Sri Lanka’s Cricketing Shortcomings Quite Painful To Watch At Times!
Posted on August 31st, 2016
Top Spin By Suni
Aug.31st 2016
This is indeed a bold topic as there is sufficient evidence to beleive Sri Lanka’s cricketing shortcomings have been compounded by the inadequacies of the selection staff particularly at the highest level as Sri Lanka meanders into the loss column – painful to watch especially when a few key players who could have made a difference seem to have been, for whatever reason overlooked.
The Chairman of selectors is said to be waging an ongoing personal vendetta against certain players he dislikes and have nor been given the opportunity to bolster the Sri Lanka team as he experiments with young players who have not been blooded in the strictest sense of the work when noteworthy players like Milinda Siriwardena and Upul Tharanga to mention some have been overlooked when they might have made a difference as in the ongoing ODI and T20 series agaist Australia. There is no provable evidence towards confirming this concept but is sure sounds plausible to the seeing eye.
It is pathetic to see how the Aussies quicks are able to run through the top order Lankan batsmen without any qualms and it is becoming painfully obvious that the aforementioned players who have been known to perform well against genuine fast bowling and should have been included so what has our high and mighty chairman of selectors to say in his defence that he has blundered together with the rest of the selection team?
True enough the Sri Lankans have been hit by injury and many who may have made a diference have been sidelined as a result and blooding young players certainly no sin looking towards the future of the team but when the exclusion of key players appear to be deliberately motivated there seems to be something lacking in the work ethic of those responsible.
What a different side the Sri Lankan team would have been had Lasith Malinga and Dhammika Prasad made the team albeit prevented through injury but that now seems wishful thinking.Another name which comes to mind is Dushmantha Chameera who seems to have gone into oblivion despite the impact he made during the past New Zealand series, so whatever happened to him?
Perhaps it is high time Sri Lanka focussed on rebuilding a powerful seam attack and not depend as much as they do on spin alone despite the high quality of the young spinners available today and the rhetoric some pundits indulge in towards its merit!.
Concurrently the emerging young batsmen need to be put through a stringent crash course on how to face upto players like Mitch Stark and the rest of the Aussie trundlers who make such a piecemeal of the Lankan Batting at times laced in blunders.
The current Test Series was a whitewash for the Lankans and joyfully so but they have not proved their mettle in the shorter versions of the game lately and gone are the laurels they secured at World Cup level in both short formats where the absence of former greats like Sangakkara and Jayawardena has become quite conspicuous!
August 31st, 2016 at 7:14 pm
Sunil,
Chameera has a stress fracture in the back and takes a long time to heal. It will take another 3 months for him to come back.
I blame selectors and Dilshan for destroying whatever we gained in the test series.
Dilshan should have retired long time ago despite he is still one of the best fielders and still not too bad as a batsman. This could have paved way to train young batsman in ODI form of cricket.
Team had two suitable young openers, Kusal Perera, Dhanushka Gunathilake and Dhanajaya. because of Dilshan Dhanajaya had to be moved down for last 3 ODIs and selectors tried different combinations. After Dilshan finally left, they should have used Kusal + Dhanajaya since Dhanushka failed in 3 -5 last matches. Instead they forced in a 18 year old, who probably had never faced 140 kPh in life, because all local bowlers have 140 plus speed as injured and cannot even train them at nets ! may be they used the bowling machine. Absolute brainlessness of selectors. they could have taken a young fast bowler instead !
Relying on Mathews and Tissara Perera will never work. Tisara Perera is not a reliable batsman and should be discarded.
Why they did not consider Dasun Chanaka who is a good all rounder ?
August 31st, 2016 at 8:40 pm
The selectors should not be blamed for grooming young players so that they can gain some experience and be ready for the next world cup.I think the coachers should take responsibility for their failure in the current series. When will our batsmen learn not to throw their wickets and bat the fifty overs ? Tissara did that in all three games. Dananjaya did that at a critical time after Mathews got injured. Kusal P is a serial failure. Mendis seems to be catching up with Tharanga’s habit of poking at balls well out side the off stump. He should either go hard at them like Warner and Dilshan of lleve them. Tharanga was dropped from the team for disciplinary reasons when he was at his peak, but never cemented his place when ever he was brought back again and again. We should try two new fast bowlers in the next game in place of Tissara and one spinner.
September 1st, 2016 at 7:32 am
All our hopefuls, the younger best bets have one thing in common:
They peak very fast, and flop thereafter. Peak and flop…peak and flop. that is story of our cricket.
We have come to the stage where the top is unreliable…the middle is unreliable…and the tail was never reliable.
What matters in cricket is the latest position of the teams. The test wins are so far away, the terrible ODI losses stare us in the face.
It was pitiful to see so many top brass personalities of Sri Lanka in the stands. For once they thought Sri Lanka had hit a long lasting winning streak. but it never materialised.
Yes Thisara Perera must be dumped in the dustbin of cricket. So too Seekuge Prasanna.
Really no one can be relied on…no one.
The spinners who revived so much hope were finally tamed. The sweep and the reverse sweep disarmed them completely.
No fast bowlers at all.
All our chaps are prone to injury and are not long term bets.
Our cricket peaked sending the country into ecstasy and the flopped dramatically.
There is nothing in this damned country to make us fell happy.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
September 1st, 2016 at 8:03 am
10 Points to ponder upon
1. absolute brainlessness by the selectors on some of their choices.
2.Dilshan’s time was over sometime ago and should have gracefully bowed out. He is now trying to be vindictive – shame!
3.Kusal Perera is probably showing after effects of his wrongful incarceration by the ICC. but hopefully he will recover soon.
4. Tharanga needs another chance.
5. Have faith in Milinda Siriwardena he’s part of SL’s future
6. Our batsmen need to be exposed to real fast bowling
7.We need to find a steady opening pair for the ODI’s
8. Imperative need to find strike bowlers of Lasith Malinga’s calibre or better. Surely there are many good ones waiting in the wings and need to be discovered.
9.Fitness factor amongst all players need to be monitored and all players need to be conditioned to peak performance capability. as a foremost priority. or else barred from competition at highest level.
10. Bring back the glory Sri lanka was once renowned for !
Sri Lanka cricket after Aravinda, Ranatunga, Murali, Vaas, Sanga, Mahela, Dilshan, Malinga et al needs to be resurrected.
Leave no stones unturned in the quest for latent talent but make the right choices upon merit not patronage and favouritism !!
Perhaps the selection committee need to be revamped and the chairman replaced!
September 1st, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Even without the mentioned lot we do have young fast bowlers who could have stopped the carnage. Those who remember a match not too long ago, bowlers never heard of before got world’s best batsmen like Rohit Shrma, Virat Koli out in a T20 and beat India soon after they returned from Australia beating Australians.
Who is pushing this failure boy Angelo Perera who worships Jesus every ball ?
Matches=4 Average= 4.00 strike rate=38.
Politics is ruining everything in Sri Lanka.
September 1st, 2016 at 5:27 pm
Why aren’t these players not even in the squads ?
1. Virtually unheard of before 2015, the first inkling of right-arm seamer Kasun Rajitha’s potential came during a three-dayer against the touring Indians in August of that year. He took 5 for 68 on a spicy Khettarama deck in that match, dismissing Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in a single spell, before claiming Kohli’s wicket in the second innings as well.
Achieving appreciable seam movement at a sharp pace, and from a high release point, Rajitha proved to be a penetrative T20 bowler in the following domestic season. He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the Super T20 Provincial Tournament, with 10 scalps in six matches. That performance earned him an international T20 debut, where he claimed two wickets in his first over, against India in Pune.
Local T20 bowling Average 13.25 after 17 matches
2. An explosive middle-order batsman, and steady right-arm seam bowler, Dasun Shanaka worked his way into Sri Lanka’s T20 side through several seasons of good performances for Sinhalese Sports Club. Born and educated in Negombo, Shanaka made his T20 international debut against Pakistan in August 2015, but it wasn’t until the following domestic season that he achieved wide acclaim. Batting at No. 4 in an AIA Premier T20 match against Saracens Sports Club, Shanaka struck a Sri Lankan record 16 sixes in an innings worth 123 from 46 balls. That wasn’t even his biggest T20 score of the last week. He had hit 131 off 48 balls against Galle Cricket Club one week earlier.
ODIs Matches= 6 Bowling Ave= 18.50
T20Is Matches= 11 Bowling Ave = 18.25
ODI batting Ave 21
First Class batting average 37
September 1st, 2016 at 6:15 pm
කෙසේ වෙතත් ඇන්ජලෝ මැතිව්ස්ට ඉදිරි තරග අහිමිවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් චන්දිමාල් වෙනත් වේග පන්දු යවන්නෙකුගේ උත්තේජනයක් බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් සිටියි., ”අපිට හොඳ වේග පන්දු යවන්නෙක් සොයා ගන්න වෙනවා.
තීරණාත්මක සිව්වැනි තරගයට ශ්රී ලංකා සංයුතිය ගැලපීම හිසරදයක් ලෙසට පත්විය. එහිදී වෙනස්කම් තුනක් සිදුකරමින් කණ්ඩායම සටනට පිවිසියේ සැලසුමක් ඇති බවද චන්දිමාල් පවසයි., ”ආරම්භක පිතිකරු ලෙස අවිශ්ක ප්රනාන්දුව ක්රීඩා කළේ ඔහු පුහුණු දැල තුළ ඉතාමත් හොඳින් පන්දුවට පහර දෙන නිසා. ඒ වගේම ධනුෂ්ක ගුණතිලකට තරගයට පෙර දිනයේ පුහුණු දැල තුළ හොඳින් පන්දුවට පහර දෙන්න බැරි වුණා. අවිශ්ක කියන්නෙ යොවුන් කණ්ඩායමේ දක්ෂතා දක්වපු කෙනෙක්. කොහොමත් ආරම්භක පිතිකරු ලෙස අලුත්ම දෙන්නෙක් ආවෙ නැහැ. ධනංජය ද සිල්වා කියන්නෙ ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවෙක්. ඔහුට ආරම්භක පිතිකරු ලෙස ක්රීඩා කරන්න බැරි වුණේ තිලකරත්න ඩිල්ෂාන් හිටිය නිසා.”
වේග පන්දු යවන්නන් අහේනියට පත්ව සිටින යුගයක නුවන් කුලසේකර සහ දසුන් ශානක වැනි තුන් ඉරියව් වේග පන්දු යවන්නන් කණ්ඩායමේ නොමැති වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ‘දිවයින’ චන්දිමාල්ගේ විමසන ලදුව, ”අපි සැලැස්මකට තමයි ක්රීඩා කරන්නෙ. ඔවුන්ට ඉදිරියේදී අවස්ථාවක් තේරීම් කමිටුව ලබා දෙයි. අපි මේ ලොකු ගමනක් යන්න සූදානම් වෙන්නෙ. ලබන වසරේ චැම්පියන් ශූරතාව තියෙනවා. ඒ වගේම 2019 ලෝක කුසලාන තියෙනවා. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් නවකයන්ට අවස්ථාව දීල කණ්ඩායම හදන ගමන් ජයග්රහණත් සොයා ගන්න තමයි අපි උත්සහ කරන්නෙ.”
September 1st, 2016 at 7:11 pm
I would not blame selectors. They have done the right thing. Facing Australia in Sri Lanka is the best introduction youngsters can have. We have won the Test series so experimenting in ODIs is OK. No international fixtures for another 6 months and this opportunity must be taken. Avishka did very well against England junior team’s fast bowlers with consecutive centuries. He must be given more chances. Marvan was given more than 6 chances where he got out for duck on 6 occasions. He became one of our best openers.
Dilhara, Tharanga, Seekkuge Prasanna and Maharoof have no potential and must be phased out at least now. Thisara has no use in ODIs but he is useful in T20s. Angelo Perera has been failing in every match and he should not be given too many chances. He has been unable to translate his very good domestic performance at the international level.
I agree with Chandimal. A very good and sensible approach. Dasun Shanaka and Gunatilake have been performing poor at the international level but they deserve more chances.
What happened to Lahiru Thirimanne?
Angelo Matthews is already the worst ODI captain in recent times. He should be relieved of captaincy and Dinesh Chandimal should be made the captain. A captain must constantly give feedback to batsmen (while batting), bowlers and fielders. Dinesh does that but Matthews doesn’t. Sanga, Sanath and Arjuna were very good too. Reconciliation ruined Sri Lanka and reconciliation and ethnic considerations should not ruin cricket too.
T20 batting order must follow strike rate (not average). Batsmen with the highest strike rate must come first. They should face as many balls. Otherwise, slow scorers bring the run rate down which stresses fast scorers to score runs with limited balls to face. They collapse. There is no point salvaging a T20 match. If batting comes to a point of salvaging a collapsing innings, it is already over.
September 2nd, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Yes Sri Lanka must get its act together at least in the limited over variety soon. In the coming years two major tournaments will be held in England. It won’t have the familiarity and conditions of South Asia. Where Sri Lanka won in 1996 and finalist 2011. England is a tough place for South Asian teams to win in. Because England is still trying to shake off its cold and windy conditions from a long winter. Especially in the early summer, we see even Sri Lanka’s best bats struggle in this period. Where players from Sri Lanka can have a miserable time of it in those conditions in England as was shown in this visit 2016 and in 2011. However winning in England for a South Asian team though not easy is certainly not impossible. India did it once (1983) winning in England, that said it is a very long shot for this Sri Lankan outfit to even get to the semi final let alone be finalists or win it. That said I wish Sri Lanka the best of luck. Hope they do very well. But hope is all that us Sri Lankan Cricket supporters have left as all the best players of yesteryear have now ridden into the sunset. However I was really surprised how this Sri Lankan team played against Aussies in the test series. So in the glorious uncertainties of cricket you never know if another Sri Lankan team will go on to make their own history. But my money is on India as the only South Asian country which most likely to win a world cup in the coming years rather than that other much smaller South Asian country just off the coast of southern india. Sri Lanka.
September 2nd, 2016 at 3:46 pm
No one blamed selectors for introducing young talent but blamed them for being not diligent enough and possible helping favouritism and politics. No point being a YES man to deputy speaker and the minister or whoever it is ( including oneself) in greed of ‘comforts’ that come with it. It is called betrayal.
Chandimaal’s explanation proves the obvious foolishness of the selectors as well as greed of Dilshaan not only have destroyed our chances of ODI win as well as destroying of the confidence of youngsters.
Watch the ball Avishka got out. He was playing in the same manner he practiced in the nets , playing the right stroke to protect but too slow for 147 k dart. What did selectors and coaches did to train him to the situation ? He has never faced him. Why can’t Kusal Perera face him ? If he can’t he should go home. Kusal and Dhananjaya should have been the openers for last match with Avishka coming at a stage to avoid the most feared bowler, until he gets used to the pace.
September 3rd, 2016 at 8:02 am
Hi Rohan Jay
Interesting comments.
Are U the former Gracechurch cricketer?
U seem to have a lot of insight about SL cricket