Simon O’Donnell commented on radio that the Test Match will be over in two days. That made us determined. We had to ensure that we got more runs than them in the first innings. I tried to bat through as long as possible and it worked. I will never forget that knock. Drawing the game in Brisbane was a great achievement.

by Rex Clementine

Pic by Nishan. S. Priyantha.

With a tough Test series against Australia fast approaching, the hopes of a maiden Sri Lankan win in that country is quite high despite off the field cricket politics hitting its lowest ebb. With Shane Warne and Glen McGrath, two of Australia’s greatest bowlers retired, cricket enthusiasts are optimistic of Sri Lanka’s chances and the greatest batsman the country has produced, Aravinda de Silva, in a candid interview with ‘The Island’ said that if Sri Lanka failed to win in Australia this time, it would take them a long while to do so.

De Silva dominated Australia’s bowling attacks over the years and his average against them, both in Tests and ODIs, is significantly higher than that of his career average. His 167 in Brisbane in a drawn Test Match in 1989 is considered one of the best ever knocks by a Sri Lankan on foreign soil.

In this exclusive interview, de Silva speaks on a host of issues from what it takes to win in Australia to his experience in taking on their bowlers and the crowd behaviour down under. He also spoke on the dwindling standards of school cricket and on many other issues. Here are the excerpts:

Question:
There’s a lot of hope that Sri Lanka can record their maiden Test win on Australian soil this time around? What does this team have to beat Australia in Australia compared to the earlier Sri Lankan sides?

Answer:
Our bowling is our strong point. I feel we can give them a good run this time around. I just hope Murali will be 100 percent fit. Recent performances have given our attack confidence. You have to have variation in the attack to beat a team like Australia and I think we have that. The four bowlers we have are different to each other, which is very rare in a side. We have Lasith Malinga, who bowls at 140 kmph and then we have a technically correct swing bowler to exploit if there’s any swing in Vaas. We have a very good seam bowler, who can also use reverse swing to good effect bowling with change of pace and at different lengths. To top it all, this side has one of the greatest spinners ever to play the game and what else do you want.

Question:
A lot of people talk about Australia’s dominance of world cricket going down with the retirement of a few players last summer. You think they will continue to dominate?

Answer:
I always felt that teams dominate in cycles. With Warne and McGrath not there, they are going to struggle and it’s not going to be easy. It’s true that they are very competitive, but it’s not the same without those two guys. It’s got to happen sometime and it has happened now and we are lucky that we are the first to play them when they are unsettled. Winning in Australia is what every cricketer dreams of and we have a fantastic opportunity this time. If we don’t win it now, it’ll take us a long, long time.
Not only for Australia, it’ll be the same thing for us when our two premier bowlers Murali and Vaas leave. We must have back up. We must make sure that we get the best of Murali before he leaves and beating Australia in Australia won’t be that easy without Murali. When you compare the two sides, we have the edge. It’s going to be one of the most watched series in a long time.

Question:
You spoke about replacing players like Murali and Vaas. Can you ever replace a player like Murali?

Answer:
He’s a freak. Everyone said that there won’t be a replacement for Gavaskar in India when he retired and Sachin came along and changed everything. You never know. There might be one guy somewhere among the millions. It’s true that it’s hard to replace him, but we need to explore to unearth the talent.

Question:
Murali is approaching the World Record and there could be a hostile reception for him in that country. How should he cope with the crowd taunts?

Answer:
Murali shouldn’t worry about anything and he should just go there and perform. The only way to hit back at the hostile reception that you get there is by performing well and we know he’s capable of it.

Question:
How did you cope with hostile reception?

Answer:
The player should know to use the crowd taunts as a sort of a motivation. If there is sort of any bad reception or bad things said about the player or the team, that should make him do better. When there were things said to me, it certainly helped me to do better.

Question:
Who’s going to be the key in batting?

Answer:
It’s very hard to say this guy or that guy. Batting is a joint effort. Our top four are experienced and someone like Sanath has done well in Australia. After the top four, five, six and seven play supportive roles.

Question:
How are the Australian pitches? Have they changed considerably since you toured there first in 1983.

Answer:
That’s something that even Murali spoke with me the other day. I have played there since 1983 or even before with the Under-19 side. Since about 2001, I think the wickets changed considerably in Australia. The wickets in early 1980s and after 2001, I just can’t explain the difference.
Perth for example, I had never seen a wicket there without any grass. The ball never spins there, but in 2001 it spun. Unbelievable! They are probably trying to make it even for both batters and bowlers and make the games to last for five days and score lot of runs. But I don’t think that’s the right way. Fast bowlers are going to get disheartened.

Taking on the fastest bowlers is something very interesting and exciting. When you hook a bowler of the caliber of Dennis Lillee and take him on, it’s a real thrill. Something I really enjoyed was someone like Sir Viv Richards taking on bowlers like Lillee. I hardly see those sorts of challenges now. Wickets are too flat and batsmen have a free hand. It doesn’t look a great fight anymore. Someone like Sir Viv would have murdered the bowlers if he played on present day wickets.

Question:
Sri Lanka will be playing the first Test at Brisbane. You have some fantastic memories of that ground. Tell us about that 167 which was one of your unusual innings as you batted for almost 500 minutes to save the Test.

Answer:
Oh, it was long time back. Simon O’Donnell commented on radio that the Test Match will be over in two days. This was after we had performed badly in a three-day game against Victoria. We had to ensure that we got more runs than them in the first innings and we did that. I tried to bat through as long as possible and it worked perfectly. That was a memorable game.

Question:
But you stamped your authority in Australia in 1984. Remember that unbeaten 46 that you made to take the team home in a thrilling one-day game at Melbourne that Sri Lanka won. Chasing 227, you finished it off with four balls to spare.

Answer:
Why not. I remember Roy (Dias) was in top form in that series. We were cruising to victory in that game and suddenly I ran out Roy. I couldn’t believe it. From thereon, it was a case of making sure we won the game. Every single time I faced someone, I was determined not to make a mistake. We won a thrilling game. If we had lost the game, it would have been not too pleasant to go back to the dressing room. Being part of a victorious side is a great feeling and you don’t get a better experience than beating Australia in Australia.

Question:
Recently, Shane Warne had said that the Australian team would spend more time in discussing how to dismiss you than the whole team and all their plans came back to square-one during the game. That must be a big complement?

Answer:
It’s so nice to hear that from Warney. He was mentally very strong. It wasn’t easy to go after him. There had been a few battles and I must say that his mental confidence was something that I admired a lot.

Question:
You had recently said that the team is depending too much on the senior players. Do you see any young talented batsmen coming through?

Answer:
I see a lot of batting talent, but I don’t know whether they are mentally prepared. What they need is a lot of talking. You need to explain situations to them and how to bat in different conditions and how to adapt and change gears according to the situation.
That’s lacking in most guys. One of the best examples I can think of is Tillekeratne Dilshan. I feel he’s such a talented cricketer, but he just needs a little bit of guidance. That announcement made during the ODIs that he’s dropped from the Test side made a big difference because the pressure was entirely off and he was up for it. Up to that point, he was playing to get picked as his place was under threat. As soon as the team is announced, he thinks there’s nothing to lose and plays his natural game. Hea great fielder and a real fighter. I expected them in the last ODI against England to experiment a bit. They could have probably opened with Dilshan instead of Dilruwan Perera, just to see how he would perform up the order. His style of play is not geared to any situation. He goes and plays the ball on its merit. He wouldn’t change his game to the condition. A player like that needs to be played up in the order. You don’t want a player like Dilshan to take those risks in the middle order with a few wickets down.

Question:
But in your days, you guys walked into the national side straight from the school. Why is it not happening now?

Answer:
The biggest reason is coaches. Players like Arjuna, Roshan (Mahanama), Asanka (Gurusinghe) and so many others were coached by the best coaches in the country at that time. The reason why we don’t have that kind of players coming into the national side is because the level of coaching knowledge is far lower than what it should be.
I was trying to change the system when I was at the board. A lot of people didn’t like it, but that’s one of the major issues we have at the moment. If we don’t address the issue right now, we are going to have a major crisis in the future.

I had Mr. W.A.N. Silva and Mr. Charlie Warnakulasuriya. They were the coaches handling national teams at that time. At under-11 level, we knew what was taught at the national level and what was required at the national level. Arjuna and the others benefited from coaches like Mr. Nelson Mendis and Mr. Lionel Mendis, who had produced some top players like Sidat Wettimuny, Bandula Warnapura and many others.

Those coaches taught us the finer points of the game and that paid off. I remember going for an extra class to Mr. W.A.N. Silva on Sundays. Some of the things that we learnt at school level, I don’t think some of these guys are learning or hearing at the national level now. So, it takes them time and by that time half of their career is over.

Question:
Have you got any involvement with the board at the moment? (Aravinda de Silva was unceremoniously thrown out of the Cricket Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket soon after the Interim Committee took over the cricket board in 2005.)

Answer:
Only yesterday I got a call from the board asking me to come and give my thoughts on the Provincial Cricket Tournament. They apparently want to start the Provincial Tournament. My dream was to make that a success and I am glad that the players are asking for it again. Some of the players admitted that was the best tournament they played in.

Question:
There’s a lot written and said on Marvan Atapattu, a former captain and one of your fellow teammates. What’re your thoughts on the fiasco that has unfolded?

Answer:
Those are too controversial for me to even talk of. I really don’t know what happened exactly until I read in the papers a couple of days back. Every player has this kind of issues. I have had numerous issues. At times, selectors don’t even consult players. I think when a player reaches a certain age or when he has achieved certain things, the selectors need to be careful.
Not to be intimidated, but to have some sort of dialogue. During my time, guys like Hashan (Tillekeratne), Roshan and Asanka got raw deals. I don’t think they were treated properly. In my case, I was left out after being Man of the Series against Australia. If you are looking for the future, that’s fine, but the main thing is to make sure that the players, especially the top players, don’t leave with a bad taste. They should be able to come back and contribute something for the game.