27.11.2007
by Rex Clementine

Pic by - Johann Jayasinha (SNNI)

It would not have been a very wise decision for umpire Rudi Koertzen to walk on the streets of Kandy during the first Test Match between Sri Lanka and England, after the South African stunned the entire nation by erroneously declaring Sri Lanka’s vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara out when he was cruising to his seventh double hundred. With Sri Lanka trying hard to stay in the game, umpire Koertzen made a blunder by giving Sangakkara out when he was on 192. But Koertzen received magnanimous support from the victim himself when Sangakkara admired the umpire’s humility after returning home.

"International umpires are not required to come and apologize when they make a mistake. I thought it was a nice gesture on Rudi’s part to come and have a chat and we moved on. I thought Rudi had an excellent game and he’s a very good umpire. He’s been one of the top three umpires over the last two years and as a team we respect him a lot and have a good rapport with him. It’s so nice of him to come and have a chat and it’ll be nice if as players we too show some humility which will go a long way," Sangakkara told ‘The Island’ yesterday.

Koertzen was blamed by cricket enthusiasts all over the country for denying Sangakkara his third successive double hundred in Test cricket. Supporters conveniently ignored the fact that Koertzen is one umpire who has not been afraid to uphold leg before appeals by Muttiah Muralitharan when he bowled the doosra.

Incidentally, the International Cricket Council has withdrawn Koertzen from officiating the first two Tests between Sri Lanka and England with no specific reason given.

Only Walter Hammond (07), Brian Lara (09) and Sir Don Bradman (12) have scored more double hundreds than Sangakkara, who was well set to become the first Sri Lankan to score a double hundred against the Australians.

"It was very disappointing and I knew I was very close. I was down afterwards and there were lot of sympathy in the dressing room. You have to look at it in a practical way and that’s how the game goes. It has happened to batsmen who are better than me," Sangakkara said philosophically.
Although no team has chased 507 runs to win a Test Match, when Sangakkara fought it out gallantly with number ten Lasith Malinga, there were hopes of history being made at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. "We were quite a bit away at that time. As long as we had wickets in hand, anything could have been possible. It would have been amazing had we pulled it off. I thought it was a gutty performance from Lasith, who showed a lot of character along with Murali," he said.

Sangakkara rated the 192 among his very best and emphasized the key to success is hard work. "I would say my effort in Hobart is on top of the list, but one or two knocks at the beginning of my career rank alongside the effort in Hobart. After I got to about 80 everything just started happening. I hope this is not the best phase of my career as everything will be downhill if this is my best moment. I am certainly happy with my form and I have a long way to go and I will keep on working to improve my game.

He also felt that Sri Lanka should get three Tests against oppositions like Australia.

"It’s disappointing to play just two Tests. India is playing four Tests and with the current pedigree of Sri Lankan cricket, we should get more. We have the quality in our side and we can prove that in any arena and the administrators should look at providing more opportunities," he said.