When the toss and the match was lost

It is well and good to make wickets to suit the home team bowlers. That will work to a nicety if the home team captain wins the toss. But if the coin turns the other way, then its curtains for the home team.

And that is what exactly happened in Galle in the Second Test where the home team Captain Mahela Jayawardena lost the toss and with it the match by 170 runs.

This Test too, like the one at the SSC ended with more than a day to spare. The home ground curator former Sri Lanka off cutter Jayananda Warnaweera who nurses the wicket said that the wicket will take spin by the third day. But it took spin from the second day.

But the wicket for the Test which is an international, is prepared by Warnaweera under instructions. Warnaweera cannot be blamed for this loss by Sri Lanka. He would have been obeying orders.

It was a Sri Lankan team brimming with confidence that went to Galle after their convincing innings and 239 run victory in the First Test at the SSC.

The Indians vowed to fight back and that is exactly what they did. With the Indians winning this one, the stage is set for a blockbuster at the P. Sara Stadium when the Third and Final Test is played beginning on Friday.

When this Test series began I said that wily spin bowling will decide the Test series. Both Tests have been dominated by the spinners and it is not going to be any different at the P. Sara.

Here too it will be a spin friendly wicket and the two captains Mahela Jayawardena and Anil Kumble will be spending sleepless nights praying and trying to invoke the blessings of the gods, to help them win the toss.

Had the Lankans won in Galle it would have killed the series. Now that the series is still open, it will do the game a lot of good and the final Test would be chockful of interest and we hope both teams will keep it alive till the final ball is bowled.

It was the rollicking start given by the Indian openers that tilted the game in India’s favour. Virender Shewag in particular was devastating, quite rightly using his feet to the spinners and fearless lifting them to the boundary and over it as well in his classic unbeaten double hundred. His second knock of fifty helped him win the man-of-the-match award.

Ajantha Mendis and Harbhajan had match hauls of 10 wickets. They richly deserved it for the intelligent manner in which they tweaked the ball and lured the batsmen to their demise. For mystery man Mendis this Test will remain etched in his memory. It was only his second Test and to have a match haul of ten wickets is great and should spur him on.

‘Review’ or the ‘referrals’

This system seems to creating more confusion than the good it was intended for. The Indians did not seem to be happy with this system and they made it known when they complained about the dismissal of Rahul Dravid.

This system is being trialed. There are a lot of grey areas and how long it will take to get it 100 per cent right will be interesting to watch.

When the unfortunate happened to on field umpire Rudi Koertzen and Mark Benson the third umpire had to take over the duties of Koertzen, the system became a mockery with the fourth umpire who was a home team umpire Gamini Silva having to take over.

Neutrality what umpiring, third or on field is all about was bowled out. We are not attempting to cast aspersions on umpire Silva. He would have been embarrassed when he had to move into that position.

We have always stated that with unimaginable money being tossed into the game, the spirit is no more and also that it is no more a gentleman’s game.

And if the spirit exists by any imagination, then the Lankans would have showed that it is still a gentleman’s game, had they decided not to take the review or the referrals to the third umpire, who could by no stretch of imagination be termed a neutral umpire.

But to the credit of the umpire Gamini Silva it must be said that he did a job to the best of his ability.

ICC meeting its Waterloo?

The International Cricket Council, the governing body for the game, seems to have a tendency or loves to get into embarrassing situation.

If this is not so how can one explain the ICC being confronted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, who has vowed to go ahead with their hosting of the Champions League, not concerned what the ICC thinks or does with it.

And the BCCI who had the ICC licking off their plate in Australia over the Harbhajan Singh affair, will not give in now that they have the power and in the end it looks like the ICC will again come a very far second.

If that happens then the sooner the ICC rethink their position and for what they are there would do themselves, the game and all that the ICC stands for a lot of good. If they can’t assert their superiority and if they are going to cave in, then we do not have to tell them what to do.

The ICC to spite the International Cricket League allowed the BCCI to organise the International Premier League and having tasted success in that money infested tournament, the BCCI are now set to tell the ICC where they get off.

Serves the ICC right. The ICC has written to all its members not to participate in the Inter Club tournament saying that the inter-club tournament is in close proximity to the ICC Champions trophy to be conducted in Pakistan.

The BCCI is refusing to change their stance saying that the Inter League is not an international tournament. But with big money to be won by the players and the teams, it would be hard to stop the players participating. However it would be interesting to see who will win the race. We have a feeling that the BCCI will have the last laugh.

Arjuna and the cricketers

Will the national team players tour England next year or will they opt to play in the big cash to be won Indian Premier League? That is the question that will beg an answer as the days go by.

When the players took this problem to the sport loving President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he found the solution immediately by telling the authorities that run the game that they should get the England and Wales Cricket Board to change the dates so that the Lankan cricketers could play in the IPL. That was great thinking by the President.

But what is inexplicable in this tricky situation is that the chairman of the Interim Committee Arjuna Ranatunga thought it fit to write to the senior players regarding this question. It probably would have had both sides happy had the chairman met the players and indulged in Consultation, Compromise and Consensus.

That way they could have discussed the problems in a very cordial atmosphere and come to an understanding. Writing letters is not the thing.

We hope the two sides will settle the question amicably.