Ceylon Today Editorial

Ford’s hopes could be realized

20 May 2017

Sri Lankans have the habit of 'putting the cart before the horse' especially supporting their favourite cricket team. If you take a good look at the TV channels at the beginning of any international cricket event that Sri Lanka is getting ready for, months before they would begin the countdown and promoting the team, shouting hoarse slogans that depict the team as unbeatable and the only ones capable of winning the trophy on offer.

When you think of what was stated by their cricket coach Graham Ford that although the Sri Lankans are a talented lot let us not forget the fact they are still underdogs: It is not something that was said intentionally to instill the fact in the players but rather emphasize what has been described above, praising the players and team unnecessarily for months on end that could undermine them by upsetting the mindfulness achieved after long sessions of team discussions with the coach and the captain on plans for the forthcoming tournament.

There is much more than the cheering that would make a team win games, it is a constant study, especially in foreign conditions, getting to know the unknown quantities that could jeopardize any team's plans and strategies. Luckily Ford has coached Surrey, whose grounds are the Oval, where Sri Lanka would begin their hunt for the elusive championship trophy. They would be playing Ford's former team South Africa, and also fast bowling Coach Donald's.

Coach Ford is hoping for the wickets to be flat and is certain the Sri Lankans would make full use of those sorts of wickets to make big scores. The most important factor would be their capability to stay at the wicket, to get the scoreboard ticking. Very often this has not been happening with Sri Lanka's batting, which makes them too dependent on the bottom order to prop up the scoring rate. The lower order is not the best of batters unless someone has already decided to take things to hand. Unless the top order is in the best of shape in their mindset to put their heads down and get working on the bowling, it will not make things move the way described by Ford who has said that his batters are some of best stroke makers in the world.

Ford argues his case based on the strengths of his batters: Most of these players may have come under scrutiny of the coach and captain. The only hope would be that the coach has made certain that his players are good to be playing such important international tournaments. This type of stage is not the place for learning; it's rather the place to gain experience. The selectors' job is to make certain the selection of youngsters is based on their knowledge of the game to be good enough and to gain selection to represent the national side, while also making certain they have the minds tough enough to gain all the necessary experience on field.

According to the coach Sri Lanka does not want turning wickets, as we have seen during the last series in South Africa when it took Thahir just one over to unsettle the well set batters on more than one occasion. His batters who are good players capable of upsetting the best of sides have been studied good enough to be unsettled by spin as well as pace. Anyway South Africa is at the moment riding on the crest of the wave but are vulnerable if their top order undergoes the effect of two or three good spells. Sri Lanka to do well seriously depends on their ability to get sides out the way done during the Muralitharan days.

One thing the Sri Lankans have got on their side is the capabilities of rising to the occasion when they are down. They are known to have outshone the England side on home turf during the time that Mahela had just taken over as captain and made his first appearance as leader on English soil. He had quite a young side and no Murali. But the end result was all in favour of Sri Lanka. There is no reason why this young side could not repeat that performance all over again. Coach Ford would have expressed his views on young Sri Lankans to be full of talent and capabilities based on his findings of earlier English tours and he did very well with his views. Let us hope that the Sri Lanka team lives up to the expectations of their coach.