Fast bowling is an exciting subject or a topic to discuss. It is equally thrilling to watch a genuinely fast bowler in operation and being taken on by an adventurous batsman! In the past fast bowlers have hunted in pairs and the famous of them until the decade of the eighties was Lillee and Thomson! The battle between the great Viv Richards and the Australian twins of Lille and Thomson in the 70’s and the 80’s which was an exciting prospect as always was! One also remembers the famous saying in 1975 when the English batsmen were tormented by this pair.

Lasith Malinga: A fast bowler with genuine pace

It read “ Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust if Lillee doesn’t get you Thomson must.” It was in the same series that the then English opening batsman David Lloyd had written home stating that he had a “ half volley “ in the nets. Genuine quick bowling is never an easy task and is both physically demanding and could be most intimidating. Besides Thomson and Lillee, there were the fearsome West Indians who operated as a quartet! Roberts, Holding, Garner and Croft followed by Marshall, Clark and Daniel! They were all intimidating, frightening and generally had many batsmen with broken bones. Before that there was Hall and Griffith, Tyson, Larwood, Truman and of course John Snow and Bob Willis who were also respected fast bowlers of the decade of the seventy and eighty.

Many believe however that Frank Typhoon Tyson the typhoon who swept across Australia in the mid nineteen fifties as the fastest bowler the world had ever seen though the modern crop could beg to differ with the likes Lee, Akthar and Tate touching the 160kmp plus mark! In short genuine quick’s of real quality are a great asset though rare in breed!

In the Asian region genuine fast bowlers have been in short supply with just Imran Khan at the start and then of course Wasim Akram and WaquarYounis appearing in the horizon for Pakistan. For India Kapil Dav has been a quality fast bowler without being an “express” with no other Indian fast bowler other than Ishant Sharma considered really hostile and able to achieve the coveted 140kmp’s on a regular basis.
With fast bowling forming such a vital cog in a bowling wheel where and how does the Sri Lankan’s compare with the world scene? To start with Sri Lanka became serious with fast bowling when Rumesh Ratnayake the gentle giant of Sri Lanka fast bowling, was at the helm. His experience and knowledge was of great value.

Ratnayake who was preceded by another former Sri Lankan fast bowler Champaka Ramanayake who too have done great service to the fast bowling department in the country. It was during those tenure’s of Ratnayake and Ramanayake that the likes of Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and even Lasith Malinga operated! They were fine tuned so much that their success story is still spoken of!

Today the Sri Lankan fast bowling has gone not just a step but leaps forward under the watchful eyes of the current coach Anusha Samaranayake and his able assistant Prabath Nissanka. The Sri Lankan fast bowling cupboard has never been as full as today with Dilhara Ferando, Chanaka Welegedara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dammika Prasad, Thilina Thushara and Lasith Malinga all fighting for places!
Backing them are Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Darshanapriya, Tharnga Laksitha and Chaminda Vidanapathirana! A very exciting list of names!

According to Coach Anusha Samaranayake four of these bowlers namely Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Dammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep could bowl at 140kmp plus which is a huge asset. He is also impressed with young fast bowlers Lahiru Jayaratne, Samitha De Mel, Charith Jayampathi and Chathura Peries who is working closely with Prabath Nissanka.

Samaranayake who is the head coach of the fast bowling academy is of the view that the Sri Lankan quick’s are as good as or even better than their foreign counter parts. “They have pace to intimidate batsmen and skill to dismiss them” says Samaranayake. And to the credit of him Nuwan Kulasekera is the 4th ranked fast bowler in the ODI rankings whilst the likes of Welegedara has remerged when Sri Lanka badly needed him when injury plagued them in India.

Samaranyaka’s main task is to ensure that the fast bowlers are fit and ready to battle.” Both Prabath and I work on the skill level of bowlers and take a look at some of the important technical aspects” “we also try our best to ensure that the fast bowlers are at peak fitness and injury free to ensure the best results”
Fast bowling can never be totally injury free considering the amount of cricket one plays, but to so have many top line bowlers of almost equal quality ready to step in as an effort which should be recognized and commended. On that score both Anusha Samaranayake the head coach and Prabath Nissanka deserves a huge bouquet for their silent but a very effective service behind the scene.

The hours of hard work which they put in has definitely not been in vein as it has been their efforts which brought in young gun Suranga Lakmal during the ODI series against India and even shaped the talent of the U.19 fast bowlers which resulted in their impressive performance was a stand out case even in the U.19 world cup. Further another point which should be considered is the no of matches the fast bowling brigade has won for Sri Lanka in all forms of the game! One could never do that unless you are of quality and have the great ingredients a world class performer should posses. Obviously by figuring prominently in the wins the Sri Lanka team has registered the fast bowlers have provided enough evidence to the rest of the world of their quality and class.

On the International stage taking a closer look at the Australian strategy in the recently concluded T 20 games against the West Indians, it has been a case of pace and intimidation provided by Tate and Nannes! This has unsettled the batting which included the great Chris Gayle causing Windies to surrender meekly. Now the Sri Lankan fast bowlers may not be as quick as Tate, but sure the pace they posses and the capacity to intimidate can win games.

And with the T 20 world cup around the corner it’s never too late to look at that strategy considering the pacemen available to us. Why shouldn’t the think tank of Sri Lanka cricket task Anusha Samaranayake and Prabath Nissanka of their requirement of fast bowlers as I am sure with that approach Sri Lanka could make a major impression in the World cup.

Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator