Discard Sanath hits hard at selectors

World Cup discard Sanath Jayasuriya continued his blistering form with another majestic knock of 71 for Ruhuna against Basnahira in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) conducted Inter-Provincial tournament match at SSC grounds yesterday.

It was Jayasuriya’s second successive big knock inside three days, having cracked a sparkling 97 against Uva at the same venue on Saturday.

But yesterday’s innings of 71 looked far superior, considering the penetrative Basnahira attack which comprised pacemen Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas, Thilan Thushara and Thisara Perera. The dashing left-hander was in full control reaching his half century in just 31 balls.

The master blaster, who was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament when Sri Lanka won the Wills World Cup in 1996, proved age is no barrier for him to continue his usual pinch hitting, introduced 15 years ago.

When Jayasuriya made that brilliant 97, a weekend Sunday English newspaper reported under headline Jayasuriya slaps Aravinda, hits 97, referring to the batsman’s omission from Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad by the National Selection Committee.

Playing in his third match of the SLC Inter-Provincial Tournament, Jayasuriya got his act together and punished Baasnahira bowlers to all corners of the SSC grounds.

In the first outing of the tournament he made 29 with five boundaries and captured two wickets for 31 runs.

It was in his second match of the tournament he hit that explosive 97, which would have embarrassed the selectors, making the selectors feel ashamed.

Though the SLC Tournament Committee has well timed the Inter-Provincial tournament for the selectors to have a closer look at the prospective players, the National Selection Committee did not make use of the opportunity in making a hurried selection before any other Test nation.

The question asked in the cricketing circles is why Sri Lanka named its World Cup squad in such a hurry when the ICC deadline to participating countries to confirm their final 15-member squads is January 19, 2011.

In doing so, the national selectors not only deprived some of the top and experienced players a chance to regain form before the deadline but also indirectly affected their chances of attracting a better deal at the IPL action, which came after the announcement of the Sri Lanka squad.

Surprisingly, Sri Lanka was the first country to name its final 15-member World Cup squad on January 7 out of all ICC full member countries.

One cannot understand what the big hurry was in naming Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad some 12 days before the stipulated deadline. One gets a feeling that it could well be a conspiracy to prevent experienced national cricketers regaining form during the last two weeks before the ICC deadline so that the selectors could conveniently leave them out. The national selectors should have been patient enough to give prospective Sri Lanka players another chance at this premier one day tournament before the selections are made.

The ICC headline gives enough and more room for the selectors to wait for another two weeks from the date they announced the squad and take the performances during the Inter-Provincial Tournament into consideration.

What is the point in having the Inter-Provincial Tournament during this period if the performances of local cricketers in the tournament are not considered for World Cup selections? Only three countries have named their final squads to date.

Apart from Sri Lanka, only minnows Zimbabwe, India and the Netherlands have named their final squads. India named their squad only yesterday.

All hot favourites are making a careful study until the last minute to name their best teams on form for the mega event.

Even Zimbabwe named its final squad five days after Sri Lanka and no other Test nation has named squads until today. Australia has declared that they would only name the squad on January 19, after evaluating even the last minute performances of their players in the current series against England. That leaves room for reasonable doubt on the conduct of the National Selection Committee and their undue hurry to name the Sri Lanka squad. There is no doubt that the best team should represent Sri Lanka, irrespective of petty club, politics and personal differences.