Lankan selectors hold back team selections
The Lankan selectors will on Tuesday to name the stand-in captain for the first two ODIs against the visiting Proteas and the rest of the squad. The Lankan captain Angelo Mathews was banned for two ODIs in the West Indies for maintaining a slow over rate in their final against India at Port of Spain.
The Lankan selectors delayed their meeting because the tour selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe was also with the team and they wanted his input, according to informed sources.
Shaminda Eranga is bewildered while MS Dhoni and Ishant Sharma celebrate India's final-over one-wicket victory at theTri-Nation final in Trinidad. - AFP
There may be theories and different sentiments, but the Lankans’ team achievements in England at the Champion’s Trophy Tournament and the Tri-nation tournament in the West Indies were impressive and encouraging. In the Champions Trophy, the Lankans reached the semi-finals and in the Tri-nations the Lankan pipped the home team to meet India after ending up as the table leaders in the group stages. For a team which is going through a learning curve with a plethora of new faces, it was a good showing. At the same time, isn’t it an irony that in the championship semi-final and the tri-nations final the Lankans lost to the same foe – India!
Even playing on home soil taking on South Africa is no mean task. Notoriously they may fail at the post at big tournaments, but where individual series are concerned they have thrived especially during the last decade.
Having said that the Lankans did well in the last two engagements, there are certain adjustments that they could effect on their composition. Though there are structural changes in the Lankan team, they are still top heavy and over dependant on their stalwarts – T.M. Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath. Besides Malinga, the rest of the cricketers mentioned are on the bad side of their careers, but they are still performing way above the rest.
The way Kumar Sangakkara is batting now is especially awesome. Just the way he walks on to the crease and starts building his innings and then tries to take the flock across the stream is great entertainment. The way Mahela dominates the opposition on occasions is still pure art. And the pundits of the game still call the duo the ‘monarchs of cricket in Sri Lanka’.
For me skipper Angelo Mathews is still to mature as a captain. He must learn to keep his body language intact, swallow the bitter pill 
and then begin to plan for the fightback. He must get the maximum from the seniors, but he should learn how to guide the side on his own.
The other glaring factor is that the young batsmen who are entrusted with a lot of responsibility are still shy of acting accordingly. For instance Dinesh Chandimal – the vice captain designate and the captain of the T-20 team for both tours performed well below par. At one point he stated that he missed the IPL in a bid to adjust his technique, but what we see and what he shows is that he still has huge flaws in his temperament as well. At the same time, do the Lankans have a death bowler in its larder? Now twice it was proven that young Shaminda Eranga is not the answer. As it is, Malinga also cannot be kept till the last.
Among the young, in batting the only hope is Lahiru Thirimanne. Yet, he is a flight of stairs behind the confidence application of Sangakkara and 
Jayawardena. In short, Sri Lanka is not yet ready to let go of the aging seniors.
The series against South Africa is confined to limited over matches. Is the Lankan attack ready to take on Amla and company? The South African squad does not have living legends among them. But, the squad is full of professionals who are trained like soldiers – ready to perform.
The CSA selection convener Andrew Hudson said, “We are resting Dale Steyn as we have a very important and crowded Test season ahead of us and we want to be absolutely certain that, as the leader of our attack, he is properly rested and fit. Graeme Smith obviously could not be considered because of his long-term recovery process following surgery.”
Proteas ODI squad: AB de Villiers(Capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Proteas T20 squad: Faf du Plessis (Capt), Farhaan Behardien, Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren , David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
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