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The Battle of the Royal Lions (SL's Tour of
England) |
Apr 20, 2006 (From the
Cricket Journal)
After a rather unconvincing performance against
Pakistan at home, Sri Lanka embark on a tough
tour to England that might well decide the
direction they are taking in international
cricket. They were tamed to submission by
Pakistan and struggled gradually as the tour
progressed. Having played the top teams in a
brief period of 6 months, Sri Lanka's report
card does not sound encouraging. Losses to
India, New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh (one
match) and now Pakistan in the ODIs was
something Tom Moody and Co would prefer
forgetting as Sri Lanka aim to undo the mistakes
they did in these matches. And to be frank and
blunt as a writer, Sri Lanka do not appear a
Test side to me. They keep repeating the same
mistakes and this has cost them dearly. Playing
teams like Bangladesh regularly (2 series in a
gap of 8 months) is taking Sri Lankan cricket
nowhere, as performances in these matches
flatters to only deceive later. In my humble
opinion, I would rather see Sri Lanka play teams
like Pakistan, India, England regularly than the
Bangladeshis and the West Indians. This is a
preview in the typically 'Deano' fashion - a
SWOT analysis.
Strengths
 There are obvious signs of improvements in this
Sri Lankan team, but unfortunately they are not
long-lasting. I would tend to think that apart
from being mighty in the spin department, their
batting seems to be a certain strength. Kumar
Sangakkara's progress indicates an obvious
growth in stature as their best batsman,
followed by Mahela Jayawardena and Tillakaratne
Dilshan. If they can score massive runs against
the bowling attack that England boasts of, they
are sure to create positions of strength. The
squad seems stacked with batsmen, who are
inexperienced and if guys like Tharanga and
Vandort can realize their potential, the void
created by the retirement of Jayasuriya will
somehow be unseen. The relatively inexperienced
bowling seems to be maturing with every other
outing and if they can capitalize on the
conditions they are presented with, bowlers like
Vaas, Maharoof, Malinga, Kulasekara, Zoysa and
Fernando could prove a handful. Utilizing the
conditions will be the key to their success.
Besides, the spin attack of Malinga Bandara and
Muttiah Muralitharan seems potent enough to
create pressure situations, which the team can
cash in on. Who can forget Murali spinning the
Oval one-off Test of 1998 on its head with a
match haul of 16 wickets. So, if they can start
the series well, there is no doubt that there is
some quality in this Sri Lankan line-up, good
enough to disturb the England team.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses are in plenty to be honest. The
inexperience might just as prove to be a
weakness as it is a strength. The openers' spot
seems a major concern for me. Tharanga and
Vandort might not be technically adaptive to the
conditions in England. Kumar Sangakkara might
have to play saviour time and again by coming in
situations that might probably be avoidable. The
openers will be under pressure to bat well
everytime they go out to bat and if they succeed
in evading this pressure, they would have done
their bit to the team's cause. The role of
Tillakaratne Dilshan is a question mark. He has
a decent technique to go along with his wide
range of strokes and if Sri Lanka can push him
up in the order, it will do good to their
totals. But, from his side, he has to curb his
natural instincts of playing one shots too many
and put a tag on his wicket, which has been a
continual problem with him. The bowling line-up
somehow comes up with a tag of 'inexperienced'.
Apart from Vaas and Zoysa, the bowlers look
naive. There is a uni-dimensional look to this
bowling attack. The sameness should ideally be
masked by picking a bowling line-up that
consists of Vaas (angle), Maharoof (accuracy),
Malinga (action and pace), Malinga Bandara
(leg-spin) and Murali (off-spin). All in all,
there are plenty of loopholes in this Sri Lankan
squad, the earlier they are plugged, the better
would be the chances of tasting successes in
England.
Opportunities
There are plenty of things the Sri Lankans can
learn from this tour. Having picked Prasanna
Jayawardene as the second wicketkeeper, it will
be important for the management to play
Sangakkara purely as a batsman, due to the
unavailability of Marvan Atapattu. If Sangakkara
can purely concentrate on his batting, it would
help both his and his team's cause as runs
flowing from his bat are invaluable. Mahela
Jayawardena gets a golden chance to cement his
position as the skipper of the team. One hopes
that he can manage to lead by example and with
Atapattu's cricketing career in doldrums,
cashing in on these limited opportunities would
be the key. There is a great scope for
improvement in this Sri Lankan team. They need
to get their combination correct before every
match and march on with a belief that they can
be more than competitive against a strong
opponent.
Threats
There are plenty of threats looming around Sri
Lanka and the most important one would be their
opponents. Having won the third test
convincingly against India at Mumbai, England
will surely be drenched in confidence and
besides, the return of their regulars like
Vaughan, Trescothick, Simon Jones and Stephen
Harmision does not send encouraging signals to
the Sri Lankan camp. Another problem that they
could face would be adaptability. The earlier
they get going in England, the better it could
be for the Sri Lankans, which possibly means
winning all their tour games and being match fit
as they go into the Tests.
There was a time when the English board refused
to acknowledge Sri Lanka's credentials as a Test
side, and just as the Royalties had their way,
the 1998 win changed their vision towards the
Island nation. Since then, Sri Lanka have been
playing one test extra each time they visited
England (2 in 2002 and currently 3) and more
importantly in quality venues like Lord's,
Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. Sri Lanka can surely
look to impress their case further by putting up
performances that can stand out and get noticed
by not only England, but the rest of the world,
if they have any intentions of transforming
themselves into a force to reckon with for the
near future. As a fan of Sri Lankan cricket, I
am sure that the boys will come up with the
goods and push England to the limits if not
shock them as they did in 1998.
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