SLC wrong to axe Geoff Marsh?

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Published on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 19:30

Written by Sheraj Obeysekera

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Geoff Marsh was sacked from the role of coaching the Sri Lankan cricket team as a part of a major shakeup of the SLC set up last month. Many believe that Geoff Marsh had to pay an unfair prize for the poor performances of the Sri Lankan cricket team. This is some what justified by the comments of former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga who called the move the move “disgraceful” and “unprofessional”.

Sri Lanka now have had four different coaches since reaching the World cup finals in 2011.  The decision by the SLC would come as a surprise to the average cricket follower for the following reasons.

Marsh took charge of the team before the Pakistan tour which was played away from home in the Middle East. He only lasted one more series which was in South Africa before being given the boot. Both tours can be seen as tough assignments against arguably superior opponents under demanding away conditions. Therefore it is unclear if Marsh was granted a proper opportunity to showcase his coaching capabilities and develop the Sri Lankan team.

The biggest blip under his coaching stint would be seen as the Boland Park debacle in which Sri Lanka lost to South Africa by 258 runs after only scoring 43 with the bat. Under him the team faired poorly with the bat but against two massively impressive bowling attacks. First, against Saeed Ajmal and co the best spin attack in world cricket at present and then against the deadly trio Steyn, Morkel and Philander in their own back yard. One cannot help but wonder if any coach could have prevented these poor performances by the Lankans which were consistent even before Marsh took over.

It all depends on the expectations of SLC and the fans when the coach took over. Did they really expect the Lankans to come out of these tours with two wins? If not then what measured success or a good showing?

Marsh inherited a team that had lost back to back series against England and Australia, a team minus champion spin king Muttiah Muralitharan who was our strike force for ever so long, a team with a captain who had no confidence and frankly a team that needed re building. On top of these issues on the field there were issues off the field such as non payment of wages and in administration that arguably could have hindered the player’s performances. Hence it just does not make sense to expect Marsh to turn things around in an instant and establish the winning mentality that the Lions once had.

Having said that Sri Lanka did not perform incredibly badly in the two above mentioned encounters where they were competitive against an impressive Pakistani unit and notched up a historic first win against South Africa in a test match at Durban. Performances arguably, that should have been good enough to save Marsh from the sack and give him an opportunity to prove him self by leading the side to the current series in Australia.

Another factor that makes the decision even more questionable is the fact that Marsh was sacked right before Sri Lanka flew to his home land Australia for a series against India and Australia. Marsh clearly has sound knowledge of Australian conditions having played and coached in many parts of Australia and could have given crucial guidance as to how to tackle the Aussie conditions.

He also knows the Australian players well having worked with them as well as the Indian players having worked with a few of them in the Indian Premier league. Therefore in my eyes this would have been a perfect opportunity for SLC to test the capabilities of Marsh under conditions in which he should perform as a coach. Why marsh was given the axe before the series down under therefore does not make sense.

My best guess is that SLC felt the need to completely overhaul the system and listen to calls for change by individuals in cricketing circles and decided that Marsh was the most expendable. Changing coaching positions as a reaction to defeat is some thing that is not new to the world of sport and is seen around the world. It is also possible that Ford was seen as a cheaper alternative in a time where SLC needs to do all the cost cutting that it could do.

Sri Lankan cricket is in a stage of re building, therefore proper time and direction needs to be given to them team and those who run it for proper development and progress to be made. Changing coaches from time to time will only halt what ever progress made and add uncertainty. We could take a tip or two from the likes of Australia, England and South Africa who have had long term coaching stints and have seen their teams evolve and prosper over time.

Marsh’s replacement Ford is seen as a very capable coach and was once even targeted by India to fill in a coaching position. Ford replaced Bob Woolmer in 1999 as South African coach, a post he held till 2001 and was also in contention for the England coaching job in 2009.   Fans hope that Ford will be given a better opportunity to develop the current Sri Lankan team and put in place a winning set up that is capable of wining under all conditions. Realistically Sri Lanka Cricket is in a phase of re building and fans, authorities and all others concerned should be patient, should trust and be supportive of the system and players.

 

 

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