Gone are the days when Sri Lankan fans could hope for their team to punch above their weight to reach the final stage of global tournaments. Gone are the days when the country produced cricketers who could bring joy to us. Now we are stuck with a bunch of mediocre cricketers who look absolutely incompetent against the top 4-5 sides in the world in a never ending period they love to define as a ‘rebuilding phase’.
Is this a sudden struggle or something that was always on the cards? Let’s have a look at various aspects of SL cricket to find out.
Domestic structureThere are about 20 clubs with First Class status in Sri Lanka that take part in the main competition as opposed to 6 in Australia and South Africa who have always been competitive in international cricket. The quality of the cricket being played at the domestic level is diluted by the presence of too many cricketers who are not worthy of playing First Class cricket. Sri Lanka’s Premier League tournament consists of too many 3-day matches until the final stage of the league while Bangladesh cricket conducts a 4-day tournament.
The fast bowlers are there only to make up the numbers and they don’t get to bowl enough spells anyway due to the contest being 3-day. The batsmen aren’t consistently challenged as they get to face quite a few poor bowlers we have in domestic cricket due to the ridiculous structure they have embraced. Should it really surprise us when they break down after playing a Test match or when our batsmen struggle to perform well against international sides?
A domestic structure where the top 50-60 cricketers in the country play against each other is a must. It should happen consistently every year for a long time to prepare these cricketers for the next level. The move from the club system to a meaningful competition should have happened a long time ago.
Administration and voting systemBeing the head of SLC has become a powerful and lucrative position since Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996. SLC is more of a business than a sports administration. The system is designed in such a way that the primary objective of anyone who gets the position is to stay in power, and in order to do that he has to keep the vote base happy. You should know they are trying to feed you a load of codswallop if they tell you otherwise.
Who are these voters? 86 Cricket clubs around the country that get an annual payment from SLC regardless of whether they contribute to SL cricket or not.
How many votes are there? 147. The number is about 20 in England which is the birth place of the sport. It’s less than 10 in Australia.
Moving forward with a main domestic structure that features only the very best talents is out of the equation when the administrators are there to entertain the agenda of these clubs that can decide who should be in power. No SL government has bothered to change this constitution as the government official (Sports Minister) who is supposed to monitor the proceedings is in most cases a chum of the SLC head. For example, the current government is not concerned about how the SLC President is wasting millions on PR stunts to build his own image. The previous government was happy to have a cricket ground in a jungle to please their leader although the project carried the risk of SLC going almost bankrupt.
Administration and domestic structure put SL at a disadvantage even before the players make it to international cricket, but sadly it doesn’t stop there.
Selection policy and visionThis is something hard to find in SL cricket. It probably doesn’t exist at the moment. You see the same old tested and failed players making appearances from time to time while the promising young players are sidelined for perennial failures. It doesn’t last for very long even if they are given an opportunity because the selectors panic when it comes to young talent. On the other hand, they are happy to keep failures around for extended periods. Cricket is a professional sport like any other occupation where the most suitable candidates should get the opportunities they deserve. The lack of professionalism shown by SL in this area is appalling.
Strategy and evolution The game has changed over the years. ODI cricket in particular has become a different game compared to what it was 10-12 years ago. The top sides in the world are up to date with this and have made necessary changes to keep themselves competitive while Sri Lanka still seems to be stuck in the past. The people who call themselves the ‘think tank’ are happy to go in with 2 or 3 bowlers when the situation is demanding 4 or 5 fontline bowlers. To sum up the strategy in one sentence, a part time slow bowler would play the role Muttiah Muralitharan used to play. They also seem to be happy with batsmen who score at a rate which was acceptable in the 90s. It’s as if these people live in an entirely different version of reality.
Fitness and commitmentThe fitness of most SL cricketers is simply awful compared to the professional cricketers in the top teams. Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan still put this lot to shame. SL had the best fielding side in Asia once. Now they have the worst fielding side in the world when you look at the top 7-8 sides. The lack of commitment in SL cricketers is very evident. Whether they even intend to improve is debatable.
The one thing that’s not debatable is that SL cricket is on the highway to self-destruction when you consider how SL has been doing in the aforementioned aspects from administration to cricketers.
Originally posted here
Highway to self-destruction
Author
Topic: SL cricket on the highway to self-destruction (Read 2871 times)