Upon the completion of his century, Samaraweera gestures to the dressing room to depict that you don’t have to bring the roof down to sustain a strike rate of over ninety. (Pic Reuters)

If he is really keen in becoming a comedian on TV he has other ways of doing so, but, as far as this column is concerned, cricket is far too serious a subject to indulge for individuals of this nature.

First, chief selector should know that Sri Lanka is high up in the order in World Cricket though the current ODI positioning of the side does not suggest so. Now the Lankan side is a fully professional side and the SLC do possess a plethora of experts for any given discipline in cricket that an individual cricketer could take assistance of. Secondly a cricketer of the caliber of Samaraweera who is proven stuff should be subjected to the extra attention of the fielding coach and moulded into an acceptable member of the team without throwing the book at his face by the chief selector saying that he is not fit enough to play ODI cricket because he is a poor fielder. The same goes for Kandamby too.

Another interesting fact is that during that game against Bangladesh there were no hint of Samaraweera being a poor fielder as he took a blinder in the slips and also held on to a good catch in the outfield… as far as his catching goes. Like batting and bowling ninety five per cent of the job is done in your mind even where fielding is concerned.

This column consistently has campaigned for the need of a player who could fill in the role of namely - Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Michael Bevan or our own Asanka Gurusinha - who were batsmen with a special aptitude of carrying the bat along while the rest of the batting played around them. That is the role that a player with the attitude of Thilan Samaraweera can play in the Lankan line-up. But, for him to mentally adjust himself and take up the responsibility, he should first know he is in the side on a permanent basis and the selectors do respect his skills.

On Tuesday after a long time in Lankan ODI cricket we saw two experienced batsmen combating the opposition in its stride and being engaged in one of the most mature partnerships since the days of Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva. They just looked so solid out in the middle there.

At the same time can one be satisfied with the team composition of the Lankan outfit for the two games? One inalienable factor is that this bowling composition looks raw and acts raw. However in the first game the Lankan team included two off spinners in Suraj Randiv and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara (who only bowled five overs). Pushpakumara shared his five overs with half bowler Thilina Kandamby who bowls a kind of leg spinners while professional leg spinner Malinga Bandara was languishing in the sidelines. Bandara is a leg spinner who has proven himself at international level.

In the second game it was even worse. The management went in with four seamers in Welagedera, Lakmal, Thushara and Thisara Perera while skipper Sangakkara was also experimenting with Kandamby’s leg spin. Surely they could have gone with one less seamer and included a wicket taking leg spinner who could bowl a good ten overs!

Once again the seam department looks very short of experience. Most of the time they do look rattled when things are not moving smoothly their way. But, very strangely there is no bowling coach on tour. We are not talking of Chaminda Vaas or Glen McGrath. We are talking of a set of young medium pace rookies who are still spending their formative years in international cricket. Surely a bowling coach at hand could send in a message or walk around the boundary line and be able to give the young ones a tip or two if they are being taken to task by the opposing batsmen. If it is the cost that matters as some may feel, there is a coach, assistance coach and a shadow coach who can look after the fielding department on tour at the expense of a fielding coach, while a bowling coach would be of immense help.

If one remembers even the successful Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni lamented recently that they require a permanent bowling coach to guide their squad.

On the brighter side of matters the SLC coaching dept also must be congratulated for keeping the feeder points on with good quality products. While the aging cricketers were shown the door, there was also a spate of injuries where replacements were needed. At times the replacement got injured and still more replacements were sent who could perform at international level and the coaching dept. had the requirements needed at hand.

So now all is not hopeless. The Lankan team only needs some change of attitude especially among the selectors.

While recently talking with a former selector he lamented “I was talking to one of the present selectors about the selection of Samaraweera then he said ‘I wonder how he was selected, this is not a Test tour”. I rest my case there.

PS: the third game came and out came Mahela Jayawardena as an opener. Like against New Zealand he blazed into another century from the top. But, did it provide any answers to the present predicament. No. It only complicated them further.

Then Malinga Bandara came in as a full time bowler. Did you sense the difference in the Lankan attack with two professional spinners in the fray on that sub continental surface?.