experience and youth
For an Indian cricket fan, the first Test match of the series in Sri Lanka was a humbling experience. The Indian cricket community and media not being given to patience, inevitably the attack will begin – on the captain, the poor spin bowling and the ageing middle order.
Frankly, that is an issue I don’t want to touch upon for the simple reason that one Test match is too little time in which to decide that entire careers are over and wholesale changes are needed. If the rest of the series proceeds like this, then perhaps there may be long-term issues to address. Even so, that is meat for another post, another time.
The point I want to focus on today is how Sri Lanka, for the past 20 odd years and certainly since the mid-1990s, remains the most underrated and under-appreciated top quality cricket team in the world. To an attack led by a fine fast bowler and one of the greatest spinners in history, they’ve added a lethal new weapon. Their cricket system has this enviable ability to churn out a series of elegant and/or devastatingly destructive batsmen, one after the other.
How do they do it? I’m no expert on Sri Lankan cricket and its infrastructure. I can only refer to what I’ve read and heard. One story never fails to make an impression. I read it years ago, shortly after the 1996 world cup was won by Arjuna Ranatunga’s men – by the blazing opening pair of Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana – when Rohit Brijnath wrote a piece in India Today on Sri Lanka’s cricket nursery.
I can’t recall the entire article but do remember a reference to the integrity and honesty of the Sri Lankan cricket work ethic. I think it was in Brijnath’s article that I read about the Wettimuny brothers, Sunil, Mithra and Sidath (Sri Lanka’s first test centurion). reproducing a fraying, century-old English coaching manual, page by page, painstakingly drawing the illustrations, copying the text.
It was an age before ubiquitous photocopying machines and scanners, I suppose, and being classicists, the brothers felt the young cricketers in their charge must learn cricket the right way. The romantic in me would like to believe that some of the young men in the team that smashed India on July 26 were beneficiaries of the Wettimuny way.
It is an unusual anecdote but to my mind a memorable one. The Wettimuny brothers’ act was perhaps the most moving tribute an international cricketer had ever paid to his art form, a reverential prayer to “Mother Cricket”, to borrow an expression South African coach Mickey Arthur used recently, albeit in another context.
I wish I could rattle off names of Indian cricketers who would gladly do the same to pay their dues, pass on their skills to another, less endowed generation. For me, that sentiment, that sense of obligation sums up cricket more than statistics, razzmatazz and other trivia.
I’ve never seen a cricket match in Sri Lanka – though I do want to go there for a test some day – but have visited Colombo three times. I’ve discussed cricket with auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, government officials, hotel waiters, bookstore managers, bartenders, you name it. The Sri Lankans love their cricket, are fiercely proud of their cricket team and badly want it to win.
Yet, it’s struck me that their pride and passion is never overdone or overaggressive. It’s not as if they’re trying to tell you that not only is the Sri Lankan team good but the Indian (and every other) team is bad or otherwise less than reputable. There is no deliberate running down of the other guy. Perhaps he exists, but I’ve never met the Ugly Sri Lankan Cricket Fan. I’ve encountered his equivalent in or from India, Pakistan and Australia more often than I’d want to.
To me, the best cricket tradition is one that plays the game hard, speaks in the contemporary idiom and yet salutes cricket’s glorious, unparalleled heritage. Among the three major Asian countries, I think Sri Lanka has it just right. Indian cricket swings wildly between (usually imagined) victimhood and overweening arrogance, including telling English county clubs whom to select or drop. Pakistan’s is another cricket establishment with just too many chips on its shoulder.
Sri Lanka is different. It fights and fights fiercely when it has to. Ranatunga was the prototype of the assertive, tough-as-nails Asian captain when he defended his star bowler – accused of chucking – through a gruelling tour of Australia. He took on the umpires, the other team, the unfriendly press – because he believed in his cause, his team, his country.
Even so, Sri Lankan cricket does not believe in a permanent war theory. The past is over; the mid-1990s are dead. The team and the country have moved on. The Indian and Pakistani cricket boards, on the other hand, are continually fighting yesterday’s wars.
If you’re ever in Colombo, visit the Cricket Café – at least that’s what I think it’s called. Among other things, it serves great sea food but that’s not the only reason I have fond memories of it. In its own manner, it’s a delightful little cricket museum, with memorabilia from, well, Old Blighty to New Ceylon. It has place for Hutton and Hobbs but, equally, for Murali and Mendis.
To me, this signified a small but important lesson. Sri Lankans love their cricket team and also love cricket. They don’t see the two emotions as either synonymous or mutually exclusive. I’ve never visited an Indian restaurant with a similar sensibility. Sure, I could go to one with posters of current Indian cricket stars – but would that be a celebration of cricket? There is a difference.
Sri Lankans, as a society, understand that difference. That’s why it’s impossible to grudge them victory, even when they’ve hammered your team.
Courtesy : Cric Info
After England, won the toss and elected to bat first, Sri Lanka’s pace trio Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof provided the early inroads by reducing the English side to 61/4. Then, it was left to Captain Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah to build up a partnership. This was done quite perfectly, with Shah leading the recovery with a brilliant 82 off only 92 balls. The two shared a valuable fifth wicket partnership of 78 runs. England’s cause was further boosted by Graeme Swann’s brisk 34 in a another important 7o run partnership. Although, the Sri Lankan bowlers tried their best to minimize the runs, particularly paceman, Lasith Malinga was attacked, as he went wicketless in his 10 overs. Maharoof was once again, the pick of the bowlers, with 3-30.
In the virtual quarter final between the ODI World Cup finalists, Australia and Sri Lanka, winning the toss, Stand-in-Captain of the Australian side, Adam Gilchrist, invited Mahela Jayawardene’s team to bat first. Sri Lanka could not have a worst start, with Sanath Jayasuriya being trapped leg before by Brett Lee in just the third ball of the first over. The other opener, Upul Tharanga followed suit. Kumar Sangakkara, who had a rather disappointing tournament, sticked around to hit 22 off 23 balls. Jayawardene too was caught by Clark off a Lee delivery. Jehan Mubarak, the top scorer for Sri Lanka, who hit 28 off 26 balls, and Chaminda Vaas, who managed to get 21, helped the score go past 100. But, the Sri Lankans who had a terrible day, were all out for 101.
Batting under lights, the Sri Lankan top order struggled against the Bangladeshi spinners. Sanath Jayasuriya fell in the very first over to a Mashrafe Mortaza delivery. Upul Tharanga managed to find the rope, a couple of times, but Kumar Sangakkara, who did not have a very good time with the bat, all thoroughout the tournament, failed again. Surprisingly Captain Mahela Jayawardene, too, did not have a very pleasing day with the bat. Finally, it was the unbeaten partnership between Tillekeratne Dilshan and Jehan Mubarak, that lifted the total to a formidable, 147. Mubarak top scored with 31 off 19 balls.
reach, it was not to be with the Sri Lankan bowling attack. Experienced seamer, Chaminda Vaas removed Nazim Uddin in the very first over. Dilhara Fernando’s first over went for 15 runs, with three boundaries by Aftab Ahmed, but he struck back in his very next over, with two wickets and a maiden. Afterwards, it was all Sri Lanka’s as Vaas picked up the wicket of Mohamed Ashraful. Jayasuriya, who had a bad day with the bat, got two wickets, while Lasith Malinga, and Farvez Maharoof contributed with one each. On a slow pitch, that got even slower, 147 was more than enough for the Sri Lankan bowlers, as they wrapped up Bangladesh for a mere 83.
After Captain Mahela Jayawardene put Pakistan to bat, seamers Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando bowled superbly to keep the Pakistanis struggling at 33/3. But, as soon as Sanath Jayasuriya and Gayan Wijekoon was introduced, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan went for big hits. After two match winning performances, veteran Jayasuriya had an unforgettable day in cricket, as the Pakistani duo went for plenty in his 4 overs. The first man in International Cricket to score over 12000 runs and pick up 300 wickets in ODIs, was today at the receiving end, as he equalled England’s James Anderson’s record for conceding the most runs in a Twenty20 Intl. (64), on a day that just wasn’t ‘his’ .
Tillekaratne Dilshan going for 4 sixes in his 38 but, not enough to win the game. The unavailability of too many hard-hitting batsmen in Sri Lanka’s lower order, also paid the price for this game, when the top-order virtually failed.
Fernando was the key bowler in the game today, as he picked up two important wickets, those of Brenden McCullum and Lou Vincent early in the game. With the introduction of newcomer, Gayan Wijekoon in to the attack, Peter Fulton and Ross Taylor steadied the innings. Then Wijekoon, himself removed Fulton and thereafter it was Lasith Malinga, who joined the fun. Troubling the batsmen with his yorkers, Malinga didn’t allow the Kiwi batsmen to ease themselves. Malinga ran out Craig McMillan, and later picked up the wicket of Ross Taylor, who was the sole NewZealand batsman, who offered some resistance to the Sri Lankan bowlers. This was after Scott Styris had departed for a 2 been trapped leg before by Jayasuriya. Then, allrounder, Jacob Oram accelerated the innings with some big hits, towards the latter part of the game, taking the Kiwi total to 164/7.
Jayasuriya, who led the way with a match-winning half century. Upul Tharanga too contributed with a useful 37, and Captain, Mahela Jayawardene finished things off with a 35 off 18 balls, after Jayasuriya was caught by Fulton, off Vettori.
The Sri Lankans today scored a record-breaking 260/6 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, in their first match at the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, after they were put to bat by Kenya.
propelled the Sri Lankan side towards a huge score. He missed out on Bangladeshi skipper Mohammed Ashraful’s record of the fastest fifty in a Twenty20 match by a mere ball. As the skipper departed to a leg before by Jimmy Kamande, Sri Lanka were already on top with 212/5. After the quick dismissals of Chamara Silva and Tillekaratne Dilshan, it was the youngster Jehan Mubarak who further boosted the total taking them past 221, the highest total in a Twenty20 Intl. match by Australia against England in Jan. 2007. He once took Lameck Onyango for 29 runs in a single over, hitting 3 consecutive sixes and a four, as Sri Lanka posted the highest ever score in a Twenty20 Intl. game. At the end of the game, Mubarak, 
who scored 46 off just 13 balls, ran out of overs to complete a fifty, which would have actually ended up as the fastest fifty in a Twenty20 Intl. , and that too in his Twenty20 International debut.
== Sri Lanka Cricket == 