The daunting task facing Sanath
View(s):During the Asia Cup cricket tournament, the Lankan cricket team hit a new low, where it failed to beat any of the established teams and the only saving grace was an insignificant win against the United Arab Emirates – a team that doesn’t have a have proper international status.
The new committee that also had a few other former cricketers tagging along had only only a handful tasks at hand. Firstly, the new selectors saw to it that Angelo Mathews was tagging set up as the national T-20 captain, after the earlier selection committee had named Dinesh Chandimal to take over when Lasith Malinga announced that he was not fit enough take part in the ICC T-20 championships which was going to begin a few hours later.
“The appointment of the national selection committee was carried out by the sports minister, citing recent failures encountered by the national team in their tours to New Zealand, India, Asia Cup in Bangladesh and the inconsistency of selection criteria,” said a Sri Lanka Cricket media release at that time.
Among the important changes that the new committee effected was appointing all-rounder Angelo Mathews, who leads Sri Lanka in ODIs and Tests, as the captain in all three formats. Besides, the selectors also brought in the much debated left-hander, Lahiru Thirimanne, along with fast bowler Suranga Lakmal in place of wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella and right arm leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay into the fray.
However, the most hilarious was the fact that Vandersay who did a Jack-in-the-box act during the ICC tournament becoming Sri Lanka’s most dependable bowler. It was expected to be like a suppository administered into the right place to relieve an agonising pain in the cricket bat.
Alas! All remedies prescribed by the practitioner failed pathetically. By the end of the of ICC T-20 title defence, the Lankans had fallen flat on their faces and now the custodians are looking for better medicines to resurrect the almost morbid patient.
Since the retirement of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, the Lankan cricket administration has changed pillows of the cricket hierarchy on several occasions in an attempt to treat the headache. First it was Coach Marvan Atapattu who opted to bail himself out of that ignominy when Sri Lanka began to experience that unpleasant string of defeats. Then the same Wettimuny administration opted to replace the popular Sanath Jayasuriya and co and install the Kapila Wijegunawardena selection committee. Then in place of the national coach Atapattu, SLC’s Head of Coaching Jerome Jayaratne was given the task of acting as interim coach till the Sumathipala administration who replaced the Wettimuny administration chose high profile Graham Ford to take charge of the Lankan cricketers.
Yet, the change of pillows has not brought the desired results. The Lankan cricket woes are getting worse by the hour and there is no other depth that they could plunge to – in short, they are on the mat now. It is against this background that the Aravinda de Silva selection committee reverted the important job to Sanath Jayasuriya – to take Lankan cricket through the paces during the Sri Lanka tour of England. The proposition does not end there. Before the end of the year, they also have to take on Australia at home and South Africa – once again away.
Realising the gravity of the situation we asked one of the insiders who was in the thick of affairs when the Lankans were going through the crisis if the Lankans failed that badly while playing in the sub-continent in Bangladesh and India how they were going to handle England on their own soil especially when they are smarting over their humiliating home defeat last year.
The two tours may have been of different formats, but four of Sri Lanka’s most experienced cricketers – skipper Mathews, Chandimal, Thirimanne and Rangana Herath — also play the longer version of the game.
He did not mince his words when he explained the reality. He said: “It is frightening. While playing against New Zealand the Kiwis began to Test our guys with the short pitched stuff. We had explained the realities and had told them try to avoid hitting them, move out, duck or take any other precaution, but please don’t fall prey.
“They practised the proposition in detail and we showed them how to tackle the situation. But, when it came to execution and face the real Test, it was altogether a different situation. The guys who practised the footwork of how to deal with the short stuff faltered. Almost ninety percent of the wickets were taken by the faster bowlers who kept on pitching them short. It was like a re-run of a Lankan match that they played in New Zealand at the beginning of their exchanges in the early eighties.”
The insider said the England proposition is going to be even worse. It was explained that the battery of fast bowlers led by Jimmy Anderson that also had the services of Stewart Broad, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes and Steven Finn will be fresh and ready for action.
“So obviously we Lankans could expect that barrage of bouncers. Besides, the reality is that we have a very unsettled batting line up. We have invested heavily for more than six years in Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, but in my eyes they have not delivered. yet, we have no choice but to keep investing in them. Then the experienced T.M. Dilshan and Angelo Mathews do their firing once in every 5-6 innings. Is this situation acceptable? The only hypothetical assumption is the hope that Dimuth Karunaratne or Kaushal Silva would come back to their capable form and change the course. May be it would help if they think of opening with Karunaratne and Tharanga Paranavithana and let Kaushal Silva drop to number three. In this manner, we can protect Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews who are pressured to the hilt under the present circumstances.”
The insider also said that he was worried about the Lankan bowling. He said during the recent past the match winning feats of Rangana Herath are getting as rare as the centuries scored by Lankan top order batsmen. During the New Zealand Test series, Herath bagged only two wickets and that is compounding to the Lankan woes.
The insider asked: “Could Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera solve all Lankan problems?” Wonder if Sanath Jayasuriya could find solutions to all these problems that we are facing at the moment. Definitely we have no short-term solutions other than shuffling the batting order and hope for the best. At the same time we wonder if we could reverse the Lankan fortunes even by the time the Lankans take on Australia in August this year.