Atapattu Slams Selectors

[bond21]

lol calling them muppets...

why doesnt he just call them jackaninnies? they would be far more insulted.

 

[Richard]

Think Tharmi has hit the nail closest to its head here. There are many problems, and selectors are not the only ones, however much they may be the easiest targets.

 

[Richard]

What did he mean by 'Muppetts"? Is that slang for something in SL or are we talking Miss Piggy?

It's actually British slang as far as I know...I heard it a fair bit over there.

Yep. Never heard the term from someone originating from outside these isles before now.

 

[JBH001]

Its used in NZ a bit - at least on some of the forums I frequent, if not in real life.

Dont have time to go into the Atapattu issue, but one thing about JASON's remarks about Bayliss. It is too early to judge the man - and the chances that the SL team dropped (barring perhaps Marvan's drop of Hussey) were harder than the chances dropped by the Australians. Are we now to presume that it is all Nielsen's fault that fielding standards have declined?

 

[JASON]

I find it utterly incongruous that you can attribute Mahela Jayawardene dropping a catch to there being a change of coach.

Its not just that catch there were a total of 4 or 5 dropped...of which that one and another one dropped in the slips were the easier of the lot....It's just a general trend of the fielding...especially even the ground fielding on the second moring and afternoon...things got very casual... you pick up these changes quite quickly when you follow your country closely...a general change in attitude...Penney was getting them close to perfect ...but now they have dropped back to the general subcontinental standard...lazy , laid back...

 

[Athlai]

Its used in NZ a bit - at least on some of the forums I frequent, if not in real life.

Dont have time to go into the Atapattu issue, but one thing about JASON's remarks about Bayliss. It is too early to judge the man - and the chances that the SL team dropped (barring perhaps Marvan's drop of Hussey) were harder than the chances dropped by the Australians. Are we now to presume that it is all Nielsen's fault that fielding standards have declined?

My brother says it a lot as did his friends in Otago, not totally uncommon.

 

[skipper]

 

[JASON]

 

[JASON]

And the Joker .....

 

[JASON]

And more Muppets....

 

[chaminda_00]

Its not just that catch there were a total of 4 or 5 dropped...of which that one and another one dropped in the slips were the easier of the lot....It's just a general trend of the fielding...especially even the ground fielding on the second moring and afternoon...things got very casual... you pick up these changes quite quickly when you follow your country closely...a general change in attitude...Penney was getting them close to perfect ...but now they have dropped back to the general subcontinental standard...lazy , laid back...

Really it has little to do with the coach and more to do with indiviuals in squad. Just look through some of the players missing from this side that played in the World Cup side; Arnold, Dilshan, Sangakkara and Tharanga. Then look at the players they got replaced with Vandort, Samaraweera, Atapattu and Prassana. Apart from replacing Prassana and Sangakkara they lost in terms of both catching and generally fielding in all those players. Arnold and Dilshan are two of best fielders we have had over the last decade. Vandort and Samaweera are two worst slips fielders in world cricket. Its the players that have brough down the standard of fielding not the coach. Yeah i'm sure Penney might have got a bit more out of them, but i'm sure those guys would have still dropped catches and made plenty of mis-fields. There is only so much a coach can do with so little resources.

 

[Lostman]

Thought this would be a timely bump, since the original joker is back.
Link
Attapattu is the batting coach now, good times ahead.

Ashantha de Mel, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler, has been named the chairman of the country's new selection panel, which replaced the one headed by Duleep Mendis. The appointment, made by the sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, could be the first in a series of changes in Sri Lankan cricket, which could include the axeing of the coach Geoff Marsh and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan after the poor performance in South Africa.

Don Anurasiri, Amal Silva and Hemantha Wickramaratne are the other members of the new selection committee, which has a one-year term. Although the tenure of Mendis' panel was going to end in February, the appointment of the new panel will come into effect on January 20.

Anurasiri is the only member from the old committee, but de Mel and Silva have served as selectors before. Wickramaratne, a left-hand batsman who played in three ODIs in the early nineties, is new to the role.

Mahela Jayawardene is also likely to be asked to take over the captaincy from Dilshan after the South Africa tour. When asked in Kimberley, on the eve of the fourth ODI, whether he would accept the offer, Jayawardene said, "I will have to think about it. I will need some time."

The news about the selection committee came less than two hours after Aluthgamage denied a report in the Daily Mirror, a Sri Lanka newspaper, that changes to the committee, captain and national coach would be made. "No decision has been taken so far to replace or to change the selection committee and the management of Sri Lanka Cricket or the captaincy of the Sri Lankan cricket team," he had said in a statement.

Aluthgamage, however, said it was the "responsibility of the Sri Lankan government and the Sports Ministry" to take "stern and appropriate action" to ensure Sri Lanka becomes "the number one team in the world." Upali Dharmadasa, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket, has already been asked to submit a report to the ministry on the team's poor performances since the 2011 World Cup.

Sri Lanka struggled since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan in July 2010, winning just one Test over the last 18 months, though that was a historic maiden victory in South Africa. They have also lost one-day series against England, Australia, Pakistan and now South Africa after being runners-up in the World Cup.