cricket with balls

I should say he wasn’t actually in the toilet at Lord’s, but he was in there via this picture.

Forget for a moment that Dirk looks like he would rather be anywhere else than the photo shoot.

And even forget that Lebara have found the cheapest no name shirts they could for the ad, and think about what this could have been.

It is placed above the piss troughs at the grounds, it should be Dirk with a shit eating grin on his face, pointing his camera down like he is taking a picture of your cock, while Vaas and Saqlain kick the shit out of someone in a chicken suit in the back ground.

Some people just don’t have the flare for advertising that we do.

It is easy to get caught up in the Ashes nonsense, but something else happened recently, a unheralded warrior left test cricket.

Chaminda Vaas.

There has been better players play for their country. Faster bowlers. Bigger wicket takers. But few have had the heart, commitment, work ethic and fire of this little man.

He leaves test cricket as the highest wicket taker of any non spinner his country has ever had, the 2nd highest tally for any left arm bowler in history and he is only the 2nd bowler from his country to take over 100 test wickets. That is some honour.

355 test wickets the little man got.

Not with pace or aggression, but with patience, skill and hard work.

Vaas is the sort of player that deserves more than he gets. He never show boated, didn’t get caught in sex scandals, and wasn’t a walking headline.

He was a test bowler, a very good test bowler, a great of his country, and one with the 17th most wickets in test history.

For 15 years he played test cricket, and he fought for every wicket.

His build is more like that of a jockey than of a faster bowler, but if the bigger guys had what makes him tick they would have been unstoppable.

He was often quoted as saying he knew he didn’t have the talent of the others, but that he worked harder than anyone else. He didn’t need to say it we could all see it.

When he was playing the game had a grace to it, like many of his countrymen he respected the game, but still played to win.

Whether with the bat or ball he was always fighting, and when he was at the wicket you know your team had a fight on its hand.

He was very easy to admire, but unfortunately almost as easy to ignore.

His retirement from test cricket has barely caused a ripple outside of Sri Lanka.

Another player retired from test cricket recently, and you can barely move without tripping over one of the eulogies to him.

That player leaves us with great memories and some regrets that he didn’t give us everything he had. Chaminda leaves us knowing that he got every bit out of himself.

Vaas earned everything he got, and you can’t say that about many people.

I always thought Sri Lanka would end up with a great spinner, and I always thought they would find a fast bowler almost as good.

They didn’t. They got a medium pacer with guts, determination, and spirit. One who put his small shoulder into the crease every time he was out there, one who bowled on some of the flattest pitches in the world with hardly a complaint and one who did it with a quiet dignified grace.

Sri Lanka was lucky to have a man of such character.

We are lucky to have a sport that produces such men.

Thank you, Chaminda.

You have to respect Chaminda Vaas.

Not just on his 400 wickets in One Day cricket.

But on knowing where he his place is in the world.

He knows he isn’t Wasim Akram.

But only 3 others have taken 400 wickets.

And he is still humble.

“There were a lot of guys more talented than me, My game was limited but I worked harder. Nothing comes easy to you, you have got to make the most of your talent.”

These days other cricketers make a few hundreds or take a big haul or two and you’d think they were Elvis.

Sri Lanka though grows these humble cricketers, who perform over and over again, while bigger name players from other countries squander away their talent like horny sailers.

Yuvraj Singh was Vass’ 400th.

Life can be poetic.

Vaas wouldn’t make comments like this though, too good a bloke.

If I took 400 one day wickets I would be running around the stadium naked covered in eagle feathers drunk on 7 bottles of Canadian club until I collapsed.

There have been times when Vaas has been the best one day bowler in the world, statistically and realistically.

Like the 2000 & 3 world cup.

But the man is a worker, a miniature Clydesdale, and few have represented Sri Lanka better in the history of cricket.

Cricket With Balls salutes the man.