Fielding has been Sri Lanka’s Achilles heel in the past years. It nearly led to a defeat against England last Friday when one of their most talented fielders, Kusal Mendis dropped Ben Stokes in the 45th over of the England innings.
Chasing 233 runs to win, England were tottering at 187 for 9, when Stokes, batting on 57, lofted Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler, Lasith Malinga, to the deep square-leg boundary. Mendis ran in but could not hold onto the catch, despite getting his fingers under the ball.
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Soon after, Stokes smashed two sixes and two fours against Isuru Udana and Nuwan Pradeep respectively to bring down the target to just 21 runs off 19 deliveries. However, fortunately for Sri Lanka, Pradeep got the nick of Mark Wood to end the English innings as Sri Lanka completed a memorable win.
“When I dropped that catch, I was afraid as the blame would be directed towards me had we lost that game. Nuwan [Pradeep] helped us to finish things off well.” Mendis said.
Sri Lanka’s fielding has been improved since Steve Rixon took over last December. Against the Australians, there were a few misfields but the likes of Isuru Udana and Dhananjaya De Silva have been live-wires in the field. Mendis, who is known to have a safe pair of hands, has already dropped two catches – one against Afghanistan and one against England.
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“We are doing our usual stuff with fielding. I was the best fielder in the side last year. But this year, of all players, I have dropped the most number of catches. Our fielding was usually good last year. All teams drop catches and you cannot really focus too much on that.” he further stated.
Sri Lanka’s win over England opened up the league stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and the Islanders are still in contention for a semi-final place. However, they do need to win at least two of their remaining games to stand a chance.
“Beating England was very important for us. We knew we had to win at least three games from the four games if we were to progress to the semi-finals. We worked a lot on our planning, having a proper mindset ahead of the game. As a batting unit, we had to stand up and perform.” Mendis said after the England game.
Photo Album : Sri Lanka vs England | ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 – Match 27
“Avishka [Fernando] batted really well, taking on the bowling in the first ten overs. Then, Angelo [Mathews] finished things off well. Our plans worked off well. Winning against the world’s number one ranked team (England) is a good thing as it will help boost our confidence. Now, we’re looking forward to the rest of the games”
Mendis also went onto praise Lasith Malinga, who took 4 for 43 off his 10 overs and kept Sri Lanka alive in the tournament. The 36-year old spearhead is playing his last World Cup but has been in excellent form with the ball. He has definitely lost some pace but has continued to win games for Sri Lanka with his street-smarts and world-class skill-set in limited-overs cricket.
“[Lasith] Malinga is a legend of Sri Lanka Cricket. Ever since I have known him, he has been a legendary figure for all of us. He plays a lot of T20 leagues around the world and is very experienced. He knows exactly what to do in those crunch games. I hope he will continue to contribute as a player or when he retires at least in a coaching capacity.” Mendis concluded.
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