The sudden death of cricket stalwart Michael De Zoysa early this week has left a huge vacuum in cricket circles. He passed mere hours before celebrating his 73rd birthday.
Michael wore several hats in cricket but it was as the Manager of the national cricket team for three years from 2013 to 2015 that he rose to prominence. The younger generation, however, know little about his contributions in 1970s.
Michael, a prominent figure at Sinhalese Sports Club, was instrumental in guiding young Arjuna Ranatunga to SSC. At a time when the country’s premier club was patronized by the elite in the country, those from the unfashionable Ananda College were least welcome. So much so that one club stalwart told Arjuna that SSC could do well without ‘sarong johnnys from Mariyakade.’
Read More : Michael De Zoysa no more
Arjuna was made out of sterner stuff and he had the resolve to persevere and change the order at SSC. He had genuine seniors like Michael to look up to and fall back on. “Michael was a huge influence in my career. He did so much to us. I remember those days, after practices, he made sure that he dropped me off at the Maradana railway station to get back home to Gampaha,” Arjuna said after hearing the news of Michael’s death.
Not just Arjuna, but several generations of players benefited thanks to his magnanimous gestures. As manager, he was a father figure to players. One of the key roles during his three-year tenure as Manager was overseeing the development of young Angelo Mathews as a leader.
Michael never minced his words and spoke his heart out. During the 2015 World Cup, Sri Lanka had been given a hectic schedule, constantly having to travel between Australia and New Zealand and when the press asked for a comment ahead of Sri Lanka’s group game against England in Wellington, Michael responded. “The schedule is tough, but it doesn’t really matter. England is a bye.”
It was the lead news in sports pages in all British newspapers – tabloids and broadsheet with one popular paper calling, ‘Sri Lankan manager snubs England.’ True to form, Sri Lanka thrashed England by nine wickets.
Michael was the Manager during two historic Sri Lankan tours – in Bangladesh in 2014 when they won the World T-20 and when they won their first ever Test series in England later that year.
After the 2015 World Cup, having finished his tenure as team manger, he returned to SSC in the capacity of curator.
During their tour of Sri Lanka in 2016, Australia had suffered embarrassing defeats in Galle and Pallekele with Rangana Herath and Kusal Mendis coming up with match winning efforts. Under pressure and faced with a 3-0 whitewash, the tourists turned the heat on Michael, demanding a sporting wicket.
SSC always provides sporting wickets. It seams around in the first session, then becomes good for batting and the spinners will have a say towards the death end of the game. That’s exactly what happened on that occasion. Mitchell Starc ran through the top order as the Aussies claimed five wickets cheaply in the opening session. Then hundreds by Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva sealed the game for the Sri Lankans as they could rely on their spinners thanks to the fight back by the batsmen in the first innings. Michael lashed out at the tourists calling them ‘Dirty Australians.’
“All I can say is that the Australians are poor losers. They came here hoping to steam roll our team following our losses in England, but to their surprise they find themselves 0-2 down in the series and the possibility of being whitewashed if they lose this Test. So they are whingeing at every turn,” Michael said.
He was not only a father figure to player but scribes as well. At every meeting he would give you a story. And a good one too. More importantly, he would not back down from what he had said even when put under immense pressure.
