Sri Lanka It's Happening

October 16, 2005

Much has been said about the ICC world XI vs Australia Cricket tournament but I cannot help adding my two cents. Writers far more knowledgable than yours truely have already written many a column about the exclusion of Kumar Sangakkara from the test team and the poor choice of captain for the world XI so let's leave those topics untouched.

Let's comment on the exclusion of Chaminda Vaas from the one day side. It is true that even on a good day Vaas may not be able to take as many wickets as Mkaya Ntini or Shoaib Aktar. Then again don't forget that Vaas holds the record for the best bowling figures ever in a one day match. Surely even on a bad day Vaas will be able to bowl more economically than any of the world eleven bowlers on show (save Murali).

What about the batting? judging by past performances Vaas would have outscored any batsman in the lower half of world XI line up. If he had played in this particular tournament he would have easily outscored even Lara and Kallis.

Many say the reasons the world XI failed so badly is because they failed to motivate themselves since they are not playing for their country. If truth be told many of the players on show never play for their country but only play for money. (Example: Contract Dispute between West Indian players and cricket board).

If money is the factor then the world XI should have found plenty of motivation in the huge prize on offer. They didn't. That obviously means they are not as good as their fans and biased journalists make them out to be. Of the just concluded one day series only Murali, Vettori and Sangakkara came out with their reputations intact.

At the time of writing they are performing the last writes on the test match. Flintoff seems to be the only player to emerge from that debacle with the reputation in tact. Even Murali and Vettori have not done themselves and their fans proud.

Posted by raditha at October 16, 2005 10:40 AM