Natman20 said:
I sure don't want to see Sri Lanka again and wouldn't pay to see them as it would most likely turn out the way the recent tour did. I want India back since they havn't been here since 2002/03. A five year gap between tours to New Zealand is rediculous. The whole schedule is stuffed. New Zealand play Australia in VB series against Australia next year and the Chappel/Hadlee Trophy which is kind of stupid. Bring on the World XI idea again now thats something that I might watch. Like to see the likes of Bichel, Rhodes and Klusner come back again even though they failed miserably last time.
I would agree with you on that mate.
But SL are improving with lot of new faces being brought in at the same time (Tharanga, Mubarak, Vandort, Kulasekera ,Bandara ) causing a change and lack of experience and loss of confidance from an absolutely de-moralising Indian tour all contributed to recent poor tour to NZ. Having said that apart from the first ODI at Queenstown the Lankans did come close in the other three , So you have to agree that they were not totally crap.
The trouble with SL is they are playing a lot of teams away and as a result getting lot of results going against them, unlike some other teams which play home and away series intermingled, which gives them a chance to recover their confidance before their next away tour .
I hope that they are much improved before their next tour to NZ and then perhaps they can give you Kiwis a real run for your money !!
Honestly Mate, I think India feel their Economic Power in Cricket as a result of TV rights and other financial revenue is not reflected in the way they are treated in terms of tours and opposition they play. They want to be linked to Crickets Glory boys the Aussies , (and the recently rising fortunes of ) England , South Africa and (perhaps grudgingly with) Pakistan.
Mate , I know SL are crap at the moment , but we (NZ and SL) share similar fortunes in terms of Cricket over the years and I for one feel we have lot of cricketing similarities over the years (although you guys have greater,longer and somewhat richer history over the years).
And I feel happy that we have been pitted together , because we have a lot to offer each other (ie SL and NZ) . Forget the glory boys, we can rise from here , and you certainly have a very good chance of winning the World Cup in 2007 . Cheers.