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From the Press box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Are the cricket authorities blind to the fact that the shortened version of the game at school level is depriving the country from producing top quality national cricketers?

Not a week or month goes by when someone is organising a limited version of the longer game for schoolboys. Those who encourage this type of cricket and support it do not have Sri Lanka cricket at heart, but only selfish motives. Little do they know how harmful and damaging it is to the future of Sri Lanka cricket.

One of the major reasons for the drastic drop in the level of school cricket is limited overs cricket. Ever since the overs-limit game was introduced to schools over a decade ago, there has been an erosion of top quality batsmen and bowlers.

This has led to the national selectors scraping an empty barrel for worthy batsmen and bowlers whenever the need arises for suitable replacements in the senior team.

Needless to say, even some of the schools are conducting limited versions of the game, like the Six-a-sides and quite recently Twenty cricket which is scheduled to take place under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium later this month. Twenty cricket where each side faces 20-overs is a new fad in England, but played amongst the counties.

The six-a-side has proved quite popular with the schools but little do the organisers and those who encourage it realise the damage that is being done in the long term to Sri Lanka cricket.

This was not the case some 10-15 years ago where our school standard was so high that a schoolboy cricketer could walk into the national side. So good were their techniques that all what they had to adjust to was the mental aspect of playing five-day cricket.

Former Sri Lanka cricketer turned administrator Aravinda de Silva who was one such product, thinks that the sudden expansion of schools playing cricket over the past decade and the development of the game during that period has led to schools coaches not having the time to grasp new thinking and new techniques. De Silva said that when he was a youngster the coaching he received at that age was so good that he had the knowledge of a national cricketer even though he was only 12. How many of today's schoolboy cricketers can boast of such knowledge?

We have been very critical of limited overs cricket being played at school level and to reiterate what we have already published, the Indian Cricket Board realising the damage it is doing to their cricket has banned overs-limit cricket for schoolboys under 17 years of age. If a country like India can think that far why is the Sri Lankan cricket authorities still dawdling to make up their mind over it? Are these matches being played for someone's personal ego?

Why aren't they making any radical moves to eradicate it from the schools? Sri Lanka Cricket and the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association should act with a certain degree of responsibility to ensure our cricket doesn't slip further into the mire. Reputation at stake

In years gone by the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium had a reputation of being one of the fastest drying cricket grounds in the country. There was a time during a Test match the ground was saturated with rainwater, but in a matter of two hours or so the drainage system was so good that the water drained off so fast that play was able to commence.

In the current Videocon Asian Emerging Teams tournament, this famous ground fell far short of its past reputation when a blocked drainage prevented water from draining out of the ground. The result was that not a ball was bowled in the match between Sri Lanka and India. The following day, only one innings of the match was complete between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Blocked drainages are something alien to the Sara Stadium, but no longer. One wonders whether it is the structures that have come up around the ground recently that has caused the problem.

The sports complex which was constructed last February with facilities for badminton, squash, gym and a new media centre in addition to a swimming pool, may be the root cause of the problem.

It is a subject matter serious enough for the Tamil Union cricket authorities to address immediately if their reputation for having one of the fastest drying cricket grounds in the country is not to be sullied further. If Tamil Union is to continue hosting international matches in the future, such issues should be nipped in the bud and no room left for fingers to be pointed at by their critics who dissuade them from hosting such matches.

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