{"id":42335,"date":"2015-03-15T04:55:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=42335"},"modified":"2015-03-15T04:55:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T11:55:00","slug":"beating-south-africa-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/03\/15\/beating-south-africa-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Beating South Africa Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

South Africa is already beaten by both India and Pakistan. It stands to be beaten by the other South Asian giant, Sri Lanka. However, Team Sri Lanka must gear up for this do-or-die game well. Having only beaten minnows, Bangladesh and a hopeless England, Sri Lanka’s prospects are not good going into the Wednesday’s game.<\/p>\n

Spin is the way to beat South Africa as Sri Lanka don’t have the calibre of fast bowlers Pakistan have. However, with an injury, Rangana Herath is not in his best condition for the highly demanding game. Although his stitches came out last Thursday, he may not be bowling as well. A repeat injury is very much possible. Another dedicated spinner must play in the match against South Africa.<\/p>\n

Sachithra Senanayaka is ineffective after his action was questioned and cleared. He makes sure he stays within strict rules and as a result his bowling is mediocre. He gives away many runs and cannot take wickets. Seekkuge Prasanna is no different. Although no other spinner is available; the management must seek approval to take in HPT Kaushal who is already there. He is an uncapped ODI player but has played one Test match. He had a good domestic run. Sydney pitch was not very spinner friendly in the match against Australia but HPT Kaushal can achieve significant turn even in dull pitches. As two dedicated spinners play, that leaves out Nuwan Kulasekara.<\/p>\n

Although Lahiru Thirimanna did well against minnows and weak teams, he survived initial drops by weak fielding. It is foolhardy to expect such lapses from South Africa! If the first wicket falls too soon, it needlessly exposes Sanga too early. Instead of Lahiru, Mahela must open batting with Dilshan. Lahiru can make his appearance at two down. At three down it should be Angelo who must bat a little higher in the order than usual.<\/p>\n

Upul Tharanaga has been dismal in his performance. His performance suffers even more when under pressure. It makes sense to keep Kusal Perera in his place. Thought should be given to play him as wicket-keeper relieving Sanga if Sri Lanka bat second. Records have been set and there is no need to take chances. Unlike most other batmen, Sanga has a lower average and strike rate batting second.<\/p>\n

Dushmantha Chameera must play against South Africa. Perera much like Mahela is indispensable unfortunately. He is useful in bowling middle overs and scoring a few quick runs. Both have been termed ‘big game’ players.<\/p>\n

The team should be Dilshan, Mahela, Sanga, Lahiru, Angelo, Kusal Perera, Thisara, Rangana, Malinga, Dushmantha and a spinner.<\/p>\n

Team Sri Lanka may find inspiration in Team Bangladesh which has many Sri Lankan inputs. Former Sri Lankan cricketers Mario, Chandika and Ruwan are behind Bangladesh’s strong performance. Every chance to hold on to a catch and make a runout must be taken. Poor line and length in bowling is unforgivable as Sri Lanka cannot match South Africa’s agility in fielding which cuts about 40 runs compared to Sri Lanka. Angelo must make intelligent bowling changes. Knowing Michael Clerk holds the record for the second best batsman against spin (Dhoni being the first), playing spinners against him was punished very badly. Not making rapid bowling changes when batsmen looked set to build a long inning was another shortcoming. Bowlers, especially fast bowlers must be encouraged regularly and get them to bowl to the field set up. If the toss is won, Sri Lanka must bat first. Showers are forecast for the afternoon and the evening. A reduced number of overs and resultantly a session of binge hitting is to be expected.<\/p>\n

South Africa comes to play with a wounded pride. Memories of 1992, 2003 and recent defeats to India and Pakistan are fresh on their mind. But as the two other teams from the subcontinent showed, they are beatable. May the misfortunes of South Africa continue!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara South Africa is already beaten by both India and Pakistan. It stands to be beaten by the other South Asian giant, Sri Lanka. However, Team Sri Lanka must gear up for this do-or-die game well. Having only beaten minnows, Bangladesh and a hopeless England, Sri Lanka’s prospects are not good going into the […]<\/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-42335","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\/42335","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=42335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}