Media restrictions and security measures surround the SL cricket team

Michael Roberts

Over the past decade the security screen and watchful eye surrounding cricketers and cricket officials have increased substantially. There are good reasons. With betting, spot-fixing and instances of corrupt cricketers been seduced into the betting game, the ICC keeps a weather eye on communications and, as far as I know, bans the use of mobile phones by players during matches. Again, in certain lands armed guards oversee the cricketers’ environment — with the attack on the Sri Lankan team and its official entourage in Lahore serving as the principal reason for this increase of concern.

I discovered the bureaucratic lengths to which the ICC and its local agencies proceed in this regard when the Test Match between Australia and India was played in Adelaide recently.  Kumar Dharmasena was umpiring and when I was at the match one day I went to the front-desk at the office of the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) to ascertain which hotel he was staying in because Kumar is an acquaintance and I thought it would be good to indulge in some hospitality. The front desk was not permitted to divulge such information and gave me a number for a liaison officer to pursue further inquiries. That officer never answered his phone, so I gave up. Sachchitra Senanayake being escorted to pavilion

Sacking of Marsh ‘just not cricket’

Sa’adi Thawfeeq, in The Nation

From Davenall Whatmore to Trevor Bayliss, Sri Lanka had a great run of success in international cricket for 16 years when they won an ICC Cricket World Cup, reached three ICC World Cup finals and was ranked No. 2 in both Test and One-Day Internationals. Now all that is about to change with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) unceremoniously sacking former Australia cricketer and coach Geoff Marsh just four months into his two-year contract. The manner in which Marsh was shown the door by the newly-elected SLC officials was “just not cricket” if one is to use cricket parlance. The action of SLC has more or less closed the door for any future coaches from Australia and around the world undertaking any future assignments in Sri Lanka.

After struggling without a proper coach for two successive series’ the interim committee headed by Upali Dharmadasa decided that Marsh was the right man to take Sri Lanka cricket forward and signed him on a two-year contract. Little was Marsh to know what was to be in store for him after handling just the two series’ against Pakistan and South Africa. The very same individuals who thought so highly of Marsh as coach suddenly did a U-turn to sack him after just two series, hardly giving him an opportunity to find his feet and prove his credentials as coach. For the record Marsh was a member of Australia’s World Cup winning side of 1987 and coach of the Australian side when they won the World Cup in 1999. He was a highly respected coach in Australia and around the world and his sudden sacking has not only shocked the entire cricket world at large, but brought upon SLC the wrath of past cricketers both locally and internationally. It is not just the results obtained in the series that goes to make a good coach but how much of input he brings to the team. In that aspect Marsh had according to some senior players not been lacking at all.

Clementine’s slashing criticism of Sri Lanka Cricket’s treatment of Marsh

Rex Clementine, in the Island, 23 Janaury 2012 with different title: “Greats retire hurt, jokers go places” …. see END for Web editor’s comment

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has not yet explained why it decided to  sack Head Coach Geoff Marsh. But, it is common knowledge he was removed due to  political reasons. We are in a position to confirm that the decision to replace  Marsh was taken even before the national team had lost the ODI series. The announcement from Graham Ford that he was quitting as coach  in Natal to achieve his dream of coaching an international side came prior to  the third ODI in Bloemfontein and the tourists had not lost the series by then.

  No disrespect to Ford, who has a proven track record, but  The Island learns that the new coach is a pet of certain influential  elements of Sri Lankan cricket with political clout and interesting times are  ahead with Sri Lanka scheduled to host country’s biggest sporting event ever;  the ICC World T-20 in September.

Electoral Musical Chairs spell DOOM for Sri Lanka Cricket

Michael Roberts

Let me write against the grain and challenge all sports editors and writers in Sri Lanka’s cricket world, especially those who have clamoured for “elections” as if the word spells” democracy” and thus amounts to a GOOD, when it is anything but that.  Sometime back I penned an essay with a sub-title “Wunderkidz in Blunderland.”**  The two metaphors underlined contrasts: the “wonderful kids” were our cricketers in the decade 1995 to 2005: while “blunderland” highlighted the tale of Sri Lankan cricket administration over much of that period (allowing for exceptional moments).  As written then, my contention was as follows:

The overall outcome has been a game of musical chairs in governance, sometimes aggravated by ministerial whim or changes in the country’s government after elections. Changes in cricketing board, of course, mean changes in Selection Committee and its policies. It is therefore a marvel that the cricket team has been competitive in the field during the years 1996–2005, especially when playing at home and since 2006, even abroad.

Carl Rackemann as farmer politician … so Sanath is not alone

Michael McKenna, in The Australian,22 September 2011

CARL Rackemann put the fear into batsmen when he took the ball – now the former Test cricketer’s ambition of taking to the field of politics is gathering the same pace his once-devastating bouncers had.  A third-generation Kingaroy farmer, the 12-Test bowler is firming as the frontrunner to win the state seat of Nanango, held for 40 years by former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, as a candidate of Bob Katter’s Australian Party. The start-up political entity is expected to win registration within days from Queensland’s Electoral Commission, as the party ramps up its campaign to challenge the political mainstream at the next state election, due by March. Party insiders are boasting of a campaign war chest that will exceed $2 million, with more than $500,000 already donated from a disparate band of backers that includes a union, an arms dealer and fishing and ethanol lobbyists normally welded to the Nationals.