The Sri Lanka Inter-Provincial T-20 tournament is in full steam and we see and read about the performances at individual and team level. We especially keep hearing about the heroics of young Dinesh Chandimal and also the exploits of Kumar Sangakkara – two batsmen of two age groups and two different skill levels, but both are equally effective even in the shortest version of the game.
Besides that, the young allrounder Jeevan Mendis also has been contributing with both bat and ball though significantly there is no bowler who has managed to keep his mark over the batsmen in this tournament, in the manner that Lasith Malinga and Munaf Patel did in the Indian Premier League tournament early this year.
 This is the disturbing factor. By the time this week turns the Australians -- a team that is hard to beat under any circumstance -- will be here on a mission that is very important to them too.
As far as we can remember there has been no other contest between the two countries that had taken place on a so even keel, where neither side can claim a clear cut advantage over the other.
Though to a lesser extent, the Australians are also on the team-building process and, like Sri Lanka, are playing with their own cricketing abacus to get the combinations right, while two new captains are trying to get a foothold over the rest of the brood.
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| The new national Coach Rumesh Ratnayake stressing a point while former skipper Kumar Sangakkara and others look on. (Picture by Sanka Vidanagama) |
Unlike the Sri Lankans, the Australians have some problems in the batting department. Of late, they have put much onus on the skills and resolute of the batting of opener Shane Watson who has played his innings with more guts and spunk than the rest of the pack. Ironically, their best batsmen – by a few fathoms from the rest – Ricky Ponting seems to have lost some of his magic while the new skipper Michael Clarke too gets his act right sporadically. Yet, besides Watson, the Aussie work horse Michael Hussey is there like a beacon in the lower middle and blends into pressure situation like sugar to water.
However, still the skill levels of Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh are un-proven and how they would perform if they are let off at the deep end on Lankan slow and low wickets is yet to be seen.
Though the Lankan cricket took a beating since the departure of their two champion bowlers – Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas -- their batting has not been affected so much. Though the Lankans lost the services of veteran Sanath Jayasuriya who finally called it a day after a London Oval tragicomedy where the Lankan lost by a huge margin of 110 runs in spite of a rain-shortened game, their batting standards have not fallen that drastically.
Also in spite of the temporary loss of consistent Upul Tharanga who was pumped out of cricket till August 9, the Lankan opening slot has been strengthened by the presence of Mahela Jayawardena. He holds his own at the other end with skipper T.M. Dilshan. Yes, Dilshan has been struggling with his confidence after being thumbed out by some English summer snorters that also put him out of action for Test and two T-20s. However with the lack of bounce on the Lankan tracks Dilshan may be able to come to his own again.
The openers are followed by former skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal. Like his speech at the Cowdrey Memorial Sangakkara’s batting is also a class act and the moment he gets into top gear, it is a case of the scoreboard ticking with an act of sheer domination. No accolades needed, he sings all hosannas for himself with his bat and the runs he scores.
Besides, Sangakkara and Jayawardena, Chandimal seems to be the best thing that has happened to Sri Lankan batting in recent years. Chandimal does not go by the reputation of the bowler operating at the other end, but by the ball he receives at this end and his decision if the delivery could be put away with a vengeance or not. To prove his skills – at the age of twenty-two he already has a one-day century at Lords and the day will not be too far away when he does just that in a Test match too.
Backing the skills of Chandimal though lesser in age in comparison to Australia’s Hussey, the Lankan lower middle order is policed by Angelo Mathews, a batsman who bats beyond his years and now his maturity at this stage of cricket is rapidly earning him the status that beckons his skills.
I am sure the Lankan cricket’s next combination will be the Chandimal-Mathews association who will take on the rough and tumble of World Cricket with the same aplomb that Sangakkara and Jayawardena and a few others did during the past few decades. The other batsman in the lower middle would be allrounder Jeewan Mendis, but if he hopes to cement his place in the shorter version of the game, he will have to do more with his right arm leg spinners so that he would be in the team whichever way the scale is tilted when it comes to the penning of the final Xl. It must be admitted that the Australian fast bowling arm -- with Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle leading -- is more potent than anything that Sri Lanka could offer barring the T-20 bowling skills of Lasith Malinga. However Trent Copeland, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon and Michael Beer are new to the Lankan conditions and this can give the Lankan a slight edge in the bowling department.
Besides Malinga, much onus will also be on off-spinner Suraj Randiv who is gradually developing to be the best in this sphere of skill in the Lankan arsenal. At the same time we welcome the selectors’ decision to recall leg-spinner Malinga Bandara who is a better pick than Jeewan Mendis on the strength of his bowling.
The other mention should go to Nuwan Kulasekera. Without doubt, Kulasekera is the only Lankan bowler who has control over his deliveries since Chaminda Vaas. I am glad that a person in the calibre of Rumesh Ratnayake is at the helm of the coaching department and we are sure he could put to right any afflictions that are bugging Kulasekera right now. Occupying the No. 1 position in ODI rankings a year ago, Kulasekera seems to have lost his confidence lately, but, he is too good a bowler to be sidelined for too long.
All in all, the series should be on even keel where skills are concerned, but, any side which is willing to take that extra initiative and assert authority should come on top. |
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