At a time when wrist spinners seem to be popping up from every nook and cranny around the world, Sri Lanka have struggled to find one who can perform consistently.
When Lakshan Sandakan made his debut against Australia in 2016 at Pallekelle and proceeded to take 7/107 in the Test, the local cricket fraternity was awash with hope that this guy was special. As it is with Sri Lanka Cricket, ‘mystery spinners’ have always been held in high regard and with Sandakan becoming the first Asian left-arm wrist spinner to play international cricket, expectations were high.
Video – විනිසුරු තීරණ අපිට වෙනස් කරන්න බෑ – සඳකැන්
ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම හාඅ සංචාරක එංගලන්ත කණ්ඩායම අතර පැවැත්වුණු පළමු ටෙස්ට් ක්රිකට් තරගය අවසන් වීමෙන් පසුව පැවති මාධ්ය…
Making his entry into the international scene in 2016, the beginning of Sandakan’s career was promising, more so because of Sri Lanka’s incredible (and most certainly unexpected) whitewash of Australia, who were ranked no.1 in the world at the time in his debut series. The Aussies were all at sea against Sri Lanka’s more experienced spin duo of Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera, so the fact that Sandakan picked up just 2 wickets in the next two games of the series went almost unnoticed.
Despite this, the Aussie batsmen’s obvious difficulty with spin was too tempting to overlook and Sandakan was handed an ODI debut later on during the same tour.
Since then, the left arm wrist-spinner has been in and out of the team. When given the opportunity, he has been erratic (why wrist spinners are always a gamble), trying too many things and going for plenty in both Test and limited over cricket.
Often his opportunities have come like it did in the 3rd Test against England, as a result of an injury or last resort – he hasn’t played all three Tests of a 3-Test series since his very first one in 2016. What this has meant is that he has had very little time to settle into a series and if his bowling today said anything, it was that a long spell was exactly what he needed.
“I’m pleased that I was given the opportunity to play. It only came about because Akila (Dananjaya) can’t play this game. I am happy that I could contribute to the team’s cause as well.”- Lakshan Sandakan
He started well and nearly had Joe Root stumped in his 2nd over of the innings but the ball ripped off the surface and keeper Niroshan Dickwella didn’t get anywhere near gathering it. From that point, the customary waywardness returned, the odd good delivery was followed by a long hop or a half-volley that the English batsmen took full advantage of.
In fact, from his 1st over midway through the 1st session, to midway through the third, Sandakan was taken for a boundary in almost every over he bowled, causing real headaches for skipper Suranga Lakmal.
Video – The umpiring looked very questionable – 3rd Test – Day 1: Cricketry
Renowned Cricket Commentator Roshan Abeysinghe analyzing the 1st day’s play of the 3rd Test…
In between the long hops and half volleys, Sandakan did create a few problems for the Englishmen. He had Joe Root with a ball that bounced a little more than the average delivery and drew Ben Stokes into a false shot away from his body on his way to 4 wickets.
An LBW decision that went in favor of Jonny Bairstow and another missed opportunity behind the stumps by Dickwella denied him of his 2nd 5-wicket haul in Tests, the sort of misfortune that seems to have hovered over his career so far.
Sandakan could never really feature as a regular in Sri Lanka’s Test line-up with the likes of Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera around – the reemergence of Akila Dananjaya then pushed him further back in the pecking order – but after bringing him into international cricket in 2016, Sri Lanka were in the perfect position to groom him for the 2019 World Cup, another opportunity lost. With Herath now gone and three crucial tours overseas coming, Sandakan could very well stake his claim to be a regular member of Sri Lanka’s playing XI in all formats – now’s his chance to shine.
