The former Sri Lankan opener was the Emerald Isle’s first Test centurion with a 157 against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1982. Grace and grit are intrinsic to Sidath Wettimuny. He has seen Sri Lankan cricket evolve, first as a player, then as an administrator and now as a member of the SLC Transformation Committee.
I was taught, when you are out, get lost. We are trying to address that. We have to make sure that the umpiring and coaching standards get better. More quality rather than quantity. We have proposed a four-day (match) tournament. We had a good pace attack and it worked. It boils down to cheating if you know you are out.”
After 70 summers, Wettimuny’s love for cricket remains intact, as evident during a chat. Once we won the 1996 World Cup, the game spread beyond the city, to the countryside and we did not look at coaching skills in rural areas. Working on the First Class structure, Wettimuny said: “We are bringing down the number of premier tier 1 clubs by next year. Part of the squad that defeated Kapil Dev’s men 1-0 in a Test series at home in 1985, Wettimuny recalled: “We prepared seaming tracks and we had Saliya Ahangama, who bowled brilliantly.
From I think 14 to 10 so that the best teams play. Because roy (Dias) got one a few days later, i was lucky.
While referring to the current phase of stagnancy in Sri Lankan cricket, he said: “The main reason (for the decline) is the neglect in some areas, like coaching and umpiring. Reverting to nostalgia, when asked about being Sri Lanka’s first Test centurion, Wettimuny said: “After you get it, and you come back and somebody says, ‘do you realise it was the first?’, and then you say, ‘oh is that so? An instinctive walker after being dismissed, Wettimuny said: “It’s a personal thing.
And about 1996 World Cup triumph, Wettimuny said: “Sanath Jayasuriya transformed the game like what K. Srikkanth did (for India). Aravinda (de Silva) was at his best, we had a team which was really good and with every match we became optimistic”.