The cricketing world has seen a number of teenage prodigies who have graced the top levels of cricket even before they could exercise a vote. Hanif Mohammmed, Sachin Tendulkar, Ian Craig and Arjuna Ranatunga are among the names that feature in this illustrious cluster of batsmen who earned triple promotions to the top and held their own at that level.

Aravinda De Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan may have been a little older but were also elevated to the Test squads directly from Under-19 levels in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The issue that I raise today is the pros and cons of such double or treble promotions in cricket as it is constituted now.

The stress on "now" marks my recognition of the changed circumstances prevailing today. In the Arjuna-Aravinda era, the structured tiers of cricket were far less developed both within Lanka and at international levels, though they were gradually improving. In contrast, nowadays, one has tiered levels of cricket in Sri Lanka: from U-15 to U-17 to U-19 competitions and thereafter the various leagues featuring clubs with the Premier League ‘A’ at the top level capped yet further by the Provincial Tournament.

As vitally, one has ‘A’ teams playing series abroad as well as at home - so that there is an intermediate testing arena for promising players who have performed well at either club cricket (usually Premier unless one is an Ajantha or Sekkuge type prodigy) or Under-19 international level. Both the Sumathipala and Dharmadasa regimes sponsored such ‘A’ team series — to the great benefit of Sri Lankan cricket.

Chamara Silva’s resurgence into the top level and Mahela Udawatte’s step up from U-19 level were both assisted by such ‘A’ series; while the older Malinda Warnapura displayed his credentials at this level. Given such tiered opportunities of international cricket, therefore, it follows that the chances of treble promotion or, indeed, the need for such steps, are less.

Despite that, Farveez Maharoof and Chamara Kapugedera were bumped up to international duty directly from U-19 level. Clearly, this step was taken on the basis of their performances at U-19 international level and an assessment of their capacities by the coaching staff, evaluations guided by close visual observance. In retrospect, these decisions seem justified, though there remain several ‘ifs’ around Kapugedera because of inconsistencies in his top-level performances. So some bouquets can be dropped on the doorstep of Sri Lanka Cricket for these bold decisions.

But I urge caution and hold up the tiered steps surrounding the recent progress of our Angelo Mathews and Philip Hughes of Australia as the more pragmatic course to be pursued with reference to talented youngsters. Such a policy has to combat two forces that seem to favour the treble promotion policy.

One is what I call the ‘Uncle-Nephew’ syndrome. This has been a long-standing phenomenon in SL cricket politics: one finds, first, the uncle, who is a knowledgeable ex-cricketer or powerbroker in the club scene. He fixes on a promising young cricketer because he has done well for the uncle’s school or simply because the uncle saw him play, say, a captivating innings at U-19 level. He then works his network to push the ‘nephew’ into the top level – banking on the youngster’s youth as one factor in his favour. The problem here is when the uncle is one-eyed and overlooks the claims of other competing players – a problem accentuated when the selectors decide to opt for youth rather than maturity.

The second force is a particular segment among SL fans, those overzealous supporters of the slash-and-burn type (SBs), many of them now migrants abroad. These fervent enthusiasts want to choose our international squad on the basis of "instant hits" – that is, recent outstanding feats at whatever level. XY scores two centuries at Premier Level, and ergo, he must be parachuted into the Test or ODI squad. This type of request arises in part from disappointment at poor achievements by some incumbent players in some ongoing series.

Thus, recently, the SBs targeted those players who had relatively poor performances in the ODI series against India and then in Zimbabwe and Bangladesh (indulging in some favoritism and/or prejudice in the process). Influenced by the bouquets earned by Sachith Pathirana of Trinity during the World U-19 Cup in Malaysia, a few of them vigorously argued for the immediate insertion of Pathirana into the Sri Lankan ODI team.

The selectors were not that foolish. They did not underestimate the capacities of Bangladesh at home and the outstanding capacities of Shakib Al Hasan as a genuine world class all-rounder and Mashrafe Mortaza as a bowling all-rounder – so that Sri Lanka’s eventual triumph was seen as a victory for character.

As for the likes of Pathirana and other prospects, the selectors let the tests of strength as Premier League level and eventually the Provincial Tournament during the 2008/09 season sort out the wheat from the chaff. In overall cricketing evaluation, it is the longer version of the game that serves as a crucial pointer.

What do these statistics tell us about Pathirana? During the Premier League he does not even enter the bowling figures when I used the cut-off point of 24.20 (occupied by Ganegama), to list the top bowlers – so that there are at least thirty ‘A’ team players above Pathirana in these stakes. He enters the list of batsmen however, with an average of 36.18 after 12 innings fetched 398 runs. "Fair dinkum," you would say, yes? But there are 21 others above him (excluding those who played four or less innings), including the youngster S. M. A. Priyanjan of the Tamil Union (46.15 in 14 hits). For the record, the order reads: Thilan Samaraweera (112.00), Mubarak (61.60), Indika de Saram (61.23), Tharanga, Rupasinghe, Mathews, Kaushal Silva, Paranavitana, Warnapura, Bhathiya Perera, Sajith Fernando (50.81) et cetera. As significantly, Pathirana fared poorly in his three outings for Kandurata in the Provincial series, earning an average of 5.33 (note de Saram = 23.75, Mubarak 47.00).

The SBs may well point to the case of Tim Southee, the Kiwi pace bowler who impressed observers at the U-19 tournament and was moved directly into New Zealand’s top international teams. But Southee is a tall strapping fellow who had already made his mark for Northern Districts in the 2006/07 and then the 2007/08 seasons.

In any event, one swallow does to make a summer and it is easy to point to other analogies that undermine the argument. Take the U-19 World Cup in South Africa in January 1998, where several SL players impressed. Pradeep Hewage was even deemed the best batman on display; while Prasanna Jayawardena, Chamara Silva and Malinga Bandara impressed the Sri Lankan management, then including Anura Tennekoon.

Well, Bandara (b. 31 Dec. 1979) was pitch-forked into the First Eleven immediately against New Zealand in May 1998 and fared disastrously – to the point where his future career was blighted. This consequence was perhaps aggravated by the phenomenon of changing Selection Committees and poor handling. But one should also recall the fate of two other leg-spinners who had been catapulted into Test squads in the past and then fallen "down the pallang," namely, Sanjeewa Weerasinghe (aged 17-18) in 1985 and Roshan Gunaratne. From such examples, indeed, one wonders if selectors should be especially cautious about providing bowlers with treble promotions.

What of Hewage, Jayawardena and Silva? Hewage’s father was a power-broker at the NCC and he was introduced into international cricket at the second tier from 1998 onwards. His district level performances in the seasons from 1999/2000 through to 2001/02 were solid; so it must have been the continued availability of some of the old stagers (Aravinda, Arjuna) the rejuvenated re-entry of Tillekeratne that kept him out of the highest levels. He fell away in the 2002/03 season.

Jayawardena’s outstanding wicket-keeping capacities kept him in the selector’s mind throughout the years that followed, but Romesh Kaluwitharana’s batting prowess and popularity stood in his way. And then when the door seemed to be opening, Sangakkara came to the fore as a batting wicket-keeper of considerable talent. Thus, Prasanna Jayawardena’s opportunities were intermittent till (1) he improved his batting capacity over the years and (2) it was decided that Sangakkara should concentrate on his batting in the longer version of the game (a wise decision as it has proved, albeit one I had doubts about then).

Meanwhile, Chamara Silva’s attacking talent was quickly recognized and he was part of a new young ODI team selected to face the Aussies after Sri Lanka’s debacle under Ranatunga at the World Cup in England in 1999. But he faced increasing competition following the judicious re-introduction of Aravinda de Silva (all-round skills and acumen) and Hashan Tillekeratne (weight of runs). Batting in the difficult No. 6 position moreover, between 1999 and 2003/04 Silva had to compete with the likes of Tillekeratne, Arnold, Dilshan, de Saram and other youngsters being pushed up, for example, Mubarak. Edged out for a while, it was only the hard yards at ‘A’ team level in 2006-07 that enabled him to fight his way back and secure a place in Sri Lanka’s international team in both forms of the game (till recently ousted on the basis of batting vulnerability and declining performance).

Viewed in sum, therefore, the contention here is that under present-day conditions, it is generally better for a player and country for a young Under-19 prospect to be tested at the Premier League and the even more exacting Provincial Tournament tiers of competition, and also at ‘A’ team level, before being injected into the top XV. That is, catapulting players from U-19 to the highest format in the manner Mahroof/Kapugedara should be an exceptional course.

Before indicating that the talents of Angelo Mathews have been handled just right, let me detour to the case of Philip Hughes of NSW. Hughes (b. 30 Nov. 1988) made his first class debut for New South Wales on 20 November 2007. He did not enter the calculations of NSW and Australian selectors because of elegance and correctness in batting technique, unlike, say, Craig, Tendulkar and Ponting. Rather it was the temperament he displayed and the huge weight of runs he was accumulating. He played two seasons for NSW and went on an ‘A’ team tour to India before he was slotted into the Australian Test XI.

Mathews (b. 2 June 1987) captained the U-19 squad which toured England in 2005 and played as a genuine all-rounder at that level – that is, as one who could hold his place in either capacity. He was not gifted a treble promotion, perhaps because there were no openings in the top teams, but also perhaps because he was not seen as a prodigy (cf. -Kapugedara, Mubarak). In any event, the selectors wisely let him reveal his wares on (1) an ‘A’ team tour of South Africa in August-September 2008 and (2) at Premier League and Provincial Tournament levels. While his initial feats in the Premier League were mediocre (9 inns for av. of 17.55 in 2006/07), he blossomed at all levels thereafter.

These competitive arenas have revealed that, thus far, his medium-pace bowling is occasionally useful, but nothing special. But his batting performances have been consistent. What is more, during the Provincial Tournament, his batsmanship climbed to outstanding heights.

A team South Africa — 7 inns = 310 runs at 51.66 av

Premier League — 5 inns = 292 runs at 58.40 av

Premier League ODI — 3 inns = 30 runs at 10.00 av

Provincial Tournament — 8 inns = 746 runs at 93.25 av

The hard yards within local and foreign fields therefore have produced an outstanding young batting prospect. Mathews appears to be a future No. 3 or 4, but has to face the fact that in the Test arena the spots 3, 4 and 5 are cast in stone for Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Samaraweera at the moment, though he maybe breathing down Dilshan’s neck for No. 6. But he is not alone. Kandamby, Kapugedara, Chamara Silva, Priyanjan, Rupasinghe and even the 35 year-old Indika de Saram (b. 2 Sept 1973) are among those in the field of candidates.