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| Sunday, 23 June 2002 |
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The Lankan misadventure by Srian Obeyesekere Ratings can sometimes mean nothing. As made to look by England to whom a 0-2 defeat has seen Sri Lanka slump down from third place to fifth. The old masters of the game moving from fifth to sixth among the best in the world. Invariably, the 3-match Test exchanges, the first of its kind between the two countries, has not only showed up Sri Lanka as wanting at that level. It has also stamped England's superiority. Further vindicated by a 2-1 series triumph playing away on Lankan soil last year. In the continuing Test journey spurred by the advent of a Test championship table, England rode more than a mile away for ability and class convincingly outplaying Sri Lanka. Winning the second Test match at Edgbaston by an innings and 111 runs with a day to spare and the third at Old Trafford by 10 wickets. As England gallopped to beat time in a flurry of one-day hitting to reach the 50-run target in only five overs there was the once `bionic' Ian Botham to whom Nasser Hussain's new look team looked a mite ahead of South Africa and capable of giving Australia a run for their money. Of course, to Botham, occupying the t.v. commentary box, arguably the best all-rounder yet produced by England, and not one to be carried away this England team had at long last been satisfying coming close to world beaters. Indeed, England had produced an all-round performance befitting the accolades. The batting full of muscle from openers Justin Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick right down the order upto number 9 Ashley Giles and revolving around Mark Butcher who had a 90 and two centuries and Graham Thorpe throwing lots of experience to the middle order. The bowling full of steam with the fast bowling quartet coming good on wickets not that helpful. While the English for once were with their tails up at the steady rise in fortunes from a sorry state a couple of years ago, the Lankan camp must find the result bad digesting. A series which meant much where the Lankans had much to prove as to their ability at meeting the rigours of Test cricket. What would be hard to digest is that Sanath Jayasuriya and his team had fallen short of expectations. The bottom line being that there was much more work to be done for Sri Lanka to experience the joys of winning away from home on such wickets which cannot be without learning to acclimatise to climate and conditions. It will also be difficult to digest why the Lankans failed to justify coach, Dav Whatmore's belief in the team. Whatmore had ahead of the tour been full of optimism his charges could beat England. A few weeks before taking wing, in an interview with the `Sunday Observer', his confidence had soared to absolute and after landing in England he promised the English public exciting cricket. The Lankan debacle must give the cricket authorities at home much `food for thought'. The batting, despite much trumpeting could not cope with the pace and bounce of the English bowlers. It was the rising short pitched delivery on which pacemen Mathew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Alex Tudor thrived on. England had done their homework banging the ball down to good effect even on the unhelpful Old Trafford wicket. In fact the pacies had Jayasuriya playing to their trap on the offside having him top edging to the gully area or playing on to his stumps. It led to the Lankan skipper at last dropping down the order to number 6 at Old Trafford though being forced to open in the second innings due to injury to Marvan Atapattu. Once again Jayasuriya edging a Hoggard delivery swinging away from the off onto his stumps once again the side cocked bat in going for the drive undoing him. A flaw in technique. In defeat there was a silver lining for Russel Arnold who found Old Trafford the stage to stroke his way to a fighting century in the second innings. His 62 in the first making him top scorer in both innings. It was his third century opening the innings as the left-hander drove a point to the selectors that there should be no messing up. That he was essentially an opener and not a middle order batsman at Test level. Underlined by faultless defence coupled with perfect stroke play. His front foot driving text book stuff in tackling the England bowlers with ease. What the authorities back home will need addressing is why the Lankans were undone despite a huge amount of currency expended on foreign expertise. Sri Lanka has from time to time been contracting foreign coaches which had expectations run high. In fact South African Barry Richards had been working with the batsmen for quite sometime while the pace bowling department had been in the hands of Australian Darryl Foster of Cricket Academy repute. What is more both had been working with the team in England ahead of the Test series. The lesson in the batting department must centre on the lack of application of most of the frontline batsmen. Not the least Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara who must learn to cut off the frills that saw them play shots into the hands of waiting fielders. They could well take a cue from Hashan Tillekeratne who showed that there was reward for batsmen with the discipline of battling bowlers although his unbeaten 32 consuming nearly four hours at the crease could not stall England. There have also been rumblings that all has not been well within the team. The sacking of manager, Chandra Schaffter who will cease to function after the England tour announced during the Old Trafford Test must add to that feeling with it being rumoured that the players were not getting on with the manager said to be too harsh on them. Some of the selections too need questioning. Eric Upashantha particularly so. Brought into the third Test Upashantha revived unpleasant memories of the 1999 World Cup when he bowled seven no balls on the trot as he got clobbered by Saurav Ganguly as Indian amassed a 300-plus total. This time around there was Upashantha repeating the no-ball act sending down four of them in his first over before going on to make it a day of antics spilling a dolly of a catch to add to the Lankan woes. Didn't it have Botham saying `this is schoolboy stuff' while West Indian commentator Michael Holding rubbed diert saying `even my 13-year old daughter would have taken that catch though she doesn't like cricket'. Indeed, the series has given new dimension to English cricket. A captain in Nasser Hussain after decades of getting the right man for the job from its county structure had failed. A team beginning to blend. In that new glow Hussain has led England to series wins over Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe while being held to a 1-all draw in New Zealand. For Sri Lanka, this setback must mean starting anew where work has to be put into fine honing the batting and bowling in gearing to the demands of playing away from the sub-continent. With tours of South Africa and Australia looming this year the need as never before. A task that must surely find the attention of new cricket boss, Hemaka Amarasuriya who will not have his work cut out. |
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