Dias
“What can you do when no one wanted to go to the press conference? The players were so deflated after letting go off such a golden opportunity to post a win they were not prepared to go and face further questions and be humiliated,” said De Mel.
“We had some issues at Cardiff where the players were unhappy with certain questions thrown at them by the media writing the team off. They were not prepared to go and face them especially after today’s game,” he said.
Asked whether the ICC had written or spoken to him about the no-show, De Mel said they had not. “I am prepared to go and answer the questions myself but the request is for players whom we don’t want to further undermine their confidence when it is already low.”
All signs of a poor state of affairs I am afraid. This is professional sport at the very highest level. You can’t just say “I don’t want to face the press – I want my Mummy”. You can’t say I am so piss poor that I am don’t have the guts to show up to the press conference. You need to man up and face the music or get out of the way! As a professional sportsman you need to be able to take the good with the bad – or start performing so this is going to get easier.
Changing the shirts for less blue – give us a break man! Who gives a rats about a damn jersey, just put up a decent show and it wouldn’t matter who has more blue!
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.