Evaluating Rangana Herath with Plaudits – Rex and Scyld

The Lessons We could learn from Herath –Rex Clementine in The Island, 31 March 2012

The country’s one of the most respected cricketers, Kumar Sangakkara once called Rangana Herath ‘the work horse’ of the team. Now that he has emerged as country’s premier bowler, we should talk about his other virtues as well and how tough the rise for him has been having represented two unfashionable entities – Maliyadeva Vidyalaya and Moors SC. (Only two seasons back he left Moors after an association of 14 years after the club got demoted).

Loyalty and perseverance are two virtues of Herath that we should admire. Although HeThe rath made his debut in 1999, opportunities were rare for him due to the presence of champion Muttiah Muralitharan and Sri Lanka always had Sanath Jayasuriya to bowl a bit of left-arm spin.

But occasionally Herath was used in Test cricket, particularly against Pakistan once John Dyson developed this idea that Pakistan were in fact susceptible against left-arm spin.

Sri Lanka Kohlied, pulverized and pickled at Hobart

When Sri Lanka accumulated 321 runs after being put into bat at Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Their followers would have been well-pleased, as indeed I was. But Sri Lanka had chased around 310 runs twice in South Africa and the wicket was clearly a feather-bed. Moreover, when Sangakkara was interviewed between innings,he remarked that Sanath and Tharanga had led a chase for some 325 runs in an ODI match in England and Sri Lanka had reached the target in 36 overs. This remark suggests that Sri Lanka were not complacent.

India reached the imposing target in just that — 36 overs. The Sri Lankan skipper and team were simply steamrollered and eviscerated by all the batsmen and by Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina in particular. It was a brilliant display, a set of gems for connoisseurs.

Any lessons? I broach one. On feather bed wickets pack your team with more spinners and/or bowlers with guile.

 Pic by Getty

A Statisical Summary with a Focus on Kohli, by Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan, courtesy of cricinfoESPN

• Kohli scored his ninth ODI century and his second against Sri Lanka. It is also his sixth century in ODI chases. Kohli’s strike rate of 154.65 is the third-highest for an Indian batsman in an ODI chase(centuries only) after Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Azharuddin.
• * The run-rate during the century stand between Kohli and Suresh Raina (13.56) is the highest ever for India for a 100-plus partnership in ODIs, and the highest against major Test teams. The highest overall is 17.73 during the 136-run stand between Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan against USA in 2004. *Gautam Gambhir and Kohli were involved in their fifth century stand in ODI chases. In the second innings (min. 1000 partnership runs), the pair averages the highest (75.33). *Lasith Malinga conceded over 90 runs for the first time in his ODI career. His economy rateof 12.52 is the highest in ODIs for a minimum of five overs.

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.