It's not winning or losing that matters. The way Sri Lanka lost is something that you cannot easily forget. 96 for 9 wickets chasing a total of 130, with about 15 overs left, and, still, the Sri Lankan bowlers could not dislodge the last pair. This shows that our bowling is thin. We had about six Test caps in the team, but there performance was disappointing.
Aviskha Gunewardane and Malintha Warnapura, were undoubtedly the pick of the tour. Warnapura, who was not selected for the youth tour of South Africa in early Feb-March gave a good account of himself by capturing 2 for 14 and accounted for two brilliant run outs in the semi-finals. This boy is good material for the future.
What really went wrong in the semi-finals? Batting was a flop. At one time we were so near to the silver. Hashan finished the quota of spinners early. He would have thought he could have finished the game by using them continuously. This backfired. To captain a team is the most difficult assignment you can think of, as he is responsible for the entire team and their management Tillekeratne's batting failure too must have affected his decisions on the field. Even talented players make mistakes.
South Africa's last pair Boje and Dawson's unbeaten 35 runs partnership was a lesson for the Sri Lankans. They showed that guts, determination are two things that can turn defeat into victory.
``Epasinghe, please tell the press not to overrate these boys. Sometimes it goes to their heads. As Minister at that time, I told my friends. You can write and speak well, but do not over do it''. These words of wisdom were uttered by not a lesser person than Mr. K. B. Ratnayake, Speaker, when he made the key_note address as the chief guest at my ``Ma Dutu Cricket Lowa'' - book launch held on October 6, 1997 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. Former Hartley College captain and cricketer par-excellence who lead ten Tamil boys on to the cricket field knew what he was talking about. Today, I feel that the media is overdoing it. You cannot rest on your part laurels. Now it's time to concentrate on the game, practice hard and look towards a better future.
Sometime back, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka started a ``Spinners Clinic'' and I remember that Lalith Kaluperuma and D. S. de Silva played a vital role in this. The need for ``pace-bowling'' and ``fielding clinics'' are the need of the hour.
No doubt that the new coach Roy Dias and manager Ranjit Fernando have done a tremendous job in building up the Sri Lanka team to greater heights. What we need is to tap and unearth resources in the outstation through some of our top past cricketers. I am sure if they are invited, they will be only too glad to help the Cricket Board. Roy and Ranjit will not be able to go into the outstations for talent scouting. That should be done in the outstation by someone else, and if they are good, Roy and Ranjit can take over.