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| Sunday, 2 November 2003 |
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Sri Lanka will pin hopes on old faithfuls in batting by SRIAN OBEYESEKERE A 22-member pool which consists of a handful of new faces, mainly in the pace bowling department, is the best possible resource basin the national selectors have drawn from the available talent which coach John Dyson will be entrusted the task of fine honing to get the ideal combination to have a go at the English later this month. Accordingly, the next priority for the four-member selection committee headed by Lalith Kaluperuma and also comprising Aravinda de Silva, Roger Wijesuriya and Ashley de Silva will be when they sit to name the one-day squad for the 3-match one-day series commencing on November 18. Important of course, in naming this pool must, as the chief selector had often echoed to be their main headache would have been the middle order batting at both one-day and Test level. Recent outings are a reflection of a brittle middle order which has let the side down with one of the best examples of it being the bringing back from the wilderness veteran batsman Hashan Tillekeratne ahead of this year's 2003 World Cup to bat in the pivotal No. 3 position. It was seen as a means of giving muscle right up the batting order where the blunting influence of Tillekeratne's bat was expected to be the anchor around which the rest of the batting could revolve to compensate for the gaping brittleness down the order. While this gamble paid dividends to an extent, if not wholly where Sri Lanka was able to find a place as one of the four exalted semi-finalists which in a extravaganza such as the World Cup, is an achievement even if you do not win the final despite being considered lowly back home, today Tillekeratne has quit the one-day game in a fairytale comeback, which, though interestingly sees him at the forefront of Test duties having landed the captaincy. But what remains static is the middle-order as before, despite Tillekeratne throwing muscle, though of course the doughty left-hander has pushed himself down the order to his favourite No. 5 slot. Given the recent performances after the World Cup early this year, Sri Lanka's inability to win a home series at both levels of the game and a lost 0-1 Test series in the West Indies with only a 2-1 one-day series win over Brian Lara's calypsos the solitary consolation, thus throws a significant bearing on the latest selections. It will be the bank on which the country will be banking to redress lost fortunes in two series', one at home in 2001 followed by an annihilation in 2002 in England. Strikingly, the middle-order will, as it is revolve around a set of batsmen who have been tried and tested before going on the available faces. The exceptions are opening batsman Michael Van Dort, who has had only two outings against Bangladesh, recalled wicket-keeper batsman, Lanka de Silva who is named as a reserve to the injured Romesh Kaluwitharana, after a long vacuum. Chamara Silva has been in and out and not persisted with, but a century in the domestic scene backed by some consistent knocks is the talkworthy material in terms of bolstering, while it is left to be seen whether an opener in Van Dort would be rushed to an unaccustomed slot which makes new boy Nuwan Kulasekera interesting reading for being talked of allround material, though mainly considered as a fast bowler. His match bag of 9 wickets and 95 in Galle C.C.'s thrashing of NCC a fortnight ago, notwithstanding a fine performance in contributing to the Sri Lankan under- 23 XI's triumph in the recent home Videocon Asian Emerging Trophy Triangular, has heralded recognition of young blood. Young Dinusha Fernando too is there as a 'pacie' than for his batting ability which was boosted by a century in a domestic match to his credit. Another source of strength to the selectors is finding satisfactory form by middle order batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan in the domestic cricket. The bottom line though from the initial 22 is that the selectors have once again as before mainly placed faith in the old faithfuls looking at the batting. Mahela Jayawardene, who once occupied the enviable top 10 world batting standings in fifth place, along with Russel Arnold are in the 22 despite their continued lean runs with the bat. Jayawardene, in the ongoing Premier League Tournament and Arnold with only a half century to speak of captaining the Sri Lanka 'A' team to South Africa. Asked as to how he viewed some of the stars in the team who had failed to live up to expectations of late, the chief selector played a straight bat. "I don't want to comment about the stars right now," Kaluperuma said. But interestingly, it is the bowling department which finds new blood infused by the drafting of pacies Kulasekera and Lasith Malinga, also from Galle C.C. along with the return after a long injury related absence of Sri Lanka's fastest bowler, Dilhara Fernando as well as left-armer, Nuwan Zoysa who has also been out of the Lankan team for quite a long time. While Fernando's was related to a faulty bowling action leading to a shoulder stress injury which took some months to be rehabilitated, Zoysa, whose career has been setback by regular injury breakdowns, finds himself rewarded for some hard work with the ball during Sri Lanka 'A''s tour of South Africa, after being overlooked earlier on. He is expected to bolster the pace bowling department joined by Chaminda Vaas and Fernando with youngsters Kulasekera and Malinga adding muscle for the selectors to draw from. Of course, Sri Lanka will certainly miss the services of young Kaushal Lokuarachchi, the former St. Peter's leg-spinner who is serving a one-year ban slapped down on him by the Cricket Board on disciplinary grounds consequent to a fatal car crash where he knocked down a woman at a bus halt recently. Certainly, the youngster did make an impact after his dream debut first ball wicket in international cricket in Sharjah earlier this year in a one- dayer. Since Lokuarachchi had bowled quite equitably and had the bearings of a gutsy allrounder in the making as a pleasing fielder and a fair batsman. Above all, just out of his teens, the youngster was regarded as an investment for the future as a 21-year old and an ideal foil for Muttiah Muralitharan with his ability to take a wicket whenever given the ball. Muralitharan now will be supplemented by back up bowlers Kumar Dharmasena and Upul Chandana to whom the selectors will look for the spin bowling. Kaluperuma said that there was the possibility that the selectors might draw from the talent which will be doing duty for the "A' team in India during a tour commencing November 15. "We might call up some of those who perform well in India", the chief selector said. An indication the establishment's talent fine combine machinery has its options open as to getting the best combination. The Sri Lanka pool - Hashan Tillekeratne, Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Romesh Kaluwitharana (subject to fitness), Lanka de Silva, Upul Chandana, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dinusha Fernando, Nuwan Zoysa, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chamara Silva, Tilan Samaraweera, Dilhara Fernando, Michael Van Dort, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga, Russel Arnold. |
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