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Sports

Back to the drawing board
Sri Lanka’s defeat to Pakistan at the Asgiriya Stadium must rank amongst the biggest debacles ever witnessed in a Test match. More so, It happened without any real reason. Pakistan snatched and Sri Lanka let go in the matter of one session in a five day encounter.

From the outside there seemed to be a rush to get on with it. They had an opportunity in the first test match. The pitch turned out to be easy to bat on, on the last day. Maybe Mahela Jayawardena and the team felt they needed to extend that lead of 109 runs quickly, have plenty of time, then get stuck into the opposition in the fourth innings.

But, two innings had been completed within two days and yet twenty nine overs remained to be negotiated in the day. Much thought should have gone into approach. Sanath Jayasuriya injured himself with the fall of the first wicket, holding out to a catch, went to hospital, then returned to the team hotel, with his hand stitched and in a plaster.

Was Kumar Sangakkara the right choice to open? The options were none other than that. Sangakkara must have been a tired man after a long first innings batting knock and standing behind the stumps during Pakistan’s innings. Maybe Dilshan could have been sent at number three. With Jayasuriya unlikely to bat, two of the other experienced four batsmen (Sangakkara, Jayawardena, Dilshan, Samaraweera) had to make big runs. Therefore Jayawardena and Samaraweera could well have stayed in their customary number four and number five slots. In addition to that in both test matches Sri Lanka’s middle and lower half was brittle. Mahroof and Bandara are still nowhere near being classed as test allrounders. Kulasekara, Malinga and Muralitharan completed a very long tail.

It is so important to remember in this game that nothing is achieved automatically. Moreso in the longer game where a team has to play well for long periods and win over session after session from the opposition.
The mayhem was in the final forty minutes. Unfortunately it began with a bad decision. Farvez Mahroof was adjudged lbw by umpire Darryl Harper, but the ball which hit the flap of the pad would clearly have gone over the stumps. It was the second bad decision that Mahroof suffered. It must be said that umpire Harper has made some very poor decisions during his international career and it amazes me as to how he continues to be in the elite panel. Decision making is the most important area of umpiring. Sorry, Mr. Harper should not be umpiring International cricket matches!

If umpire Harper’s performance was bad, then the strokes played by Dilshan, Kulasekera and Bandara would have to be classified as atrocious. With seven or eight overs remaining Sri Lanka had to battle it out until close, even if it were to save two or three wickets. The elementary function of batting in the long game is to preserve your wicket and occupy the crease. The next day Younis Khan showed the way. He was very severe on the over pitched delivery, coming down the track and striking it along the ground and into gaps. Similarly he punished the short pitched deliveries. His defense was very tight and he left the deliveries that he did not have to play at. An example of test batsmanship.

Similarly Mohamed Asif demonstrated the art of bowling. He kept coming back tirelessly. Moved the ball both ways and in the air and off the pitch and was aggressive at all times. He was the find of the tour.
Meanwhile for Sri Lanka it’s back to the drawing board.

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