More questions after Sri Lanka’s Under-19 CWC disaster
When Hashan Tillakaratne took over the Sri Lanka Youth side two years ago, expectations were high by almost many, including the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) management, to revive the fortunes of the National Under-19 National cricket team. But it turned out to be contrast with after an year of fluctuations in 2019.
The Sri Lanka Youth side was confident after their victorious campaign in the West Indies after winning four out of seven matches. Sri Lanka did bring in right-arm fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, a younger version of Lasith Malinga. But he was proved to be ineffective and as a result was given only one match in the run up to the Youth World Cup.
Leading up to the tournament Pathirana was highly regarded as a game changer by the Head Coach, and his words simply stood just as words as Sri Lanka was knocked out early from the group stage.
Dashing top order batsman Ahan Wickramasinghe was considered to be Sri Lanka’s best bet at Under-19 level in recent times. Despite his heroics leading up to the tournament, he was left out of the playing XI for the first game against India and the chaos continued in the Lankan camp when the team management decided to send him at No.8 in the must- win game against New Zealand.
Wickramasinghe’s position in the batting order was a major talking point and it was considered to be one of the worst decisions taken by the management. Yet, he batting beautifully it really mattered. He was supposed to bat at No.4 and there was no reason why Wickramasijnghe couldn not bat at the same position in South Africa.
On the other hand Navod Paranavithana, who played a sensational innings to help Sri Lanka clinch the Tri-Series in West Indies, failed to replicate those performances in South Africa as he managed to score just 29 runs in two matches. Captain Nipun Dananjaya had a another disastrous tournament, and so far as he has managed to score only a half century in two outings and right throughout the pressure was on him to score big. But he couldn’t live up to the expectations.
Another aspect that has lacked in the team is the ability of rotating the strike. This mishap will put the batsmen under immense pressure to take undue risks to score runs fast. As a result the young Lankans gifted their wickets away. From the outset, the bowlers were under pressure to perform and as a result of that they will pack their bags and come home after battling for the Plate draw.
Though school cricket is known as the cradle of Sri Lanka cricket, more questions have cropped up than answers, when it comes to international stage. Former National cricketers such as Rangana Herath, Ravindra Pushpakumara and Roshan Mahanama have voiced their opinions to improve the standards of school cricket, it seems that there is nobody willing to take the responsibility of improving the school cricket.
After each disastrous Under-19 World Cup campaigns, Sri Lanka Cricket decides to sack the management and the coaching staff but that will not heal the prolonged wound despite having the supposed best school cricket system in the world.
It’s an irony that Sri Lanka has not been able to feel the joy of victory since 2000, where they became the runners-up. Other than that it has been a mighty struggle. Sri Lanka Cricket needs to look at this problematic situation and should improve the school cricket system before dreaming of winning the tournament in 2022 in West Indies.