No Nonsence! You will be ruled out if you do not behave. No one is indispensable.
The messaging from the the Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket was a straight shot with no compromises. The Exco must be congratulated for the manner in which they acted when it was brought to their notice that three cricketers touring England with the Sri Lanka cricket team had acted in an indiciplined manner.
Cricketers Kusal Mendis, the vice captain, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka had breached the teams bio bubble with a late night out. They were ruled out and put on the next flight back home to face the pending inquiry.
Before the tour began the touring squad was given and set certain rules that had to be adhered to owing to the prevailing dreaded coronavirus.
The three players had thrown caution to the wind and decided to have their own way and breached the bio bubble, that could have put their team mates and touring staff in danger.
The three cricketers were not little kids. They are grown up adults, experienced enough to know that rules are there to be adhered. They had no excuses because they were caught on camera.
True, the three cricketers were important to the team and how it would do in the ODI series after being disgraced three-nil in the three Twenty20 games played earlier. When cricket fans are dejected and disappointed with losing continuously--this being the rule rather than the exception-- such behaviour by our star players makes the situation worse. But the Exco action put things in perspective: discipline trumps all else.
In this aspect the frivolous excuse the three are making is that they went out to bring some take away food. Say that to to the marines, as the saying goes! If that was the case they could well have informed the manager of their intentions, not to sneak out like they did not aware that they would be caught on camera.
In this aspect a bouquet to the manager Manuja Kariyapperuma for bringing the incident to the notice of Sri Lanka Cricket, who in turn informed the Executive Committee who acted promptly and fearlessly and immediately flew down the culprits.
Other than for Dickwella who has been in and out of the playing even, Gunathilaka and Mendis were musts for the 50-over games. By their action they upset team selections, weakened the team and probably had the selectors up a gum tree trying to find the balance for the rest of the tour games.
Not that the culprits were indispensable and that SL was going to win with them playing. But selecting a balanced eleven that could have stretched or beaten England was tricky. By their actions they opened the doors for some of the talented young guns in the squad to fire.
Now the ball is in the court of the Disciplinary Committee appointed by Sri Lanka Cricket comprising men of integrity and honesty Ajith Weerasinghe, (chairman), M.Ruwaiz Latiff, Niroshan Perera, Nalinda Illangkoon and Anura Chandrasiri and it will be interesting to watch what action will be taken.
The trio should not be treated with kid gloves, but after an inquiry the sternest possible sentence should be slapped on them, which will serve as a deterrent to others. The cricket world will be watching with more than ordinary interest.
The three culprits are a part of the squad that refused to sign new contracts, demanding more pay with little or no success to make such demands. They are paid fat cheques and their demand for more is inexplicable.
If the cricketers who refused to sign new contracts, refuse to come down from the ivory towers and sign the new contracts, SLC must act fearlessly, ask them to go fly kites and field a new squad of cricketers who will toe the line of SLC.
For starters a new squad might start losing, the present squad is losing continuously, but as their performances improve they can get into the winning lane. And India have sent out their second squad out for the T20 and 50-over series and it will be a good opportunity for the selectors led by former fast man Pramodaya Wckremasinghe to give it a start.
The selectors need not be worried about winning or losing. The youngsters are hungry to sport the Sri Lanka cap and given the opportunity there is the possibility that they will perform better and learn from the experience.
Incidentally the manner in which Gunathilaka got run-out in the second T20 was hilarious. The striker played the ball in front of him and called him for a single. There was no urgency for that single.
But what added hilarity was that Sam Curran in his follow through kicked the ball on to the stumps and Gunathilaka looked a sad sack as he was run out. But the scorers instead of recording it as run-out would not have been faulted if they had put it down as ‘kicked out’ which finally happened with him and his two buddies being kicked out of the tour squad.