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| Sunday, 26 October 2003 |
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England plays three Tests and three one-day games... : Middle-order batting main concern of Sri Lanka by SRIAN OBEYESEKERE The month of November will, with it, usher in cricket at its feverish best if the indications are anything to go by of the eagerly awaited tour of the English here. For the English, the yearning will be like the old song goes, 'Oh to be in England' from where they will be drawing morale, though for the old guard in the game their English beer, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding as those now famous verses set into music as to their English lifestyle suggest might not be with them when they tour sunny Sri Lanka. Though of course, the beer possibly the exception as a somewhat new look outfit will look to drink on at the anticipated roasting of the Sri Lankans in their sub-continent home den as they did in 2001. At least, the 4,000 strong barmy army cheer squad which is said to have made advance bookings of Lankan hotels to cheer their team, might well have a handful of that home made brew to drink on an English victory. Indeed, it is a wholesome taste of England, a re-emerging Sri Lankan cricket outfit and the home country's cricket friendly fans could expect. There are quite a handful of new faces in the English ranks. But one quality bowler who will not be making the tour through injury will be the much talked of youngster, John Anderson, who has been the side's revelation during this year. Anderson was a truly fairytale emergence. He happened to be in Australia to play grade cricket. In the run up to the World Cup England was touring 'down under' and the youngster was called up for duty when the team was depleted by injury. And what a fluke entry it was to England discovering a potential fast bowler to fill Darren Gough's void who was quickly into the wicket-taking act. But Anderson's place for the Lankan tour has been taken by another up-and-coming pacie in Steve Harmison who found himself injury sidelined after a brief debut but could not make it from there. Under Nasser Hussein, England got the better of Sri Lanka in 2001 when Sri Lanka lost both the Test and one-day series that year and Hussein continued in the same vein back home in their own den in 2002 with a 2-0 Test triumph while Sri Lanka was knocked out of the final of the NatWest Triangular which also featured India. Since, Hussein has abdicated in favour of Michael Vaughan. But Vaughan, seen as a star who emerged from the horizon under an outfit which Hussein steeled into satisfactory winning ways if not as wholesomely as the English selectors would have desired, (England's continuous surrender of the traditional ashes series to the Australians being outstanding in Hussein's losses), will be looking to continue on the same winning note against the Sri Lankans. England, in a departure from its traditionally famous conventional conservative outlook of banking on old stagers, has beefed up by an injection of new blood to blend with experience of the likes of Hussein who holds his place in the team as one of the top-rated batsmen, along with Vaughan who has come to be regarded as their most consistent performer with the bat leading from the front partnered by an equally consistent co-opener, Marcus Trescothick followed by Mark Butcher and veteran Graham Thorpe around whom the batting has revolved quite effectively in the last few years. Injection of young blood like Harmison and others interestingly comes at a juncture the old establishment has turned to Australian born Geoff Marsh to direct and redress a flagging talent-honing image at youth level. The former hard hitting Aussie wicket-keeper batsman, famous for his iron glove era when he stood behind the stumps to the likes of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, has lost no time in inculcating the Australian academy concept to the English establishment. Lankans busy While England tune up with their ongoing tour of Bangladesh en-route to arriving here for a 3-match one-day series beginning on November 18 followed by a 3-match Test series commencing on December 2, the Sri Lankans, are busy doing their homework to reverse fortunes. The build-up has begun under new coach, John Dyson, who, succeeded long time coach, Dav Whatmore last September. The former Aussie opening batsman, carries with him the credentials of playing under the likes of Greg Chappell and Allan Border during the 1970 - '80 era, backed with a fine background as one of the outstanding domestic coaches with leading Sheffield Shield team, New South Wales. While the 49-year old Dyson is busy addressing key areas in getting the Sri Lankans batting and bowling act right, the national selectors too, are having their hands full, scouting in their unenvious task of getting the best eleven at Test and one-day level. But it was not a very optimistic chief selector who commented on things as they stood. Lalith Kaluperuma, a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who heads a four-member committee also comprising stalwart Aravinda de Silva, said that there were 'lots of areas in the national team that have to be improved.' Kaluperuma said that his main concern as before was the middle order batting, an area which he and his co-selectors found wanting when they sat down not many months ago to select the squad for the tour of the West Indies. Since, the Sri Lankans have returned with a mixed bag of fortunes, they lost the Test series 1-nil, the 2-1 annexure of the one-day series was a redeeming factor. The Chairman of Selectors reiterated that the revolving factor of both the Test and one-day teams was the middle-order batting. Kaluperuma saw this factor largely as the yardstick to determining fortunes in the upcoming series. "If the middle-order 'clicks', we will be okay for the forthcoming England tour", he said. Manager's report sought But Kaluperuma held out hope that his team would deliver the ideal teams which could get the better of England. He said that the selectors had seen a lot of cricket during the past 3 weeks or so where "we have identified some players for the England tour mainly to strengthen the middle order." What was pleasing was that the 'frontliners had been getting runs in the ongoing Premier League Tournament and the one-day tournament before that. A pool of about 20 to 25 would be named for both the one-day series and Test series after taking into account the Sri Lanka 'A' team's performance on the recent tour of South Africa and Kenya. "We are awaiting the manager's report as to who exactly performed well for the 'A' team in South Africa," Kaluperuma told the Sunday Observer. He sounded that the selectors might look to some of the 'A' team players to supplement a flagging middle order. "We have earmarked about 4 to 5 players from the 'A' team for the upcoming England series," Kaluperuma said explaining that some of the senior players from the main team had been included in the 'A' team's tour of South Africa so that they could get more exposure ahead of the England tour. Of course, on paper the selectors will not have much to draw from the 'A' team's overall performance in South Africa except for some individual performances. Naweed Nawaz was the only Lankan to notch a century of the outings that counted in the second four-day unofficial Test match. But the tour served as a return to contention for discarded wicket-keeper batsman, Lanka de Silva who made 81 opening the batting in place of the injured Avishka Gunawardena in the wake of his 48 in the first essay, batting down the order. Sri Lanka drew the 3-match one-day series 1-all winning the final match in which Naweed Nawaz top scored with 75 with Michael van Dort making 66 and Jehan Mubarak 51. While one was washed out by rain, South Africa won the 2-match Test series 1-nil. The Sri Lankans were badly outplayed by a far superior South African side which made short work of the first Test inside of 3 days. But the tour to an extent saw mainly Nawaz, Lanka Silva, Van Dort and Mubarak gain exposure in the batting department though it is lamentable that Van Dort, after a century in a warm-up one-dayer and 66 in the drawn third ODI against South Africa, found himself given the cold shoulder. Here, what is to Van Dort's credit is that this left-hand batsman who has not quite found the recognition deserving of performance back home, made a mockery of critics who had written him off as a slouch by coming good in the short version of the game. Heartburn to players It is questionable as to why Van Dort did not make the team for the most part of the tour after those two early knocks. Indeed, while selectors have their dilemma of selecting the cream of talent to do national duty come the England tour, heartburn to players who perform and find their latent talent falling on the wayside, is a key area Kaluperuma and his co-selectors need to address as much as the Sri Lankan cricket authorities as a whole. There have been many a talented youngster who has not found deserving reward and inevitably hung up his boots which has not helped the country's much touted slogan of bettering the game from the grass roots level. Meanwhile, while the selectors have their hands full straightening out the weak areas that have seen Sri Lankan cricket take a back seat, the fact that coach Dyson is full of optimism that Sri Lanka has a distinct advantage over England as stated by him in an interview with the Sunday Observer last week, is interesting. While Dyson has based this reasoning in terms of experience of England and Sri Lanka in past exchanges, he has however, made it clear that he will know for sure as to how good his changes are once they get on to the field. At the same time, the concept of separate captains in Marvan Atapattu for the one-day team and Hashan Tillekeratne for the Test team, has, with it become the subject of much fodder at home. While Atapattu has tasted a series win against the West Indies away from 2 series', the other being a lost one back home before that in a triangular, Tillekeratne has been criticised after a drawn home series against New Zealand and a 1-0 loss to the West Indies in the Caribbean. While both have been under fire, some former stalwarts including Stanley Jayasinghe, the former All Ceylon and Leicestershire star of the 1960 era, has roundly criticised the selectors for unfair treatment to Atapattu in playing down his capabilities by not considering him for both jobs. But one quarter quite satisfied how things are is Dyson, who finds both Atapattu and Tillekeratne with the capacities to handle the jobs. Of course, the coming of the Englishmen will tell as the Lankan cricket establishment looks to get going under a newly elected administration voted in after a 4-year long period of interim committees. The new administration expect a reverse of fortune and by it make Sri Lanka the best team in the world. |
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