Sri Lankan cricket sat on its laurels, says Sidath Wettimuny

Today marks a week for the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Colombo Negombo and Batticaloa that killed 253 and injured at least 500 people Its also a week since Sidath Wettimuny the former Sri Lanka opening batsman arrived in Mumbai on a visit We still cant get to grips on how why and where this came from Its an absolute shocker I console and comfort myself by thinking terrorism can never win I am sure we Sri Lankans will get over this we have to get over his he says on the verandah of the Cricket Club of IndiaWettimuny 62 is accompanying his wife Sharmini chairperson of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka who was involved in Fridays South Asian Symphony Foundation concert at the NCPA It is learnt that Sharmini helped former diplomat Nirupama Rao identify musicians from Sri LankaHe played 23 Tests scored 1221 runs with two centuries at 2907 The first of his threefigure scores came against Pakistan in a drawn Test in 1982 at Faisalabad Two years after he became Sri Lankas first Test centurion there Wettimuny scored a glorious 190 in the oneoff Test against England at Lords where he batted for more than 10 hoursSidath Wettimuny during his memorable 190 against England at Lords in 1984 PicGetty Images Carrying his bat through the innings in the 1983 Christchurch Test for 63 against an attack comprising NZs Richard Hadlee Martin Snedden Ewen Chatfield and Lance Cairns in swinging conditions was another commendable feat Thanks to his 190 at Lords Wettimuny was named one of Wisdens five cricketers for 1984Silloo Medhora his old friend in Mumbai says he does a great rendition of Frank Sinatras My Way If you want to call me that yes But I dont consider myself a singer Wettimuny says with a chuckle when asked if he is a social singerNo board ambitionsThere is nothing to smile about when I ask him if he is involved in Sri Lankan cricket At the moment no I was involved in eight interims boards and I never wanted to contest cricket board elections There is an elected board at the moment and I have no desire to be involvedHe reckons his countrys cricket is reeling under poor administration He emphasises The politics of cricket management has not brought out the best in our cricket We have not nurtured our young talent at the 18 19 and 23 age groups in a systematic way We have lost a lot of good talent due to a lack of a good systemA lot of us former players have been insisting for the last 1520 years that we must have a level which is better than club cricket like your Ranji Trophy But the people who are interested in the politics of the game have not worked to foster that system We have a clubbased voting system To protect that voting system no body has had the courage to make changesWettimuny was one of the selectors who picked Sri Lankas victorious 1996 World Cup team and though the islanders have made two World Cup finals 2007 and 2011 after that Wettimuny believes the state of the game is rather worrying He elaborates We have been sitting on our laurels for the last 1015 years thinking our cricket is good enough Because we won the World Cup in 1996 we believed our club cricket was good enough to take us to where we needed to go We have forgotten that the world is evolving competition is evolving We have stood still not bothered to change with the times and make the necessary changes in our domestic cricket to facilitate and make sure that cricketers play at the right level domestically to compete at the international levelSri Lanka have been poor on the ODI cricket front enduring a 03 defeat in New Zealand before a 05 shellacking in South Africa recently Their performance across their last 25 ODIs is unflattering and is at the heart of their World Cup worries ndash won 6 lost 18 with one game abandoned I think we have been suffering from what I call the Jayasuriya syndrome We try and bat as if we have a Jayasuriya up front but we dont If you look at our recent games especially in South Africa we were often four down before the score reached 100Batting like idiotsThe batsmen are playing shots which shouldnt be played and we are just batting like idiots if I may use that word says Wettimuny who is glad to see the inclusion of batsman Dimuth Karunaratne as captain In England you need a guy who can bat through We need to get to 150 without losing more than two wickets or maximum three Then do your best and hope for the best Dont aspire to get 320 If we get 270280plus then we have a chance because there could be something in it for the bowlers on those wickets We need to reverse our thinking and understand that losing wickets is the worst thing we can do he saysWettimuny hails from a cricketing family Like the Chappell family in Australia the Wettimuny clan in Colombo had three brothers who represented Sri Lanka at the highest level mdash Sunil Mithra and Sidath Sunil opened the batting for Sri Lanka in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups In 1975 he had his instep smashed by Jeff Thomson at the Oval Duleep Mendis who was struck on the head by Thomson was admitted in the same London hospital as Sunil He Sunil spoke so much about that 1975 experience he said he had never faced a spell of fast bowling like thatA policeman arrived in Sunils hospital room saying that hed heard a certain Mr Thomson had assaulted him and asked if he wanted to press charges Wettimuny laughsMithra the second of the Wettimuny brothers played two Tests and led a Sri Lanka schoolboys team to India in 196970 While Sunil was an airline pilot Mithra excelled in accountancy Sidath did a bit of accountancy too before deciding to pursue his cricketing dreams After his cricket retirement he ended up in the clothing industry Mithra passed away earlier this yearSunil was a huge inspiration He was a fantastic opening batsman He played cricket for the sheer joy of it but the greatest inspiration was my father He built the first indoor cricket net in Sri Lanka for us to play cricket He got Bertie Wijesinghe who was one of the best coaches in the country to coach us in that indoor facility Dad was that crazy over cricket says Wettimuny before passing on some pearls Dad said Learn to play this game because it will teach you a lot about life He also said Play the game and play it clean Unfortunately he passed away the year before I captained my first XI team in 1974 at the age of 49A six for his girlfriend Wettimuny lived up to his fathers teachings but one day he forgot about his keep the ball along the ground advice Sri Lanka were playing England at Taunton in the 1983 World Cup His girlfriend was in England too and he told her if he sees her in the crowd hell hit a six And thats what happened He says Maybe I should not have done that We were not professional cricketers in that sense There was a lightness to which we played the game I think we had more fun playing the game than todays cricketers Maybe I did a crazy thing like that because I was enjoying the gameWettimuny may well arrive back home with a lump in his throat considering the recent terror attacks But as a batsman he knows that Sri Lanka needs to take fresh guardCatch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates