12 Thursday 29th March, 2012 The Island Features Dav Whatmore:

Cricket coach By Premasara Epasinghe

coach after the resignation of former Pakistan cap- par excellence! tain and pace bowler, . One of the highlights of Dav Whatmore’s A coach must be pragmatic. He must be coaching career, after the World Cup 1996 victory result oriented. He must be a man of honesty, fair- was when he planned the strategy at the 2007 play and integrity. He must be a respected leader of World Cup, in the West Indies, where his the players. He should possess a high degree of Bangladesh team spoiled the ‘Victory Walk’ of patience. In short, he must be a philosopher, guide India. and teacher, to a cricket team. Cricket is a mental game. Like a psychologist, The newly appointed cricket coach of Dav Whatmore motivated his players. He believes Pakistan, Dav Whatmore, who has been contracted in hard work. Practice, Practice, Practice. He lays for a two year period, had an auspicious start. He great emphasis on the physical fitness of the play- was the man, the strategist, who helped ers. During his stint as Sri Lanka coach in the achieve the ‘greatest sports victory’ in its history; 1990s, an Australian, Alex Kountouri was employed the 1996 World Cup, on March 17 1996. as the physiotherapist of the SL team. He was successful in moulding the Pakistan The Whatmore–Kountori combination was cricket team to reach the summit at the recently excellent. They won the hearts of the Sri Lankan concluded, 2012 tournament, held in cricketers as well as the cricketing fraternity in Sri Bangladesh. Pakistan beat Bangladesh by just two Lanka. runs in a nail-biting final on March 4. Today, Dav Whatmore can be proud of himself The irony was this same man, Dav Whatmore, (although he is very unassuming). He could be coached the Bangladesh team and moulded the described as the ‘Magnificent Cricket Coach of minnows of world cricket, to be a champion outfit Asia’, who raised the standard of cricket to a few years back. Therefore, except for India, Dav Himalayan heights in the region. Whatmore has been responsible in the ‘cricket ren- He is a thorough gentleman and a fine human aissance’ of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. being. Undoubtedly it was a big achievement for the Sri As a highly successful cricket coach, Dav Lanka-born, former Australian Test cricketer who Whatmore always allowed his batsman to play played seven Test matches. In 13 innings, he scored their natural strokes. He never insisted that every- 293 runs. His highest Test score was 77. In his brief one should play ‘copy-book cricket’. He allowed the career, he had two 50s and held 13 catches. players to mould their styles in their own He bowled only five overs, conceding 11 runs natural way. Whatmore never wanted Sanath without taking a . Jayasuriya to bat like Roy Dias. He never asked Darnell F. Whatmore (Victoria) was born in to bat like Sidat Wettimuny. He Sri Lanka on March 16, 1954. He studied at Royal is a coach who never curbed a players’ natural bat- Primary School. Later, he migrated to , ting style. Of course, he did guide them, talk to Australia together with his parents. them and motivated them. He used to plan the I associated with Dav when he was in charge downfall of the opposition, with the and of the Sri Lankan team in the 1990s. He is a pleas- other team members. He was a good listener. ant, charming, lovable character. Many a time, he May you grow from strength to strength and went out of his way to help people. produce world class cricketers to enthrall us all. Pakistan were searching for a new full time Dav, we miss you. The bitter truth about sugar

BY WILLIAM LEITH disease. And what about high blood pressure, heart with apricots, which is delicious – thanks to the it must cause problems for people other than those disease, fatty liver, and chronic fatigue? What about added fructose. There are sausages with sugar. who abuse it. Sugar, of course, ticks all these boxes. t’s addictive, potentially harmful and absolutely depression, food cravings, addictive overeating? Why is there sugar in all these things? Partly, it’s Incidentally, there’s a reason why fructose switch- everywhere. But is sugar really a poison that Think about all the people we walk past every day because we, the consumers, want it. We want every- es off our satiety signal. Or at least a hypothesis. Ishould be kept out of vulnerable hands? who are really, really fat. Not just plump but off-the- thing to be sweeter these days; we wouldn’t like to go Lustig says it might be because there was a time of Recently an American doctor called Robert Lustig scale fat. Within living memory, these people were back to the good old days, when smoked salmon tast- year, harvest time, when ancestral humans had an has been calling for laws that restrict sugar as if it rare. ed fishy and salty and dried cranberries tasted tart. abundance of fruit, followed by a time of year, winter, were alcohol or tobacco. Like many people, I suspect, Now you see them every day.And it’s not necessar- The food writer, Felicity Lawrence, recently conduct- when they had almost nothing. So we evolved to my initial reaction upon hearing this was: give me a ily their fault. ed a study of fruit. She found it was getting sweeter. overeat at harvest time. Fructose makes us want to break. Lustig, who thinks sugar is a dangerous poi- “Nobody chooses to be obese,” says Lustig. That’s how farmers are breeding it. We want our eat more; it tells us not to be satisfied. That was good, son, has considered several strategies. For instance, “Nobody.Especially not children. This is a global pan- apples, strawberries and grapes to taste sweeter — then, when food was scarce. It wasn’t so good later, we could double the price of fizzy drinks, so children demic. D’you think, all of a sudden, everybody in the partly because everything else does. When you add when it was less scarce. It’s a disaster now, when it’s can’t afford them. We could get sweet shops to close world became gluttons and sloths at the same time? sugar to one thing, you have to add it to other things, everywhere. That’s Lustig’s argument. in the afternoons, when children are going home Get with the programme!” too, so they won’t be left behind. Have you got a There is, of course, a really big problem. That’s the from school. We could restrict the advertising of What’s going on? “It ain’t the fat,” says Lustig, headache? Take an ibuprofen. It’s probably food industry. foods with added sugar. when I speak to him on the phone. The obesi- sugar-coated, like a Smartie. “The food industry,” Lustig tells me, “has no impe- We could even set an age limit for fizzy drinks, pos- ty epidemic, and the sudden flourish- There’s undoubtedly a correlation tus to change. They’re making money hand over fist.” sibly 17, so younger kids can’t buy cans of Coke. ing of all these non-communi- between our increased sugar intake, over We’ve all heard of Big Tobacco. Well, there’s some- Dear me. Whatever next? It’s easy to understand cable diseases, is not a the past 30 years, and this explosion in thing even bigger to worry about — Big Sugar. The the reasons for controlling tobacco and alcohol — result of people eating too obesity, diabetes and other metabolic obesity expert Philip James puts it this way: “The these things are toxic and costly for everyone. If you much fat. We know this problems. But are things so sim- sugar industry has learnt the tricks of the tobacco smoke or get drunk, I end up paying your hospital because, in the Seventies, ple? industry.Confuse the public. Produce experts who bills; if you don’t smoke or drink, I pay less tax. So of the entire Western world Robert Lustig is very busy disagree. Try to dilute the message.” course alcohol and tobacco should be restricted. went low-fat. The medical when I speak to him. He’s rush- Lustig has been accused of “irresponsible” fear- Tobacco causes an array of diseases; alcohol can establishment believed it ing around a great deal, giving mongering by the food industry.He has some allies destroy your liver, and it also makes people shout and had discovered a link talks. This, it seems, is his but none of the big hitters, while broadly agreeing fight and vomit in the street. Both are addictive. between dietary fat and moment. I ask him about the with him that sugar is a problem (although disagree- But sugar? The stuff you sprinkle on your cereal? heart attacks. correlation between sugar ment exists about which type of sugar is the worst) That makes cakes and chocolate taste nice? My first As we now know, the sit- intake and obesity. goes as far as him in terms of regulation. There’s thought was: yes, I know it’s bad for you. Yes, it rots uation was fairly compli- “Correlation is not causa- Kelly Brownell, an obesity expert and professor of your teeth — if you don’t clean them afterwards. Yes, cated — some fats, notably tion,” he says forcefully. psychology at Yale. “He thinks a penny-an-ounce soda if you eat too much, you get fat. Yes, it can tinker Omega-3 oils, are actually “If we didn’t have causa- tax will reduce consumption. I don’t,” says Lustig. with your metabolism, so when you eat sugar, you good for your heart. Still, in tion I wouldn’t be speak- There’s Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food crave more. And I know first-hand about the phenom- the Seventies, the food indus- ing in public. And I’m studies and public health at New York University, and enon of the sugar high — I have a six-year-old son. try cut back on fat. We had happy to stack the sci- author of Food Politics: “she isn’t necessarily for reg- But surely it should be up to us how much sugar low-fat yogurt, low-fat ready ence up against any- ulation”. Gary Taubes, the low-carb guru, “doesn’t we eat. We don’t want the sugar police, do we? Even meals, low-fat sauces, low-fat body who wants to believe that leptin is crucial to the argument. I do.” as I was thinking this, I realised something slightly everything. The problem, Lustig countermand it.” Michael Pollan, the author of In Defence of Food, alarming: part of me doesn’t want to hear really, seri- tells us, “is that, when you take One of the most “doesn’t even pretend to understand the science”, and ously bad news about sugar. I have enough to worry the fat out, it tastes like card- important things he “doesn’t specifically come out against sugar per se”. about. I’d like to remain in mild denial, thank you. board. They had to do some- says concerns what And is there anyone in the UK even remotely on the Sugar is part of life. It’s pleasant. It’s everywhere. thing.” What did they do? “They happens in your same page as Lustig? “Not that I know of,” he says. Poison, schmoison. Who is this Robert Lustig, any- added carbohydrate. Which carbo- liver when you eat What if Lustig is right? What if sugar is the cul- way? hydrate? High-fructose corn syrup fructose. There’s prit? What can we do? We can start the long, labori- He’s a professor of clinical paediatrics at the and sucrose.” a complicated ous process of coming out of denial. We’re doing it University of California, San Francisco, and an So about 35 years ago, the devel- chain of events, with alcohol. We’ve done it with tobacco, which was a expert on childhood obesity. oped world made a radical change in but the upshot is huge struggle. But it’s working. Most people used to Scientifically, Lustig is an endocrinologist. His its diet. We stripped away fat, and something smoke. Now most people don’t. We made it expensive, area of expertise is human metabolism — how our added sugar. For instance, since 1990, called “leptin harder to buy, and harder to advertise. We kept it bodies break down food and turn it into energy.Some consumption of sugar in Britain has resistance”. away from children. We made it taboo. of his lectures are on YouTube. Recently, he’s gone increased by 31 per cent – now we eat Leptin is a hor- Can we do this with sugar? I’d love to think we viral. This middle-aged, grey-haired, slightly stocky 1.25lbs per person a week. There are mone produced could. But sugar is a tougher opponent than tobacco. guy, who wears a suit and tie and talks about the seven spoonfuls of sugar in a can of cola. to tell us when Tobacco was in cigarettes, cigars and pipes. Sugar is metabolism of fructose, has had more than two mil- Lots of people know that. But do you we’re full; it’s everywhere. It’s in the pies. It’s in the beans and the lion hits. know that more than 60 per cent of a JAR OF SWEETS the “satiety hor- toast. It’s in the sausages and the gravy.To radically In the lectures, Lustig is mesmerising. He tells us Slimfast drink is made up of sugar? Did you know mone”. When we eat too much cut our intake would be to radically shake up the more or less the same story he’s outlined in a recent that, in Britain, children get around 17 per cent of fructose, leptin is sometimes switched economy.So don’t expect miracles. their calories from sugar? off. We don’t know when we’re full. That’s why issue of the journal Nature. “The UN Secretary For an example of what Lustig is up against, look One interesting fact is that, year on year, we’re so many people are off-the-scale-fat these days. They General,” he says, “declared that non-communicable no further than the Starr Report, the investigation buying fewer actual bags of sugar — “visible sugar”. don’t have a proper satiety signal. The sugar they eat disease — that is, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, can- into Bill Clinton by the prosecutor Kenneth Starr. The big increases are in “invisible sugar” — the causes them to produce too much insulin, which cer and Alzheimer’s disease — is a bigger threat to One section describes the moment President Clinton sugar the food industry sneaks into things. Looking gives them blood-sugar crashes, which makes them the entire world, developed and developing, than is was interrupted by a phone call during an intimate around my local supermarket, let me tell you what I crave more sugar, and on and on. Meanwhile, they infectious disease.” He tells us that these diseases kill moment with Monica Lewinsky.The person on the found. There is glucose-fructose syrup in one organic develop insulin resistance. Next stop: diabetes. 35 million people every year. He says that there are 30 line was reportedly Alphonso Fanjul, a Florida sugar yogurt; organic sugar and organic invert sugar syrup Somewhere down the line: huge health care costs. per cent more obese people in the world than under- baron, complaining about a proposed sugar tax. in another. There is fructose in Müller Light. There is Sugar’s everywhere. It’s addictive, it’s toxic, and, nourished people. In 2011, there were 366 million dia- Clinton took the call. The tax was dropped. sugar in Hovis bread, sugar in healthy-looking in the end, we all have to pay for it, if not with our betics in the world — more than double the number This article also appeared in SEVEN. Follow in 1980, and 5 per cent of the population. In the US, by Burgen bread, dextrose in Warburton’s wholemeal health, then at least in our taxes. That’s why Lustig SEVEN on Twitter @TelegraphSeven 2030 this figure might be as high as 33 per cent. bread. There is fructose syrup in my Forest Feast thinks it should be controlled like alcohol and tobac- At this point, he had my attention. Remember dried berries. There is sugar in the steak pie. There is co. For a substance to be controlled, it must have four © The Telegraph GROUP when almost nobody had diabetes? That wasn’t long sugar in the smoked salmon. There is sugar in the characteristics. It must have the potential to be London 2012 ago. These days, many of us know somebody with the seafood sticks. There’s a cheese I like, Wensleydale abused. It must be toxic. It must be widespread. And