It is not every day that any team even in the elite forum beats Australia. But the manner and the way the Sri Lanka under their new skipper steam rolled them and then repeated the dose on the West Indies was absolutely magnificent! Sri Lanka has made a great start in the T 20 World Cup 2009 in England!
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When the Sri Lankans landed in England for the T20 World Cup, it was obvious that they were not among the favourites. At least up to now I haven’t heard a single ex player, current player or even a commentator tipping the Lankans to clinch the world cup. Having said that there were many who backed Australia, South Africa and India. Whilst some other felt the Kiwis may be the Dark Horse. Still too early to predict, but one of the hottest favourites at least on paper the Australians have been thrown out of the cup very… very early which is from a cricketing point of view too good to be true.
Let’s start with Australia vs Sri Lanka. I am a firm believer that the dominance of the Aussies is now on the wane and they are definitely not the force they were as the replacements that have come through don’t look any where close to the genuine article. May be with the exception of Mitchell Johnson!
Johnson for his part has developed greatly and is now the more controlled and aggressive fast bowler with sharp pace. Add to that he has developed so much in his batting as he showed us with those lusty blows late in the Aussie innings which gave their total some respectability. Other than him the rest of the side doesn’t really seem to frighten too many teams around the world as almost all of them appear to be over the hill. Ponting, Mike Hussey and Bret Lee three very important cogs in the Aussie wheel looked a spent forces and that is not good news for Australia.
Now to the Sri Lankan side of the story in the game against Australia! Firstly Kumar Sangakkara was superb. His captaincy was so good, clever and he was also calm and collected. Never missing a trick and always seem to be in control of the issues in the center. As for Dilshan who is a positive player by nature, seems to enjoy the new found responsibility at the top as well as the license to score freely. This was evident in his innings against the West Indies too. In the bowling I thought Ajantha Mendis was once again the man of the moment. His very presence and the way he pressurized the batsmen with his variety of deliveries was simply magnificent. He was easily the main reason for Sri Lanka to restrict Australia. Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan were equally effective but Mendis was in a class of his own and it was evident the way the Aussie batsmen struggled against him. Watson, Ponting and Hussey the three victims appeared to have no clue about him which is very high praise for the young man.
In the West Indies game too, the Sri Lankans were definitely the better side. True the Windies were minus their inspirational captain hard hitting batsman Chris Gayle, but the way the veteran Master Blaster Jayasuriya and Dilshan just took on the pace attack was thrilling to watch. The West Indian pace attack of today may not be as destructive as they were in the decade of the 80’s but make no mistake both Edwards and Taylor are right up there in terms of speed and aggression and in that situation for Jayasuriya and Dilshan to take them on was absolute credit to the pair. Their stroke play were just top drawer stuff and the West Indies had no answer and a clue to get them out until both Jayasuriya and Dilshan played reverse sweeps and got out insight of their personal hundreds. And when the Windies went it was back to the old story with Mendis tormenting them again and though lower order tried hard the victory margin was always a good one in T 20 cricket.
I am as surprised as anybody else as to how the world’s no 1 ODI bowler Nuwan Kulasekera is not in the final line up. One would have thought looking at the Lankan pace attack in the world cup,
Kulasekera’s name would have been one of the first to be written on that team sheet. It was good to see young Isuru Udana given the nod, but it is very clear that young Udana has a lot to learn in the art and craft of seam bowling and as such it is advisable that Kulasekera with his superior batting be brought back. The next question is Angelo Mathews the bowler. Whilst young Mathews has been a front runner in the warm up games as a batsman, I strongly feel that he is definitely not in the top league as a bowler and as such can not be expected to bowl the full quota if the situation demands. In fairness to the young man he did a more than adequate job when he was surprisingly given the new ball against Australia. However Sri Lanka will need a strong third seamer or at least a top line fast bowler to support Malinga as the tournament progresses as otherwise the Lankan line up will have to depend on a few cheap overs from the part timers. As long as a team continues to win, the few niggles will be ignored but as soon as things start to go wrong the cracks will appear and get wider.
Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator |
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