able to deliver it in a certain sequence is a skill. And that skill will be better if you are focused. All these disciplines apply to anything you do in life ultimately. All we are doing is consolidating certain factors within us so that we can face whatever is ahead of us with the same mechanism. That’ s life, isn’ t it?
As a cricketer, you have
Q travelled to various countries and played against opponents from different nations. How have good communication skills and the ability to converse in English helped you?
I think making friends is part of what your personality is, and not necessarily the language. I have seen people who can barely speak a couple of words really bond with certain people because of their personalities. English certainly helps because it helps you to communicate. But I think more than anything else it’ s your inherent personality that draws you to people or people get drawn to you. So I think it is important for us to have pleasant and likable personalities.
Do you believe that for public
Q speaking, the personality of the speaker is similarly important?
It would certainly help to convey your thoughts properly. At the end of the day, everything is about perceptions; even the judges perceive things differently. Sometimes you will look at the speaker and think‘ I don’ t like him’. But what
70 BEST SPEAKER MAGAZINE 2017 he says may be completely correct. It is combination of both personality and communication skills. It is hard to pinpoint. It is always nice to have a pleasing persona and humility; and a speaker should not have arrogance. I’ m just giving a general opinion.
What was the foundation for
Q your eloquent language and communication skills? Were you involved in drama or debating, in your early days?
Never public speaking nor debating, all I did in my youth was play sports. Believe it or not I did Kandyan dancing while I was in school. In my youth if I had to study it’ s because my parents were shouting at me. My grandfather used to teach us in the afternoons. I hated it. All my life I was interested in cricket and music. I participated in a lot of musical events as I was a good singer. If I didn’ t take up cricket, I would have gone into a career in music. I strummed the guitar for hours and hours a day and sang all the time. I also played the clarinet in my school band, and we had the first Eastern band in Diyathalawa and I was a member in it. I also played the flute. I played all those instruments and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Music is such a relaxing thing. I would string the guitar after a hard day of cricket. I learned to play by watching. At weddings I would sit and watch the guy holding chords and figure it out. And jot it down and practice it later. I didn’ t go to any formal classes.
Being a member of a sports
Q team or a club like the Gavel Club, both instil good sportsmanship in you. What are the key sportsmanship qualities you would identify as those developed through sports or club activities?
Especially in team activities, the quality that you develop the most is that you learn to think as a unit rather than as an individual. You realize the importance of the unit and not the individual. Yes, you will always think of yourself as an individual and you will want to perform well, but you also begin to look at the brutality of the situation, you start to look things at a team point of view and you also develop a consideration for your fellow team members. It’ s like a cricket match. You have to build on what the previous team-mates had done. You learn to support each other, and uplift your team members. Those are all good characteristics to develop in life in general.
After being a professional
Q cricketer for so many years, what made you to become a commentator?
Firstly, I didn’ t think I had the skill to take up a career as a commentator so didn’ t want to take it up. When I was first invited I declined. Many people said that I will be okay or‘ you can do it’, but some people have a special skill to do it and I thought that I didn’ t have it. Maybe