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| Tuesday, 10 February 2004 |
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Good wickets vital Comment by Dr. Elmo Rodrigopulle Cricket - be it One-Dayers or Tests must always be played on wickets that give equal opportunities to the teams. When the game is played on good wickets everyone from the players, to the officials and spectators all enjoy the action. Batsmen are able to time their strokes and give free rein to their repertoire of shots. Bowlers too are able to deliver their variety and in the end every one has had a good game. True, the home team has the advantage of preparing wickets. Most teams take advantage and doctor the wickets to suit their bowlers. Home teams will always swear that they do not doctor the wickets. That is being hypocritic. When home teams play about with the wickets, what happens is that they take away the game as a contest. To make the best sporty wicket possible must be the home team curator's job and allow the teams to compete and allow the best team to win. One-day cricket came into being because the established game was becoming a big bore. Test cricket at times was being played sans spectators, which also meant that there was not enough money coming into the coffers of the respective Cricket Boards. One-day cricket was given birth to, to bring the spectators flocking back. And today there is no doubt that the one-day game holds more spectator interest than the established game. Soon the Australians would be here for a 5-match one-day series and three Test matches. When England were here and they played the only possible one-day game, the wicket at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium was not up to standard. It was not the ideal wicket for this type of cricket. True Sri Lanka won but that is besides the point. The weather at the moment is holding fine and curators where the Australians would be playing would have had no difficulty in preparing good wickets and it is hoped that when the action begins, everyone would be able to enjoy and savour good cricket. The other day when South Africa played West Indies at the Wanderers in Johannesburg what a wonderful wicket was provided for the teams. Batsmen revelled, so much so that both teams went over the 300-run mark. It was a run orgy. The batting especially of Chris Gayle and Jacques Kallis was simply amazing. That was because the ball was coming on to the bat which made timing that much easy and stroke execution enjoyable and easy. Gayle has the ability of playing some incredible shots. Tall and steel of wrists he is an executioner of bowlers when on the rampage. Kallis on the other just rubbished the Windies bowling continuing his run spree to notch up another all too familiar century. Gayle too made 154. It was a packed house that took in the action and what enjoyment they had. Cricketers were able to provide the entertainment because of the wicket that was fit for this type of cricket. Curators here please take note. Indians savaged The Australian cricketers who arrive here on Friday will do so with mixed fortunes. The Indians stood up to them in the Tests and made them rethink their game by holding them to a drawn series. But when it came to the best of three VB series finals, the one-day juggernaut simply rolled over the Indians bashing them by 7 wickets in the first game and by 208 runs in the second to pocket the series. Sri Lanka will take on the Aussies first in a 5 match one-day series. The Aussies will be brimming with confidence. They are the World Champions and they will want to jealously guard that tag. But the Aussies are not going to find the wickets and the steamy conditions here to their liking. If the Lankans can capitalise on home wickets and the conditions, then there is no reason why they should not drag down the Aussies. The green and yellow kangaroos have every part of the game well covered. They are awesome in batting, bowling, fielding and also psyching the opponents. At the moment they are riding a crest of a wave of success and the Lankans if they believe in themselves and play as we know they can, then the Aussies can be brought down to earth. Pity on Dilhara and Asoka The bad news to hit the Sri Lanka camp is the unavailability of paceman Dilhara Fernando to trouble the Aussies and the removal of former Sri Lanka leg spinner from the Emirates panel of elite umpires. Fernando's injury is a sad indictment on his coaches from school to club to national level. Obviously Fernando's action is not what it should be. Had his coach in school spotted the defect and put him right, Fernando would not have had to suffer this agony. Then that his club and national coaches failed to put him right is sad. In Fernando we would have had the answer to Lee, Gillespie, McGrath and Williams. But with Fernando's withdrawal there is no other bowler who could fire pace at the opponents. Asoka de Silva it must be said started off well in his chosen field of umpiring. He seemed unruffled, used his cricketing experience well in giving decisions and most teams seemed satisfied with his work. Where de Silva went wrong was in the West Indies v Australia series in the Caribbean. Surprisingly he seemed to have lost his excellent judgement and confidence and his umpiring was poor in that series and that's what finally nailed him. But everything is not lost. He can still fight his way back. |
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