Lankans should be mindful of their strengths
It’s a wakeup call for the Lankans as they go in for the second one-day-international against England at Chester-le-Street, Durham.
In the first ODI, the Lankans surrendered minus a fight after the home team laid a well planned trap to subdue the marauding Lankans, who had enjoyed a very successful run in the shorter versions of the game.
After being asked to bat, the Englishmen played with purpose as every batsman worked to a well-discussed plan and thus kept a very healthy run rate through the innings. After the first weather-forced break, the English batsmen knew that the Duckworth and Lewis method was going to have a definite impact on the game. When the match was curtailed to only 39 overs, they opened up to make the normally dependable Lankan attack look very amateur.
Chester-le-Street
Initially, the experienced Ian Bell, promoted to open the innings, took time to settle down, but, always was mindful of keeping a healthy run rate. Bell was out for 50 which came in 56 balls with a six and 4 fours. Like Bell, greenhorn Gary Ballance always looked to keep the scorers busy and at the same time was well in control of the Lankan attack, during his innings of 64.
However, the tilt of the game occurred in the final overs when Jos Butler and Chris Jordan tore into the Kulasekera-Malinga combination and took the fight away from the Lankans.
The Lankan Chief Selector, who returned to the island from the private visit to England where he also met up with the team, told the Sunday Times, “This is a very crucial game for us. The typical English weather had a huge impact in the first game but the lads should know that we have no control over it and we must not do the planning with the weather in mind. It is only a fall back plan — what we should do in case of rain. Also it is very important that we get our combination right.”
In spite of the accepted notion that English wickets help the seamers; six of the sixteen wickets to fall on the day were bagged by the two spinners Senanayake and Treadwell. Senanayake had the best figures for Sri Lanka with 3 for 30 in his eight overs while the next best effort came from the slow seamer Mathews, who had one for 25 in six overs.
As a result of the rain, the Lankan’s batting target was adjusted twice, taking a lot of wind away. First after the English innings ended at 247 in 39 overs, the D/L rule adjusted it to 259 in 39 overs. Then after the second shower, which arrived halfway through the Lankan innings, it was brought down to 226 runs to make from 32 overs.
Besides, the early losses of Thirimanne and Sangakkara too had a huge impact while the Lankans were batting against the tide. After the Jordan/Butler onslaught it was always a huge ask for the Lankans to keep to the 6.33 run rate.
There is a likelihood of the Lankans bringing back Kusal Janith Perera at the top of the innings and Thirimanne going back to his usual position in the middle. If this move comes to pass, Dinesh Chandimal, who has been targeted with the short stuff, would be forced to wear the bench jacket.
Another question the Lankans should ask themselves is what their strong point is: setting a target and defending it or trying to chase it in rather alien conditions?
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (Captain) T.M. Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Dinesh Chandimal, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Sachithra Senanayake, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Janith Perera, Chathuranga de Silva, Ajantha Mendis, Dhammika Prasad and Ashan Priyanjan.
England: Alastair Cook (captain), James Anderson, Gary Balance, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Harry Gurney, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, James Tredwell and Chris Woakes