Sanath Jayasuriya always news

Sanath Teran Jayasuriya will always make big news whether he is batting, bowling or fielding. He makes good copy for journalists and will continue till he makes up his mind to quit the game at all levels.

Today the cry is for 40-year old Jayasuriya to quit, with his critics saying that he has had enough and should step aside for some youngster. While we would not contest that, we would like to ask whether there is some youngster on the horizon who could fit into Jayasuriya’s boots.

Looking around there is no substitute for Jayasuriya and there will never be. Jayasuriya has been a cricketer in a million. Can we find a batsman who can be as demoralizing as the left hander? Can we find a bowler of his cunning or a fielder of his brilliance? The answer will be a deafening NO.

As for us he is an example to all budding cricketers. At this age he is fit as a fiddle. And when one is in peak fitness, the cricketing talent in him would surface and success would come naturally.

 Vim, vigour and vitality

 Today he is vim, vigour and vitality. How many of our cricketers can claim to have these three Vs in them. Every sportsman or woman who have quit will tell you that at some time or the other in your career the body will give the message that, that is it and you could go no further.

Apparently Jayasuriya’s body has still not given him that message. It will do one day and then he will quit. Till then, instead of baying for his retirement and rupturing blood vessels, critics would do well to let him continue.

The other day at a meeting the Selectors led by Asantha de Mel and captain Kumar Sangakkara had with the media, De Mel stressed on the importance of having all rounder Jayasuriya in the one-day squad saying that Jayasuriya will bat in the middle in the one-dayers against India.

According to de Mel, Jayasuriya will bat in the middle till he regains his form of old and then gets back to his familiar opening slot. De Mel is confident that Jayasuriya will strike form with the bat on the flat wickets in India.

 Important cog

 Jayasuriya is an important cog in the Lankan cricketing machine with his extraordinary talent as a batsman, bowler and fielder. In addition he has a shrewd cricketing brain and captain Sangakkara, who is lucky to have two former captains with him in Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardena who could always go to them for advice when in a situation.

Sri Lanka Cricket is extremely keen to have Jayasuriya in the swim of things when the prestigious 50-over World Cup tournament is played in the sub-continent in 2011. So until then let’s encourage and cheer the mauler from Matara to have bags full of runs, wickets and catches and not demoralize him.

It looks as though Australia, India, England and South Africa are set to rule the cricket world and have it their own way. In the future they will draw up schedules which will see them playing each other more often.

That would mean that Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand would be starved of cricket and looking for the crumbs as it were. Australia, India, England and South Africa seem greedy for the dollars that could cascade from their meetings.

 Little or no cricket

 It is time that Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand took their stance at the wicket and strongly objected to this stepmotherly treatment. If what is contemplated succeeds, then Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand will have little or no cricket.

It is time for the International Cricket Council to shed their toothless tiger image and step in and put a stop to the nonsense contemplated by the powerful four and see that justice is meted out to the other four countries.

If the powerful four have their own way, how can the ICC have the Test, one-day and Twenty20 championships? Cricket must remain diversified otherwise it could lead to blocks being formed. And if and when that happens it would be sad for the game and the International Cricket Council would be held responsible.

It is time that ICC padded up and strangled the move by the powerful four in its embryo stage and not let it grow into an uncontrollable monster.

 Draw cards

There is no denying the fact that Australia and India are the draw cards and that spectators pack themselves like sardine in the venues that these two teams play to watch the exciting action that only these two teams can provide.

Sponsors and TV people too fight to have a slice of the action as the dollars keep flooding in and the players too benefit.

ICC must see to it that fair play exists. Otherwise they would be accused of not playing cricket. What unfolds in the coming weeks on this subject would be interesting to follow and watch.

The Australians and the Indians are now contesting a seven match one day series in India with three matches being played at the time of writing with India cruising to victory in the third game by six-wickets to take a two-one lead which would have been galling to the Aussies to realize that they are trailing. But there are four more games to go and the contest is still open.

Once again captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed the way with a brilliant unbeaten 71. He was involved in a match winning partnership of 148 runs for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj Singh to give their side a sweet victory. Singh too was in belligerent form slamming 78.

 Continuity

When the Aussies arrived in India they were determined to give continuity to their success in England where they beat the homesters by six matches to one in a seven match series and add to their 50 over World Cup success in South Africa.

But playing of too much cricket has had its toll on their cricketers with several of them going down with injuries and the kangaroos are hopping around striving to find replacements.

But that is how the game goes and the Aussies cannot site injuries and make excuses if they lose the series. They should have had the necessary replacements. As for India they lost the first game and have struck back with a vengeance and are well on the way to pocketing this Airtel series.