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| Sunday, 6 July 2003 |
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West Indian tour exposed Sri Lanka's batting again - Chief Selector by SRIAN OBEYESEKERE Sri Lanka's disappointing 1-nil loss to the West Indies in the 2-match Test series has brought with it a bad taste. For home fans who expected a much better showing. But to none so much than the national selectors to digest. Indeed, great expectations there were for the Test team to deliver in the wake of the sweet aura of the 2-1 triumph by the Sri Lankans in the short version of the game. In Chairman of Selectors, Lalith Kaluperuma's own words, 'it would have been so sweet to have rounded the tour with a clean sweep'. But Brian Lara's new look West Indians, whose resurgent one-day status had taken a bad beating from Marvan Atapattu's Sri Lankans, bounced back to even things by clinching the Test series in a reversal of sweet tidings for the calypsoes. Lara's calypsoes rode back to contention on the very back of the broad blade of the bat of their record breaking captain's timely match winning unbeaten 81 to clinch the second Test. It redeemed a West Indian bunch which has raised new hopes in a land which dominated the game like a colossus and eroded from which it has shown signs of wriggling out. The backlash of that hammering the Lankans underwent leaving a chief selector desperately wishing for the type of consistency of a Lara in the Lankan batting department. Certainly, the Lankans biggest bane was their tottering batting as Kaluperuma conceded. "The batting department has once again let us down," voiced a disconcerted head selector. "What was so disappointing was that they were not able to translate the 20's into 50's and the 50's into 100's". The demanding need of the day from the Sri Lankan batsmen which had once again as so often it has before gone on the rocks reflects a grey area in the country's Test firmament. The demands of rising to the rigours of five-day cricket with which our batsmen have been striving to come to grips with ever since Sri Lanka was accepted to that exalted fold in 1981. A weak area perhaps best reflected by that defeat to Allan Border's Australians just a decade after in 1992 in that now historic match at the SSC when the kangaroos snatched a dramatic victory from the 'jaws of defeat.' Requiring a modest 181 to win, Sri Lanka's batting crumbled. And with it, the sweetness of a first against the giants in the game for the then babes of Test cricket in the wake of a magnificent debut century by wicket-keeper batsman, Romesh Kaluwitharana, was only a scent in the air. Sri Lanka did traverse that ardous route to some good effect with the advent of Dav Whatmore when the likes of an Asanka Gurusinha for the left-hander's staying ability in the pivotal No. 3 slot in the batting department left the likes of an Aravinda de Silva to fine tune from there. And the balmy influence of Arjuna Ranatunga down the order to good effect which is a reflection of Sri Lanka making inroads into that rocky firmament in subsequently getting into its boot away series triumphs against New Zealand and Pakistan in 1995. But it is still a long journey in a firmament for a country which has been playing Test cricket for just over two decades. For the record, Sri Lanka since did realise that dream against the Aussies beating them by 6 wickets at Asgiriya in 1999 on the way to a 1-0 series win under Sanath Jayasuriya whose opposite number was Steve Waugh. But the hard facts of logistics is that Lanka is yet to taste away series triumphs against Australia, South Africa and next door sub-continent neighbour India. The latter fact perhaps best underscoring the lack of a potential Test nation. This stark reality, of coming to terms in what is yet regarded as sacred to cricket despite the popularity of the one-day game, therefore looms large as ever. A reality to which much more ground work is required where the batting department which chief selector Kaluperuma realises must forge ahead to more desirable heights from what it is today. The recent dismal West Indian saga heightens that reality of Sri Lanka's inability of achieving away at that level having failed in sojurns before that during tours of England and South Africa in the lead up to the 2003 World Cup in recent times. While achieving recognition of status can mean nothing in a Test era undermined by the entry of lowly Bangladesh into the fold which is a mismatch in comparison to other established countries, that Sri Lanka yet labours to hold its own against credibles like Australia, South Africa and India is a wake up call for the local cricket authorities. Perhaps, best read by the Chairman of Selector's concern that everything was not well with the batting. "The failure of the seniors up the order is worrying. The tour of the West Indies shows that. Getting out for 190 odd is unacceptable. It is not a worthy score at all," lamented Kaluperuma who sounded the alarm bells in saying that the continued failure of some of the seniors would leave the selectors with no option but to look elsewhere to some of the up and coming youngsters. "We cannot be saddled with failure throughout.It is up to those batsmen in whom we have bestowed our faith to deliver. By not,they are compelling us to look elsewhere to give muscle to this all important department", he added. Of course, he was mindful of the fact that the selectors dilemma was that they could not abandon talent which had been fine tuned and nurtured over the years because of sudden failure. "We cannot afford to do that. We have to give them that much more confidence in the hope that they will come good", he contended. At the same time, form, as it is, can be a bugging bug for selectors. Particularly when it so happens to be that they are looking at talent which is not much to speak about. "While some of the top order keep failing another disturbing factor is that there are no potential batsmen from the 'A' team who could simply walk into the national team. None of the youngsters with a name have showed that much of consistency for us to alternatively turn to them", lamented the chief selector who hoped that these hopefuls would go a step further in terms of consistency. "They have to show better results in terms of consistency to be taken notice of. We cannot just rush in a youngster who does not have enough runs before his name," reasoned Kaluperuma. As to the bowling department, there were no major concerns he said. "We have a fair crop of youngsters on the blocks who have impressed us. I cannot grumble about the bowling during the West Indian tour," he said. While noting that young Kaushal Lokuarachchi, who had only one Test outing, could have benefitted by another. "Lokuarachchi I understand had a few bad decisions that went against him in the first Test. Overall, he was okay and is material for the future as a 21-year old." |
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