By Channaka de Silva reporting from England
World cricket may not have heard the last of the recent “Mankad” incident at Edgbaston which will reverberate over the next few years and could force Sri Lanka to eat further dust in the global game now dominated by the jungle law perpetrated by the Big Three under the guise of promoting cricket.
Sources said that there is a strong likelihood of England sending a second string-squad sans their star players for the seven-match ODI series to be hosted by Sri Lanka at the end of this year in a tit-for-tat move for the “Mankad” that has not gone down well with the players as well as the officials of conservative minded England Cricket Board.
An England tour is a much looked-forward-to cash earner for the financially down Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), and its English counterpart has already hatched a plot to hit the Sri Lankans where it hurts most, sources added.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has already planned a perfect excuse also for the move and would claim that they would not want to risk their key players to injury just ahead of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup starting on February 14 in Australia and New Zealand.
England are scheduled to tour Sri Lanka from November 21 to December 16 and are scheduled to play four of the seven ODIs at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, which offers conditions that are a world away from what could be expected at the World Cup, and would obviously not be seen by anyone with cricket knowledge as ideal preparation for England’s World Cup campaign.
Sources added that players from the two teams had exchanged a few unpleasant words after the match at Edgbaston and the acrimony seemed set to continue. While England players were furious about Sri Lankans pulling off the Mankad, Sri Lankan players were angry at reporting star bowler Sachithra Senanayake for a suspect action, though England players or the Board did not play a direct part in it.
Skipper Angelo Mathews and Mahela Jayawardene both referred to how reporting of bowling actions only happened in “certain parts” of the world, clearly referring to the fact that playing in England was a reason for Senanayake being reported.
Sources also said that ECB had communicated their displeasure directly to SLC top officials over the “Mankad” incident and had indicated about the action they might consider in return. SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga however denied it saying he was unable to comment as he had not received such information.
An SLC source said that Sri Lanka would suffer for a long time unless relations with ECB, one of the Big Three in the International Cricket Council (ICC) is repaired immediately as getting tours for countries with less economic strength is at the mercy of the financially stronger countries.
ICC decided recently to do away with the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and conduct bi-lateral tour as arranged by the two teams.
The present situation has the potential to lead England to avoid offering any bi-lateral tours and even the possibility of no tours from India and Australia, the two other Big Three members as a mark of solidarity.
“This can effectively mark Sri Lanka’s end in cricket world. It is jungle law in cricket today, and there is no room to make powerful countries unhappy, on or off the field” said the source.
Sri Lanka Cricket has today confirmed the itinerary for the England tour to Sri Lanka in November and December 2014. The itinerary will comprise seven One-Day Internationals and two warm-up matches with the tour starting and finishing in Colombo.
However SLC top officials are likely to discuss the matter further during the ICC Annual Conference to be held next week in Melbourne, Australia while most of the SLC top men are also scheduled to be in London for the First Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday.
Interestingly, guardians of the cricket laws MCC cleared Sri Lanka of violating the spirit of cricket.
“It is an emotive issue, but Jos Buttler transgressed a law of cricket and the club would not say the run out was against the spirit of cricket,” an MCC spokesman had told a British Newspaper.
“The bowler gave a very clear warning and as I understand it the issue was also raised during the previous game at Lord’s. In this instance of ‘Mankading’, the Sri Lankans have not transgressed the laws and it is not against the spirit of cricket to uphold a law of cricket.”
“The law is pretty clear – It is an unfair advantage to be out of the crease,” the spokesman had added.
The ICC Cricket committee also came in support of the actions of Sri Lankans yesterday with a statement.
“The cricket committee believes that a non-striker should be deterred from leaving his or her crease before the time the bowler normally delivers the ball,” the committee’s statement said. “It did not support a formal warning being introduced prior to a bowler being eligible to run out a non-striker, but it did support the view expressed by some captains that the umpires shouldn’t ask the captain whether he wanted the appeal to stand before making a final decision. The law strikes a sensible balance between preventing a batsman from gaining an advantage, whilst at the same time preventing the bowler from unfairly seducing the batsman into leaving his crease by faking to deliver and then holding on to the ball,” read the statement.
Meanwhile Lahiru Thirimanne who is captaining the visiting team in their four day tour match against Northamptonshire added more fuel to the media fire by claiming that theywould not hesitate to “Mankad” an England batsman in teh forthcoming Test series too. Asked if Sri Lanka would do it again, Thirimanne replied: “Yes, if he’s taking unfair starts, we’ll warn him, warn twice and after that…”
SLC meanwhile issued a media release yesterday giving the days of the England’s tour. Following are the dates.
Fri 21 Nov 1st warm-up v SL A (Day) Sinhalese Sports Club,Colombo
Sun 23 Nov 2nd warm-up v SL A (Day) Tamil Union (Oval), Colombo
Wed 26 Nov 1st ODI (Day/Night) RPICS Colombo*
Sat 29 Nov 2nd ODI (Day) RPICS Colombo*
Wed 3 Dec 3rd ODI (Day/Night) Hambantota
Sat 6 Dec 4th ODI (Day) RPICS Colombo *
Wed 10 Dec 5th ODI (D/N) Pallekelle *
Sat 13 Dec 6th ODI (Day) Pallekelle *
Tue 16 Dec 7th ODI (D/N) RPICS Colombo