Team for first Test v Aussies to be picked today:

Injuries pose new challenges to national selectors

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

In normal circumstances the national cricket selectors would name a squad for the entire Test series from which the final eleven would be picked. But given the current situation they have been left with no option but to pick a squad Test by Test for the upcoming three-Test series against Australia which commences at Pallekele Stadium on July 26.

When chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya sits down with his co-selectors Romesh Kaluwitharana, Eric Upashantha and Ranjith Madurusinghe to pick the squad for the first Test today they will find that they have barely anything on the plate where fast bowling is concerned. The only fit fast bowler who is ready for selection of the five picked for the recent tour of England is Nuwan Pradeep.

The rest Dhammika Prasad, Dushmantha Chameera, Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal are virtually ruled out of the series with injuries with one of them because of a suspect bowling action.

“It is very difficult times as a selector to pick a balanced squad with so many injuries,” said Jayasuriya who is in his second stint as chief selector. In fact he did not face this sort of a problem during his initial tenure.

“It’s a bit tough but we will try and pick the best possible team. I hope the players picked also know what is expected of them and that they will do their best.

“Whoever is fit and whoever is doing well in the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team we’ll have to give them the opportunity. It is the feeding place for the senior side.

“If we feel there is somebody who is very good in the Sri Lanka ‘A’, Emerging or Under 19 squads we will not hesitate to pick them.

“I am really happy the way some of the Sri Lanka ‘A’ players have been performing in England fast bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando, batsmen Dhananjaya de Silva and Roshen Silva are quite a few players,” Jayasuriya named.

“We are playing in Sri Lanka and the players know what the expectations from them are. The Sri Lankan public expects them to perform well,” he said.

“When we play in Sri Lanka we have a better chance of performing than when you are overseas.I am confident they can do well. But it’s a lot of hard work to come out and show their character.”

Bowling wise what Jayasuriya and Co have on the plate from the England tour is Pradeep and the two spinners Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera.

“We also have Sri Lanka A team fast bowlers Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Gamage. Our main concern is the bowling but this is also a good time for a youngster to put his hand up and perform and show his character,” said Jayasuriya.

“The batting line-up is a fairly good one and stable. If you see the way they progressed in the Tests in England the batting was really good it’s the one key department we can think that we are on the right direction. With players like Kusal Mendis, Kaushal Silva, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews the batting line up did really well. You need to fine tune it every day. Some of the innings of 20s and 30s I would like to see them go and get a big 100 or 200,” he said.

“The unfortunate thing about the Test series in England was that we had a very good bowling line-up but we started getting injuries from the first Test onwards and before long our main three fast bowlers Prasad, Chameera and Eranga were out of the scene. We were basically left with only another two fast bowlers Pradeep and Lakmal to run through the rest of the games. If not for those injures we would have done really well. But injuries are part and parcel of cricket and you have to face them.”

Jayasuriya, however, was at a loss to pinpoint what caused so many injuries especially to fast bowlers.“It’s very unfortunate I don’t know why it’s happening. At the moment they are playing a lot of cricket Tests, ODIs and T20Is. In our days our cricketing life span would have been about 15 years but now it has come down to about 8 years,” said Jayasuriya who in a 22-year career played in 110 Tests, 445 ODIs and 31 T20Is.

“In the present context if you play for 10 years you will have played more than 150 Tests and almost 300-400 ODIs on top of T20Is. A human body cannot take such a workload, but the main thing is how the player manages and rehabs himself. It is very easy to come and say I am injured.

“You have to play with the pain. To play with the pain is the key. No fast bowler can play without any pain. They have to play with a little bit of pain with niggles here and there. We are currently working on the players with one of the best trainers Michael Mann who has been trying to get them into real shape,” he said.

Jayasuriya said that Chandimal would continue to keep wickets during the Test series with Kusal Perera being played as a middle order batsman.

“At the moment Chandimal is the better keeper Kusal is a bit out of touch. Chandimal normally bat sat number 4 but because of the conditions in England we pushed him to number 6 and it was successful. We will discuss with him what position he is comfortable batting, he is flexible,” said Jayasuriya.

Although many of the Australians are alien to Sri Lankan conditions and several of them have not played in a Test against Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya said “you cannot take them lightly especially the Australians.”

“They have come early and started practice to get to know our conditions and they have hired Muralitharan to get information about Lankan conditions and pitches. They are very smartly doing their homework. At the end of the day they are also professionals their coach has played here. We can’t take things lightly,” Jayasuriya said.