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| Sunday, 22 January 2006 |
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Sri Lanka's build-up to World Cup 2007 : Sanath Jayasuriya and Skipper Marvan Atapattu must open batting by Srian Obeyesekere He is hesitant to be drawn into an interview on Sri Lanka cricket for he might be taken amiss. It was with some coaxing that it wouldn't border on controversy that Roy Dias agreed to the request by the 'Sunday Observer.' And with the same sense of dash that he injected into his batting which saw him dubbed 'dashing Roy,' without batting an eye lid Dias said, "Marvan Atapattu should be opening the batting in the run up to the World Cup." Now mellowed into his early 50's, the former Sri Lanka No.3 batsman regarded as perhaps the finest of its kind to date to have padded up for his country, Roy Dias, who is back home on a mission in charge of the Nepal under-19 team for the upcoming Youth World Cup, was soon in fine form. There was nothing for Sri Lanka to panic in the build-up to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. They are a strong side. Only they had not been able to gauge their strength, having played two weak sides in the West Indies and Bangladesh before taking on India. However, Sri Lanka had faulted by self inflicting a sense of inferiority to the Indians which should not have happened considering their experience. The cog in the batting had to be sorted out. Sanath Jayasuriya was still good and should pair with the captain at the top. The bowling department with time could strike a balance. Vaas and Muralitharan were experienced enough. They had to look for another two experienced 'pacies' who could bowl just good line with Murali and Malinga Bandara to supplement the attack. The fielding needed to peak while the u-19 World Cup could be the ideal stage to earmark a solid all-rounder. Dias, who emphasised that Jayasuriya should be preserved for the World Cup and not pressurised to fight for his place, perhaps struck a sort of parallel to the end of his career which was marked by the same tryst. "The 1987 World Cup culminated my last innings in international cricket against England when I got 81 and was dropped. I came back in 1989 for the tour of Sharjah where I was a reserve. I then took a 'B' team to Zimbabwe on Michael Tissera's invitation to captain the side and did very well. I thought it was a good comeback to form. But that was it," Dias said. Excerpts of the interview: (Q). How would you view Sri Lanka's chances come the World Cup? (A). "I would say they have a journey to go to be counted after the results we had in the last few months. I know we are a strong side. But having played weak sides in the West Indies and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka couldn't gauge their strength when it came to India who were a strong hurdle. But now that they've beaten South Afria in the ongoing VB Series in Australia I think they can get their act together. No doubt Sri Lanka has the talent, but I feel if we take our batting there is something wrong. We have a glut of left handers in Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Jehan Mubarak, Russel Arnold and Avishka Gunawardena with four of them openers. By this the opposition can plan what they are going to do in the first 15 overs. (Q). What would you suggest ? (A). You have to strike a balance with a right-left opening combination. Sangakkara should always be at No.3. It also depends who is opening with the right hander? Mubarak does not go for shots. I feel it should be such a combination with Jayasuriya or Tharanga pairing with Atapattu with Tillekeratne Dilshan at No.4 to hit over the top. He is a batsman who goes for his shots with the right technique to back him. Mubarak and Jayawardene could follow in that order with Arnold next. Another alternative could be to open with Dilshan and Mubarak followed by Sangakkara, Atapattu, Jayawardene No.5 and Arnold at 6. Its just that Dilshan needs to face the new ball at the nets to get the feel of it. It is essential one must score runs also. There is no point getting bogged down. For me Sanath's still got a lot of cricket in him to go upto the World Cup. He can still get a quick 30. He's like Australia's Adam Gilchrist. (Q). If I may add to that the Gilchrist product is a result of the advent of Jayasuriya. (A). Indeed yes ! Of course, this is a thing that the management should discuss with the coach and the selectors. I feel that Jayasuriya should not be pressurised. He must be worried that he has to perform to keep his place. That shouldn't happen. For me, Marvan has to open or bat at No.4 given his temperament and copybook technique. Otherwise there isn't enough time for him to make a noteworthy contribution. But personally I feel he should be right up there. He has just to bat out the 50 overs and he'll still get a hundred playing his normal game. Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan are batsmen who like to play their shots and they need a solid start for which Atapattu is ideally the man who won't throw it away. By either of those combinations we can keep that thing going because even spinners do not find it easy to change their line. In the run-up to the World Cup we must also have a feed back. We must look at the u-19 World Cup and pick a solid all-rounder like Angelo Mathew who has performed so very well. He has got a few centuries under his belt and has been among the wickets and is indeed a good all-round cricketer. (Q). What about the bowling ? (A). Vaas and Murali are full of experience. From there we should look for another two 'pacies' - two experienced bowlers to bowl just good line. Ruchira Perera has the makings of a good worker with the ball. (Q). What about Dilhara Fernando ? (A). I heard his action had been changed. Here you've got to do the basics right. We must not believe in all these theories. You cant just change bowlers. You can change his style at 13 years, not at 22 or 25. Dilhara's ankle is like that. It can never change. If you change it he's going to do something wrong. For example you cant change Lasith Malinga. He"ll become a medium pacie. I think he should be played even in the one-dayers to bowl wicket to wicket. One must also remember that every bowler has his bad days. Nuwan Kulasekera is another young prospect, but he should not try to bowl too fast because then he will do the wrong thing. For example if I'm a good swing bowler who bowls a good outswinger to a right hander then the bowler should not be told to try to bowl an inswinger. Then he is doing the wrong thing. Its never easy to plan and get a batsman out because a bowler has to bowl off stump. For instance, take Sachin Tendulkar. You've got to bowl to his strength to get him out. Then we have a good leg spinner in Malinga Bandara. It's not easy to face leg spin in a one-dayer. Given time Bandara can strike line and length. (Q). How would you assess the Indian tour ? (A). I think that primarily we felt that the Indians were much stronger than us. The Sri Lankans showed it by their body language. I feel we thought that we are second to them. You must not allow that to happen. We've played enough cricket not to do so. Talent-wise, we don't have to worry. We have to be mentally stronger. But I feel that when it comes to the World Cup, the winning feeling will come. We need to go and enjoy the game very well and not bother what people or the newspapers say. If you carry that then you carry that into your play. I feel that once we start winning the team will be unstoppable. We have done it in the past. It is no point beginning to peak just now. That must happen just before the World Cup. Right now we could try out a few players as well. By next year we should have formed a squad of 22. We must also have another squad of 10 who are good. Last but not least, the fielding must be tops. (Q). What about your long stint coaching in Nepal. A few words about the u-19 squad you've brought to Sri Lanka ? (A). I've been coaching from junior to national level from u-15, 17, 19 to the big team and I must say it has been very interesting working there. They are very eager to learn and are disciplined. We won the u-19 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy in Kathmandu. We played in the last two Under-19 World Cups - 2001 and 2004.In the 2001 extravaganza in New Zealand we beat Pakistan, lost to Namibia and beat Bangladesh in the Plate semi-finals and in the 2004 World Cup in Bangladesh we beat Bangladesh and South Africa and just missed going into the Super League. In the 2005 ICC Inter-Continental Cup we beat the UAE by 172 runs, Malaysia by an innings and 66 runs. The team is good. By March the main Nepal team will be playing in Namibia a 4-day match against Namibia. This will be crucial for Nepal in this decider to find the eighth country under an ICC format. All eight sides will play each other in 4-day matches in a 2-year period
which would be the base of promotion into the Test match arena. |
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