After the highs of World T-20 triumph, Sri Lanka’s cricketers are hard at training ahead of the tour of United Kingdom.
The national cricket team will take wings to Dublin on Friday to play Ireland in two ODIs and then will travel to England where they will play one T-20 International, five ODIs and two Test Matches.
Planning has been meticulous ahead of the tour with the seam bowlers training under fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas. The seamers have been training with the Duke ball used in England contrary to the Kokabura ball used in most other parts of the world including Sri Lanka.
“We have been working hard. We are trying to be well prepared for the challenge by getting the faster bowlers to bowl with the Duke ball,” Vaas, the second highest wicket taker for Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs told The Island after a training session yesterday.
“The Duke ball doesn’t swing much earlier on. Some of the guys who could play for us in Tests like Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga, Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep have lot of potential and they will develop during this tour,” Vaas said.
In addition to the international games, Sri Lanka will play four warm-up games during the tour.
“The wickets will suit seamers in the early season and conditions will be wet. It will be tough for them but hopefully they will enjoy the conditions and I am looking forward to work with these guys,” Vaas said.
Vaas has lot of experience having played several seasons of county cricket for four different counties – Worcester, Middlesex, Northampton and Hampshire. “The key in Test cricket is to be patient. We have been working on things like accuracy, good line and length. The results are there for everyone to see and we need to keep improving,” Vaas added.
“Suranga and Shaminda both bowl at 135 plus. They need to bowl in that range constantly and their variation will help them,” the fast bowling coach said.
“I always tell them to be patient. We need to bowl good balls to take wickets. When you keep bowling one line the wickets will come. You need to put the batsmen under pressure. During the Pakistan series in UAE a lot of people didn’t give us much of a chance. But our seamers did the simple things right and enjoyed quite a bit of success,” Vaas added.
Vaas, 40, took 355 wickets in 111 Tests and 400 wickets in 322 ODIs. During his career, there were several highlights in England, but his most memorable performance perhaps came with the bat when he batted for over four hours and scored a half-century to save the Lord’s Test in 2006.
