Slapped by a one-year ban from all cricket, former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batman Niroshan Dickwella has now begun his practices with the hope of making a comeback at the earliest![/caption]
As his counterparts lose hope and seek different alternatives, former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella, now serving a one-year ban from international cricket, has begun rigorous training expecting to make a ‘Steve Smith-style’ comeback, the Sunday Morning Sports reliably learnt last week.
“Now he (Dickwella) is practising for a minimum of six hours per day. He expects to make a comeback from his ban at the earliest possible time. Out of the three who got punished (for the disciplinary breach in England in June), he is the only one who has apparently learnt his lesson,” a highly-placed national cricket team source said on Friday (6).
He further added: “Dickwella was the only one who really repents on what he had done in England. In the recent hearing, he was probably the only one who told the disciplinary panel the actual truth as to what happened in England. His honesty had impressed the panel as he pleaded guilty and apologised to the panel for all the allegations made against him.”
Being apologetic
Dickwella, in spite of having a relatively clean disciplinary sheet before the England hullaballoo, suffered the same punishment like the other two -- Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis; a one-year ban on international cricket, six-month ban on domestic cricket, in addition to a fine of Rs. 10 million (approximately $ 50,000).
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Dickwella doing batting at the nets now[/caption]
“He will hope a softening of the ban. I think he has perfect right to do so. Being repentant on what he has done and willing to learn a lesson is a good sign. If he can prove one day that he can fit into the national eleven by way of performance, I don’t think there’s anything wrong if the cricket board will look at his case differently and more sympathetically. On the other hand, the Test side might be in need of his services and his vocal support from behind the wickets,” the above source opined.
Steve Smith’s comeback story
Cricket has chronicled strange ‘comeback’ of sorts, like the one by Australia’s Steve Smith. Former Australia Captain Smith returned to Test cricket, in the 2019 Ashes in England, from a one-year ban following the ugly ‘ball-tampering fiasco’ in South Africa in 2018.
His rare performance with the bat in that Ashes series, where he scored 774 runs at an astonishing average of 110.57 including two hundreds and a double-hundred, led his team to regain the Ashes and scripted one of the greatest comeback stories in world cricket.
In addition to restarting his practices, Dickwella, the former Trinity College, Kandy player, has also begun reading for a degree in sports and management, sources also revealed to the Sunday Morning Sports.