Mahela to take back the reins?
The end is nigh for Tillekaratne Dilshan as Sri Lanka’s cricket captain and a new captain, most likely Mahela Jayawardene would be appointed after the South African tour, sources told “Daily Mirror”.
Dilshan who was appointed initially on a probationary basis till the end of the South African tour has failed to deliver so far as Sri Lanka suffered a string of defeats has himself been disgusted with the team failures and has decided to voluntarily step down, sources added.
After the miserable defeat by Pakistan in UAE in November, Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage had to summon a meeting with the senior players, coaches and selectors which led to the Minister later issuing a statement that there was a communication problem among the players.
Again, just two weeks ago Minister Aluthgamage told parliament that players had admitted disunity and miscommunication were distracting the team.
Sri Lanka has gone through 14 Tests without a win since defeating India in Muttiah Muralitharan's last Test in Galle in July 2010. They lost series against England, Australia and Pakistan in the past few months.
"After the loss and before the South African tour I called a meeting with all the players, coaches and officials to amicably resolve these issues. I was promised that such politics would not interfere in the way we play the game" Aluthgamage said in parliament.
"At this moment, senior players stated that there is a communication gap between the captain and the main coach," Aluthgamage said.
"It was also highlighted that there was a communication gap between the main coach and the other coaches, that there was no proper understanding between the senior players and the new comers, and that the captain does not get the fullest support from the senior players. This is the true story. This is the politics within sports," he said.
Sources said that Dilshan has been a victim of circumstances and would tender his resignation at the end of the South African tour.
Sources also said that Jayawardene who initially declined captaincy before it was handed over to Dilshan has now agreed to accept it if offered, at the request of some powerful officials.
However, it is learnt that Jayawardene would only accept the captaincy on his own terms and conditions which is likely to include a request for a change of national selectors headed by Duleep Mendis.
Tilan Samaraweera’s century in the current second Test against South Africa has been a stunning slap in the face for the national selectors who dropped him for the Pakistan series and would provide weight for such a request.
When Sri Lanka lost the World Cup final in March this year, skipper Kumar Sangakkara, his deputy Mahela Jayawardene and the national selectors headed by Aravinda de Silva resigned en-masse and the new national selectors had no choice but to turn to Dilshan for the captaincy.
Since then, things turned sour alarmingly as internal team politics and meddling by powerful outsiders were often blamed for the team’s poor performance.
Former Sri Lanka skipper Jayawardena at 34 years has now completed 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIS while Sangakkara who is also 34 is only a few hundred runs away from completing that landmark in both forms of the game.
Sources said if the team situation including freedom to operate independent of outside meddling doesn’t change dramatically, these two senior pros who have nothing more to prove would retire together shortly putting the team in the worst imaginable position in years. Dilshan’s rapid drop of batting form since assuming captaincy hasn’t helped things much, but the would be successors Jayawardene and Vice Captain Angelo Mathews have also been unable to impress on field in recent times, making matters worse.the upcoming captaincy and other team changes had been a prominent subject that had been discussed by national selectors and team coach Geoff Marsh in a recent conference call to South Africa, sources added. Sources also said that former Sri Lanka player Chandika Haturusinghe who is now holding a coaching role with Australian state side New South Wales would return to take up a top local coaching job, most probably as Assistant Coach of the national team while present national team batting coach Marvan Atapattu would be handed the job to handle the Sri Lanka “A” team.
The SLC president in waiting Upali Dharmadasa’s comment to the media that he would remove Dilshan and appoint a new captain when he comes to power is also interesting, sources pointed out.
Though appointing a captain is outside the ambit of a SLC president, it gives a clear sign of things to come.
BY Channaka De Silva
sack dilshan
It is time for Dilshan to step down and the politicians not to interfere. Great to see a victory after so long, thanks mainly to the top performers. Hope Mahela will keep his form as his form slumped during his captaincy. Well done boys for winning against all odds.
Angelo Mathews should be dropped.He is a passenger and a liability.Got out to a full toss and a rash shot in the SA test.Also dropped vital catches.He is half fit and does not bowl- so whu have him? Peter
Good call by Mahela. We need to have a new selection committee. Duleep Mendis should step down. Mr. Mendis you held this post one too many times. Please step down before your reputation is tainted.
If cricket is independant from politics we can go forward to better highs. Its good to have Mahela back in the steering wheel as he was the most successive team lead so far produce after arjuna.
Cricket is our nation pride, who ever loves cricket should comes out and help. Eventhough they have different political minds, this is our cricket and we need all to take it up again. Its better arjuna, aravinda, sanath, murali, and all other high ranks come back to feild and support. I hope better future for all lankan crickets.
Lets hope big eyes will open to correct view and path. Wrong decison will make cricket mad.