The A.B.C. of Lankan Cricket

by Desmond Kelly; “the Star of eLanka”

Congratulations are in order to our Sri Lankan Cricketers, all. After beating South Africa, in South Africa, which wasn’t at all easy, their T20 “team” came to Australia, beat the Prime Minister’s “Eleven” which should not have happened because our P.M. seems to be having a rough time of it, off the field as well, then came to the M.C.G. in Melbourne to defeat the “home-side” in one of the closest T20 cricket matches I have ever seen. Right down to the “last” ball, with Lanka needing just one “run” to win, a boundary of 4 was hit, giving this “entertaining cricket team” another well-earned win.

It is “on purpose” that I will refrain from actually naming the gentlemen involved in the game that they love so much. Firstly, all their names seem to be so lengthy (these days), what happened to “Kalu” who kept wickets and helped Sri Lanka win the World-Cup a few years ago?, & shortened his name to help me minimize the risk of writer’s cramp,& secondly, the details of names, scores, averages etc., comes under the jurisdiction of my good mate, Trevine Rodrigo, who,being a top “Sports-Writer”, handles all this with great skill, for & on behalf of both eLanka & the Lanka Times.

Getting back to the game I watched last night. It has been quite a while since I last saw a game of cricket in this particular “format”. How things have changed! ?, Firstly, it was ONLY “Test-Cricket”, then Mr.Kerry Packer decided to bring in his own version of the game c/w much more colourful “uniforms” etcetera from which, followed ODIs (one-day Internationals) featuring 50 overs per side culminating in what was termed “The World Cup Of Cricket”. Incidentally, this is the “format” preferred not only by this writer, but most other Lankans too.

Not satisfied with the above, to make more money with a “slap, bang, thank you ma’am” type of the game (now called the T.20), Cricketing Boards around the World now reap the benefits of what was once a rather tedious, slow game of “Test-Cricket”, much more quickly.
Now, in addition to what was once primarily a “Man’s game”, Women have taken to “handling the willow”& carressing the leather ball (when they feel like it), which is very good because, in all cases, they LOOK so much better than any male “prima-donna” on the field.

What the hell has all this got to do with the A.B.C. of Cricket Kelly!?, stop the bloody digressing and get down to it.!. Well, this “article” is especially written for the Sri Lankan Cricketing Board.

You have a fine collection of superb Cricketers.

There is no doubt about it, but please, also remember that, if a “trophy” of any sort is handed over to one of our guys (as was done last night), they MUST,at least, be able to say “Thank you” in ENGLISH.

Sinhalese, as a language is very good, Sanscrit is even better, but outside the Colombo harbour or airport, it HAS to be remembered that ENGLISH is the TOP International Language and PROFESSIONALS, whether they be Politicians, Business-People, Sportsmen/women, Entertainers, or anyone, as a matter of fact, who are Sri Lankanese(my word, thanks), who have to face World- Media, MUST, at least, have a smattering of the English language to fall back on, if needed. When they were on the field and missed a couple of catches, I swore, in good Sinhala-kunuharapa. This would be quite o.k . for our boys while playing also, but like one or two of their ex-champions who have now “retired”, ALL of our Cricketers will have to learn to speak & understand simple English. Our “Champions” now travel all over the World, they are respected all over the World, but this respect would be even more magnified if they spend a bit more time (at home).learning, or being taught the A.B.C. of English. As “Lankan Cricketers” (with the KARU attitude), they will be unbeaten. Good luck with the next “World Cup” boys. Remember, courage is what you’re scared to do.
There can be no courage unless you’re scared.

Desmond Kelly.
“Star of eLanka”