The heroics of a couple of young players during the recent West Indies series was so good to watch. Since Ajantha Mendis, no young player has had such a huge impact on debut. Local fans will be hoping that they will go on from strength to strength without falling by the wayside like we have seen with so many such bright talents in recent years.
Pathum Nissanka in particular was so exciting to watch and all individuals who spotted his skill set and temperament early and backed him need to be commended. His mentors need to continue to support him. The careers of so many players have been derailed soon after they had found themselves in the limelight.
What we would like to discuss today though is the need to persevere with young talent. Does anyone remember there was a bright young player by the name of Sadeera Samarawickrama who was picked to play Pakistan in UAE in 2017? Sadeera was such an exciting talent. His first ball in Test cricket was from Yasir Shah, who was causing problems for seasoned batsmen. Young Sadeera took to Test cricket like a duck to water driving the leg-spinner elegantly.
Sri Lanka created history in that series ending Pakistan’s unbeaten run since the gulf region had become their neutral home. Sadeera did not make big runs but a few things stood out; his exceptional fielding and work ethic.
The Chairman of Selectors – Graham Labrooy, Head Coach – Nic Pothas, Manager – Asanka Gurusinha and captain Dinesh Chandimal all agreed that here was an exceptional talent and the need to back him. Sadeera made impressive strides in the next tour – to India. But soon after that the Management changed and he was kicked out.
A prolific run scorer in domestic cricket when he was picked for the senior side, from that moment he was axed, Sadeera’s confidence dipped and he is nowhere to be seen. It was shocking that he was not even picked for the Lanka Premier League in the initial draft and only came in as an injury replacement. There’s drastically something wrong in the system.
Sadeera is just a case in point. There are so many deserving players who have got a taste of international cricket and before they could establish themselves, the system is changed and it only needs a couple of failures for them to be given a send off. That is why it is extremely important to have continuity in selections and selectors who are serving one year terms is not going to help the cause.
Always remember that in his first 50 ODIs the great Sanath Jayasuriya scored just one half-century. That he finished with over 13,000 ODI runs is credit to the caretakers of Sri Lankan cricket at that point who knew, here was a special talent and persevered with him.
Marvan Atapattu is another example. So is Kumar Sangakkara who in his first two years of international cricket was quite ordinary. But like Sadeera, he had the right attitudes. A player can go onto achieve much if he is persisted with and given confidence. But we tend to find quick answers for the problems and this is not going to help us.
The duration of a selection panel has got to be a three year term and even when the selectors are changed after three years, at least one person needs to be retained. This is for continuation of policy purpose.
Another thing that is necessary to be done when players are young is to play them in the format that suits them. Sri Lanka gave a Test cap to Minod Bhanuka in a Test match in South Africa, one of the brightest young talents around. Now South Africa is the toughest place to make your Test debut and that too not many Sri Lankan teams have lasted three days at Wanderers. It was a tough baptism for young Minod and everyone seems to have forgotten him now. And mind you, he made his debut as a specialist batsman.
What Minod got was a raw deal. Ideally, he would have been better off playing white ball formats in the Caribbean. Should he have kept wickets instead of Dinesh Chandimal in Antigua? Probably yes. It looks like since Minod didn’t do much in Jo’Burg he’s not going to get another go in the foreseeable future. Now that there are three formats in the sport, picking players for the right format is vital.
In 2010, we were in Perth for the one off T-20 and the buzz word was about this young player whom Australian great and a selector at that time Greg Chappell rated so highly. He bowled a bit of leg-spin and his odd batting mannerisms didn’t match the description we were given.
Thisara Perera certainly didn’t think so. Sri Lanka needed 15 off 24 balls to win the game at WACA and Thisara smashed two sixes and a four off the leggie’s three deliveries to seal the game for Sri Lanka with plenty to spare. Australia kept playing him in the three ODIs that followed and he didn’t cover himself in glory. They persisted with him despite no half-century in his first 38 games. He eventually came good. Australia’s patience paid off. Steve Smith is the player’s name.
You reckon a player with modest stats at the beginning would have got a long rope in our part of the world?
