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Lankan batting comes of age |
Sri Lanka’s batting was definitely the high point of the first Test at Galle against the Kiwis though it will be remembered for three very good innings only. Tilakaratne Dilshan’s blistering innings at the top and then the controlled and well structured innings of Mahela Jayawardane and of course the very stylish hundred of Thilan Samaraweera.
True the Kiwi bowling wasn’t menacing, but the situation demanded committed and intelligent batting from the Lankans and the manner Dilshan responded at the commencement of the Sri Lanka innings was breathtaking! “All I need to do now is to open the bowling for Sri Lanka as I have opened in the shorter form of the game, bowled and got wickets and also kept wickets” was Dilshan’s view after he was made to open for the first time in a Test Match. With the dismissal of the fellow opener Paranavithana in the first over and skipper Sangakkara soon after, it would have naturally caused Dilshan a greater challenge than he expected. However Dilshan’s response to all that was to counter attack and some of the shots he played was simply breathtaking! It prompted Mahela Jayawardane to comment “I thought I was batting on a different pitch.” “Dilshan made batting look so different and ridiculously easy”.
It was definitely the case with that innings on day one. But the big question now is has Sri Lanka decided to go with Dilshan at the top? It is definitely a very interesting choice as Sri Lanka with the retirement of the great Sanath Jayasuriya from Test cricket and his partner Marvan Atapattu had not been able to find a stable opening combination for them. A few combinations have been tried. The closest to success was derived with Warnapura as one opener and the problem then was a partner for him and when it appeared that Paranavithana was making one of the opening slots his own we see Warnapura sadly out of form against Pakistan being left out and a brand new combination of Dilshan and Paranavithana being formed.
Dilshan’s aggression at the top will be extremely useful and can emulate Jayasuriya and hopefully try to attack the bowling as the great left hander did. But let’s not forget that Dilshan is not an experienced and a regular opener and what would be the situation with the selectors if he fails? Will he be persisted with or allowed to drop back to his usual position at no six? Definitely food for thought for all!
If Dilshan is going to be the man at the top, what about the rest of the Sri Lanka batting? Numbers three, four and five are stable and solid! You couldn’t have asked for any better players than Skipper Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardane and Samaraweera. This would leave an opening at no six and Chamara Kapugedara along with Thilina Kandamby should be the top contenders for this slot judging from the choice of players the selectors are having at the moment.
But back to the batting of Sri Lanka in the Test match, Mahela Jayawardene’s 26th Test hundred was definitely a class act and in his 106th Test match, the equation is a century to every four Test matches which is definitely the best century to a game ratio for Sri Lanka with the great Aravinda De Silva being the next best for Sri Lanka. What was impressive about the Jayawardane hundred was the manner it was constructed. Coming in at two down for just 16 and out of runs in the Pakistan series, Jayawardane with all his experience was definitely under pressure too. But it was his experience and quality that won the day for him coming up with an absolute gem in the end.
Samaraweera on the other hand too needed runs to maintain his excellent level of consistency and a big hundred was all what he needed to get back on rail. With Samaraweera being the only Sri Lankan
batsman to maintain a 40 plus average right through his career up to date, confirms his consistency and reliability as a batsman for Sri Lanka. Both he and Jayawardane will hopefully be around for some time to continue the stability and the runs for Sri Lanka which currently stands at twelve thousand plus Test runs and 36 Test hundreds between them! Phenomenal in any stretch of imagination!
It brings me to the interesting story of how these two young batsmen were identified as a future Test Stars. It was cricket commentator Premasara Epasinghe who was given the tough task in 1994 to identify two young stars of Sri Lanka for the future on a request of the Indian great Sunil Gavaskar to be taken to South Africa for a tournament comprising international stars. Both Jayawardane and Samaraweera were very young and playing for their respective colleges - Nalanda and Ananda respectively. The experience and knowledge of identifying talent of Epasinghe was put to good use on this occasion and the two young men were the choice to travel to South Africa. Though Gavaskar didn’t travel Sandeep Pail did and so did Jayawardane and Samaraweera at a very young age. There started a story that is still been written and told. Let’s hope this great script which was initiated by Premasara Epasinghe will continue for a much longer time!
Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator |
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