{"id":41325,"date":"2015-02-07T21:10:26","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T03:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=41325"},"modified":"2015-02-07T14:02:20","modified_gmt":"2015-02-07T21:02:20","slug":"sri-lanka-and-the-world-cup-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/02\/07\/sri-lanka-and-the-world-cup-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka and the World Cup 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Team Sri Lanka made it to the Final of the world cricketing event in the last two occasions in 2007 and 2011. However, this time its chances look slim as disastrous India and New Zealand fixes show. Team Sri Lanka was mercilessly beaten on both ODI series. The trend continues and there is no reason to believe its fortunes will change soon. The poor plight of cricket and sport in the new government is evidenced by the fact there is no dedicated Minister of Sports despite having a jumbo Cabinet of ministers and deputies. After winning the World Cup in 1996, Arjuna Ranathunga attributed the win (among other reasons) to the ready availability to resources since 1994 which was facilitated by his close association with the government. Such support is out of the question today. A worse impact is the absence of a well bonded team. The team does not have a strong captain in the likes of Arjuna, Sangakkara or Jayasuriya who can bring up the best in every batsman, fielder, bowler and the team as a whole. Angelo is an excellent cricketer but a below average captain. Recruiting a sport psychologist is a good move but his work term ends on March 9th<\/sup>. His services will be needed thereafter even more.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka must avoid playing against India in the super eights. For reasons difficult to reason and speculate, Sri Lanka has done very badly against India after IPL. Of all ODI matched with a result between them, Sri Lanka won 43% prior to IPL. It fell by a good 10% to just 33% after IPL. It was not that India improved in its ODI game after IPL, but Sri Lanka started losing to India after IPL. As can be seen from the dispute between the cricket board and Sanga, there is a very strong conflict of interest brought by the IPL tournament. National duty comes second to playing in Indian teams for money. India is likely to come second the Pool B facing the third placed team in Pool A. Sri Lanka must finish second in Pool A to avoid playing India.<\/p>\n

The Openers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an ongoing debate about the openers. Kusal Perera is an explosive opener but lacks consistency. Dropping him from the top was the right decision. Consistency is key to a good opener today. The fifty over game came full circle in the past 25 years in terms of scoring runs. The first fifteen overs rule without powerplays meant a top heavy batting line up. The openers had to score as quickly as they could in the first fifteen overs and the rest of the batsmen had to keep scoring at a moderate level. The final ten overs did have their explosive batting but didn\u2019t overshadow the first 15 overs.<\/p>\n

With the popularity of Twenty20 and powerplays, the first fifteen overs have a diminished value than a decade ago. Now it is important to hold wickets at the start and build a long innings accelerating run score as the match progresses. The last 10 overs must carry most runs in 10 over bouts.<\/p>\n

Given this context, it is better to have a steady opening pair than a fast scoring inconsistent player. However, Lahiru, Mahela or Dimuth must do their role in building a steady inning. First two wickets must not fall without at least 50 runs on the board.<\/p>\n

Sanga the Anchor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sanga is the most important in the batting department. As a result the bowling team will put a premium on his wicket. This requires some tactical playing by the rest of the team to help him make a steady inning. Comparing Sanga\u2019s average when batting first and second shows his performance drops when batting second. The possibility of relieving him from wicket keeping if batting second should be considered. He is not a top wicketkeeper today anyway. Clear instructions should be given to all batsmen what to do in a potential run-out mix-up \u2013 Sanga\u2019s wicket must be saved at all cost.<\/p>\n

Sanga has picked another fight with the chief selector this time as well. He has blamed Sanath Jayasuriya for acting in disrepute of him. This follows his World Cup 2011 spat with Aravinda De Silva, the chief selector at that time. He has picked a very wrong time to vent his spleen. He should play the game, not politics.<\/p>\n

Angelo\u2019s batting position and style works perfectly with the current requirements of the game. However, he is not getting enough support from Lahiru, Dimuth, Chandimal and Jeevan. Unlike with the openers, at this stage of the game, there cannot be a fast batsman complemented by a slow batsman. Both must score in tandem without exposing one. The task of bringing down the required run rate to less than 6 an over rests with top order and middle order batsmen. Unless they change, Dimuth and Jeevan are useless to say the least. Kusal Janith Perera in this slot may do better.<\/p>\n

Batting by Bowlers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tail enders have constantly failed to bat sensibly. Thisara and Nuwan must improve their batting and play a long game than a short one. The difficult trade off of bowling and batting is at play. While bowling needs more improvement than batting, it is unwise to compromise on bowling effectiveness. This places even more pressure on Thisara, Sachithra and Nuwan. What matters is partnerships at this stage. Given the absolute hopelessness in the lower order, the late middle order must keep wickets and bat sensibly.<\/p>\n

Bowling and Fielding<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The most affected department since 2007 and 2011. Murali is no more and there is no consistent spinner in the team. Apart from Malinga, the pace attack is feeble. Even Malinga may not be up to his fearsome form having played no cricket for six months. Dushmantha Chamira is promising but yet to prove his credentials in a tight contest. Sensible bowling changes are not made by the captain in some matches. Expensive bowlers are overused at times while better bowlers end up with a few overs left.<\/p>\n

Introducing spinners early should not be seen as a weakness. Openers of some good teams struggle against spin. It is spin, not pace that is the best bowling weapon Team Sri Lanka has this time. The support and research team must assist the players with each of the opposing batsman\u2019s key weakness. In today\u2019s game this knowledge cannot be taken for granted.<\/p>\n

Fielding must improve. Converting impossible catches to dismissals is the surest way to victory.<\/p>\n

Managing health and injuries is also important as the top five players are nearing their retirement. The long New Zealand tour is taking its toll. Players must be sent home before the World Cup for sufficient time off cricket, recuperating and spending time with their family, girlfriends, etc.<\/p>\n

It will be a difficult World Cup this time given the disastrous ODI series recently but the tournament has proven time and again what matters is how a team performs in crucial games. Records will be broken and new heroes will emerge. It is up to the younger players to rise up to the occasion by giving their very best. The older ones must make their exit from international cricket an event to remember.<\/p>\n

It takes only three good consecutive days to win the World Cup. All the very best Team Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara Team Sri Lanka made it to the Final of the world cricketing event in the last two occasions in 2007 and 2011. However, this time its chances look slim as disastrous India and New Zealand fixes show. Team Sri Lanka was mercilessly beaten on both ODI series. The trend continues and there is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dilrook-kannangara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}