Legendary Sanga gives vital tips to our women cricketers

Kumar Sangakkara stresses a point to the women cricketers

 Ahead of T20 World Cup in England 

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Kumar Sangakkara, an iconic figure in world cricket provided some useful tips to the Sri Lanka Women cricketers before they embarked on their journey to England to take part in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

Sangakkara who is part of the nine-member Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee headed by Eran Wickramaratne addressing the women cricketers said that one of the important points to remember when participating in a World Cup is the purpose of what you are going to achieve in the tournament.

“You have a coach, a captain and a vice-captain, a team with a leader, all of them must go with one purpose of what you are going to achieve. When you are going to a World Cup of this nature we should specially remember that we are second to none.”

“If you take the team, you must be very proud that we beat England in England in 2023 which is something that we had not done before. Then in 2024 we won the Asia Cup. I watched it from England, it was an excellent victory. If you can take confidence from what I’ve just said, our team can compete with any team in the world because we have beaten some strong teams,” said Sangakkara when the SLC Transformation Committee met the women cricketers of the National, Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Under19 teams contracted by SLC

“Secondly, you must have a clear understanding of your ability. A team must have a belief amongst the players and the decisions that you take must be strongly backed up by trust and a sense of togetherness. The biggest difference in sports is ability. It’s through one’s ability that you get selected. With that only, the rest falls into place.”

“In England you have to acclimatise yourselves to the conditions, after that only you can fulfil your obligations towards the team’s requirements. We say pressure, everyone has that. If you can break the pressure down to just one ball at a time it is very easy to make up your mind on how to face up to each delivery.”

Speaking on how to deal with pressure, Sangakkara said, “If you can concentrate on what should be done if you’re batting, bowling or fielding at that particular moment, then it is easy to handle pressure.”

“If you can keep the batting, bowling and fielding to your maximum and plan against your opponents and play to your strengths, you can make a big change and win. You’ve got to have that confidence. Other than that, I don’t have anything else to say to you because all of you are experienced cricketers. You have brought special honour to the nation in the past and I am confident that you will be able to repeat that success in the future.”

Sidath Wettimuny, another past Sri Lanka cricketer of repute spoke on discipline.  

“The most important thing we expect from you is discipline. When you go on a tour to England the entire nation’s eyes are focused on you, so you must live up to that expectation and do something good for the country,” said Wettimuny.

“You cannot play cricket without discipline. Cricket is a way of life which means through sports you must learn how to get on with your life. Don’t break the sports discipline.”

Roshan Mahanama, a former Sri Lankan cricketing stalwart also stressed on discipline.

“In my book, if you want to become a national cricketer, discipline and fitness are most important. You must know your own fitness, not wait for others to tell you what to do. During our playing time there wasn’t any fitness trainer or anyone we did the fitness all by ourselves. We either ran on the road or on the beach. This is a game of disciplines, technique is important, and you must be able to improve your skills through hard work.”

Wickramaratne addressed the women cricketers and praised the players for their dedication and hard work. He assured the Transformation Committee would work towards women’s cricket receiving the same level of attention, opportunities and support afforded to men’s cricket.

Other members of the Transformation Committee along with women’s national team head coach Jamie Siddons were also present.

Sri Lanka plays Pakistan in a warm-up game of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Derby today.

SLC Transformation Committee Chairman 

Eran Wickramaratne chats with Sri Lanka Women’s cricket captain Chamari Athapaththu  

Roshan Mahanama has a chat with Manudi Nanayakkara in the presence of women’s national cricket selector Uvaisul Karnain