Informed Commentary on the DRS in Cricket: CMJ, Tissera, Mahela and Others

Michael Roberts

I insert a series of opinions on the working of the DRS system from ex-cricketers and knowledgeable observers, commentary that is spiced at the end by Mahela Jayawardene’s response to questions from Tony Greig at a critical point during the Second Test match versus England in Sri Lanka. The sequence here is as follows

 

A: A web site reference to my slashing criticism of Indian cricketers and the Indian board for their position on the DRS in cricket, namely, Hegemonic Idiocy: BCCI and Dhoni on the DRS in cricket http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/hegemonic-idiocy-bcci-and-dhoni-on-the-drs-in-cricket/

B: my “Exploring Reader Opinion, an Addendum” in http://www.islandcricket.lk/columns/michael_roberts/168720221/exploring-reader-opinions-an-addendum ……………..which, alas, drew no comment.

Graeme Swann plays down the wrong line on ‘cheat’ Dilruwan Perera

Vic Marks, in The Guardian, 9 March 2012

Sri Lanka the gentlest, most languorous country of Asia, where everybody smiles beguilingly – Arthur C Clarke thought it was the best place in the world from which to view the universe. Legend has it that this is where butterflies come to die. But currently Graeme Swann seems rather less enamoured with the country.

After a satisfactory opening match for the tourists, Swann confided afterwards that he “wanted to kill” Dilruwan Perera. He accused the Sri Lankan of cheating and questioning the integrity of the England captain. Perera had stood his ground after Andrew Strauss, at first slip, had claimed a catch off the bowling of Jimmy Anderson in the final innings of the warm-up game in Colombo. The umpire declined to raise his finger, there was no DRS in use, and, according to Swann, Perera “stood right next to me with a smug look on his face”. Swann lamented: “We live in an age where cheating is accepted.”

Pic by Getty Images

Swann, we know, can be a delight. He is an admirable cricketer, who plays the game in the right way. Afterwards he pitches up for press conferences with a smile and once they are over dutiful correspondents are rarely left scratching their heads for something to write. He likes to entertain; for him a good one-liner is as irresistible as a wide half-volley; he is prepared to speak his mind often with colourful images. And we are grateful.

England XI face Warm-ups as well as Political Heat in Sri Lanka: two Items

ONE: “Geneva issue won’t upset England tour of SL” by Rex Clementine, in Island, 15 March 2011

England skipper Andrew Strauss yesterday stressed the need to act responsibly  before making up their minds when he was asked about the ongoing US-led efforts  to move a resolution against Sri Lanka at the current session of the United  Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. The first English captain to win back to back Ashes titles since 1986 was  responding to Paul Newman of the Daily Mail at his first media briefing  in Colombo since arriving here two weeks ago to prepare for the two-match Test  series against Sri Lanka.

Those behind ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ and ‘War Crimes Unpunished’  scheduled to be telecast Wednesday night campaigned in the UK to pressure the  England team to cancel the tour over accountability issues.

UK Minister for human rights Jeremy Browne on the opening day of the UNHRC  sessions on Feb. 27 called for UN intervention in Sri Lanka to help change the  situation here.

“We have seen atrocities taking place all over the world. In war, a lot of  unsavoury things happen on both sides. I personally think that these sort of  political issues are best dealt by the politicians and administrators. But that  doesn’t mean that we  should stick our heads in the sand. If the UK  government feels that there are cases to answer and the situation is serious  enough that the England cricket team should not be touring somewhere, then  that’s the call they have to make. Until then, it’d be wrong for us to focus on  anything other than cricket,” the England captain said.

“As I said, we should not stick our heads in the sand. But you’ve got to be  careful that if you start investigating, you investigate very thoroughly. There  are people to look into these things and it’s important they do their job and  it’s even important that I do my job, which is to win cricket matches,” Strauss  added.

TWO: “Prasanna and Kandamby to captain Lankan teams”

Wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene will lead Sri Lanka Board XI  in a warm up game against the touring England cricket team that will get  underway at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today at 10am.

Jayawardene returned half way through Sri Lanka’s tour of the  UAE and missed the series in South Africa as he was forced to undergo surgery  for hernia. Jayawardene was one of Sri Lanka’s successful batsmen with Test  hundreds against England and Pakistan.

Middle order batsman Thilina Kandamby, who was Sri Lanka’s  vice-captain during the ODI leg of last year’s tour of England has been named  captain for the second warm up game that gets underway on the 20th at SSC.

Sri Lanka Board XI for today’s warm up game: Prasanna Jayawardena (Captain), Dimuth Karunaratne  (Vice-Captain), Banuka Rajapakse, Roshen Silva, Sachithra Serasinghe, Malinga  Bandara, Dilruwan Perera, Tyronne Gamage, Nilanka Premaratne, Kanishka  Elvitigala and Ashen Silva.

Sri Lanka Board XI for the second warm up game:Thilina Kandamby (Captain), Chamara Silva (Vice-Captain),  Malintha Warnapura, Dilshan Munaweera, Angelo Perera, Kushal Janith, Sajeewa  Weerakoon, Kaushaliya Lokuarchchi, Tharanga Lakshitha, Vishwa Fernando and Isuru  Udana.

Bradman’s Advice to Batsmen at the Bowler’s End

Mahinda Wijesinghe

Quite a furore was created in the current CBN series game between India and Sri Lanka played in Brisbane when Sri Lankan batsman Lahiru Thirimanne, at the non-striker’s end, was run out by Indian off-spinner Ashwin when the batsman was found to have left the crease before the ball had been delivered. In other words, Thirimanne was found to be taking a ‘foul start’. When Ashwin appealed to umpire Paul Reiffel – with Thirimanne well out of his crease – the latter without doing his avowed duty of giving his decision walked across to his partner Billy Bowden. After a three-way discussion, with Bowden and the Indian skipper Sehwag, Thirimanne was permitted to continue. Despite this let-off, Thirimanne still continued with his walkabouts. Something that confused most. Indeed the Laws of Cricket are very clear on this issue. Last year, to dispel any doubts on this vexed matter, the MCC reiterated and stated very clearly that “the bowler is permitted before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing, to attempt to run out the non-striker.” Can it be any clearer?

Hence, the Indian bowler Ashwin was not doing any act that even bordered on questionable sportsmanship. That question should be posed to the Sri Lanka batsman who was wittingly or otherwise taking an unfair advantage by taking a foul start. Remember, just one run could quite easily make the difference between victory and/or defeat, and more so in the shortened version of the game.

Kohli’s finger will only raise the hackles of hecklers in Aussieland

This is an extract from the Spin, the Guardian’s free weekly cricket email. To sign up, click here.

The Witticisms of Crowds: For the Indian cricket team, 4 January was a long and frustrating day. At the SCG Australia scored 366 runs and lost only a single wicket. At stumps Michael Clarke was 251 not out from 342 balls, with 31 fours and a single six. Brilliant as the innings was, none of these statistics was as remarkable as another number of the day, one that was provided by the mouth of a Cricket Australia spokesman rather than the bat of the team captain. For the first time since CA had been keeping such records, not a single spectator had been thrown out of the ground during the day’s play.

Try explaining cricket’s intricacies to a wild elephant !!

A wild elephant ponders a cricketing scene in the boondocks of Sri Lanka’s jungle area as soldiers pursue recreational fun

Two Iconic Moments in Sri Lankan Cricket History

Courtesy of http://www.sharegoodstuffs.com/2011/09/crickets-most-iconic-moments.html

 When the scoreboard at Pietermaritzburg Oval read 5 runs in total with 4 wickets down, for Bangladesa  after Chaminda Vaas took a hat-trick and then another wicket in the first over. 

                                                                                                          

 Arjuna Ranatunga reprimands the umpire Ross Emerson during the infamous  contretemps at Adelaide Oval on 23 January 1999 after Eemrson –in what is now known to be a pre-planned move — no-balled Muralitharan for chucking the ball.

For clarification of the events leading up to this incident and a ‘post-mortem’ See Michael Roberts, “Saving Murali: Action On-field and Off-field, 1995-2005, in Roberts, Incursions and Excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 20011, pp. 111-38 … ISBN 978-955-53198-0-5

Also see articles by Rohit Brijnath, Peter Roebuck, Bernard Whimpress, Glucka Wijesuriya and Michael Roberts in Roberts, Essaying Cricket. Sri Lanka and Beyond, Colombo:  Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2006 ….  ISBN 955-1266-25-0 (pbk) and 955-1266-26-9 (hbk) …………………… where some other striking photographs can be viewed.

Sri Lanka milks Australia

4,500 cows imported from Australia

…… Headline in The Island 10 September 2011

Critical Selection Choices by SLC’s Think-Tank

Ravi Ladduwahetty,  in Daily News, 8 August 2011

Pic courtesy of AFP

Sri Lanka T 20 Cricket skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan, hot on the heels of winning the Man of the Match Award againstAustraliain the T -20 tour opener at Pallekelle on Saturday night, said that posting a huge total was the team’s priority and not his personal landmark century. Skipper Dilshan after a whirlwind and unconquered 57- ball 104 inclusive of twelve belligerent boundaries and five towering sixers, said that he was elated to return to form. The ecstatic skipper, laced with all smiles and humility, told the post match news conference, that it was team effort which won the game forSri Lanka, albeit himself, almost single-handedly guiding the team to post its maiden T- 20victory at home over Cameron White’s Kangaroos. Dilshan cracked 67 runs in the final 23 deliveries inclusive of twin sixers and a boundary to reach his century.

Why India’s Ishant Sharma appeals, and it isn’t just his name

Barney Ronay, courtesy of The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/jul/22/ishant-sharma-india-aggressive

Pic courtesy of AFP/Getty

The first Test between England and India has been infused above all with a sense of reverence for the valedictory appearances of assorted great batsmen. There has been much talk about Sachin Tendulkar’s inevitable 100th international hundred, plus a likely final Test appearance at Lord’s for both Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, whom it is fashionable to say you prefer of the three for his humility, supreme stylistic refinement and excellent initials.

Happily, though, the beauty of Test cricket lies in its vast beaded curtain of competing narratives, an entanglement of private passions and secret crushes that entwines itself around the central act. Personally I’ve been just as interested in India’s bowlers and not just the wonderful spectacle of Praveen Kumar wobbling about his expertly swerved medium slingers. Praveen has been mesmerising at times, not to mention an agreeable throwback to Indian medium-pace bowlers of the 1980s, those sombre, well-groomed, unathletic men with fretful expressions who seem to have been called away in a terrible hurry from their desk at a regional firm of chartered surveyors, and who celebrated their occasional wickets with appalled transports of bewildered arm-waggling glee, as though scarcely able to believe such a thing could happen.