'Thisara Perera should be performing not under performing' :

Batsmen not making big scores huge disappointment - 'A' team coach

by SA'ADI THAWFEEQ

The failure of the batsmen to make big scores on ideal batting tracks was one of the major disappointments during Sri Lanka A's recent cricket tour of England.

Head coach Avishka Gunawardene lamented that although England Lions amassed massive totals against them in the one-day tri-series which also featured Pakistan A, none of the Sri Lanka A batters made use of the conditions to make a big score.

"The biggest disappointment for me was not England Lions scoring 300 or 400 against us but that none of our batsmen used the conditions to get a big hundred," said Gunawardene. "I thought that was the ideal opportunity for the batsmen. You don't get better tracks than that even in Sri Lanka. The ball came nicely onto the bat and there wasn't much movement but our batsmen didn't make use of that opportunity.

"They will get a 30, 40 or a 50 and throw it away. It's all to do with their mind set nothing wrong with their talent. Even the Pakistan A coach said that we had so much of talent but something was not right which I also agree.

The batsmen will have to start learning how to play long innings in domestic cricket," he said.

"They should know how to build an innings, how to pace out an innings, these are little things that our batsmen need to learn and develop and all of them comes from playing domestic cricket." Gunawardene described the England Lions squad as one of the strongest batting line-ups that he had seen.

"That side is as good as their senior national team. The wickets were very flat but the difference was their batters in every game made it big with each one of them getting big scores against us and Pakistan A," said Gunawardene.

The highest individual score for Sri Lanka A in the series was Angelo Perera's innings of 69 whereas for England Lions five batsmen made over 150 apiece and two Pakistan A batsmen made hundreds.Sri Lanka A lost all their four matches two each against England Lions (who

were unbeaten) and Pakistan A. "Roshen Silva looked the one guy who was ready to score the big one, very willing to spend a longer time in the middle. He looked very good and he

had the knack for batting longer hours and making big scores but he got a call to return to Sri Lanka," said Gunawardene. "Mahela Udawatte although he didn't score a lot of runs looked good but did not come of well, Niroshan Dickwella got starts but didn't convert theminto big ones. The most impressive of them was Dhananjaya de Silva, the moment he joined the squad I thought he was really good. (Lakshan) Sandakan looked like one of those spinners who could turn the ball he has first-class experience and he needs to get to next level and play," he said.

Gunawardene said that he was very impressed with the two fast bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando. "They were very impressive in all the matches, they got the ball to move

and the batsmen struggled against them. They showed a bit of pace. Vishwa has played more cricket than Asitha. Vishwa was kind of sidelined he made a couple of A tours but he was going for runs, he was not the bowler you see at practices. I think it's the confident factor he was quite quick and hetouched 140," said Gunawardene.

"Asitha has a long way to go. He has played only two first-class games and he is just 19 and bowls at 135 plus. I saw him in the under 19 squad but he has to play more first-class matches and get the experience. The best thing about him is that whatever we say he has the capacity to grab which I think is a good sign. Avishka moves the ball which is lacking in a lot of our fast bowlers today.

That was one thing we were looking at, either you have to be really quick or you have to be able to move the ball, otherwise it is very difficult to survive on flat tracks because you get hit. That's what happened to us exactly when it came to the tri-series," he said. Sri Lanka A were handicapped when it came to the Tri-series when five of their players had to return home when they were selected in the first Test squad against Australia at Pallekele - Roshen Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando."That was the positive side of the tour that five were picked to the Test squad," said

Gunawardene."I went to England with two spin bowling all-rounders for the three 4-day

matches and when it came to the one-day tri-series the only spinner in my team was Sandakan who was picked for the Sri Lankan Test side for good reasons," said Gunawardene.

"I was left with only Sachith Pathirana and Ramith Rambukwella who are spin bowling all-rounders.

I didn't have a specialist spinner in my line-up and I was left with only three fast bowlers and the squad had only 13 guys because several had been called to the national team and others to the under 19 team that was to tour England."

The other big disappointment Gunawardene said was Thisara Perera. "You have to get more out of someone who has played over 100 ODIs he should have done something at least stop batsmen from scoring whereas he went for 60 and 100 runs. If you take his track record there is nothing exceptional that he has done. I don't think he was playing with the same intensity when he was playing for the senior side," said Gunawardene.

"On this tour he played because he was asked to. Thisara is only 27 but for someone like him to be considered for the national side he has to perform exceptionally well. He can't be performing at the same level as the under 19 and the rest of the guys.

He is so experienced he has to come up with exceptional performances. You can't be just underperforming," he said.

There remains a question mark on some of the batsmen picked for the tour as they have hardly scored a first-class hundred in domestic cricket for as long as two to three years, but somehow find themselves selected in the Sri Lanka A team time and again.

The selection policy for A team needs to be strictly reviewed as it is a waste of time picking players who are not going to make it to the next grade.