I write this little piece in praise and honour of Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas. This threesome has brought honour and glory to Sri Lanka along with several other cricketers who have already retired. The crafty magic of Murali, the explosive stroke-play of Sanath and the teasing deliveries of Chaminda have thrilled the hearts of cricket fans, especially at a time when Sri Lanka has been passing through a period of unending agony.

I must say that I have little knowledge of the technical aspects of the game. My only attempts to play this game have been on the village green and the only trophies I have acquired are a few dents on the shins when we played the game without pads. Yet, I feel impelled to make few comments on a game that I enjoy watching. Today, people are not able to amortize their television sets with consumer-satisfaction, because of the poor quality of programmes on all available stations. As an example of the available fare, take the imaginary tele-drama ‘kunu pihatuva’, where a young hen soils her plumage with her recklessly lascivious behaviour: cavorting in the dust and dirt. In these circumstances watching a cricket match, especially an ODI is a pleasant experience.

It is distressing that the Cricket Board has not paid heed to the ineluctable factor of age in organising the future of cricket. A probable reason for this lack of realisation is the fact that heads of the Cricket Boards, with a few exceptions, have been businessmen whose frame of mind is bounded by business interests alone. Yet we cannot put the blame on them alone. The selectors too have failed to look at the game with a vision for the future. Youth has not been judiciously injected into our teams to maintain a right balance between youthful exuberance and mature experience. Let us take the example of India. They have dared to inject youth and reaped the harvest with Gautam Gambhir, Sreesanth, Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, M.S. Dhoni and others.

Let me take the case of our three heroes. Murali has always played a crucial role in Sri Lanka’s victories both in Test cricket as well as in ODIs. He has been consistently over-bowled in Test matches. His mortal but durable frame has been wracked not only by age but by wear and tear, and manipulated controversies relating to his action. Imagine the crushing torsion on his wrists and shoulders, and the attrition of his fingers through friction. For how long can a human endure this effort? The same argument applies to Chaminda, though to a lesser extent where the wear and tear on his fingers and wrists are concerned. Imagine the physical effort involved in bowling what is classified as fast-medium. In Sanath’s case the impact of age is of an entirely different order. His forearms and wrists, forged in a foundry in Matara have stood the test of time. Yet, age makes a warning entry in the form of a slowing of his reflexes and his footwork. When he was young his lightning fast reflexes and quick footwork dealt hammer blows to bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Alan Donald, Glen McGrath and a host of other fast bowlers. India’s medium-fast bowler Manoj Prabhakar’s retirement was hastened by a Sanath-blitzkrieg. It is an incontrovertible biological truth that age diminishes the speed of reflexes and the stamina to play a waiting game. A bowler is never undone by bowling one bad ball, but a batsman is always undone by one ball that is unplayable or one that he plays badly. He, therefore, needs fast reflexes as well as stamina to play a waiting game.

The last ODI series against England and the current triangular series in Australia have revealed that we have irresponsibly neglected the task of finding replacements for our three heroes. Though Murali did bowl well his magic is diminished. Mediocre batsmen are now able to cope with his bowling. In my view, apart from the wages of age and overwork, the attention he has devoted to developing the ‘doosra’ has also affected his bowling. I would have preferred his restricting his deliveries to a sharply turning off-break and the one that goes straight through combined with variations in length, line and flight. In the case of Vaas, the drop in pace has diminished the value of his subtle variations. His batting has improved but I am afraid it is a bit too late. Sanath cannot adjust his style of play to suit a slower game. His bowling too is now not as effective as it was in the past, especially with the new tactics adopted by opposing teams. Sri Lanka has paid dearly by not developing young potential. Let us take the case of Chamara Silva. Many years ago he showed his potential by making a score of around 60 runs against Australia in Sri Lanka. Little was heard of him since then. He was selected again and has done reasonably well, but it is too late for him to figure successfully as a middle order batsman. The same fate befell Chamara Kapugedera, who fared reasonably well in Australia and was then dropped. Fortunately he is still young and could develop as a regular member of the ODI team but his recent performances have not been impressive.

There is relentless change in every sport. In the 1940s and 50s India was supreme in hockey, with the magic dribbling of Dyan Chand and Balbir Singh. Pakistan emerged as the new champions and thereafter other countries. The same is true of games like football, table tennis, badminton and tennis. In cricket, today, the accent is on athleticism unlike in the days when Don Bradman, Lindsay Hassett, Neil Harvey, Len Hutton and Denis Compton and Keith Miller dominated the game with natural talent. Fielding has reached the heights of gymnastics and big hitting has become brutal. Mental toughness that was limited to silently ruthless determination has now descended to ugly adversarial behaviour. I am not even remotely suggesting that this type of ugly behaviour should be emulated. Smiling Murali, soft-spoken Sanath and well-mannered Chaminda must be congratulated for their exemplary behaviour. They have done Sri Lanka proud.

plans too have changed. Sanath and Romesh Kaluwitharana revolutionised ODI batting with pinch-hitting in the first 15 overs of the game. If something went radically wrong the team had the second line of defence in Asanka Gurusinghe, the irrepressible Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunge, and Roshan Mahanama. Even physically well built batsmen like Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, do not resort to explosive stroke-play until they are well set. The big hitting starts only towards the last 10 overs.