Selectors under fire

WHENEVER the national cricket team hits a losing streak the focus will automatically start shifting to the national selectors who without any hesitancy come under the line of fire.

This has become part and parcel of a tradition with almost all the countries playing the sport, more so in the subcontinent where the players and the team are hero worshipped and losing is not part of the menu.

Take for instance the Sourav Ganguly controversy in india during Sri Lanka's recent tour there. The Indian chairman of selectors Kiran More was under fire from a certain section of the public and media for dropping the former captain and playing politics with his career.

From More's point he was able to survive because despite the decisions taken by his committee, India were able to maintain a winning trend and all the criticism leveled at him eventually paled into insignificance.

The same cannot be said of our own cricket selection committee headed by former Test off-spinner Lalith Kaluperuma and comprising former Test cricketer Don Anurasiri and two other members K.M. Nelson and Shabbir Asgerally who had distinguished themselves as competent cricketers at domestic cricket level.

Last Tuesday the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket decided to invite the print and electronic media for a press briefing to outline their progress so far after being appointed to run the affairs of Sri Lanka Cricket by the Sports Minister in March last year.

During the course of the briefing a question was asked what plans Sri Lanka had made with regard to the 2007 World Cup which is barely 15 months away.

The reply given by the CEO of Sri Lanka cricket Duleep Mendis was that it was the national selectors who did all the planning for the team and the question should be directed at them. Unfortunately none of the selectors were present at the meeting although they were scheduled to do so.

Not for the old

One thing the selectors must bear in mind is that one-day cricket is a game for youngsters and that there is no room for stragglers. If they can bear that foremost in their mind when selecting one-day sides, the Sri Lanka team will be better off than at present.

One day cricket is all about batting and fielding. Unless you are exceptionally brilliant in those two departments the team cannot achieve anything.

When Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996, they had one of the best if not the best batting line up in the world and their fielding was outstanding.

For the record Sri Lanka never dismissed a single side on their World Cup winning trail, but were able to emerge champions purely on their batting and fielding skills.

For too long or since the World Cup triumph ten years ago the team's batting has depended largely on the contributions made by Sanath Jayasuriya.

It is a well know fact that he has contributed to nearly 65-70 percent of the country's victories purely off his own bat. But now the time has come for a change because Jayasuriya is not the same player as we have seen in the past decade or so.

At 36 he is not getting any younger and from the way he is getting constantly injured and his failure to contribute as he usually does with the bat is a sign that he is in the twilight years of what has been a wonderful cricket career.

If the selectors can reason out in this manner, instead of letting personal emotions get the better of them, it will be better for the team.

In cricket circles everyone knows that at least two members of the selection committee are pro-Jayasuriya fans and will go to any extent to include him given the slightest chance.

Confined to Tests

The best thing they can do for Jayasuriya is to allow him to get fully fit and preserve him to play in Test matches only where the intensity and demands are not as great as that experienced in a one-day match.

Players in the caliber of Brian Lara, Shane Warne an Anil Kumble who are in the same age group as Jayasuriya have realized this and are confining themselves to playing only the longer version of the game in order extend their international careers further.

Even our own champion bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has indicated in the recent Indian series that he preferred playing Test matches to the one-day game.

Muralitharan is also after surgery to his bowling arm and he is now 33. If he is to make an attempt to catch up with Australian spin legend Shane Warne's world Test record, Muralitharan will have to prolong his Test career and the only way to do it is to cut down on the number of one-day matches.

Only bold decisions will bear results. The sooner the selectors realize it the better for the future of Sri Lanka cricket. The Australian selectors were brave enough to drop a high profile player as Steve Waugh from the 2003 World Cup squad and confine him only for Tests. So why not ayasuriya.

The present selection committee's performance in the past one year comes up for review at the end of March and their survival like some of the players in the team solely depends on the results produced by the national side.

Since November the fortunes of our national cricket team has dipped with losses in both versions of the game in India and, in overs-limit cricket in New Zealand, so that they are in danger of being asked to qualify for a place at the next ICC Champions trophy which will be held in India in October.

This has never happened to Sri Lanka in the history of the tournament and they face the ignominy of having to qualify with the lesser ranked teams for a place unless they finish within the top six of the ICC one-day rankings by April 1.

Their current ranking is seventh with New Zealand, India and England occupying fourth to sixth positions in the table.