‘Too early to rejoice’ – Chief Selector
The ODI series win over South Africa have put Sri Lanka in a positive frame of mind with fans starting to back the young lions in international cricket. But all Pramodya Wickremesinghe, Chairman of Selectors, wants is for it not to be a flash in the pan.
Pramodya Wickremesinghe
With home conditions greatly assisting the Sri Lankans, the young outfit defeated South Africa 2-1 in the three-match series—their first series win over the Proteas in eight years and the country’s first in five attempts. The win was so important for the islanders that even the Head of State issued a congratulatory message to the players.
“Consistency is key,” argues Wickremesinghe, who attracted criticism for too much experimentation with the national white-ball team. Soon after taking over the role, he introduced some drastic changes, dropping several seniors. This was heavily slammed by former players who believed selectors should have built the team around players such as Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dimuth Karunaratne and Thisara Perera. The angst was understandable. Sri Lanka lost the first three series badly, winning just two out of the nine ODI games. But the selectors persisted with the same team with their focus firmly set on the 2023 World Cup. “There was a lot of resistance to the changes we brought in. I have given myself one year for these guys to produce results. We should not get carried away with the win but I must say the signs are encouraging,” maintains the former Sri Lanka fast bowler whose appointment to the top was not welcomed by many.
“We have planted the seeds and it’s now the work of the team management to hone their skills. These cricketers need to upskill themselves so that team will produce results consistently. The start is good but a long, long way to go to be among the top teams,” Wickremasinghe added.
The series win allows Sri Lanka to jump into 5th place in the Super League points table where only the top eight teams at the end of the cricket cycle will earn automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup.
“We need the players to perform consistently like Charith Asalanka did in that No.5 position. We have seen players who score a 100 in one game and then struggle for many games before hitting another big score. That won’t help the team. What we need is for them to score runs more consistently and that requires to upskill their game,” he admits.
Apart from Asalanka, opener Avishka Fernando hit a match-winning century in the first game in the series but the rest of the batting lacked depth. This, he sees as the problem with the team.
“These guys have the hunger and I have never seen a group of players who are so committed for the job. They spend hours on training unlike before. The body language is good and their positivity all around. So we need to help these cricketers to be better and if we do that they can be world beaters,” he insisted.