Most teams will start a rebuilding process after next year’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. The Sri Lankans too will step into a new era with three of their stalwarts – Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan retired. While Sangakkara has said that he will end his ODI career after the World Cup, he could go on for another couple of months playing Tests.
Some past players fear the worst in the post Sanga – Mahela era. They believe that the Sri Lankans will have a hard time without their two leading stars, who have set up many memorable victories and scored tons of runs.
They are still the leading batsmen in the world as well. While Sangakkara is the highest run getter this year in both Tests and ODIs, Jayawardene is the third highest run getter in Tests in 2014. Sanga and Mahela are also the key strategists of the team and their valuable inputs at team meetings will be missed.
These sentiments aren’t new. In the three decades prior to this, Sri Lankan supporters and analysts have feared for the worst the day their top stars go. Same concerns were expressed when Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias were reaching the twilights of their careers and the concerns were felt again as Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva were nearing their ends. The last time the Sri Lankans were concerned was when Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu were about to call time on their careers.
Thanks to some brilliant cricket coaches at schools, the country is not short of batting talent. Those that need fine tuning have some outstanding facilities and knowledgeable coaches at R. Premadasa Stadium. The facilities there are set to be upgraded and could be named country’s first Center for Excellence.
Already, the Sri Lankan side has some fine young batsmen. Skipper Angelo Mathews is the standout. This year he’s the second most run scorer in the world in both Tests and ODIs. His 1201 runs in Tests have come at a Bradmansque average of 92.
There are a few others who have impressed. Dinesh Chandimal is the best young talent in the country. The wicketkeeper batsman has had issues with the short ball. But so did the best batsman produced by the country in his early days. Aravinda de Silva is his name. Lahiru Thirimanne is another immensely talented player. His career unfortunately hasn’t blossomed due to short sighted selection policies. On his maiden tour in 2011 to England, he was making steady progress as an opener. But with the change of selection panel a year later, he was used as a middle order batsman. The current selectors have pushed him back to top of the order.
Opener Dimuth Karunaratne is a player with a sound technique and earned high praise from Ian Chappell during Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia 18 months ago.
You will not replace Sanga or Mahela soon. But there’s not much to worry about the batting. The real concern, however, is with the bowling.
The team has enjoyed a good run this year with Test series wins over England and Pakistan and the form of left-arm-spinner Rangana Herath has been the key. Herath is the highest wicket taker this year in Tests. His 60 wickets in 2014 at 27:45 are way ahead of second placed James Anderson’s 40 victims.
However, Herath has undergone multiple surgeries on both knees and has been rested for several limited over contests. He will be 37, the same age as Kumar Sangakkara by the time the World Cup is over and what decisions the spinner will take after the World Cup remains to be the seen.
The Sri Lankans have real headaches in their spin bowling department. While off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake is banned, Ajantha Mendis has become too predictable and Suraj Randiv has been one dimensional. Dilruwan Perera has had an impressive start, but there’s too much pressure on the off-spinner as he has been often categorized an all-rounder.
When Sri Lanka won their maiden Test series in England this year, the seamers played a key role. Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Shaminda Eranga all bowled impressive spells. Consistency however, was lacking and they were also troubled by injuries. Suranga Lakmal didn’t play the England Tests, but bowled well in UAE in the series against Pakistan early this year.
While Prasad is 31, the other three seamers are either 27 or 28 and bowl at a decent pace. Since Chaminda Vaas took charge as fast bowling coach, the seamers have come up with eye catching performances in Test cricket. However, lack of opportunities to fine tune their skills is an issue.
A first class structure of three day games makes the gap between domestic cricket and Test cricket too much and often the seam bowlers get exposed at the top level. Sri Lankan authorities thought that lot of ‘A’ team cricket is the way forward and the players got lot of exposure through ‘A’ team cricket.
However, SLC abandoned ‘A’ team cricket two years ago. Then Chairman Upali Dharmadasa got lot of flak for saying that the board didn’t have money to invest on ‘A’ team cricket.
Thankfully, under the new administration ‘A’ team cricket was given the priority it deserves. Recently, Sri Lanka ‘A’ finished a tour of England while the Australian Under-19 team is currently in the island. West Indies ‘A’ will begin a month long tour of Sri Lanka on Saturday. They will play three four day games and three one-dayers against Sri Lanka ‘A’ and exposure such as these are vital for development of emerging cricketers and the overall health of the game in the country.
