THE LOWEST POINT – by Desmond Kelly

This”quote” does not come from this writer, in fact, it comes directly from Steve Smith, Captain of the present Australian Cricket Team, who has just lost a series of cricket, matches played “at home”, against South Africa. ” Losing the “test-series” against S.A., so comprehensively, both abroad and also “at home”, in Hobart, Tasmania is definitely the “low-point” of cricket” said the Australian Captain.,”not good enough”
he continued, I need players who will do better”, was Steve’s personal quote on the ABC morning news.

Sorry, Steve, you are the “Captain” of the Ship, and when the Ship goes down, the Captain is also just supposed to “go-down” with it & the rest of the crew. You are not supposed to “survive” & blame the rest of your crew for any disaster, whatsoever. If you were able to “save” your team in any shape, manner or form, it would be perfectly plausible for you to criticise one or more members of your “eleven”, but Steve, you were vulnerable yourself &, to tell you the fact, there is NO “Cricket Eleven” around (at the moment, anyway, that could beat South Africa, who played those last few matches WITHOUT their “Star bowler”),and still won.

All the “great” Cricket Teams, have won “tests” & then, lost some as well. This is the “name of the game”, any game. You win some, then lose some, but never forget the old “adage”, It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. Take one of the more recent Champion Cricket Combos (the triple “C”).

Practically unheard of, under-rated, unknown & nearly every other “un” in the business. Not because I initally came from Ceylon(now,Sri Lanka). BUT, until they WON the World Cricket Cup, a few years ago, this cricket team was not even considered to BE ONE, although they played the game as it should be played. They did not seem to give a damn as to whether they played superbly, as they often did, or lost “easy-games” to much “lesser” teams. When an umpire held up his finger to signal “out”, our batsmen, or most of them anyway, were already smiling, nodding their heads, as they always do, and walking to the pavilion.These people have boasted batsmen & bowlers who are in the “top three” in the World, a “wicket-keeper”& Captain of the team, in my day, H.I K. Fernando, who, with lightning speed “stumped” Don.Tallon (reputedly, the BEST Wicket-keeper on Earth, at the time) & got a conglatulatery tap & a smile from the great Don, for his feat. Personally, I am very proud of this particular incident because I was “Peterite”, H.I.K. was a “Peterite”& St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, was & is still the best College Cricket Combo in Lanka.

Getting back to Australian Cricket, There is no need for me to tell you that we have a superb cricket team in Australia. Right at this monent, we are going through, what I would term “a bad patch,” losing to “the better team on the day”, but it is’nt the end of the World, Steve,You, are a superb cricketer yourself and have already proved that on many occasions. You also have “fighting” team who, naturally, are feeling a little tired of WINNING every match played, now realize that there ARE other teams who could beat you sometimes.

Looking at it, from a business point of view also, I do think that your ticket-sales for cricket matches will decline markedly if Australia WINS every match played.
People will spend money to see a good EVEN game of cricket played and the “entertainment” from players from both sides, doing their damndest to perform as well as they possibly can. Forget the useless sledging, the “dirty” looks, especially from your bowlers, the “Managements” cutting & chopping players if & whenever they ( the players) ,have a bad day. This only causes a lack of confidence which is, more often than not, enacted on the field of play.

My personal message to Steve Smith is this.

Steve, if, as you say, Australian Cricket is at it’s lowest point, the only way now is “UP”. Go for it, mate. Win the next match. Never mind the fact that it is a “dead rubber”, go out and show the South Africans that thr Aussies are now “down” but not-out, to quote another cricket term. Give me something to look forward to, until the next “World-Cup” which is just around the corner, which, I also think, will be Sri Lanka’s turn to WIN, AGAIN!.

Desmond Kelly.
“Star of eLanka”.