Make or break tour for Dilshan

The Sri Lankans left for a cricketing safari to hunt down the South Africans who will not be easy prey, in a Three Test and Five one-day international series with the First Test beginning at the picturesque SuperSport Park in Pretoria on December 15.

If what transpired at the meeting with the Minister of Sport, senior players and the selectors is to be believed, where all differences were ironed out, then the tour of South Africa should end in a long awaited success.

The excuses trotted out for the failure against England, Australia and Pakistan was that the men concerned were working in different compartments and as such the team was not performing as one strike force.

Oozing with confidence

So now as the squad took wing oozing with confidence, nothing short of victory in the Three Test matches and the Five one-dayers will do. In the least there should be a gallant showing of our talents and our ability to bounce back. Another thrashing and our cricket will be in an abyss and the future in jeopardy.

On return no excuses trotted out, however good, will be acceptable.

So the cricketers who front up to the South Africans will have to play from out of their skins and perform in every game.

The South Africans led by Graeme Smith are quite a formidable side and playing at home and in conditions and wickets favourable to them will want to devour the Lankans and make amends for not being able to beat the Australians.

Formidable opponent

While every South African will be a formidable opponent, a man who will look larger than life will be their new find Vernon Philander. Philander had a dream run against the Aussies, baffling and luring the batsmen to their demise, The strongly built Philander when he runs in to deliver, brings back memories of the great West Indian pacemen of the 70s and 80s who had batsmen cringing and shying away from facing their thunderbolts.

Philander rocked the Aussies and will be determined to add to his stature as an emerging genius who can also bat and turn out into being a terrific all rounder in the modern game.

Special importance

This tour will be of special importance and significance for skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan. From the time he took on the onerous duties as captain, his form with the bat, barring the big score he made against England at Lord’s has been dismal.

Also with a hat trick of losses against England, Australia and Pakistan his captaincy has come under the microscope of some of the cricketing critics with some of them baying for his blood.

At the moment his problem is that he is between two worlds. He is unsure where to bat - whether to open or bat in the middle. As captain he should have been in the frontline opening and leading by example as he did in the not too distant past.

Bright spark

Some bright spark put it into his head to bat in the middle and with it started all his woes. This is still continuing and it is hoped that he will settle down during the South African tour and be among the runs which will raise his confidence that will rub off on the team.

Another failure and it will be curtains for him and the selectors will not be faulted if they shop for another captain. And the selectors need not go on a shopping spree because they have a readymade one in former captain Mahela Jayawardena.

Jayawardena, after being unceremoniously dumped for no fault of his, showed the sport in him by agreeing to step into the boots of vice captain when the selectors and the country needed his soothing influence.

National cap

For Jayawardena captaincy is not the be all and end all. From the time he sported the national cap he has been performing, more for the game and country than self.

He made the national team when he was just out of school and flew into South Africa as a replacement under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga. I was one of them who greeted him and wished him success because I was there covering that tour for the ‘Daily News’ and the ‘Sunday Observer’.

From that tour his rise was phenomenal. His graceful and elegant batting blossomed and the honour of leading the country, the wish of every sportsman and sportswoman, was not long in coming.

Caribbean WC final

After having the honour and enjoying the moment when he took Sri Lanka to the World Cup final in the Caribbean in 2007 and where Sri Lanka would have won the Cup for the second time, it was the squash ball in the batting glove of Adam Gilchrist who smashed a devastating 149 that deprived him of proudly holding up the cup for the world to see.

When there was a controversy regarding Gilchrist’s action and when asked, Jayawardena said that he admired that blistering knock by Gilchrist and had no questions or qualms about that knock. That was great of Jayawardena and shows what a fine sportsman he is.

But a sudden dip in form during a one-day series against India at home saw his frustrated critics win, albeit temporarily. You can never hold down a good man.

Lacking the guts

With the men administering the game at that time not having the guts and the back bone to stand by Jayawardena, not wanting to be dragged into the scum Jayawardena gracefully stepped down from captaincy.

And retribution was not long in coming and it came with compound interest and Sri Lanka cricket is still wandering aimlessly and struggling to find a leader with the charm, elegance, clever brain and diplomatic skills in the rare mould of Jayawardena to take Sri Lanka cricket to use a biblical term, to the promised land that it was once enjoying.

Knowing that the muddy street that the game is in, if asked Jayawardena will not hesitate to take over the captaincy and make every endeavour straining every nerve and sinew to take the game to the top once again.

Let’s wait for the outcome the South African tour and then watch whether the selectors will not fear and have the guts to ask Mahela Jayawardena back into the saddle.

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