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| March 12, 2003 | Wednesday | Muharram 8, 1424 |
Wake up or go home, warns Whatmore
JOHANNESBURG, March 11: Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore lashed out at his squad on Tuesday, saying they had no one but themselves to blame for facing an early flight home.
“It is difficult to have sympathy for the boys when they play like that,” Whatmore thundered a day after Sri Lanka crashed to a humiliating 183-run defeat by India at the Wanderers on Monday.
The 1996 champions have all but bowed out of the tournament after losing their first two Super Six matches against reigning champions Australia and India.
Sanath Jayasuriya’s men must now not only win by a big margin against Zimbabwe at East London on Saturday, but also hope the results of the other matches go their way.
If New Zealand beat India, and Kenya defeat Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka may as well not play their last game.
“It’s a problem of our own making,” said Whatmore, the former Australian Test batsman who guided the Islanders to their World Cup triumph seven years ago.
“The boys got themselves into this situation and now they must get themselves out of it.
“We’ve had a talk about it already. We can assist all we can but they know that ultimately you win or you lose by what happens in the middle.
“We all take responsibility, but at the end of the day the ones that get the pats on the back or kicks up the bums are the guys in the middle.
“They’re going to have to really dig deep.”
Sri Lanka were completely outplayed on Monday as the fired-up Indians posted 292-6 after being surprisingly asked to bat and then shot out their rivals for 109 in just 23 overs.
“We were not on the same park,” Whatmore said. “We thought we had a little bit of fight in the previous game against Australia which I was hoping was going to rebound into this game.
“But boy, I was pretty wrong.”
Asked if there were any positives to emerge from the game, Whatmore said: “winning the toss I suppose.”
Sri Lanka have blown hot and cold during the last month, defeating New Zealand and the West Indies and forcing South Africa to a tie, while losing unexpectedly to Kenya.
Jayasuriya’s century against the Kiwis, Marvan Atapattu’s strokeful hundred against South Africa or Chaminda Vaas’ hat trick against Bangladesh with the first three deliveries of the match have receded to the background.
Left-armer Vaas remains the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 18, but has been overshadowed by the dismal performance against the Indians when four of the top five batsmen fell for ducks.
There was no respite for Mahela Jayawardene, one of Sri Lanka’s premier batsman, whose wretched form has given him just 16 runs in eight World Cup innings.
Jayasuriya raised eyebrows not only by electing to field in good batting conditions but also his decision to play the match itself.
He was clearly not fit to play after suffering a bruised left forearm and a broken thumb by Brett Lee in the previous match.
He went for 27 runs in three overs and scored just 12, but Jayasuriya was desperate to take part in a match.
“I am frustrated,” the inspirational captain said. “There was nothing wrong in fielding first but we lost because we did not bowl well and we did not bat well.”—AFP
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