The Vaas effect
Former team mates Chaminda Vaas and Mehala Jayawardene, now as coaches of the present Sri Lanka T20 outfit - Picture courtesy Sameera Peiris in Sharjah
Traditionally, fast bowlers have been hunting in pairs. Their names tend to be synonymous with another bowler. Gregory and McDonald, Constantine and Martindale, Lindwall and Miller, Trueman and Statham, Hall and Griffith, Lillee and Thomson, Ambrose and Walsh, Wasim and Waqar, McGrath and Gillespie, Donald and Pollock and Anderson and Broad have all bowled in tandem with great success.
Chaminda Vaas, arguably the best seamer Sri Lanka has seen, often partnered with Muttiah Muralidarana, the world’s best spinner. They shared many great partnerships together, not only leading the team to great heights, but their careers to unprecedented levels.
Under Vaas’ watch, however, Sri Lanka has seen the rise of their fast bowling stocks. Dushamantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara and Chamika Karunaratne are fresh and firing. They have impressed with the amount of pace they generate and the precision with which they have delivered those thunderbolts, giving Sri Lanka a competitive advantage against their opponents.
Against Namibia, Ireland and the Netherlands, they intimidated the batters at a threatening speed. Chameera and Kumara are touching 150km per hour while Chamika, a fast bowling allrounder swings the ball at a cracker pace.
“What we have not seen for a while is two guys bowling over 140km per hour,” said Vaas, the national side’s bowling coach.
“Right now, we have two guys bowling at 145kmph on both sides. I am looking forward to see how they will fare in Test cricket. We will have a good opportunity moving forward.”
Chameera has been terrific during the last eight months or so, keeping himself fit and injury-free (a major concern during the early part of his career). This was why he was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore to play in the recent Indian Premier League.
“He has learned the art of swinging the ball and, when you do that with his pace, that can be quite handy,” said Vaas, a master of swinging the ball both ways.
“He works hard on his bowling. You have to give him credit. He wants to do well for the team, keep improving.”
The bowling unit has been toiling tirelessly, not only to up their skills, but also to be free from injuries, a serious issue with Sri Lankan quicks over the years. Vaas, though, was extraordinary. In a career spanning over 15 years, he missed the England series in 1998 through injury, the only instance of a champion seamer skipped a tour for that reason.
“We have a brilliant trainer, a Sri Lankan, in Dilshan Fonseka,” Vaas pointed out.
“He gets the best out of players and hardly gives them a rest. The head coach has managed them well too. So, hopefully, we will move forward in the right direction.”
Chameera’s strength has been his pace and swing while Kumara, in addition to the express speed he generates, also has a perfect yorker that dips in and crashes into the stump—a weapon he effectively executed in recent games. He was a late addition to the squad, having initially been overlooked.
“Lahiru was in the pool but wasn’t in the squad of 15,” Vaas said.
“We have been doing a lot of work with him trying to develop his skills. He was desperate to get a few things right. His stats in T20 cricket were not good enough for his immense talent. To his credit, he put in the hard yards. He did a lot of work with our trainer Dilshan. I guess those things have stood in good stead during the tournament.”
Against the Netherlands, Kumara returned his career best figures of 3 for 7. Right-arm quick Lahiru has made few adjustments, like changes on run-up and wrist position as well as trained hard to bowl the yorker, which he seems to execute perfectly.
“He trains a lot on bowling yorkers, keeps a cone and tries hitting that,” Vaas recounted.
“He’s been terrific to be honest. The more you do this stuff as a fast bowler, the more you improve. Glad to see Lahiru having that desire to get his act together and the results are there for everyone to be seen. Happy for him.”
“They are both match winners,” he added.
“They cannot go downwards from now, but upwards. They have done a terrific job so far and hopefully they will continue to do so.”
Apart from the duo, Chamika’s rise has been creditable. He can not only touch 140kmph but swing the ball both ways.
“We used him early because one side of the Abu Dhabi ground is smaller,” Vaas explained. “When you give him the first over, you can make the best out of Dushmantha and Lahiru. We can keep them for the middle overs and the death overs, which is vital. That’s the thinking behind it. When we want a wicket, we try to bring in the extra pace of Lahiru and Dushmantha. Also we have Binura (Fernando) as the left-arm option. Binura is recovering from his injury and he is moving forward nicely. The selectors and coaches will have a chat about when to bring him into the fold.”
Sri Lanka’s bowling, seam and spin have seen a remarkable improvement in recent months and if the batting unit can fire, Sri Lanka could certainly come out of the rut they are in. The signs are encouraging.