Top Spin by Sunny for LankaWeb

Feb.9th 2024

As the cricket world turns in Sri Lanka there is another misconceived choice which has surfaced where the Sports Minister Harin Fernando has promoted the entry of another unknown entity in international cricket who has never played for his country which is not only eyebrow-raising but mind-boggling.

In another circumspect scenario of events taking place in Sri Lanka Cricket already criticized heavily by the ICC, two of the best country’s white balls spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahesh Theekshana are due to take lessons from a  relatively unknown Australian by the name of Craig Howard who never played for his country and whom most followers in the Island have never heard of. So what is this decision one wonders? Some speculative venture by the cash-strapped SLC who just recently had a suspension by the ICC lifted for political interference and mismanagement. Is this some kind of recompense for this, one wonders albeit unlikely as misguided ventures seem part and parcel of the SLC lately which has reduced the organization to a shambles. The sad stats are there to prove it.

The news that Howard has been contracted for a two-year period from February 1, 2024 and coaching the world’s third and fourth-best ranked spin bowlers Theekshana and Hasaranga how to bowl seems a joke considering how efficient the two bowlers are but strangely enough, the one off Test against Afghanistan conluded recently was an immense success with another bowler Prabath Jayasuriya taking the main honours with no Howard waving him on – case in point!.

A curious item in a recent news report which suggests that  “Sri Lanka Cricket thinks Howard is just the man that the team needs at a time two of the world’s best two spin bowlers  Muttiah Muralidaran and Rangana Herath who beleaguered and bamboozed practically every batsman in the world have been grabbed by other countries much to their liking rather than linger to work for what has become the world’s most internally politicized cricket administration” says it all and a poor reflection of the state of affairs within Sri Lanka Cricket and the desperation some of its policy makers seem to be in.

Despite Howard’s credentials as a level 3 coach in Australia the necessity or justification to hire him as spin coach for already accomplished players such as Hasaranga and Theekshana among the rest of them like Wellalage, another accomplished player while in all probabilities coughing up a huge amount of money from the SLC coffers as salary seems like a truly wasted effort and a ludicrous decision where the money could have been put to better use and spared Sri Lanka Cricket the ignominy of being classified as a  disoriented setup reaching for desperate measure and an organization clutching at straws  to right her ship which has been mismanaged over the years and continues to do so.