Ashantha’s response is frighteningly symptomatic of where our cricket is at right now. In a professional sport, we are now the banana republic equivalent amongst the top-tiered teams. We refused to take the field last year in the Windies, now this. Forget the players, Afghanistan is proof of how a good team can nosedive within a very short period once the management of the sport is politicized and mismanaged. Unfortunately, I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel for us as no political party in this country will bring about the necessary changes to cricket administration in Sri Lanka. No matter who is in power, it will continue to be effectively just another arm of government that is rife with corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Extremely surprised by this comment from Sanga. When you’re playing at so many venues across six weeks, many of which have their natural pitch characteristics, it would be impossible to get uniformity of pitches. And disparity does not come in just the pitches, what about ground sizes then? In the 2015 WC, the teams that played their games in NZ’s basketball size cricket venues had a distinct advantage over those that played their games in Oz, especially when it came to run rates. Guptill scored 237 against WI at Wellington – does anyone think he would have replicated this at the MCG! So long as the conditions are the same for both teams on any given day, regardless of the venue, that is all one should expect and deal with, without worrying about conditions at other venues for other teams.

Moreover, if you must go down this path, at least have some substance behind your claim. If green pitches was our problem, where’s the substance in these facts:

Against NZ, we were 46/1 after 8 overs. We lost our next 9 wickets in the next 21 overs for 96 runs. NZ then ran this total down in 16 overs for the loss of no wickets!

Against Afghanistan, we were 144/1 in 21 overs and lost our last 9 wkts in the next 15 overs for an addition of 57 runs.

Against Oz, again the pre-match murmurs were that “another” green pitch was coming our way, and Australia smashed 334 batting first. We replied with 115/0 by the 15th over, and all 10 wkts fell in the next 30 overs for the addition of 132 runs.

Even blind Freddy can see the pattern here and complaining about the pitches is as silly and as immature as it gets. Either that, or the “green” effect has come into play only after DK & KP are dismissed, and transforms itself entirely into “brown” when we bowl.

“Your complaints, your drama, your victim mentality, your whining, your blaming, and all of your excuses have NEVER gotten you even a single step closer to your goals or dreams. Let go of your nonsense. Let go of the delusion that you DESERVE better and go EARN it! Today is a new day!”
― Steve Maraboli

@Stormy, precisely! But that has often been our experience in that part of the world, where, when we bat it’s a minefield, and when we bowl, it’s a flat track! And that was certainly no minefield despite the colour. As Sanga mentioned in his commentary, clarity of thought is very important for a batsman and that was clearly lacking. Way too many of them were playing across the line from ball one without playing themselves in, and Thiri and Jeevan lasted only a couple of balls as a result. I have been a big fan of Dhananjaya but his total lack of footwork is cause for serious alarm.

However, what was particularly stupid was the mindset after the dismissal of Jeevan in the 16th over. Everyone was attempting to bat like Jos Butler despite the fact that there were still 34 loooong overs to go. Even Dimuth started to move around his crease like there were two overs left. As a fan, nothing cheesed me off more than this brain dead approach. Surely the approach should have been to bat out as close to the 50 overs as possible. In only the 2nd ball he faced, last man Malinga moves to the leg side to give himself room to smack the ball and is bowled. There were still 21 overs left for heavens sake, and you have your opening batsman at the other end to boot! Very frustrating!

Well said @Stormy

I hope Dickwella does not become the next Tharanga on Island Cricket – world beaters whenever they are not selected!

Yes, the situation is definitely looking bleak, and the only thread of hope stems from our history of punching above our weight in WCs. Except in 1999 of course which was also in England! The leadership of SLC is a carbon copy of our entire parliament – inept, corrupt to the core and mired in greed and self-interest. Hopefully, what started with a honking of the horn recently, will grow to something much bigger and result in turfing out all these criminals who are running our country and institutions into the ground.

Fair point @cricketer and not that stupid!

I too think that Chandimal has to go now given that we have only a handful of games left before the WC. Dhananjaya de Silva is a better option. Even if he fails with the bat, he is unlikely to use up a whole lot of balls in the process. And he is arguably the best outfielder in the squad and will also give you a handful of useful overs.

Crickster, I think you have one bowler short in your team. 20 overs to be bowled by the bits n pieces all rounders maybe too big an ask. Also, it doesn’t leave room for an off day for any of the 3 bowlers who will then have to bowl their entire 10.

If Asela can get his mojo back, he’d be one of the first players selected. But he has been a shadow of his former self since his return from injury. As you say though, perhaps he’s worth one more opportunity.

How can any English daily worth its salt publish such poorly written rubbish???