The people still tend to think that Cricket, especially the Sri Lankan Cricket is a serious game. If it is true then the bowler who made chaos among the opponent batsmen with his mystery bowls should deliver goods as the expectations of the fans. But what happened? Ajantha Mendis was criticized for his poor performance in the field even by the television commentators. Even slinger Malinga didn’t show any betterment. The bowling department of the Sri Lankan team showed that they don’t know how to bowl in greeny fast wickets in a seaming environment. Does it also show poor performances of many specialist coaches who comprise in every tour? It’s up to the officials to think, because fans expect success each & every occasion.
But, the condition is very different than it sees. When a bowler emerges from a rural or suburban area, he has to face with many different encounters in the game of Cricket as it centers in Colombo. As, the capital made huge impact on the game after the victory of the 1996 world cup, the lives of the cricketers have been changed. As a result many parents tried to make their sons cricketers. But, it is only a fantasy world for them. According to this fantasy the players should deliver goods each and every time they play. They should behave as true gentlemen with good discipline and consistency. The real aspect of this world seems quite different. That is revealed by Mendis and Malinga. The contrast between bourgeois Sangakkara and two of the above shows this difference. The surrounding related to Cricket is certainly misleading. But if they turn into the illusory nature of the game, they don’t need to play Cricket but can play Cricket as a guise of Cricket. The balance between those is an essential aspect of a nowadays Cricketer. When the officials come across this, at the same time they feel that they are too late. But they must have the courage as the ACB officials who sent all rounder Andrew Symonds home from English soil during the T20 world cup. But, god cannot intervene in those matters if the officials are in the same mindset with the players. You can work until you think god is invisible, if you believe in the materialized version of god then you will fail.
The delivery of a slinging action can skid through a flat wicket, but in a fast wicket it does not behave like that. If a bowler bowls in a good length although he doesn’t employ a good line, then his effort will remain futile. There are two parts in a success of a present day Cricketer. The old theory “practice makes you perfect” is one. The other is the specialized training through innovations with the help of technology. Even Dillyscoop shot invented by Tillekeratne Dilshan is a result of specialized training and commitment. One can remember the shots made by Lance Klusener during the world cup in 1999. The success behind the transformation of the pace bowler Mitchell Johnson to a reasonable all rounder and the story of orthodox spinner Danielle Vettori, who became an essential player for the Kiwis are the results of collaboration of above two aspects. If he is a mere bowler, how does he change the condition of the matches against Sri Lanka and the second semi-final against Pakistan? Without his performances as a batsman, the Kiwis would have been ended up as the losers.
The individual performances can emerge, but they remain useless unless they serve for the team. With the individual performance, one can emerge as best batsman or best bowler in the rankings. In an imaginary world you can enjoy with the above facts. But in reality you have to face the bitter truth. Fantasy only supports you to mask the chaos of the reality. When one comes to the edge of fantasy, he or she has to face the real. That’s what happened in South Africa. The press in Sri Lanka also works on imaginary. On the paper you can beat any team, but the ground reality showed it is different.
The traumatic experience of the success of the New Zealanders has shaken the cricketing world. They beat Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan. As underdogs and also as the No.07 team in the ICC ODI rankings, I personally believe that no one bet for the Kiwis in the Champions Trophy. Somehow they made entry for the finals with their neighbouring opposition Australia. I remember the commentators said that Pakistan had better variety in bowling department and the well knit unit of batsmen. On the day a team plays better cricket it undermines the opponent. That’s the funny thing about the ODI cricket. But, I like to mention, these funny aspects depend on the recent performances of the individuals and on the hyper-reality created by the media, especially by the television coverage. In a true cricketing sense, is there any validity for the counter of sixes hit throughout a tournament by the batsmen or how far the ball went when a batsman hit a six? The thing that one should consider is a batsman will trap to a bowler when he sees an excess on him. It is in his unconscious. If someone asks a batsman “hey, why did you hit that shot? it was a trap, didn’t you see that fielder had been positioned there? “. His answer will be “yes, I did see, but I don’t know why I hit that shot”. That is how a batsman falls on excess. Even he doesn’t know why he had hit that shot.
We can put that into England - Sri Lanka Group-B match. When the hard hitting openers of Sri Lanka were there, the people hoped to see destructive style of batting. But, what happened? They got caught in the way of bowling of Englishmen, especially by James Anderson on that grassy wicket. Why did Sangakkara hit that pursuing shot as the captain, when Sri Lanka was in dire straits? I can say he doesn’t have an answer. Was it his carelessness? In simple terms the answer is Yes. But the true answer is No. That was his unconscious. Hence, now we have a light to see, how the Kiws came to the semi-finals and why the Pakistanis fell into the Kiwis.
In the case of Ajantha Mendis, we know that he consists an excess. But during the tournament he showed he is an ordinary bowler and a player (because of his fielding as well). All the teams have been scrutinized his bowling through video footage and the wickets in South Africa didn’t assist much in spin bowling. That was the reason for the failure of Ajantha Mendis. When the physical or external parts don’t support him he fails because he hasn’t done his part well. Why do we allow external factors to dominate? We can see many Sri Lankan bowlers kissing the bowl & bat, making cross sign before bat or bowl. Some Sri Lankan players are like a jewellery shop. How many of them wear a talisman? Do they think they score runs and take wickets because of the magical power of a talisman and rituals? Then the question is to what extent do their abilities take part on their performance? These external factors are very evident in the past of Sri Lanka. We see how the outside factors changed the mode of production in Sri Lanka. Hence, this is not a simple matter. It is inherited in our lives. They don’t believe on themselves instead they believe on external factors. Some people here are always hoping that external factors like god, stars may change their lives and doing nothing by their own to change the situation. Why some of the Sri Lankan anticipate of such kind of external factors even without a simple try to change the prevailing situation or condition? If you challenge their belief definitely you have to face their violence. But one thing, Cricket has made your life easy and enjoyable.
The reason for the successful inning of Jessy Rider with an injury in the Sri Lanka – New Zealand match, was that he played a fantasy role of the Sri Lankan players. The same can be applied to the extravagance performance of Angelo Mathews. But I need to make a point here, at the start of the carrier of the Ajantha Mendis; fans saw him as the way that we see Mathews now. At a decisive juncture, Mendis showed that he was not ready to wear the cladding that he wore earlier. Because he convinced that it was too hot to handle the nimbus of the nowadays cricket. That will be the challenge for Mathews as well. The time will tell.
