Sports

Finally it dawns that the Test series is over and the Sri Lankan team moves on to the next phase of the tour of England with their heads held high. All in all for England it was a bigger loss of prestige while it was a morale booster for the Sri Lankans.

Initially when the Englishmen drew up the itinerary they purposely put Sri Lanka into the first phase of their summer programme very well knowing that the Sri Lankans who hail from harsher and more humid weather conditions than the temperate climes of the early English summer with the ball being more conducive to their type of swing bowling. However from the word go it was a crumbling cookie for the poor Englishmen. First it was the injuries to some of the English front liners which was followed by one of the most atrocious fielding displays by a contemporary cricket playing nation which let the Lankans off the hook and enabled them to hold the first Test at Lord’s to a draw.

Even in the second Test that England won the result could have read otherwise if the Sri Lankans did not give them the luxury of being cushioned by that Peiterson century. If not there was very little difference between the two teams. So as the story goes this was one instance where the match-winning strategies of a home team went awry.

Sri Lanka came up with a very defiant show of resistance in the first Test to draw it, lost the second and won the third in a very convincing manner to finish the series at one all. All this was done under very difficult circumstances where the flow of every thing under the sun was drifting up stream. Some obstacles came upon them through their own folly while some were not.

When one analyses the achievement of the Lankans one still does not understand the current overemphasis on the youth policy. We do not mean that one must always keep the youth at bay, but, the criteria should be that the apt player should play in the correct slot.

For instance, one feels that Russel Arnold who now has been chosen for the ODI series should have been there playing in the Test series as an opener which would have brought in the much needed experience right to the fore. His past record shows that Arnold has done well as an opener and he also has scored runs in England. However things other than cricket have been the stumbling block for him. Had he too toed the line at a given point in his career against his own conscience, he would never have been an ‘also played’ cricketer. However now one wonders how effective would his contribution be in the shorter version of the game during the five match series.

Going back to the Test series once again success came mostly through the efforts of the experienced players in the squad.

This time the efforts of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan stood out like glowing beacons. It was their experience that stood in good stead between the two inexperienced teams. Muralitharan finished with 24 wickets in the three match series while Vaas besides giving the necessary support to Muralitharan finished with an astonishing average of 92.

Before leaving our shores Muralitharan speaking to The Sunday Times said, “It is our batting that we are concerned about, not our bowling”. Likewise the Englishmen completely dominated the Lankan bowling only on one occasion, and the Lankan bowlers did their part in the remaining two tests, but it was the top order batsmen who failed to produce the necessary good batting in tandem. Then after the ignominy of losing the second test after he had finished with a match bag of ten wickets, Muralitharan went public saying, that he wanted to wind up this series against England, .which probably would be his last, on a winning note. True to his words, he first let his bat talk and then let his bowling walk the talk.

Coming to the youngsters it was only the emerging Upul Tharanga who came up with the type of consistency required at Test level. But both Vandort and Mubarak did not live up to expectations in spite of Vandort’s one innings glory. So much so that those referred to above are heading back home along with Nuwan Zoysa , Thilan Samaraweera and Nuwan Kulasekera. Well, most people feel Kulasekera with his added batting skills would have been a better bet than one of the replacements, namely of Dilhara Fernando, though Kulasekera was in the Test Xl where he should not have been. At the same time since his comeback after his injury about a year ago Dilhara is yet to come up with a fitting performance that qualifies him to be in the ‘big league of cricket’.

Finally if the tour management even thinks of basking in the glory of their Test victory in England, it could be quite misplaced. As far as I see Moody and company cannot stake claim for that final victory as most of the trump-cards that they used during the tour back-fired. Experiments should be tried may be on our own home soil or playing against the lesser starter of the Test playing nations. Certainly a tour of England is not the place to experiment your ‘wild dreams’.