When Dilshan, a man with a colourful past including allegations of closely associating with known bookies, spot fixing and rape was appointed as the captain of Sri Lanka cricket team in April this year, his “Manager” Roshan Abeysinghe promised the dawn of a new era in Sri Lanka cricket. Within six months Abeysinghe was proved absolutely correct. Since taking over, Dilshan had led Sri Lanka to two Test and ODI series losses against England and Australia; and on the verge of losing the third consecutive series under his captaincy. Sri Lanka now looks a team worse than it was 30 years ago.
Entrusting the leadership to a person without the required skills was soon followed up by another bizarre appointment; Thilina Kandamby as the vice captain for the ODIs against England. Kandamby could not even find a place in the 15 man World Cup squad barely three months before and played no cricket since the World Cup to merit this appointment. But Kandamby is also “managed” by Abeysinghe! As expected, Kandamby ‘justified’ his selection and appointment by scoring only 36 runs in the first 4 ODIs and was duly dropped for the 5th ODI.
Dilshan, in spite of repeated failures with the bat in the recent past where he scored a meagre 177 runs in 9 completed innings in the last 5 Tests at an average of 19.66 boasted that he will never change his style; was made to eat the humble pie by demoting himself to the No. 5 position ousting Thilan Samaraweera, a stabilising influence in the middle order for Sri Lanka on many a occasion. Contrastingly, Samaraweera had scored 275 runs at 30.55 in his last 5 Tests, out of which 3 in difficult English conditions and an overall Test batting average of above 50. It’s a cunning manipulation not only to cover Dilshan’s ineffectiveness and ensure his survival but also to accommodate another Abeysinghe’s man Lahiru Thirimanne at the top of the order.
Charlie Austin who manages the cream of Sri Lankan cricketers like Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Matthews, Lasith Malinga, etc would have had a hand in some decisions in the past but those didn’t had any major impact on the team’s performance. Sri Lanka made to finals in 3 world tournaments in 2007, 2009 and 2011. The way Lasith Malinga spoke at the post-match presentations in the recent Champions League was a huge and welcome improvement compared to the embarrassment Dilshan continues to bring at such occasions, is another testimony of better management of players rather than only being a greedy agent.
Sanath Jayasuriya was a legend on the field from 1996 up to about 2005. But he painfully managed to prolong his career till the age of 42 with patronage of his political masters before finally giving up national colours in 2011, much to the joy and relief of 99.9% fans and a majority of the team members. Jayasuriya has now become a powerful man in Sri Lanka cricket as a MP with close connections to the ruling family. He reportedly had a say not only in appointment of the selectors but Dilshan as the captain and the other above mentioned selections. This is purely to strengthen Abeysinghe’s camp in order to get back at Jayawardenes and Sangakkaras who quite rightly, vehemently opposed Jayasuriya’s inclusion in the World Cup squad.
Contrary to the image he portrays to the public, Jayasuriya is alleged to be a vicious and a disruptive influence in the dressing room, not only while he was playing, even now. The other damaging issue most fans do not know about Jayasuriya is his role in match/spot fixing, especially when he was the captain. A former Sri Lankan captain recently said that he saw with his own eyes that a player handing over money received from fixing to the manager of the team! Although he was cut short before naming and shaming, he was referring to Jayasuriya and Duleep Mendis. One of Jayasuriya’s former teammates described Jayasuriya as a ‘legend’ in match/spot fixing.
Now Jayasuriya and Dilshan are canvassing hard for Duleep Mendis to be the Manager of the team in addition to his chief selector role, replacing the amiable Anura Tennekoon. Why? The troika of Jayasuriya, Dilshan and Mendis is the ideal recipe for match fixing. The prison terms expected for the convicted Pakistani trio involved in spot fixing are widely welcomed by genuine cricket lovers worldwide and should be a deterrent to such acts in the future. But in a country where convicted murders, rapists, fraudsters and corrupt people are granted presidential pardon and cold blooded murderers, if they are on the right side, given right royal treatment, what is match fixing? The rulers will only ask for their share.
The other irritating matter for the fans who watch Sri Lanka cricket on TV have to bear is to listen to the commentary of Sanath Jayasuriya. Not only he struggles to pronounce and express, Jayasuriya can hardly speak a single grammatically correct sentence! Why is he given assignment after assignment by the host broadcaster Ten Sports? The answer is simple. Ten Sports TV rights contract is expiring in the near future and Jayasuriya is an important link for them to the ruling family.
Despite spending a colossal sum of nearly Rs. 1 billion 12 years ago to build the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium which is utterly under-utilised since then, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) spent over Rs. 8 billion to build another white elephant in Hambantota due to the whims and fancies of the ruling clan. This has resulted not only in non/delayed payment of contractors and suppliers; and staff salaries but non payment of salaries of Sri Lanka’s national cricketers since April this year. If the artists are not paid how can you run a show? When helpers and scoundrels bust and rob the sweat of the performers, how can you blame them for sometimes giving priority to IPL?
Have a look at the SLC’s official website (http://www.srilankacricket.lk/). The descriptions of all page tabs are upside down. Even on the individual pages there are several upside down headings. It has been like this for the last 10 months or so in-spite of being a multi-billion rupee organisation with a monthly payroll in excess of Rs. 32 million.
Sri Lanka cricket is in disarray. Political interference, selections with vested interests, disunity and cliques among players due mainly to player agent and past cricketer manipulations, bankrupt board due to gross misappropriation and political agendas had taken it to the promised new era in no time. Sri Lankan cricket fans are now looking for divine intervention to guide Sri Lanka cricket out of this rut soooon....
Entrusting the leadership to a person without the required skills was soon followed up by another bizarre appointment; Thilina Kandamby as the vice captain for the ODIs against England. Kandamby could not even find a place in the 15 man World Cup squad barely three months before and played no cricket since the World Cup to merit this appointment. But Kandamby is also “managed” by Abeysinghe! As expected, Kandamby ‘justified’ his selection and appointment by scoring only 36 runs in the first 4 ODIs and was duly dropped for the 5th ODI.
Dilshan, in spite of repeated failures with the bat in the recent past where he scored a meagre 177 runs in 9 completed innings in the last 5 Tests at an average of 19.66 boasted that he will never change his style; was made to eat the humble pie by demoting himself to the No. 5 position ousting Thilan Samaraweera, a stabilising influence in the middle order for Sri Lanka on many a occasion. Contrastingly, Samaraweera had scored 275 runs at 30.55 in his last 5 Tests, out of which 3 in difficult English conditions and an overall Test batting average of above 50. It’s a cunning manipulation not only to cover Dilshan’s ineffectiveness and ensure his survival but also to accommodate another Abeysinghe’s man Lahiru Thirimanne at the top of the order.
Charlie Austin who manages the cream of Sri Lankan cricketers like Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Matthews, Lasith Malinga, etc would have had a hand in some decisions in the past but those didn’t had any major impact on the team’s performance. Sri Lanka made to finals in 3 world tournaments in 2007, 2009 and 2011. The way Lasith Malinga spoke at the post-match presentations in the recent Champions League was a huge and welcome improvement compared to the embarrassment Dilshan continues to bring at such occasions, is another testimony of better management of players rather than only being a greedy agent.
Sanath Jayasuriya was a legend on the field from 1996 up to about 2005. But he painfully managed to prolong his career till the age of 42 with patronage of his political masters before finally giving up national colours in 2011, much to the joy and relief of 99.9% fans and a majority of the team members. Jayasuriya has now become a powerful man in Sri Lanka cricket as a MP with close connections to the ruling family. He reportedly had a say not only in appointment of the selectors but Dilshan as the captain and the other above mentioned selections. This is purely to strengthen Abeysinghe’s camp in order to get back at Jayawardenes and Sangakkaras who quite rightly, vehemently opposed Jayasuriya’s inclusion in the World Cup squad.
Contrary to the image he portrays to the public, Jayasuriya is alleged to be a vicious and a disruptive influence in the dressing room, not only while he was playing, even now. The other damaging issue most fans do not know about Jayasuriya is his role in match/spot fixing, especially when he was the captain. A former Sri Lankan captain recently said that he saw with his own eyes that a player handing over money received from fixing to the manager of the team! Although he was cut short before naming and shaming, he was referring to Jayasuriya and Duleep Mendis. One of Jayasuriya’s former teammates described Jayasuriya as a ‘legend’ in match/spot fixing.
Now Jayasuriya and Dilshan are canvassing hard for Duleep Mendis to be the Manager of the team in addition to his chief selector role, replacing the amiable Anura Tennekoon. Why? The troika of Jayasuriya, Dilshan and Mendis is the ideal recipe for match fixing. The prison terms expected for the convicted Pakistani trio involved in spot fixing are widely welcomed by genuine cricket lovers worldwide and should be a deterrent to such acts in the future. But in a country where convicted murders, rapists, fraudsters and corrupt people are granted presidential pardon and cold blooded murderers, if they are on the right side, given right royal treatment, what is match fixing? The rulers will only ask for their share.
The other irritating matter for the fans who watch Sri Lanka cricket on TV have to bear is to listen to the commentary of Sanath Jayasuriya. Not only he struggles to pronounce and express, Jayasuriya can hardly speak a single grammatically correct sentence! Why is he given assignment after assignment by the host broadcaster Ten Sports? The answer is simple. Ten Sports TV rights contract is expiring in the near future and Jayasuriya is an important link for them to the ruling family.
Despite spending a colossal sum of nearly Rs. 1 billion 12 years ago to build the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium which is utterly under-utilised since then, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) spent over Rs. 8 billion to build another white elephant in Hambantota due to the whims and fancies of the ruling clan. This has resulted not only in non/delayed payment of contractors and suppliers; and staff salaries but non payment of salaries of Sri Lanka’s national cricketers since April this year. If the artists are not paid how can you run a show? When helpers and scoundrels bust and rob the sweat of the performers, how can you blame them for sometimes giving priority to IPL?
Have a look at the SLC’s official website (http://www.srilankacricket.lk/). The descriptions of all page tabs are upside down. Even on the individual pages there are several upside down headings. It has been like this for the last 10 months or so in-spite of being a multi-billion rupee organisation with a monthly payroll in excess of Rs. 32 million.
Sri Lanka cricket is in disarray. Political interference, selections with vested interests, disunity and cliques among players due mainly to player agent and past cricketer manipulations, bankrupt board due to gross misappropriation and political agendas had taken it to the promised new era in no time. Sri Lankan cricket fans are now looking for divine intervention to guide Sri Lanka cricket out of this rut soooon....
