SL Chief Selector recommends psychologist after final defeat

Another man who has gone through the miseries of losing World Cup finals is Chairman of Selectors Ashantha de Mel, and he has suggested that administrators should look at employing the services of a psychologist for the national cricket team, after Sri Lanka suffered their fourth straight loss in an ICC event last Sunday at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

The hosts had cruised into the final of the World T-20 against the West Indies and looked set to win their first major cricket title since the 1996 World Cup, but they crumbled under pressure in dramatic style, as they were bowled out, chasing 138.


"Perhaps, we should look at bringing in a psychologist to prepare people better. Toady, some teams have a motivator among their support staff. We have to look at it seriously, but whether Sri Lanka Cricket has the finances is a different matter," de Mel told ‘The Island’ yesterday.

The former paceman was part of Sri Lanka’s campaigns in 2007 in the Caribbean, where they lost the final to Australia and when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the 2009 World T-20, he was the Chairman of Selectors. The only final where he was not part of the system was during last year’s World Cup in Bombay.

"Tactically, during the final, we let their part time bowlers bowl and get away. We should have gone after their part timers. Marlon Samuels bowled his four overs for 15 runs and Gayle bowled a couple of decent overs. Even if you lose a few wickets, it doesn’t matter, you should go for it. They slowed it down after Dilshan got out and then panicked when it started drizzling and there were two unnecessary run outs."
"We could have kept them to 110, no doubt, but having said that, there’s no reason why we should not have chased 138. We should have set about it the right way. Slowing things down and trying to catch up is not going to help and in the end we panicked," de Mel added.

"Another thing that I have noticed is that we win most games prior to the finals, and when that happens, the chances of getting a bad game is more."

Sri Lanka had won five games prior to the final and their only loss in the competition was against South Africa in a rain curtailed group game. "I would say that we had a good competition. The same thing happened to us in England where we won seven games in a row and then we lost the final. This time, we were the only team to win all three of our Super Eight games."

De Mel also backed misfiring fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who failed miserably in the final, as he conceded 54 runs in his four overs without taking a wicket. "Lasith had one bad game. What you have to realise is that he has performed a great service to the game. Ravi Rampaul got hammered for 22 as well by Kulasekara. On that day, Samuels went after him and it just connected. You should not blame Lasith. He was our main bowler and he has won us many games and Mahela was right in banking on him."