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| Saturday, 6 December 2003 |
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Wicket-keeping blues Sa'adi Thawfeeq What price wicket-keeping? If the present selection policy of the national selectors is to be followed for the future what guarantee is there for a genuine wicket-keeper to hold his place in the Test team let alone be selected? A case in point is Prasanna Jayawardene, easily the best wicket-keeper in the country. He went on the tour to South Africa and Kenya with the Sri Lanka 'A' team and although he kept brilliantly, the fault with him was that he was not getting enough runs to convince the selectors to include him in the Test team. The national selectors then sent him to India with the 'A' team and Jayawardene has been making runs quite steadily with scores of 5 and 48 n.o., 0 and 76, 40 and 12. When Jayawardene returns home at the end of the Indian tour what guarantee is there for him even if he has satisfied the selectors that he can bat, that he will be first choice wicket-keeper for the Tests? Why Jayawardene has been asked to open the batting in India when his position in the national team is no higher than no. 7 is a separate issue. The selection policy adopted by Sri Lanka for the first Test against England at Galle finds no place for a genuine wicket-keeper. If Romesh Kaluwitharana who has appeared for his country in 44 Tests over a period of 11 years is uncertain about his future as a wicket-keeper what hope has Jayawardene or even young hopefuls like Rashan Peiris and Charith Sylvester whom the selectors have tried out against England in the side games? What is the message they are trying to convey to these youngsters with this type of selection policy? Sacrificial lamb By giving the gloves back to Kumar Sangakkara the selectors are once again sacrificing his talents as a batsman. Sangakkara comes to bat at a very vital position at no. 3 and he should be fresh enough to take on the new ball at times if one of the openers is dismissed early. If he has had a long day on the field, to ask him to go and bat in that position after keeping wickets is like sending a lamb to the slaughter. The immense contribution Sangakkara can make to the side, as a batsman will be drastically limited. At a time when the Sri Lankan top order batting is showing a certain degree of uncertainty can the wicket of Sangakkara be sacrificed in such a manner by asking him to do the job of two men? None of the other Test playing countries makes such sacrifices on their wicket-keepers as Sri Lanka does. Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist bats at no. 7. So do England's Chris Read, West Indian Ridley Jacobs, South Africa's Mark Boucher, India's Parthiv Patel, Pakistan's Moin Khan, New Zealand's Robbie Hart, Zimbabwe's Tatendra Taibu and Bangladesh's Khaled Mashud. Why does Sri Lanka have to be different? The performance of the top order against an ordinary England bowling attack at Galle is sufficient proof of how miserably they are performing. One dread to think how such a line up will perform against the likes of McGrath, Lee, Gillespie and MacGill (or even against their second string of Bichel, Bracken, Williams, Harvey and Hogg) when the Aussies arrive here in another two months. One glaring example of how Sangakkara is being sacrificed by the selectors was quite evident in the first Test against England when he was asked to take up the wicket-keeping gloves against a bowling attack comprising four spinners on a Galle turner. By doing so they have not only exposed his deficiencies standing up to the slow bowlers, but brought him a whole lot of criticism, which he could have done without. |
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