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Provincial Tournament -- an eye opener
Sitting on your laurels
The just concluded inter-provincial tournament was one such in which the entire incumbent national team participated right through. It was a good exercise for the younger generation of players who are in the periphery to pit their skills against the best in the country who have had many moons of international exposure to judge and assess themselves.

Lo and behold the revelation at the end of the tournament was that there were too many chinks in the armour ! Taking first things first, with an impending tour of New Zealand with seamer-friendly wickets it was said that wickets for this tournament too were made seamer friendly. But, sadly instead of getting used to the obvious and piling on the runs and getting confident prior to the tour, it was learned no side was eager to take the first lease of the wicket.

With the ball seaming in the early part of the games the batting first totals in the entire tournament were 86, 43, 336, 228, 314, 134 and 175. In the seven innings only twice a side had passed the 300 mark along with a low two hundred total in the middle. It is not even worth mentioning about the other efforts. To add to that no opening batsman had got a century while batting first leave alone at least give us a half century. All the hundreds and the double 'tons' have come in the second innings or while batting second -- when the wickets had lost its pace.

The 'batting first' efforts from opening batsmen during the entire tournament were 7&0 = 3 in a total of 86, 0&7 =0 in a total of 43, 4&4=4 in a total of 336, 34&0 =11 in a total of 228, 28&30=33 in a total of 314, 13&11=28 in a total of 134 and 16&36=31 in a total of 175 in the final. The best effort of a opening stand of 33 came from Avishka Gunawardena and Shantha Kalavitigoda for North Central Province vs Central Province while the best effort of the incumbent Sri Lanka opening pair of skipper Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya was 28 runs against the Western Province.

Another note to bother was the 'patchy' efforts of the national top five. Coming down from Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena did not perform to their true capabilities. The only national player who was consistent during the tournament was Tillekeratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan who was once out of favour of the selectors very recently and came to the final with an average of 129.33. Besides Dilshan, young Tilan Samaraweera too batted well during the tournament. The above mentioned 'top' five in the national team did not even make it to the top twenty in the averages before the final.

Now to the brighter side of batting. North Central Province openers Avishka Gunawardena and Shantha Kalavitigoda batted with a lot of purpose and came up with a string of good performances. In addition Anushka Polonowita of the Southern Province and Thilina Kandamby of the Central Province proved that they got what is required with some consistent batting right through.

In bowling with the wickets helping the seamers the medium fast bowlers cashed in. However the 'lone' fighter at the helm Chaminda Vaas proved that he is still a class above the rest with a haul of 19 wickets. The next best before final had got only nine wickets (three bowlers). Besides this, the left out left armer Ruchira Perera made it good in the final with a hat-trick and a string of wickets and thus becoming the second bowler to take more than ten wickets. Later in the game Mahroof who also enjoyed a good tournament with both bat and ball joined Vaas and Perera with good haul bowling in the Central Province second innings.

Ironically the art of spin is now becoming a thing of the past in Sri Lanka. Among the lot of ordinary trundlers, only experienced Upul Chandana was worth his salt as a spinner.

At present the Lankan sins are covered by Muttiah Muralitharan who bowls for himself and another few. But, what will happen in the post 'Murali" era? At present there is no one in sight. A few years ago there were spinners who shone and indicated their true potential from their school days-- Murai, Ajith de Silva, Lalith Kaluperuma to name a few. But, in the last few years has any new names come up? Hardly any. Even young off spinner Mohammed Suraj has not lived up to it.

When asked, the Director Cricket Operations of Sri Lanka cricket-- Bandula Warnapura, said that at present there is no planned programme for spinners in the country. No full time spinning coach unlike the fast bowling specialist Champaka Ramanayake. According to Warnapura, Lalith Kaluperuma, Ranjith Madurasinghe and S. Paranawithana do come in and help when its required, but there is no systematic schedule.

In short SLC will have to sit back and take stock of the situation. One can sit on his laurels, but sometimes laurels do not hold steady for too long.

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