Former World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga accused Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) of being too greedy for money and pointed out it could also jeopardize the team chances of winning next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
Ranatunga made these comments during a Cricket Talk Show in Colombo held on Monday which was organized by the New Zealand High Commission to mark the 100-day countdown for the biggest cricketing event in the world. The Sri Lanka cricket team has hurriedly organized a tour to India for a five-match one day series after the West Indies called off their tour abruptly due to a dispute with their board.
“We are playing too much of cricket before the World Cup. What I heard is that we will be playing over 19 One Day Internationals within the next four months in addition to a couple of Test matches as well”.
“I doubt whether we are in excess of cricket and I personally feel that it should have been about 12-15 matches maximum but that’s how the board feels that they need to have more money rather than keeping the players on comfort zone” said Ranatunga.
The former middle order batsman also believed that the senior players will need to take up the responsibility and play a dominant part if Sri Lanka is to make an impact in the World Cup.
“We have three senior cricketers in the side Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillekeratne Dilshan whose services will be very important to the team in this World Cup”.
“For me this will be their last World Cup. I am sure they are very keen to perform well and to win a major tournament. The only issue we see is that whether we had picked the right team and the right combination”.
Ranatunga also stated that the 1996 World Cup winning team was totally committed towards the game and they were able to produce more than one hundred per cent on the field.
“We were suffering from a war at that time and I thought we had to build up our image with a good performance on the field and I still believe the 13 players who played in the 1996 World Cup were the most patriot people I have ever seen in the country”.
“We had the best batting line up and the most experienced bowling attack during that time and I still believe we also had the services of one of the world’s best ever batsman to emerge Aravinda de Silva who was the vice captain, who was so committed towards the side to give something back to the country”.
