First of all we must make this an opportunity to thank the Lankan cricket hierarchy for making Test cricket the least important of the three segments – T-20, ODI and the age-old format of Test cricket. Now the Lankans play Test cricket as and when it suits them. They are so magnanimous that for Test [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

From the frying pan into the Aussie boiling pot

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First of all we must make this an opportunity to thank the Lankan cricket hierarchy for making Test cricket the least important of the

None of the Sri Lankan batsmen were comfortable against the Kiwi pace attack.

three segments – T-20, ODI and the age-old format of Test cricket.

Now the Lankans play Test cricket as and when it suits them. They are so magnanimous that for Test cricket they leave the gates open and entrance is free for all citizen Pereras to come over and have a peek. So much so that after the Galle Test there was only one so-called official on the post-match presentation podium to give away the match awards.

Now for more on the on-field turf stuff that we must look into. It is no secret that the Galle wicket is a notoriously all-Sri Lankan track. But even in that game, the two teams had similar exchanges before the Kiwis decided to commit flatfooted hara-kiri against the left arm spinner Rangana Herath, who finished with a match bag of 11fer.

Before the second Test at the P. Sara Oval, Kiwi skipper Ross Taylor, who was leading a side which was on the downturn with five straight Test losses, admitted that it was difficult to play their type of cricket in this part of the world. But he also happened to mention that they were well focused. And as the game went on, the very fact that Taylor mentioned came to be.

More than anyone else the Kiwi skipper stuck to his words and led the team by example by top scoring for the visitors in both innings.
We may ask if the Lankans were focused. I do not think they did anything out of the way other than their routine exercise at the nets. If not I wonder how the Lankans managed to perform the now notorious top order slump twice in the second test. In the first game it was the same. There Paranavithana, Dimuth Karunaratne and former skipper Kumar Sangakkara jumped to the lighting fire with some weak-kneed batting. Yes, skipper Mahela Jayawardena picked up the pieces with his deputy Angelo Mathews, but during the innings both showed their limited overs influence by playing the reverse sweep. For most of us it was not real Test stuff.

The P. Sara Oval is a more docile entity than Galle’s spinning track. (Even on that notoriously spinning Galle track the English seamers in their last series played in Sri Lanka, like the New Zealand seamers, gave the Lankans more than their fair share of problems.).
In the second Test the Kiwi skipper was fortunate that he called it right at the toss and elected to bat. After losing two early wickets, Taylor, along with newfound batting star Kane Williamson, took the Lankan attack in its stride and batted with all the patience in the world. There in batting, Taylor and company put most of their homework into the right perspective.

Then after posting 412 runs, the New Zealand seamers put the Lankan early batting into reverse. Dilshan was playing as though he was at the nets getting ready for his next T-20 innings. Sangakkara, the No. 2 batsman in the world chose to hook the second ball he faced. Mahela Jayawardena was caught fishing in Taylor’s pond. While watching I got that feeling that their performances at the crease did not come from the bottom of their hearts. Failing here did not do any harm to their IPL offers.

Then in the second innings, while striving to make a score of 350+, Tharanga Paranavithana opened the flood gates from the very first ball by shuffling onto the middle stump with his shoulders drooping and the ball not in sight. He was ruled out lbw off Tim Southee. Even in the first innings, though he made a valuable 40, his knock was not the most convincing. Yet, in his defence we must reiterate that had the authorities not hastened to cut so many Test matches on the way, the lad would have got more exposure.

On the last day of the game there was an interesting dialogue between former Test players Sanath Jayasuriya and Russell Arnold. They were discussing the limited exposure that Paranavithana, Thilan Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardena were getting at the international level and even discussed some remedial action that the coaching staff could take to keep these players from getting corroded. But when one considers the near future of Sri Lanka Test cricket, Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardena might as well pack their bags and try another vocation because Test cricket in the near future is sparse and far between. I remember Sri Lanka playing Test cricket regularly at a time when the good old Tissa Gunaratne ran a one-man-show at the then Cricket Board situated at the same place as the present SLC. During that period there were no balance scales held above and also to mention not so many player payments and rewards down the pipeline. Test matches were played with enthusiasm and the right attitude.

With the Kiwi defeat in their bags, the Lankans will fly Down Under today to play Australia in a full series.

This may come in handy for the Lankans in one way because they will be talking the hosts in the Test leg of the exchanges in the first half of the tour. After initially playing the Cricket Australia Chairmen’s XI at the Manuka Oval, Canberra, the Lankans go in for the first Test on Friday the 14th at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart.

During this home series the Lankan top order was more than exposed against the Southee trio. Maybe at present the Australian fast bowlers James Pattinson, Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle are on the injured list to take against the deciding Test match against South Africa, but I am sure they would be back raring to bounce the Lankans out of contention once the curtain goes up. They may well remember that their last outing against the Lankans in an ODI series was not that comfortable.

Maybe the Aussies will be without the legendary Ponting, but the present skipper Michael Clarke is in supreme command at the batting crease with back to back double hundreds against the South African bowling attack.

The Lankans have very little to ask their bowlers other than to be within the right corridors. But Mr. Marvan Samson Atapattu – Sri Lanka’s batting coach — has a handful of homework to do. It is for sure that the Aussie machine would have been watching the Lankan batting stutter and falter against the New Zealand seam attack, which is considered to be not half as venomous as the Australian seam attack.

How Atapattu proposes to turn back the ‘eye in’ clock among the Lankan top order is intriguing to see. If not someone may come out and shout out about some Muppets perched in the dressing room.

 




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