Lanka fighting to save face in final ODI

by Sa’adi Thawfeeq

PALLEKELE: Sri Lanka who was so dominant in the three-Test series against Australia suddenly find themselves at the receiving end in the five-match One-Day International series which draws to a close at the Pallekele International Stadium today with the fifth and final match.

The match is only of academic interest as Australia have already taken a winning 3-1 lead in the series. All what Sri Lanka can hope for is to play for pride and ensure that they don’t give Australia a hat-trick of victories.

Australia won the first, third and fourth ODIs and the way the series has panned out look like clinching the fifth game as well. So well have the Aussies bounced back that they have pushed the hosts onto the back foot, that suddenly it has become a different ball game.

A major factor in Sri Lanka’s losses has been their top order batting that has failed to put the required runs on the board. The Australian quicks have been able to make early inroads into the batting and put the middle order under pressure in each of the three wins they have achieved. To add to Sri Lanka’s batting woes their most experienced batsmen in the line-up skipper Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the series with a calf strain.

While vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal takes over the leadership the selectors have drafted in tried and tested many times over Upul Tharanga to add experience to the batting. How well Tharanga can contributed is questionable for each time he has being given the opportunity he has not

produced anything of substance that warrants a recall into the squad.

“We’ve got a list of openers there are four or five of them. However, in this situation, we need an experienced player in the middle order since Angelo is not with us,” said skipper Chandimal.

“So we need someone who has experience to take up number 5 or 6 spots. Most probably, Tharanga will play in the middle order tomorrow,” he said..

The openers berth is the one that Sri Lanka has had more problems with in the series. However with Mitchell Starc their nemesis and Josh Hazlewood being rested for the match whoever opens today will be able to breathe a little easy.

“Niroshan Dickwella and Dhanushka Gunatillake have good opportunities. We hope they’ll come good tomorrow,” said Chandimal.

It seems that the selectors have had enough of all-rounder Thisara Perera and after four matches where he scored 55 runs (avg. 13.75) and taken 4 wickets (avg. 25.00) has been discarded for another promising young all-rounder Dasun Shanaka who shone in England.

Chandimal spoke of using two fast bowlers at either end which is something they have not done so far in the series. Sri Lanka have always opted to open with a spinner at one end.

“We’ve seen some weak points in our camp we need four specialist bowlers.

Yes. It’s difficult for the spinners to use the new ball. Fast bowlers can do more with the new ball and we realized that in the fourth ODI when Angelo couldn’t bowl. So we’re hoping to use two fast bowlers from both ends,” said Chandimal.

Sri Lanka are trying to go back to the conventional way of bowling after finding the Australian batsmen being successful against spin.

“Australia are the world’s number one team also in the ODI format. So they’ve got a lot of experience and options with them,” said Chandimal.

“When they lost the first test, they didn’t have that much time to adapt to the conditions. But in the ODI series, they use the sweep and the reverse sweep well and it is really difficult for the spinners to bowl when they are employing those shots. George Bailey and Mathew Wade were playing the sweep well and our spinners couldn’t find the line and length,” he said.

“Pallekele is a favourite venue for us we want to win all the matches we play here. We want to do our best to win the match and end the series on ahigh note to prepare ourselves for the T20I series.”

SRI LANKA ODI SQUAD: Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal (Captain).. Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Perera, Avishka Fernando, Danushka Gunathilaka, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Amila Aponso, Lahiru Kumara, Sachith Pathirana, Upul Tharanga, Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun Shanaka.