Sri Lanka’s Cricket Tour of England...:

Hail Old Blighty: We have arrived!

By Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

CRICKET; “Hail Old Blighty”, we have arrived seems to be the expression on the lips of new Sri Lanka Cricket skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan as he leads the Sri Lanka team on the current tour of England in his baptism as skipper.

It was only on Thursday morning that Ian Bell told the British media that the Sri Lankan cricketers may not be as good enough as Mahendra Singh’s Indians but they offer something different.

He also went on to say that they will go on to miss Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews along with the icon - Muttiah Muralitharan. But that they have the bowling unit that is very new and that he expects Ajantha Mendis to perform the major part of the bowling from a spinner’s perspective and also Suraj Randiv who also comes into the equation.

As far as the batting is concerned, Sri Lanka has an excellent batting line up in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, both former Sri Lanka skippers, and who between them, have the record for the highest partnership of 624 runs for any wicket which was 624 runs versus South Africa at the SSC. Many in the cricketing fraternity, believe that the century that Mahela scored in the 2011 World Cup Final against India at the Wankhade Stadium in Bombay, was one of the masterly crafted centuries ever seen. That goes a long way as the batting is concerned. Dilshan, one expects him to perform with a lot of responsibility. One of the drawbacks that Dilshan has been having is that he tends to cut the ball off the stumps and which is very close to his body due to his playing so many One-Day Internationals and also the T-20 games in recent times. However, he would rather not do that in England when it comes to the Test matches; he should be a little more composed. As the skipper, he knows the responsibility he has to shoulder.

Eyes on Mahela and Sangakkara

Mahela is very sound in English conditions as he can play through the line. He likes the ball coming to the bat and the one that will vary will be the one which will pitch outside the off stump. He tends to fish at it at times but would not rather not do that. In England, it is not the bounce but the swing in the air that could undo him. On the other hand, he has played a fair amount of cricket and he knows how the wickets will play. It will also be interesting to see how Kumar Sangakkara will compose his innings in the test arena. Mind you, he has an average of 50 plus in the Test match arena. He has also said in public that he loves the longer version of the game.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka has not been playing a lot of Test cricket in recent times. Unfortunately, the West Indies tour was washed away by rain. Having seen the white ball and a lot of one-day matches in the World Cup, and of late, the Indian Premier League.

However, the red ball is different. So, those are some of the areas that will cause concern. In hindsight, one would see some trashy strokes played up front, but the players will adjust themselves. These are some of the areas those need to be looked at. Test cricket is a different ball game all together. It is earnestly hoped that the team will get over those types of misdemeanours. Fortunately, the Sri Lankans have not got the Indian Premier League into their heads which could have disastrous consequences. That is if they do approach the batting in the English conditions.

Tharanga Paranavithana is exciting to watch and a lot of runs could come from Thilan Samaraweera’s bat. After all, he scored back to back double hundreds in Pakistan tour which was marred by a terrorist attack at Lahore. He is an accomplished Test batsman who is more suited for the Test version and it will be seen how the middle order is balanced.

One could see wicket-keeper batsman playing a major role, technically sound, plays through the line and does an excellent job in defence specially off the back foot. But again, he will have to cut out some of the rash strokes that he was in the habit of playing-the disease of fishing the bat on the ball.

Dinesh Chandimal - biggest outing

Time will also tell how Dinesh Chandimal will perform. He has done well in the domestic season but this is his biggest outing. He is a very good attacking batsman. He has some technical issues to sort out.

In England, the last thing that all batsmen should do it is play across the line. Dinesh Chandimal has been doing that and he has been spoken to by Stuart Law, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. He will have to bring his bat down and play very closely to his body. Keeping the eye on the ball, keeping his eye till the last minute. That is how brilliant batsmen such as Sidath Wettimuny, Roy Dias and Aravinda de Silva have performed so well in English conditions. After all, in Sidath, we are talking of the Guinness Book record holder for the longest Test innings at Lord’s 190 runs in 656 minutes!!

Getting to the bowling, Sri Lanka will rely heavily in Dilhara Fernando who bowls the quickies and in the region of the 140s. He has got the nice slower ball which is decisive. However, it will also be interesting to see how he will lead the flock from there. Chamara Welagedara has been very impressive in the county games. It was also impressive how he used the ball off the seam.

There is also Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep is also there in the fast bowling cordon. However, it is also interesting to see Sri Lanka using the experience of Rangana Herath to do most of the bowling with Suraj Randiv, and of course, Ajantha Mendis. However, it is too early to say what combination Sri Lanka will use in English conditions.

As for England, they have Graham Swann in their squad. Swann could tweet a little better. The England team is very much dependant on him. But they do not have Tim Bressnan with them who is nursing a calf injury and the visiting Lankans will be heaving a sigh of relief.

However, the positive aspect is that if the Lankans play positive cricket, cutting off the rashy strokes that one would execute on subcontinental wickets and play through the line, they have the talent to give the Englishmen a run for their money. But the focus will be how the Lankans will get their act together for the tests in the bowling department, not having now the variety of yore - Muralitharan, Malinga and Vaas, who were at their peaks. At that time, they had the luxury of having Dilhara Fernando who bowled it quick alongside Lasith Malinga with Ajantha Mendis to give the extra variety.

One-day strength to be assessed

A good contest could be seen. However, one needs to wait and see how Sri Lanka plays the First Test. As for the ODI series, Sri Lanka has been twice runners-up in a World Cup Final and having won one 15 years ago. So, the strength of the team in the one-day arena does not need to be over stressed. True that we are one of the best ODI sides in the world. With that said, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, who are nursing injuries, will join the rest of the team for the ODI series. Dinesh Chandimal will also be in the reckoning as a batsman for the ODI series.

The selectors might even look at Jeewan Mendis, who is a good player. As for Dilshan, he is a very attacking captain and a very positive player. Granted that he may not have the eloquence of Kumar Sangakkara and might be struggling at the post match interview. On the contrary, one should not be ashamed to talk in his own language. We have seen Inzamam-Ul Haq being spoken to in the post match interview by Rameez Raja.

Also another case in point, countless have been the number of times that Indian Premier League, that cricketers have interviewed by Ravi Shastri that is I guess where the likes of Ranil Abeynaike will come useful. But when it comes to the press conference, the Team Manager is unlikely to answer all the questions on behalf of the captain with the British media. However, if Dilshan is successful, he will not have a tough time with the media. The problems will start if the tour is bad.