Playing school cricket alone cannot win Sri Lanka an U19 World Cup

A school cricket match is in progress

• We need to have exposure at a higher level to be competitive says U19 head coach

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

It has been proved in no uncertain manner that playing school cricket alone is not going to win Sri Lanka an Under19 Cricket World Cup. 

Sri Lanka has participated in each and every U19 World Cup since 1988 and in 14 attempts their best efforts has been runner-up in 2000 when they hosted the tournament, and finishing twice in fourth place as losing semi-finalists in 2010 and 2016.

What the recently concluded Under19 Cricket World Cup has proved is that the players taking part in the tournament no longer depend on playing school cricket as the stepping stone to winning titles, it’s more than that, they also participate one notch higher by playing, club, state, grade, county or first-class cricket and carry that experience when they come to a tournament like the U19 World Cup.

Where Sri Lanka is falling behind other nations like India, England, Australia, Pakistan and even Bangladesh is that, the players picked to play in an Under19 World Cup have only the experience of playing school cricket behind them which is proving to be a big setback.

Following Sri Lanka’s exit from the quarter-final stage of the recently concluded U19 World Cup in the West Indies, head coach Avishka Gunawardene pointed out that the lack of playing cricket at a higher level than school cricket was not helping our young cricketers when it comes to the world stage.

“When it comes to the World Cup, that lack of experience in the middle shows. It’s not the ability but the exposure and experience of playing matches at a higher level that they need,” said Gunawardene after the team arrived from the Caribbean on Tuesday morning.

Sri Lanka finished overall in sixth position after losing a close quarter-final game to Afghanistan by four runs.

“We need to find a way to promote the school cricketers who stand out from the other guys, identify and push them to play in the clubs. There is an under 23 tournament starting shortly, at least for them to go and play in it which is a couple of notches higher. 

There is also a provincial (National Super League) tournament. If we can get two under19 players to get into the squads, even if they don’t play, being with other first-class cricketers will give them the experience. These are things that we need to discuss to find a way,” said Gunawardene.

Gunawardene stated that former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene who is the consultant coach for all national teams and was with the Sri Lanka side during their U19 World Cup campaign in the West Indies also shared the same sentiments. 

“It was the first time he had worked with the Under19 players and he also realised that we need that exposure at a higher level. Overall, it’s the system that we want to make a few changes to.”

“We will do a whole review of the World Cup tournament. Generally, it’s a two-year cycle, after this cycle the World Cup is over, then we have to start a new cycle for the next World Cup. We need to sit down and see how we are going to go about it in the next couple of years. 

This World Cup preparation was only for four months. We had to pick and choose from one provincial tournament because there was no school cricket at all,” said Gunawardene.

“For the moment these boys will go back to their schools and they will play their last season. Where we need to concentrate is on the next two-year cycle. There obviously will be a new lot of players. This unit has played as a team on the field and they gave their 100 percent. 

Off the field they have been together and we didn’t have a single issue. Credit should go to the management for keeping them together.”

Gunawardene had a word of praise for the captain Dunith Wellalage who led from the front being the leading wicket-taker of the U19 World Cup with 17 wickets and Sri Lanka’s leading run-getter with 264 runs. 

“He is still young, a baby for international cricket. Might be good captaincy material, especially how he handled the players off the field.”