Mahadenamutta, the self proclaimed pundit of Sri Lankan folklore, would have approved what was witnessed at R. Premadasa Stadium during the first ODI between Sri Lanka and South Africa yesterday, but most others disagreed including the captain of the national cricket team Angelo Mathews.
When there’s fine weather and floodlights are available to overcome bad light, there’s no reason why you should take out the DuckworthLewis sheet. But in fading light the formula was taken out yesterday because the MoU signed between Sri Lanka Cricket and Cricket South Africa had said that for day games floodlights will not be used.
The clause didn’t impress many and Mathews agreed that if lights are available they should be made use of.
“When we hit the 34 over mark, it was getting dark and we needed to be on top of the Duckworth-Lewis. Unfortunately we couldn’t use the lights, so we had to stay on top of the D/L. We lost a couple of wickets and then it was all over for us,” Mathews told journalists yesterday at the post match media conference.
“If we can use the lights, it will be good because it gets a bit dark in the evening. I’m not really sure why, but we were told at the Match Referee’s meeting we won’t be able to use it,” Mathews added.
A target of 305 looked stiff, but when Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne were in the middle it looked possible. “We had a good game in our hands. Unfortunately the situation changes and we’ve got to go with the situation. In the end we had to change our approach a little because of the light,” Mathews went onto add.
However, the Sri Lankan captain admitted that his side had played poorly and indicated that light wasn’t the cause for defeat. “We didn’t play well. The South Africans played better cricket than us today, and we were a bit rusty – particularly at the crease. We dropped some crucial catches. Our middle order batting shot selection was not good, so that cost us the game.”
Attention also was given during the media briefing for a decision that Sri Lanka referred during South Africa’s innings. With Hashim Amla on 42, a caught behind appeal was turned down. Sri Lanka referred but television replays were inconclusive to overturn the decision. The services of hotspot camera and snikometer aren’t utilized by the host broadcaster apparently because they are expensive.
“Especially on caught behind decisions, there needs to be a deflection to overrule the decision. If you don’t have the hot spot and snicko, it’s pretty tough for us to challenge a decision. It’s always better to have those through, but unfortunately we don’t.
“The snicko and hot spot give more evidence to overrule a decision. That is out of our control and we have to play with what we have,” Mathews went onto say.
