Bowling woes worry Lankan cricket hierarchy
Indications are that the Lankan champion speedster Lasith Malinga on whom a lot of World Cup fortunes were pinned on may become a non-starter. Malinga who was made immobile with an ankle injury on his left foot was on a encouraging recovery programme, but, the latest indications are that the bowler would definitely miss the last two internationals in New Zealand and may be the World Cup too.
Lasith Malinga will probably not appear for Sri Lanka for some time
Selection Committee Chairman Sanath Jayasuriya is a worried man. He said “We have a lot of worrying injuries in our bowling department. Lasith Malinga has not recovered and he will miss even the last two ODI’s against New Zealand and the injury may carry well into the World Cup too. Then the other fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep is also injured and he would be out of action for at least 2-3 weeks. Suranga Lakmal has a niggle and we have to be very careful of the situation and on top of that we had to hold back Rangana Herath from today’s (yesterday) game because of the dicey situation. Going in for an important fixture like the World Cup this is not the ideal situation in which to be”.
Jayasuriya then added that he would be sending in a replacement fast bowler within the next few days. “We are looking at either Lahiru Gamage or Dushmantha Chameera. However as Chameera had a good spell in the only outing he had in New Zealand with the Test outfit, the chance of Chameera making the trip is more realistic”.
With opener Dimuth Karunaratne falling behind expectations in the games played so far the Sunday Times asked whether the Lankan selectors could change the composition of the 15-member squad declared to the ICC. This question was asked from the SLC CEP Ashley De Silva on an earlier occasion. De Silva said in answer that there was provision to make changes to the declared fifteen before February 6.
“According to the MPA (Members’ Participating Agreement), players listed in the declared fifteen could be changed before February 6, 2015 – the date on which the ICC would take over the custody of the participants of the 2015 World Cup officially. Thereafter if any participating member needs to change players they would have to make an official request to the technical committee of the ICC and obtain their approval”.
However the Lankan Selection Committee Chairman Jayasuriya said that the selectors were so far satisfied with the South Paw opener. Jayasuriya said “In the second ODI Karunaratne batted for fifteen overs and put on a 64 run stand for the first wicket. That took away a lot of pressure from the other batsmen. I feel that we should keep looking at him batting in this slot for the time being”.
Meanwhile It seems that Sachithra Senanayake’s success on his comeback trail is giving the Australian press and may be some cricket authorities
Dushmantha Chameera has been given the chance to prove his worth
some worrying vibes.
Last week the popular Australian national newspaper, The Age, published an article written by its chief cricket writer Chloe Saltau on the comeback of some of the bowlers into World Cup reckoning with corrected actions.
The article said: “Six bowlers who came under official scrutiny during the recent crackdown on throwing are set to run the gauntlet at next month’s World Cup, the first global event to be staged under the new, hardline approach to suspect actions.
“West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have all named in their 15-man World Cup squads players who have served suspensions for illegal bowling actions, either at international or domestic level, since June last year.
“An ICC spokesman said while there would be no specific instructions given to umpires to be on the lookout for dodgy actions at the World Cup, there has been a rash of reports and suspensions since the ICC empowered match officials to enforce the rules.
“Any bowler who is reported during cricket’s most prestigious tournament will be whisked away to the newly accredited testing centre in Brisbane for biomechanical analysis within seven days, rather than the usual 21.
“Sri Lankan off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, the Black Caps’ star batsman who bowls part-time off-spin, were both cleared by the International Cricket Council to return to bowling in December and have done so without incident during Sri Lanka’s current tour of New Zealand.”
Under ICC rules, if a player is suspended for throwing during the World Cup he can be replaced in the squad of 15. The article goes on to discuss about Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan, Marlon Samuels and Sunil Narain of the West Indies among other bowlers.
However, officials of Sri Lanka Cricket say they were not aware of this new development about a bowler, upon being called, being whisked away to be tested in Brisbane.
SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said, “Any bowler who is cleared by the ICC panel is reported again will be suspended forthwith and the ban will be effective for one year. But, we still are not aware about the plan to whisk bowlers away within seven days if they are freshly reported”.