Sri Lanka asserts superiority

RANJIT FERNANDO

THE Sri Lankans, going through some anxious days after losing the second Test to India in Kandy, finally proved their superiority. With India minus Tendulkar and some of their regulars, Sri Lanka always exerted pressure. When Sri Lanka lost at Kandy, it was said that they were beaten by a depleted Indian team, and hence had to win at all costs at the SSC.

This they did in grand style. Sanath's men have proven that they no longer rely entirely on Muttiah Muralitharan, although it was the conjurer of magic who spun India out in the first innings. The Sri Lankan fast bowling attack spearheaded by Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando, backed by bowlers like Nuwan Zoysa, Suresh Perera and Liyanage have the makings of a very good combination and if they can build on this, they would have the right type of ammunition to lock horns with any side on foreign surfaces.

The debut Test match century of Thilan Samaraweera was one of the features of the Sri Lankan batting. Thilan has always grabbed every opportunity given to him with both hands and his performance has not been too much of a surprise to those who know him well. It must be recalled that he won a Man of the Match award for his off spin bowling in a One-Day game against Australia at Sydney. Although he was included in the team more as a bowling all-rounder for his off-spinning prowess, he has an excellent batting technique, which revolves around perfect balance. This together with his composed temperament is finding him pushing hard for a regular place in the Sri Lanka team. While Sri Lanka must be complimented for playing the additional bowler in their XI, the extra bowler was hardly used and one wonders as to whether an additional batsman would have served the team better.

Jayasuriya will have to show more faith in his newer bowlers, as it is only with exposure that they would gain experience and get better.

Sri Lanka has also made mountains of runs against Bangladesh in the only Test at the SSC. One really wonders as to what this Asian Test Championship means in the absence of India. Playing tournaments for the sake of playing them does not make any sense. Apart from the heavy costs involved, it does not arouse any interest or motivation. With just one Test match being played between teams, it will not qualify for points in the World Test Championships and to my mind this should have been thought of.

Rather than engage in a meaningless exercise such as this, I believe the Asian Cricket Council would do well to concentrate on the "A" team competition that would be taking place between Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan in Sharjah later in the year and host a World 'A' team tournament.

Cricket has been facing plenty of threat from other sports all over the world and in recent times this phenomenon has spread to South Asia as well. The administrative bodies of most major sports are concentrating a great deal in marketing, promotion and development and unless cricket too does more and more to maintain interest and motivation among its existing players, there is every chance of it losing out to the competition.

It must be said that the ICC's development programme has shown plenty of success but it is felt that the cricketers in the full member countries just below the International level are a neglected lot, and hardly have tournaments and opportunities to keep them motivated and give them a degree of accomplishment. Some countries like Australia and England have taken meaningful steps to rectify this situation.

I feel that the World "A" team championship would be the ideal forum for this category of players. The teams from the full members (10), Kenya and a combined Associate members team, making a total of 12 could participate. The ICC should provide funds from its Development Fund for this. India and Sri Lanka would be the ideal venues to host such a tournament. Each group of six teams could play in Sri Lanka and India. The teams could be allowed to include three to four players who have played less than three Tests or one-day Internationals or both.

I hope for the sake of the cricketers, below the highest level, who make enormous sacrifices and get very little reward, a tournament such as this, played every two years, would attract the interest of the administrators. The ideal time would be to play this in the year prior to the main World Cup.