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The Lion cricket is on ascend. On Friday evening, it was hugely a Sri Lankan crowd that watched the lads from their home country create history with a 29 run victory adding further woes to the already grasping Kangaroo cricket. It was very evident that the Australians had opted to stay at home rather than witnessing the agony of another defeat.
The World Cup is around the bend and it is encouraging to watch the Lankan cricketers gradually peaking to the expected levels.
One may argue that the Aussies were below par. But the Sri Lankans couldn’t be faulted for that as they could compete only against the given opposition and at the same time beating Australia in their own den takes some skill and concentration. . And on the given three days that was the best the Aussies could have on show.
 No doubt at the start Sangakkara and his team dreamt of that when they landed in Australia and the one scenario the Aussies would have dreaded! To be beaten by the Sri Lankans before the crucial Ashes.
A closer look at the three games, I am convinced of two things! Firstly the Sri Lankans appear to be playing like a mature and a well-organised unit and secondly the Aussies seemed to be in very serious trouble in their rebuilding process, first for the Ashes and then for the world cup.
In all three games the Australians definitely lacked the stability and the class they used to posses in the past. One remembers the times the Australians had some great names at the top of their order with Hayden, Langer, Gilchrist, Ponting, Martyn and the rest forming a very strong combination whilst the bowling had McGrath, Warne Gillespie and Stuart Clarke. And when you were up against such a line up the chances of winning was always going to be very brittle. However the current crop of players with Clarke and Hussey being the seniors in batting with only Ponting to come and Johnson being the senior bowler the Australians of today is a far cry from the past.
On the other hand the Sri Lankan scenario appears to be vastly different! The current unit looks impregnable and as Mahela Jayawardane was quoted just recently the final squad for the World Cup may not be too different from what it is now. This is obviously very good news for the Sri Lankans as chopping and changing of a unit will clearly not be healthy and if the selectors could retain a high percentage of the current squad for the world cup with just minor changes made, it will be extremely helpful in the final build up for the big event.
Even as all Sri Lankans are bound to celebrate the two victories on the tour so far, it is also important that the Lankans examine themselves closely to identify their areas needing improvement. Whilst a victory is always a victory lets not fool ourselves by expecting Lasith Malinga to play such an innings every time he goes in to bat. May be if he could repeat it in ten percent of the innings he plays, it will be a huge achievement and will make him proud as a batsman. And for Mathews it was innings that is bound to confirm the faith the selectors had in him when they decided to play him purely as a batsman which is just one role he could play.
The other being bowling which is hampered due to an injury he has at the moment. Therefore it is important that the batting concentrates more on being consistent and reliable. In the first ODI which Sri Lanka won by the thinnest of margins, the batting was far from impressive. At the same time as one could spare a thought for Tharanga run out at the non strikers end and skipper Sangakkara who made a polished forty nine the rest was most disappointing. Dilshan, Mahela and Chamara Silva from the top order were dismissed on poor shot selection and Thisara Perera, Randiv and Kulasekera from the lower order perished in a fashion that boarded on surrender than anything else.
he last three names are more than capable batsmen and have contributed with useful runs in the past and to make a team successful one needs every run you could get from the players. One of the secrets of the world cup winning team of 1996 was the batting which chased targets. The team then had batting down to almost Vaas who was batting at number nine and who wasn’t really called upon to do much in terms of run making, as the front-liners did their job admirably and was the reason for that memorable win.
Though the current team has great variety in the bowling the solidity and stability in the batting is bound to be the key in the overall plan of winning the world cup. Sri Lanka on current form despite the failures of the batsmen in the first ODI can still win the series against Australia three matches to nil. But as mentioned earlier the Lankans should look to ensure that the weak links are taken care of.
One other factor that should concern the Lankans is that the next series is going to be against the West Indies who are not in the best of cricketing health.
This doesn’t make victory a foregone conclusion but obviously it makes the home team firm favourites. Hence we also know that a team wanting to win a World cup containing a series of matches should look to peak at the correct time and not too early. The Sri Lankans should ensure even if they do peak early by continuing to win, the maintaining of the winning form is obviously equally paramount. Don’t forget that on every previous occasion including in 1995 when the Sri Lankans toured Australia before a world cup the series was lost in that country.
It made the Lankans think hard and also more determined and on both occasions they did extremely well in the ensuing world cups. I don’t mean that the script should be written in the same format this time too. But this is only what happened in the past. Thinking positively a win in Australia will give the Lankans the boost and the confidence ahead of the big event. But as I have tried to explain, we should also keep an eye on the “peaking factor” as that too plays a vital role in the overall scheme of things such as winning a cricket World cup.
Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator |
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