Lankans to the fore

THIS week was a particularly good one for Sri Lanka. Not only was the country's skipper Marvan Atapattu honoured by being named captain of the International Cricket Council (ICC) official World One-day International team of the year, but three other Sri Lankan cricketers also figured prominently, thus boosting the country's reputation further as one of the leading cricket nations in the world.

Wicket-keeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was picked to play in the World XI side for the three one-day internationals against Australia, while left-arm fast bowler Chaminda Vaas made it to the ICC official World Test team of the year captained by Ricky Ponting.

The honour bestowed on Atapattu is a rare one for Sri Lanka and comes in recognition by not only the results produced but also the way in which he has handled the side to become a fighting outfit. His leadership qualities sees Sri Lanka occupying no. 2 spot behind Australia in the ICC world one-day rankings.

Selections for the one-day team of the year was based on performances between August 1, 2004 to July 31, 2005. Atapattu led Sri Lanka in 13 of the 15 one-day internationals played during that period winning eight, losing four and one ending in a no-result.

Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup and the PakTel Cup beating Asian giants India and Pakistan in the respective finals. As captain Atapattu also made 552 runs at an average of 55.2 with one hundred and four fifties.

Although the ICC awards took pride of place, prior to it a World XI met the Australians in a three-match one-day international contest and were beaten 0-3.

Notwithstanding the overload of one-day internationals currently being played by the cricket nations, the ICC on top of it all had to organise a series of matches, thus taxing the players even more.

However the matches although totally one-sided with Australia proving their superiority all-round enabled Sri Lankan stars Sangakkara and Muralitharan to prove their worth.

In fact Sangakkara's performance with the bat as well as his glovework behind the stumps made a mockery of the ICC selection panel who overlooked him as wicket-keeper for the on-going World XI one-off Super Test match against Australia.

The left-hander was easily the World XI's best batsman with 138 runs in three games including two half-centuries. Sangakkara also averages 48.02 with eight hundreds in Tests.

But the ICC selection panel chose South African Mark Boucher (whose Test batting average is 30.38) ahead of Sangakkara and it did not go unnoticed by the players and the cricketing public at large.

Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist sprang to the defence of Sangakkara and questioned Boucher's ability to keep wickets against Muralitharan and New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori.

"Kumar keeping so regularly and so well to Murali is probably what jumped out at me. I thought he might have been in the Test position for that reason alone because I imagine it would be so difficult to take on in a one-off scenario," Gilchrist told a news agency.

South Africa whose bowling attack is largely based on pace bowling has only left-armer Nicky Boje as its spinner.

Muralitharan also distinguished himself in the one-day series and his selection to the World XI for the Super Test was no surprise considering his world wide reputation as the second highest wicket-taker in Test cricket to Australian spin icon Shane Warne.

It was Warne's selection ahead of Muralitharan in the ICC official World Test team last year that caused a furore and outrage.

Although Muralitharan still continues to be sidelined from the World Test team, his bowling partner with whom he has fashioned out many Sri Lankan Test victories, Vaas made it to the eleven for the second time in successive years.

Needless to say like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne for Australia, Vaas and Muralitharan have been the lynchpins of the Sri Lankan bowling line-up for several years.

Dulled by Australia's dominance in world cricket at both levels of the game, the ICC arranged a Super series of three one-day internationals and a one-off Test and gave it official status.

Even the bookmakers were heavily in favour of the World team winning the one-day series following Australia's surrender of the Ashes to England. But lo and behold Ponting's men rose to the occasion to sweep aside the star studded World XI proving their superiority overall.

The performance of the World XI brings to mind a quote from former Sri Lanka captain and present manager Michael Tissera: "Remember that a team without stars and playing together is often better than a team full of stars, each pulling their own way."