`Hire & Fire’ selection: bane of Lanka cricket

By Elmo Leonard

Sri Lanka’s ‘hire and fire’ selection policy adopted in the recent series leads her to the recent run of failures. Lanka is now placed 7th in the ODI listing; how sad for the 2007 ODI World Cup runners up!!!
All cricket playing nations have a nucleus of players. Basically, the same top batsmen play in its Test and ODI squads. Did India not follow this rule during its Test and ODI, concluded with Lanka? Australia, NZ and England, to name three nations adhered strictly to this rule in their recent series. True, Sri Lanka brought in Upul Tharanga into its recent ODI squad and he performed well. But, together with Warnapura, Michael Van Dort, how many other opening batsmen have come and gone in both versions of the game?
How many of our top five batsmen have been consistently chosen? So, their confidence is shattered, and Sri Lanka fails. In the Sri Lankan context, when a batsman who is dropped gets another chance, he has to prove himself in one or two games, or out he goes again.
Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardena in spite of runs of failures in their early careers were chosen by prudent selectors. Had these two players been selected and thrown out, when they failed, where would they have been? A good batsman must be given time to establish himself. Once established, if he fails, wherever possible, the reasons for his failure must be identified. Perhaps, he needs a break due to injury, a family matter...
India’s Sachin Tendulkar has taken a break from the forthcoming Bangladeshi series. He has taken breaks before, even from the 2009 T20 World Cup series. Here, Tendulkar is a wise man. He is `old’ and knows that the older an international sportsman gets, the more prone he is to injury. The longer it takes for injury to heal. He recharges his batteries and comes back fighting. He prevents staleness. Aravinda de Silva had in his late career opted out of series, rested and come out revitalised. Established batsmen can often come back into a team and perform well unlike inexperienced players.
Mahela Jayawardena who is also a great Sri Lankan player is injured, he needs a rest, and he can recuperate and come back. Please be consistent in the selection of Sri Lanka’s batsmen, coach Udaya Ananda Perera opined.
Chamara Silva comes in. Kapugadera goes out. Now, it is ideal if Kapugedera and the other batsmen dropped are kept green, playing for an `A’ team, or even a foreign team or in an international tournament.

There are exceptions to everything

Some of our top batsmen commit the mortal sin of playing too much cricket. That is, they play too much outside our national games and more than the body can take. Some of them are established players. These guys are embarrassingly rich. They, like Tendulkar can afford to skip such tournaments so that they will be fit to represent their motherland.

Same for Lankan bowlers

India played basically its same bowlers for the two series concluded with Lanka. But, Sri Lankan bowlers came in and sat on the bench. Take the example of Mendis, when he comes in, he has just 10 overs to prove him. His confidence is shattered. Possibly, he thinks that he may have to walk dejected among his army colleagues. Anxiety leads to him dropping catches? Lasith Malinga fares no better.
We hope Malinga Bandara and Muthumudalige
Pushpakumara and Suraj Randiv now chosen for the Bangladeshi tour to name three bowlers get a fair chance to prove themselves, Udaya Ananda Perera opined.