Mahela should enhance his stature as captain

In any sport a captain will not admit that his side is weak and that they would not win. Even if a side is weak, it is the duty of the captain to infuse confidence in his team and get them to play at their best and have that second to none feeling.

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardena who is easily the best captain produced by Sri Lanka, showed the greatness of a skipper when he exuded confidence and said that their ambition is to win, the Asia Cup.

True that India and Pakistan are formidable sides. But that does not mean that Sri Lanka should take the field with a defeatist attitude. All depends on the way you perform on the given day.

The Sri Lankans face Bangladesh tomorrow in the Asia Cup opener and Jayawardena has told his warriors not to take the opposition easy and not be complacent, but to go for the jugular from the first delivery.

That is the advice any brilliant skipper would give his team and Jayawardena has played his part well. He has led from the front from the moment he sported the mantle of captaincy, and in return his team has given their more than 100 per cent.

Critics will be gritting their teeth waiting to take Jaywardena for a bite the moment he fails. These critics who know next to nothing of any sport, would do well to ask those who know and they will tell them that cricket is one of the sports played as a team and that when a team loses it is ignorant to only blame the captain.

Jayawardena let his critics have it when he said that it is not the media that should assess his success and failures, but the selectors. How true. The selectors headed by Asantha de Mel and comprising Ranjit Madurusinghe, Don Arunasiri and Jayantha Seneviratne have all been top class cricketers and they know their job.

Jayawardena is not one who takes the field for personal glory. From his school days he has proved a team man and that is how he still continues. One has to be captain to know the onus that is thrust on him. Jayawardena’s first priority has been to see to the success of his team. Personal glory for him comes second.

He has had many firsts as captain and one that he will treasure is that of being the first Sri Lankan captain to win a Test in the Caribbean, which has evaded other Lankan captains.

That Jayawardena should continue in his role till the next World Cup there should be no doubt. The Asia Cup should help Jayawardena enhance his stature as captain.

All Sri Lanka wish Mahela Jayawardena the best and pray that he brings the Asia Cup back to Sri Lanka.

Jayawardena should be deaf, dumb and blind to his critics and give them a mighty kick up their backside by winning the Asia Cup.

Gamini Lokuge excels

Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge, it must said is doing a wonderful job. He is alive to all that is happening in all national sports bodies, and while helping them in their endeavours to improve the sport, does not for a moment hesitate to wield the big stick when the situation demands.

Lokuge is all out to keep sport clean. Individuals don’t matter to him. The improvement of sport is his first and only concern.

The other day he was not happy with the manner in which the handling of the insurance of India’s tour here had been done and ordered that fresh tenders be called.

Lokuge has now appointed a tender board and called for fresh tenders. Not only the insurance for the Indian tour, but all other insurance should also be the concern of the Minister.

Lokuge is out to keep sport clean and transparency is what is uppermost in his endeavours.

The Minister will earn the encomiums of all sport lovers.

Thanks to Arjuna

After Arjuna Ranatunga took over as Chairman, Interim Committee, Sri Lanka Cricket, he has not being having a smooth ride. But to his credit it must be said that due to his hardwork, men in the board such as Bandula Waranpura, Sarath Ekanayake and Sudath Pasqual found greener pastures.

Warnapura, during a farewell function thanked the chairman for helping him. Warnapura who was the man in charge of developing cricket will now be based in Malaysia.

Welcome Darell and Steve

It was nice to see two senior umpires in world cricket Darrel Hair and Steve Bucknor doing their thing in a Test match between England and New Zealand in the recent series.

Both Darell and Steve for no fault of theirs had to suffer embarrassment and humilation. Hair who was involved in some controversy when Pakistan played England in England was banned for accusing the Pakistanis of ball tampering.

Then Bucknor was stuffed, alleging that his umpiring was not up to the mark with the Indians making him the scapegoat for their series loss to Australia. To the credit of Hair and Bucknor, it must be said that they acted fearlessly and had the courage to stand by their convictions.

Being the men in charge out in the middle, they acted and took decisions the way they saw it happen. But sadly the International Cricket Council cut a sorry figure when they let their men - Hair and Bucknor down without batting for them.

Now the dust has settled and what pleasure it was to see two of the finest umpires that the game will ever see coming together. They were lynched for no fault of theirs. Keep up the good work Darell and Steve.

Being true to thine ownself is what matters.