Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews, head coach Marvan Atapattu and Chairman of the National Selection Committee, Sanath Jayasuriya shared their views on the performance of the Lions in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at a media briefing held at Sri Lanka Cricket Headquarters on Friday evening.
Mathews speaking first mentioned the preparations before the mega-event, “I really appreciate that we toured New Zealand before the World Cup but they completely outplayed us. Though we lost, we got acclimatized to the conditions and we were mentally prepared before the World Cup. “
The Lankan bowling was under much criticism throughout the World Cup for their inability to take wickets but the Lankan skipper defended his bowlers, “Bowlers need to bowl well to win matches and I believe we had the best bowlers available and I won’t pinpoint our losses to our bowlers, they tried their best in those conditions but unfortunately we had to face an early exit in the quarter-final due to the mistakes by our batsmen.”
Sri Lanka lost five players due to injuries who were named in the original squad and Mathews stressed that it affected all their plans, “We cannot blame anyone for the luckless injuries which happened to our players. Due to those injuries, balancing of the team was a big worry for us. “
Angelo pointed out the reasons behind opting for Kusal Janith Perera to open the batting instead of Lahiru Thirimanne in the crucial quarter-final game, “We played Kusal in only two games and we thought the best position for him to play is opening the batting and get us that quick start. Chandimal got injured and our team balance was affected which made us put ‘Thiri’ at number 6 because he has batted at that position before his little bit of experience at number 6 would help us. “
Sanath Jayasuriya notified that he and his committee made decisions which they thought was right in selecting the team, “ We made decisions with the consultation of the coach and captain before selecting the team. We were always positive in our team selections according to the conditions in Australia and New Zealand.”
The bench strength of Sri Lanka to replace Sanga and Mahela was also questioned from Mathews, “It is a tough call, we have the talented players who have the potential to do it but they are a different class and caliber and to replace them will be hard but definitely with time, the youngsters will come up with the goods. It will take a bit of time but slowly and surely they will fill their shoes.”
Few months back, the national team abandoned their physical training program aimed at the World Cup after the authorities agreed to a five-match ODI series against India to replace West Indies who pulled out due to a contract dispute. Was it the reason behind our injuries and our downfall?
“I would not say it was the main reason but it was not the best thing that happened going into a World Cup, but it was a collective decision, the board, the selectors and the team management took.” Marvan Atapattu answered the media.
Sri Lanka lacked intensity in the field and many were disappointed with the team’s fitness levels and Sanath Jayasuriya stressed on player fitness in the future and they will be very serious on that aspect, “We will have to take some serious decisions regarding player fitness. We must have minimum fitness criteria for selection not only to the national team but also to Sri Lanka ‘A’ and other teams. No player can represent Sri Lanka in future without good fitness levels.”
Sri Lanka’s fielding cost them few matches in the New Zealand tour and during the World Cup, Jayasuriya explained the lackluster fielding by the Lions, “I agree that we were below par in fielding department. We were one of the best fielding sides in world cricket for years and I think it’s high time we get that reputation back. ”
Marvan Atapattu is confident about the future and emphasized that youngsters should be given more opportunities to settle down, “If you look at Chandimal, he has scored ten more runs than Kumar Sangakkara has scored after 15 Test matches. But where is Kumar now? He is the world’s best batsman today. I believe it is important that we have patience with these youngsters and give them opportunities to settle down in their positions in the team.”
Twenty-one million people still have the utmost faith in Sri Lanka Cricket and will always be behind the team as the preparations for the next ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England will have to be started as soon as possible with a clear-cut plan for the next four years.
Video Courtesy – Sri Lanka Cricket
