Sri Lanka Cricket

Sri Lanka cricket has never looked back from its surprise demolition of the Australian favourites in the final of the 1996 Cricket World cup.

From their international debut in 1976 up to this point, they had been cricketing underdogs, until Australia were destroyed by blistering batting and top class spin bowling.

The architect of the 1996 World Cup victory was their captain, Arjuna Ranatunga. A tough captain and strong leader, he is the defining force in Sri Lankan cricket history. His tactics in the competition revolutionised the One Day International, by adopting ultra attacking batting during the fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs of the innings.

By scoring at more than 8 runs per over in this early period, Sanath Jayasuria and Romesh Kaluwitherana took the game away from the opposition before they knew what had hit them.

Sri Lanka are especially hard to beat on their own territory. Their island is a tropical paradise, with fabulous beaches, spectacular mountains, abundant wildlife, and amazing ancient monuments paying homage to Buddha. But, the 40 degree heat and high humidity make it difficult for visiting teams from less extreme climates to make headway on the placid wickets. This would be difficult even against less talented sides than Sri Lanka, so an ODI or even a test match win for the visitors is an outstanding achievement.

The giants of Sri Lanka cricket in the 1990s were Ranatunga and Jayasuria, Aravinda de Silva – a maestro with the bat, Chaminda Vaas – a wily left arm seam bowler who led the attack, and the off spinning magician himself, Mutthiah Muralitharan. In recent years, genuine fast bowling from Dilhara Fernando and the unconventional Lasith Malinga has given the attack extra spice. And the batting has become even stronger due to the efforts of the awesome Kumar Sangakkara and the canny Mahela Jayawardene. Always a strong wicketkeeper-batsman, Sangakkara’s batting reached new heights after he relinquished his wicketkeeping duties, and an astonishing run of form in 2007 made him the No.1 batsman in the world rankings.

Muralitharan’s success has not been without controversy, and has survived accusations of “chucking” that were investigated by the ICC’s biomechanical experts. However, his bowling action was cleared, albeit after an adjustment to the Law on the acceptable degree of elbow flexing while bowling. Nevertheless, he is an extraordinary tactician, with a wide range of deliveries. He has also developed the “Doosra” to a fine art, and is the current world record holder for test match wickets.

However, away from the handful of test match standard arenas, there are few good standard club grounds in Sri Lanka. The beautiful school ground at Kandy is unique in that it is also used for test matches, and the only new ground in recent years has been funded by Surrey County Cricket Club. Cricket has always been a route to betterment in Sri Lanka, but is played by amateurs who are not paid to play unless they represent their country.

The incoming Chief of Sri Lanka Cricket, the straight talking Arjuna Ranatunga, has recognised that international success can not be sustained against this background. To date, the team has succeeded largely due to its own efforts, in spite of the system. Ranatunga's route forward is to bring a professional attitude and funding to the game at grass roots level, and to eliminate corruption and political interference from the Sri Lanka cricket system. This is a major challenge, however Ranatunga’s heroics on the field were based on standing up to tough opponents. If anyone can move Sri Lanka cricket to the next level, surely he is the man?

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