A great feat
It certainly is a mind boggling feat.
It is the stuff of which dreams are made of. Who would have
imagined that a frail dusky lad of rustic bearing hailing from a
fishing hamlet in a suburb of Sri Lanka would one day enter the
hall of fame in the hallowed portals of the Lords of Test
cricket.
This is exactly what Ajantha Mendis did on Sunday when he
surpassed the record set by England's Sir Alec Bedser for the
highest ever wickets tally by a debutante in a three Test
cricket series. Tributes have already been showered on the lad
who appeared on the scene like a comet and helped Sri Lanka win
the Test series against India.
But what is lost sight in the glare of the heady publicity is
the significance of the record which stood unbroken for over 60
years. That it should have been broken by a son of Sri Lanka
which at that time was a colony of the British who gave the game
of cricket to the world is itself is a significant landmark.
It shows the shift in the balance of power in the game of
cricket that has been witnessed during the last half a century
where the former subjects of the British are calling the shots.
Before that cricket was synonymous with England and vice versa.
It laid down the laws and directed the game's course. England
was considered the home of cricket where the deeds of its
players were chronicled into folklore. Those of the former
colonies adopted the English outlook into the game and the
numerous phrases and the idioms coined in relations to the game.
Even Ceylon lapped up by the feats of English players and our
cricket too was modelled on the English game where even the
coaching did not deviate from the straight and the narrow. That
was a time when the deeds of some English or Australian bowler
or batsman dominated the bar room discussions and the topic of
elite gatherings.
Even the then Ceylonese cricketers took inspiration from the
British game and almost religiously followed the British art. It
is in this context that one should view the feat of Ajantha
Mendis.
One by one we (the Subcontinent) seem to be breaking down the
grand edifice of British dominance of the game of cricket. It is
a also fact that Sri Lanka a former colony of the British who
gave the game of cricket to the world have beaten their masters
at their own game and gone beyond to conquer new frontiers.
No more would the rarefied atmosphere of Lords inspire awe
and reverence as it used to do or the folklore of England's past
legends have any relevance. Yet another legend has been ejected
from his pedestal.
The simple unsophisticated lad from Moratuwa may have not
have even been aware of the exalted company he was being thrust
into when he dismissed the equally legendary Sachin Tendulkar to
eclipse the record. Nor would he have had an inkling of the
stature of the man in the cricketing firmament whose record he
eclipsed.
His feat also assumes a note of irony given the present
brouhaha made of his lack of communication skills in English -
the tongue of cricket. That he had delivered the record to Sri
Lanka is what matters to all Lankans.
It is a thump in the nose of those who had hitherto treated
cricket as the preserve of the English speaking elite. Today the
bulk of our cricketing heroes are village lads who attained
world fame through grit and determination.
They have made the grade through sheer talent and urge to
succeed. Herein lies the secret of their success. The Mendis
saga only mirrors this dichotomy demonstrating another instance
when the conqueror turned tables on the conquered.
With this record Sri Lanka cricket has certainly moved into
the big league surpassing even the big names of Test cricket. We
say this because we now have the highest score in Test history,
the highest batting partnership and now this latest feat by a
hitherto unknown lad.
This is also a fitting statement to the British establishment
that we could not only beat them at their own game but also
produce our own legends. |