A lions’ pride, usually made up of an adult male, several females, and their cubs, rests at the top of the food chain in the African Savanna. The females, despite being weaker than a male lion, are the best hunters in the grassland.
Free Hit contributor
Working as a team, the lionesses have designated roles and adaptively modify their strategy each time in their hunt for lesser mortals that are at times larger and faster than them. Adult males usually join in once the prey is caught and weakened.
If Sri Lanka were to come out on top in their fight against the South Africans, they will do well to learn from this viciously coordinated and strategic teamwork by the pack of lionesses. For that, unlike the male lions who merely swaggers in when the feast is ready, Angelo Mathews will have to be the proactive strategist and be clear of his expectations from each player in the eleven.
Mathews is a levelheaded and guarded leader of his men like the lions that protect their pride. But he lacks the tactical acumen some of his predecessors possessed to squeeze results that reflect performances larger than the sum of its parts.
It is difficult to blame the failures of Sri Lanka on Mathews alone. The wise words of Lasith Malinga recently said that for a national team to succeed, it has to have international level players. Other than Mathews and the ever-roaring Rangana Herath, no other player would be able to stake a claim for a spot in another top national team. The tide may have changed slightly with Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya De Silva. These two bring immense stability, giving a sense of batting security that no other Sri Lankan middle order had had in yesteryears. The fairy tail ends here, since the openers continue to be inconsistent and Mathews is almost forced to play a seventh batsman. But the choices he has at his disposal are unlikely to worry the Proteas.
Given his conservative approach of lets try to not lose twenty wickets as suppose to lets take twenty wickets, Mathews will indeed be reluctant to play 5 bowlers. Considering that he, along with Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Pradeep are coming back after injury layoffs and at risk of sustaining another one, Sri Lanka may find themselves a bowler short, possibly mid game. In that case, De Silva will have to rise above a part-timer, especially in Port Elizabeth where the wicket is less pacer friendly. With a first class bowling average of 24, De Silva can in fact play the Dilshan-esque second all-rounder’s role and should be groomed.
While, Chameera and Pradeep are certain to play barring an injury concern, Sri Lanka may want to gamble on one of the rookies ahead of Suranga Lakmal. With all his experience and potential, Lakmal appears to lack a plan when plotting a wicket. Alternatively, given the pitch and skills on offer, Mathews might be tempted—but unlikely, given he did not find a place in the first practice game—to bring in Dilruwan Perera at Port Elizabeth instead of a third seamer.
This conundrum illustrates the grave selection mistake Sri Lanka may have made by not bringing along Dasun Shanaka or at the least Asela Gunaratne. It is difficult to imagine that a seventh batsman will add any more fire power to the batting line up than Shanaka or Gunaratne would have. Excluding the Zimbabwe series, Kusal Perera, Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne collectively only average 26 per inning per batsman when all three of them play. Sri Lanka could have benefited from playing two of the three of these players as openers and adding in an all-rounder at number seven. If seven batsmen are playing, Upul Tharanga warrants that spot considering his experience and recent form, as it is difficult to fathom the exact role for Kusal Perera at number three, other than being a wild-card.
After all, the Proteas are missing three of their best players and the games are played in less pacer friendly wickets at temperatures familiar to the visitors. Player to player, most batsmen match up and an opportunity to be compared with the golden boys—Root, Williamson, Smith, and Kohli—should inspire Chandimal and Mathews for a solid performance. Even with a non-lethal bowling lineup, if everyone plays to potential and every half chance is caught, Sri Lanka is more than capable of adding to the recent 5-0-victory tally. For that Mathews will have to be the hunter instead of waiting for the prey to be weakened. Only then, can he restore lions’ pride.
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