Inexperience cost Sri Lanka place in semi-finals

Chris Dhambarage reporting from South Africa

CRICKET: Chairman national selectors Ashantha de Mel said that the lack of experience cost Sri Lanka a place in the semifinals of the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup tournament which is now in progress in South Africa.

The Lankans who emerged runners up at the recent 50 over ICC World Cup in the West Indies were knocked out from this shortest version of the game following a ten wicket defeat at the hands of Australia at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

De Mel who accompanied the team as the selector on tour said that Sri Lanka would have put up a better show and would have even gone the full distance in this inaugural competition if the players had more experience behind them. Incidentally Sri Lanka had played only three Twenty20 international before this event - two against New Zealand and one against England.

However De Mel noted that there are few positive things that could be taken from this tournament especially with the home series against England coming up shortly. Sri Lanka will play five one day internationals against England from October 1 and three Test matches in December.

De Mel said that the tournament certainly provided the bowlers a good chance of getting into peak form with less trouble as they had to bowl only four overs for the entire game. The three fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga were really outstanding as they shared a total of 18 wickets between them.

The season campaigner Chaminda Vaas in fact turned out to be one of the most economical bowlers of the tournament where he conceded less than six runs per over from his five matches with a best effort of 2 for 14 against Bangladesh.

In addition Malinga conceded 7.14 runs per over and Fernando gave away 6.12 runs per over which was still a creditable performance in a tournament that had little chances for the bowlers.

This was quite clear considering the fact that some of the better bowlers in the tournament like Australia's Brett Lee has conceded 7.3 runs per over, Mohammed Asif of Pakistan has conceded 7.85 runs per over Harbajhan Singh of India has gone for 7.56 runs per over and South Africa's Shaun Pollock has given away 8.65 runs per over.

De Mel said that the team should now be able to carry these experience into the 50 overs game when they take on England in a five match one day series starting from October 1. He was hopeful that ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be fit to play in the one day series after having missed out the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

The Sri Lanka squad for the one day series against England: Mahela Jayawardena (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Jehan Mubarak, Farveez Maharof, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Gayan Wijekoon, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Dilruwan Perera and Muttiah Muralitharan. (Cape Town, Saturday).