Cricket has come alive in every sense with teams having re-strategized their ‘white-ball’ approach in recent times. The ICC Champions Trophy is set to explode with all 8 teams scoring heavily in the warm-up games giving fans a glimpse of things to come.
The Sri Lankan team, competing in group B, is not short of talent but most predictions are for their group-stage exit in England and Wales considering recent performances. Despite this, the island nation has thus far been able to keep up the pace with the rest, at least with the bat, notching up 300+ scores in their warm-up games.
Sri Lanka are known to be the ‘Perennial Bridesmaids’ of ICC events as they enjoyed near-perfect campaigns in 2007, 2011 (World Cup), 2009 and again in 2012 (World T20) before finally taking home a trophy in 2014, the World T20 beating India in Bangladesh.
The past is, however, past! Since the high-profile retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who have played 44 Champions Trophy matches between them, Sri Lanka Cricket has been on a downward spiral, languishing in the bottom half of the rankings in all three formats.
History at Champions Trophy
Sri Lanka tasted championship glory once in their own backyard in 2002 when they shared the trophy with India after rain played spoilsport in both the finals. The South Asian Islanders suffered group-stage exits in 2004, 2006 and 2009 and in the last edition they managed to reach the semi-finals after defeating Australia and hosts England in the group stage. They were then beaten by the eventual winners India.
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Bowling volatilities and combinations
Sri Lanka’s bowling average as a team in the warm-ups was 45.4 as they leaked 1135 runs and took only 25 wickets in four games against Scotland, Australia and New Zealand. The performances in the warm-ups will count for nothing as Sri Lanka tried many combinations throughout the last two weeks leading up to the tournament in order to give game time to everyone in the squad.
The return of Lasith Malinga, who last played an ODI for Sri Lanka back in November 2015, will certainly boost the mediocre Lankan bowling attack. Malinga no doubt has gone down in pace but will still use all his experience in crunch games to deliver for the islanders. He bowled 8 good overs against the Aussies, took a wicket for 32 runs and proved his fitness. Making his fourth Champions Trophy appearance, Malinga will be determined to join his partner-in-crime, Nuwan Kulasekara to deliver up front and in the death with the ball.
Read: Champions Trophy Group B Preview – Will Sri Lanka make it through?
Since the ICC World Cup in 2015, Sri Lanka has a bowling average 46.65 and an economy rate of 6.08 – the worst out of the 8 participating nations. It will be very interesting to see how either Suranga Lakmal, who is Sri Lanka’s highest ODI wicket taker since 2015 with 21 wickets, or Nuwan Pradeep, who bowled reasonably well against Australia, will fit into the team as the third seamer to control the run flow in the middle overs with the part-time assistance from Angelo Mathews and Asela Gunarathne.
Sri Lanka, a team which used to choke its opponents in the middle overs through their spinners, will now have to rely on left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan, who has played only 6 ODIs, to pick up the wickets. He tends to deliver the odd loose ball and can be expensive but Sri Lanka will need that ‘X’ factor on the batting friendly English surfaces.
Sri Lanka will have to think long and hard if they are to include two spinners in Sandakan and Seekkuge in the playing XI, especially in the cold, windy conditions but they might spring a surprise against the Proteas.
Batting strengths and weaknesses
Sri Lanka has been renowned to be inconsistent with the bat in the past which puts a lot of pressure on the experienced players in Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga and Dinesh Chandimal to fire throughout the tournament along with the youngsters, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis who’ll be playing their first ICC tournament.
The top order looks settled with Tharanga to open the batting with fearless Dickwella followed by free-flowing Mendis, steady Chandimal and captain marvel, Mathews. The make or break point in the batting line up will be how sensible Asela Gunarathne and hard-hitting Chamara Kapugedara contribute to Sri Lanka’s success.
Both Gunarathne and Kapugedara are mature in age and can win games on their own, particularly Gunaratne, who displayed his hitting prowess against Australia in the 3-match T20I series Down Under. Seekkuge Prasanna and Thisara Perera can also play a crucial part in the slog overs with the bat if they make the final XI.
Read Also: Champions Trophy Group A Preview – England and Australia favourites to go through?
Since the 1st of April in 2015, Sri Lanka has a dot-ball percentage of 49.97% and scoring rate of 5.06 from the 11th over to 40th over, the lowest among the eight-participating nations in ODI cricket and will surely look to improve on those stats with a more compact approach in the coming games.
They eclipsed the 300 mark in both warm-up games with most of their batsmen getting runs behind their name but they will need to punch above their weight against the firing South African bowling attack, pace-dominated Indian lineup and the inconsistent Pakistanis, who have a threatening fast-bowling battery of their own.
Fielding woes
Once considered one of the top-notch fielding sides in the world, Sri Lanka have been heavily criticized in recent times for their substandard fielding performances. Both head coach, Graham Ford and team manager, Asanka Gurusinha have promised a better fielding display in England & Wales as no matter what you do with the bat and ball, it will be the fielding which will win you the crunch games.
Final words
There are few expectations weighing down this Sri Lanka team even though in mind, heart and soul, the cricket-crazy Lankan fans will still want the Lions to do well. The ‘underdogs’ tag will give them a sense of freedom and the opponents should not forget how competitive Sri Lanka can get in ICC events.
>> Sri Lanka’s most memorable Champions Trophy encounters
If Sri Lanka can topple one of the pre-tournament favourites, South Africa and India, they will certainly back themselves to beat Pakistan and qualify for the semi-finals but for all of that, each and every department should sync together and put their ‘A’ game out.
Key Quotes
“The Champions Trophy is a big ask, and recent results will tell you that. But the guys have shown talent, and they’ve worked extremely hard trying to improve their cricket. I think with us being a team that’s improving all the time, we’ve certainly got a chance of upsetting one of the other nations. It is a huge challenge, but one that we’re looking forward to.” – Graham Ford
“I think we are a team where we stick to our basics. And, look, I mean, we’ve played pretty well, we’ve done pretty well in England, especially in 2014. So we will try to take a leaf out of it. Yes, we are a pretty young, inexperienced team, but I think a few of us have played in England. And as I said before, anyone can change a game at any given stage. And we’ve got the talent. We’ve got the skill in the team. It’s just that we have to go out there and express ourselves.” – Angelo Mathews.
Sri Lanka Contingent
Angelo Mathews (Captain), Upul Tharanga (Vice-Captain), Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Asela Gunarathne, Chamara Kapugedara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Asanka Gurusinha – Team Manager, Ranjith Fernando – Tour Manager, Graham Ford – Head Coach, Allan Donald – Consultant Fast Bowling Coach, Nic Pothus – Fielding Coach, Nick Lee – Trainer, Ajantha Wattegama – Physiotherapist, Sriram Somayajula – Analyst, Rohan Priyadharshana – Masseur.
Group Stage Schedule:
June 3 – Sri Lanka vs South Africa, Kennington Oval, London
June 8 – Sri Lanka vs India, Kennington Oval, London
June 12 – Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
