More questions than answers
Youth Head Coach Hashan Tillakaratne is critical about his team's performance against Bangladesh
The Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket team has been under the spotlight in the recent past, especially after their disastrous tour of Bangladesh. They lost four out of five Youth One Day Internationals. As the countdown begins for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, Hashan Tillakeratne and his team landed in Sri Lanka with a lot of questions to be answered before heading to South Africa for the showpiece event.
Leading up to the Bangladesh tour they were knocked out of the Asia cup which was played on home soil. Despite the heartbreak, a lot was expected from the team as they do their last minute preparations for the Youth World Cup. Speaking to the Sunday Times after the tour, Head coach Hashan Tillakaratne hinted that he was disappointed about his team’s performance during the tour.
“It was a very poor performance. We need to reassess our game plan before the World Cup” the former Sri Lanka skipper said.
Tillakaratne was concerned about the mindset of the players, with a World Cup on the horizon. He warns his players to come out of the fear factor.
“One of the main reasons for the defeat is that the players are playing for a spot in the World Cup squad. They should not think about the World Cup as yet. They should concentrate on their own performances,” Tillakaratne emphasised.
Sri Lanka had tested out 24 players during the tour. None of them were able to do anything significant. Nipun Dananjaya failed to lead from the front as he scored a mere 53 runs at an average of 13.25 during the ODI series in Bangladesh. Just before the squad was announced for the Bangladesh tour, Sri Lanka were dealt with two major blows when in-form Ahan Wickramasinghe and Kamil Mishara were suspended for disciplinary reasons. Had the duo played, it would have been a different story.
Throughout the series all the batsmen had scored some runs but they were not able to convert them to a substantial score. The former Sri Lanka Test skipper expressed his critical on the batting performance on tour.
“They failed to capitalise on the starts they got. In short, I would like to say that they gifted their wickets under pressure,” he noted.
The Sri Lankan youth bowlers had a series to forget too. They were not able to keep the opposition on their toes and were not consistent. They gave away extras at will and the Bangladesh batsmen took the maximum advantage of Sri Lanka’s wayward bowling throughout the series.
Fielding is another area that they are concerned about, as Tillakaratne focuses on improving standards before it is too late. Tillakaratne praised the opposition, as he referred to them as an experienced set of players that played a lot of domestic cricket, including the Bangladesh Premier League, which is known to be the tournament where the youngsters shine and get in to the Bangladesh National team.