A professional point of view

The West Indies tour ended with a similarly wet and disappointing finale to the World Cup last year. I thought we were really well-placed in St Lucia after our best batting performance of the series before the rain intervened. The rain also played a part in Trinidad, presenting West Indies with a relatively easy 25-over target. So we finished with a 2-0 defeat and that is naturally disappointing.

We can’t, of course, blame the weather for our defeat. If the top order had batted in Trinidad the Duckworth Lewis would have been much kinder to us. So the bottom-line is that the top order needs to put up its hand and take responsibility. Personally, I was very frustrated by three low scores that did not help Sri Lanka’s cause.

The West Indies loss followed defeats by England as well as a below-par campaign in the CB Series in Australia. In all since the World Cup, I believe we have won just eight of the 20 completed matches. This low win-ratio is below our expectations and I have no doubt that Sri Lanka fans and supporters will also be upset by the defeats.

Naturally, this recent record is a concern. I can assure you that it has not happened for a lack of effort or commitment. The guys have been working incredibly hard on their games in practices and the team is determined to work even harder in the run-up to the Asia Cup to get things right.

Having said this, I hope people will be a little patient. We were missing some influential players in the West Indies and we are also a team in transition. This is a crucial rebuilding phase after the loss of some very senior players and the road was always likely to be a little bumpy. Sometimes, if you are going to plan for the future, you need to take a hit in the interests of tomorrow.

Happily, I think that despite the recent losses we have made some good progress with our one-day cricket in recent months. I say this for two reasons. Firstly, several young cricketers have started to put-in some really encouraging performances. I think the youngsters are developing fast and that we do have the talent base to get back to winning ways soon.

Chamara Kapugedara was particularly impressive in Trinidad during the first ODI, rescuing us with a career-best score that showed lots of maturity. It also showcased his talent as he hit the ball so crisply and powerfully. He is a tough guy mentally and all the ingredients are there for him to develop into a top-class middle order batsman.

The debut performance of Ajantha Mendis was also hugely encouraging. For a debutante to bowl so coolly and cleverly in his first international match was impressive. He is a bit different, bowling a liquorice assortment of deliveries, and that can be very useful as we have seen with the likes of Murali and Malinga. Unorthodoxy can be a potent weapon. He has added much more control in the past year and with more experience he can get better and better.

There were other pluses too. I thought Nuwan Kulasekera was top drawer. He worked incredibly hard throughout the tour and he bowled splendidly in the first two games. He is not express but skiddy, accurate and gets the ball to dart around. Thilan Thushara bowled really well in the final ODI, following up on that solid first Test performance.

I thought Kaushal Weereratne batted really maturely in the final game, building a crucial partnership with Dilshan during a high-pressure phase of the game. We need a guy that can bat at No 7 and bowl so that was encouraging. And Mahela Udawatte also turned in a gritty performance at the end that showcased his potential.

Secondly, in addition to the performances of the younger guys, I think we are now much clearer now about the right balance and combinations that we need to be playing with the players currently at our disposal. There has been lots of tinkering along the way but we feel that six frontline batters, a bowling allrounder and four bowlers is the way for us to go.

In Weereratne and Maharoof we have two guys that could play a big role at No. 7 and No. 8, giving us great depth in batting when you consider Vaasy might be batting at No.9. The 6-1-4 combination also gives us the flexibility we need in the bowling department considering how tough the one-day game has become for the bowlers.

There was a time pre-Power Plays when it was relatively easy to fiddle your way through the fifth bowler’s overs, especially for us in Asian conditions as we had such useful part-time spinners. But 20 overs of Power Plays make this harder and you need to have options up your sleeve in case one bowler is targeted or has a mediocre day. The likes of Dilshan and Kapugedara are very useful options but relying on them on good pitches is a gamble.

So we have a better idea of the kind of combinations we need. However, even if the youngsters do come through and our game-plan is more solid, the top four need to start putting together big partnerships on a more consistent basis. We have been too inconsistent for too long and in the upcoming Asia Cup and India we must address that, giving our middle order a foundation and our bowling unit more runs to play with.

I am confident that this will happen during the coming months. If we can grab a couple of wins then confidence will flow back into the group and we’ll quickly build-up some momentum.