A blog by Incredibleshoaib:
With Sri Lankaâ?(tm)s tour of the West Indies over and done with, I feel that itâ?(tm)s the right time to both, do a quick review of the tour and also look ahead as to where the team goes from here as it looks to continue to re-build sans many of itâ?(tm)s experienced campaigners.
Unlike their counterparts in India and Pakistan the Sri Lankans have been rather conservative in exposing fresh faces in their national team and have for a long, long time depended on their ageing star cricketers like Murali, Vassy and Sanath to deliver time and time again.
This as one would imagine brought about a sense of predictability in the Sri Lankan approach and game plan and opposing teams didnâ?(tm)t have to wreck their brains for too long to figure out as to exactly what they would get come match day when playing against the Sri Lankans.
This sense of prolonged monotony and lack of imagination in our game has in more ways than one influenced the dismal results that have unfolded for us over the past 12 months especially in our one day game and also to a certain extent in our Test match cricket as well. In this context, the decision by Sri Lankaâ?(tm)s think tank to blood youngsters on the tour of the West Indies was warmly welcome by many of us Lankan fans.
Tour of the West Indies
With some headline making and eyebrow raising selections (and non-selections like in the case of Sanath) the tour of the West Indies was talked about as the beginning of a new era in Sri Lankan cricket. The selection of many youngsters and some not so young players but new faces nevertheless was just what the doctor ordered and it was a move that was largely welcomed by Sri Lankan fans (though I must say that some were not amused by the dropping of Mother Lankaâ?(tm)s beloved son Mr. Sanath Jayasuriya)
Test Series
The Test series against the West Indies unearthed for us a solid young opening batsman in Malinda Warnapura who looked a vastly improved player to what he looked when he made his international debut against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi some 10 months ago. Warnapura looked solid at the top of the innings and showed good temperament right through the first phase of the tour, in the process helping himself to a bucket load of runs. To me he looked a lot like a raw version of Kumar Sangakkara and while itâ?(tm)s still a bit too early to comment on him, his performance in this tour should stand him in good stead from a confidence point of view and one hopes that he can build on this solid start and establish himself at the top of Sri lankaâ?(tm)s Test batting line up.
Warnapuraâ?(tm)s opening partner Michael Vandort has more or less sealed his position in the team with many impressive performances in virtually every series he has played in, including decent knocks in England and Australia.
Another new player that came good for us in the Test series was left arm fast bowler, Thilan Thushara who I thought was outstanding in what were largely unresponsive wickets for fast bowling. Thushara along with Chanaka Welagedara who impressed during the home series against England last December would be competing to take on Vassyâ?(tm)s role in the Test side once the great man quits the longer version of the game at the end of the Indian series in July.
Last but not least The Test series also witnessed the revival of sorts of the careers of two of our seasoned middle order batters, Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Silva who were fighting for their respective places in the Test side. The fact that they came good and that too when our team needed them the most, certainly augurs well for us.
One day Series
The one day series saw as many as six new faces in the Sri Lankan side from the side that played in the World Cup at the same venue exactly a year ago. Jayasuriya was dropped; Murali was rested while our first choice trio of fast bowlers, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof were all out of the team due to injuries whilst Russel Arnold who played his final game in the World Cup final last year had retired.
Given the above, sans a miracle there was no way that Sri Lanka was going to win the series but what was more important was to see some of the new faces prove their capabilities at the highest level. In this context what transpired was more than satisfying.
The impressive debut of 23-year-old spinner Ajantha Mendis was the focal point of the one day series from our perspective. The maturity shown by young Chamara Kapugedara during his innings of 95 in the first ODI which helped us recover from a precarious 49/5 to 230 certainly augurs well for our future. Another player to impress was 21 year-old aggressive opening batsman Mahela Udawatte who seems to be a graduate of the Sanath Jayasuriya cricket academy. His innings of 73 in the 3rd ODI not only showed his hard hitting capabilities but also gave us ample evidence of his ability to switch gears and play sensibly in the middle overs as well. All rounder Kaushalya Weeraratne who made his debut as a 19-year old some 8 years ago and then disappeared, made a welcome return to the side after an extended hiatus from international cricket (due to no fault of his) and showed us what he was capable of with some solid late order hitting in the 3rd ODI. He will be in competition with Farveez Maharoof for the all rounders spot in the team.
So all in all from the perspective of unearthing talent, I would consider our tour of the West Indies to be a success. The one negative that should not have transpired was the selection of Upul Tharanga who is and has been horribly out of form for the past 15 months or so.
Coming back to the young players who impressed during the tour of the West Indies, it is imperative that these players are given an extended run and are granted both the opportunity and the time to build on their early success and cement a place in the side. It is also of paramount importance for our coaching staff to look at the footage of the matches and help the new players fine tune their respective games in the lead up to our next international assignment which I believe is the Asia Cup in Pakistan.
My lookahead for the Test team
Looking at the road ahead for our Test team, after the Test series against the Indians in July of this year, we do not play another series against one of the premier Test nations until Pakistanâ?(tm)s tour of Sri Lanka in July of 2009.
According to the future tours programme, in the period between Aug of 2008 and July of 2009 our only scheduled Test matches are, four test matches against Zimbabwe (unlikely to happen due to the prevalent political climate in Zim) and two against Bangladesh. I find this utterly ridiculous! No disrespect to the Bangladeshis but I feel that we play them a bit too often for my liking! For what itâ?(tm)s worth (not much in my opinion) I hope that these meaningless fixtures at least provide our younger players with some much needed practice ahead of a tougher season that begins with Pakistanâ?(tm)s tour for Sri Lanka in July of 2009 and will see us playing the Kiwis at home, and India in India in the preceding 4 months or so.
Composition of the Test Team
(Immediate term)
I would like to see the following eleven play for us against the Indians.
Michael Vandort, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena (C), Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedara, Prasanna Jayawardena (WK), Chaminda Vass, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga or Dilhara Fernando (based on form and fitness), Muttiah Muralitheran
The rest of the squad of 16 will be made up of -:
Thilina Kadamby (middle order batsman), Chamara Silva and the two left arm quick bowlers Chanaka Welagedara and Thilan Thushara.Ð1/4ебеДи
Considering the way Sri Lankan wickets have behaved in the recent past, there is every reason to play two spinners in the side. Furthermore I would like to see Mendis playing as much as possible with Murali. In the unlikely event that we do come across a wicket back home which is bound to provide some assistance to the quick bowlers then I would be inclined to leave Mendis out and play an extra fast bowler. In the scenario where we play two spinners, Kapu will be the fifth bowler with his medium pacers.
Composition of the One Day Team
(Immediate term)
My preferred eleven for the one day side in the immediate term would be as follows -:
Mahela Udawatte, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara (WK), Mahela Jayawardena (C), Chamara Kapugedara, Tilekaratne Dilshan, Kaushalya Weeraratne or Farveez Maharoof (based on form), Chaminda Vass, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando
The rest of the squad of 16 will be made up of -:
Chamara Silva, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Malinga Bandara (should Murali play then Mendis will be the other spinner in the squad instead of Bandara)
Should we have the requirement to play seven specialist batters I would then drop one of the quick bowlers and play Chamara Silva.
I have been (and still am) a vociferous supporter of the move to have Kumar Sangakkara open the batting for our one day team but at least for the moment I realise that we have a few other options that might be worth trying before we promote our premier player to do that job. One such combination is that of Warnapura and Udawatte.
I must confess though that I am a bit concerned about the lack of experience on the part of Udawatte and Warnapura especially when playing against quality opposition on fast, and seaming tracks in South Africa, England or Australia. However, considering that we do not play in any of those countries until our tour of England in 2011, at least for the moment that is not a problem that we are likely to encounter.
In the 12 year period starting from the time we won the World Cup to date, the most successful one day opening combination for us have been the pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu who AVG nearly 45 in the 79 matches that they opened for us in the said period. Two players with diametrically opposite styles of batting but when put together produced that ideal combination of attack at one end and defence at the other.
In this context, I canâ?(tm)t help but say that Michael Vandort will have a role to play in our one day team over the long term. Vandort is also the kind of player that can handle the moving ball and also someone who can handle himself quite well on fast tracks. In my opinion it is pivotal to have someone like him at one end looking to bat through the entire fifty overs. Vandort at 6â?(tm)6 is a big man and although we have not seen it often his ability to hit the ball a long, long way should not be underestimated.
For the moment though I would like to see how above mentioned team shapes up to the immediate challenges that await them in the months ahead like the Asia Cup in Pakistan, the five match one day series against India at home and of course the Champions Trophy also in Pakistan.
Incrdibleshoaibs own column:
THE EPICENTER OF SRI LANKAN CRICKET ON SILLY POINTS!
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