Legendary Vaas urges batsmen to come out of fear factor
Chaminda Vaas, one of the greatest left-arm fast bowlers that the cricketing world has ever seen, played a crucial role in Sri Lanka’s victorious World Cup campaign in 1996. Presently he is in charge of nurturing the younger generation, after being appointed as Head Coach of the Sri Lanka Emerging team.
His first tour to South Africa as the Head Coach will be a challenging one. Vaas believes that his team has the strength and the capabilities to be successful in South Africa from next Saturday.
“It is a challenging tour, but the team is looking forward to play well. Our preparations have been very good, and I believe that we have the capability to be successful in South Africa,” Vaas said during an interview with the Sunday Times.
The Emerging squad is a mixture of youth and experience. Allrounder Charith Asalanka will captain the team and there are players who represented Sri Lanka at the Under-19 level.
“Most players have represented the Under-19 team, it is important to give an opportunity to each and every one. When they get the opportunity to represent the national team they have the experience to cope up with the pressure, so that they can play according to their instincts,” Vaas emphasized.
South African pitches are known for having a lot of pace and bounce, to which the Sri Lankans have mostly struggled to cope with. According to Vaas, they have practised some important techniques to minimise the problem with pace and bounce.
“The pitches in South Africa are quite different to the ones that we get here in the subcontinent, you get a lot of bounce. It’s going to be a tough tour for our team. As you know, when you are in the Emerging team you prepare and develop to the next level,” he added.
When a team is touring a country such as South Africa, their fast bowling attack will play a major role. Sri Lanka will field five fast bowlers — Asitha Fernando, Kalana Perera, Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Madushanka and another one from the Under-19 set-up.
The batting department has been a major concern in the recent past. Vaas highlighted the need for being patient and furthermore he went on to say that the batsmen need to be mentally strong and they need to adjust their game according to the match situation.
“In the recent Under-19 series, we have seen all the batsmen in the top order score some runs throughout the series, but they failed to carry on. I think there is a problem in their mental aspect of the game. If we solve that, they have the talents and the skills to become successful batsmen in the future.”
School cricket is known to be the backbone of Sri Lanka cricket, but he was concerned about the standards at school level at present.
“In the recent past, the standard of school cricket has gone down and we need to improve our school cricket structure, and at the same time, Sri Lanka cricket need to monitor the level of cricket that is being played throughout the country,” a thoughtful Vaas emphasised.
The standards of the country’s first class cricket have been under scrutiny for a long time. Now it is said that the First Class pitches in Sri Lanka have played in favour of spinners. He said that Sri Lanka cricket needs to look into this prolonged problem.
“If you observe our First Class cricket, most of the wickets have been taken by the spinners. We have to improve the standard of our pitches, for that to happen Sri Lanka cricket has to take some important decisions. At present we are working with the manager of the high performance centre regarding the matter,” he said while explaining the fact of fitness which plays a major role in the game.
“Fitness is an area which we give priority to for the current players. It is important to give the required amount of rest before an important tour, because the players have to give the maximum effort on the field.”
At the same time Vaas was critical about the current situation of the national cricket team, which has struggled to play the full 50 overs. According to Vaas he was worried about the players’ preparation and the mind-set.
“In this era, the game has gone to another level, each and every batsman must prepare himself to play the allocated overs and they need to get out of fear of failure. You have to focus on the game and they have to forget the past to give their maximum effort to make the team win”
“When we were playing, we had an aim to take Sri Lanka cricket to its peak. We enjoyed the game and at the same time each and every one took the responsibility to perform at their best. All we wanted was to make the nation proud. But at present I don’t see the commitment and the passion for the game from the players”, he concluded.