Nation salutes cricketing heroes

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: It rained the day Sri Lanka took up the challenge to chase Australia’s mammoth total of 281 runs in Barbados last Saturday. It rained even harder when the team returned back to their motherland having emerged as the runners up in the International Cricket Council World Cup tournament yesterday.

The bad weather seem to be following the Sri Lankan cricketers as a major part of the ceremonies to welcome the team had to

 be abandoned following torrential rains. But the light showers which later turned out to be heavy, simply reminded Mahela Jayawardena and his men that it was this same bad weather that may have robbed them of the World Cup with the crazy Duckworth Lewis scoring method coming into effect.

But still there were thousands of cricket enthusiasts who weathered the storm and lined up through Negombo Road and other areas to get a glimpse of their heroes. In fact it took them more than five hours for them to reach the Cricket Board headquarters from the airport despite travelling in a luxury bus.

The original schedule of course was the players to travel through an open bus but all those arrangements had to be cancelled owing to the bad weather.

Earlier traditional dancers and drummers performed at the airport as the cricketers and the officials descended from a Qatar Airways flight and they were garlanded by Sports Minister Bandula Basnayake and other ministry officials amid light showers.

Buddhist monks, Hindu and Catholic priests and Muslim clerics performed services to bless the team. The main ceremony of course was scheduled to take place at the Independence Square but all earlier arrangements had to be cancelled due to heavy rains.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene of course was disappointment over his team’s failure to regain the World Cup but said they had lost to a better Australian team on the Duckworth Lewis scoring method. Jayawardena said that they ended up well short of their target after putting up a determined effort on the field. The outcome was obviously disappointing, the Sri Lankan captain said.

Jayawardene said that one of the main reasons for their setback was because the bowlers couldn’t get any early movement

from the wicket. The conditions were really good for batting and he also commended the efforts of Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando.

Skipper Jayawardena said that they were hoping for a couple of early wickets which was not to be. That certainly put us back and added that all Sri Lankan plans in the tournament until then had fallen into place. “We had given different players different roles and everyone played their part very well,” Jayawardene said, summing up Sri Lanka’s run up to the final.

The Sri Lankan captain however said that losing the toss in the final was not a major setback. We did not care about the toss, throughout the tournament our focus was on winning the game irrespective of what happened at the toss.

The Sri Lankan captain said that the team was still determined to achieve the daunting run rate of more than seven runs per over when they were chasing the mammoth Australian total of 281.

Jayawardena said that they were progressing well when rain and the darkness fell around them mid way in their innings. He was aware that umpires Bucknor and Dar had erred when they told Ricky Ponting that the game will be carried over to Sunday’s reserve day when the game was halted due to bad light.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s main strike bowler Chaminda Vaas said that the entire team played exceptionally well until the final. He said that it was disappointing that he could not get the early break through which he had performed successfully in the earlier games.

Sri Lanka’s speedster Lasith Malinga said that his main ambition was to emerge as the highest wicket taker in the tournament but his hopes were shattered following a minor injury which forced him to skip three matches.

Malinga said that he is doubtful whether he could continue in the game for a longer period with his square arm action but is determined to give his best for the country from these limited opportunities.

He said that his finest moment in the World Cup tournament was when he captured the wicket of Makaya Ntini which helped

 him to claim four wickets in four deliveries in the Super Eight match against South Africa. Malinga however was disappointed that he could not capture the key wicket of Adam Gilchrist who changed the entire complexion of the game with a sparkling century.

Sri Lanka’s dynamic wicket keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara said that their success in the World Cup tournament should be the ideal launching pad in their attempt to build up a formidable side in the coming years.

He said that some of the senior players in the side played as if they were ten years younger and their performances really inspired the team. Sangakkara said that standing up to the fast bowlers was not a new invention but it is something done more frequently during the English County League matches.

Sri Lanka’s dashing opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya said that he has not yet decided on his future career plans but would probably settle to make his appearance only in the shorter version of the game.

Jayasuriya said although he made some significant contributions in the World Cup he would always remember skipper Mahela Jayawardena’s majestic century in the important semifinal fixture against New Zealand.