CHENNAI: The writing was on the wall. Only a few days before the start of the ODI World Cup, they were bowled out for 50 runs in 15.2 overs by India at the Asia Cup final on their home turf in Colombo. The fact that Sri Lanka had to take the qualifying route to make it to the showpiece event was enough to predict their fate in the 10-team marquee tournament.
As the winners of the qualifying event, they entered the contest as the ninth-ranked side and were likely to finish in the same position. In that sense, the result is somewhat expected. But what made the matter worse for the 1996 champions was the manner of defeats they suffered. It all started with South Africa posting 428 against them, the highest total in the tournament’s history, and registering a 102-run win. The woeful campaign culminated with a five-wicket loss against New Zealand as the Kiwis achieved the target of 172 with 160 balls remaining.
In between, Sri Lanka managed two wins. The first came against the only associate nation in the tournament, Netherlands, while the second one was registered against the defending champions England. The latter might sound pleasing but given the equally disastrous campaign England had had, the result can hardly be termed a silver lining for the island nation.
Among the seven losses, the one that hurt them most was the 302-run defeat against the hosts wherein they were bowled out for 55 runs. It was this result that drew extreme reactions as the Sri Lanka government dismissed the SLC board and appointed an interim seven-member committee headed by former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga. The court though restored the SLC only for the parliament to unanimously pass a resolution, calling for the sacking of the board, with both the ruling and opposition parties supporting it on Thursday. The final nail in the coffin was the ICC Board’s decision to suspend the SCL’s membership on Friday.
With Bangladesh finishing eighth on the points despite losing to Australia by eight wickets in their last league match on Saturday, Sri Lanka’s hopes of qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy also got over. The tournament is scheduled in Pakistan and the top seven teams from the World Cup points table qualify for it. With hosts Pakistan set to finish in the top-7, the eighth team makes it to the knockout tournament.
The Island Nation has been a part of the World Cup since the first edition in 1975 winning the trophy in 1996 and finishing runners-up in 2007 and 2011. Since they were awarded Test status in 1981, the team has only grown in stature frequently outsmarting their more famed Asian counterparts India and Pakistan. Similarly, they have featured in all the past eight editions of the Champions Trophy, the first two of which were Wills International Cup and ICC KnockOut before being rechristened into the current format. Incidentally, Sri Lanka hosted the first tournament after it was given the name Champions Trophy and finished joint winners with India in 2002/03.
Soon after they won their maiden T20 World Cup beating India in the final in 2014, stalwarts like Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan started bidding adieu to the game creating a vacuum. “As soon as these players announced retirement, the slide began as the transition was not that smooth,” a senior Sri Lankan journalist noted. Adding further he said, “It’s not that this didn’t happen to other teams. It happened to Australia and India as well but they have groomed the successors well to replace the outgoing legends. But in Sri Lanka, that didn’t happen.”
A few years ago, the SLC gave first-class status to more than 10 clubs making the premier domestic tournament, which started featuring 26 clubs, a farce. The reasoning behind the move was that it would give more opportunities to fringe players and also make them first-class cricketers, which in turn qualify them for various leagues played in England and Australia. “The intention was good as these first-class cricketers then got a chance to earn more in England and Australia but it rendered first-class competition in the country ineffective. The league turned uncompetitive with even ordinary batters or bowlers making hay against weaker sides,” said another Sri Lankan journalist.
It’s not that the ill effects went unnoticed as the SLC decided to revert to the old format by demoting the lower-rung sides from 2022 and introducing a five-team provincial tournament, the National Super League, to restore competitiveness. But by then, the damage had been done.
When the teams were busy building their core groups for the World Cup, Sri Lanka either dropped or rested six senior cricketers including Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal two years ago. Mathews was eventually called back following Sri Lanka’s disastrous start to the tournament. Besides, the support staff of the national men’s team miserably failed to deliver the expected results.
