Two young captain’s, Two interim coaches, Two teams in transition phase but one factor, rain might hold the key to the Sobers-Tissera two-match Test series between West Indies and Sri Lanka which starts on 14th October at Galle.
The hosts, Sri Lanka having lost back-to-back series’ against Pakistan and India, will look to quickly bounce back into winning ways. West Indies, on the other hand, got swatted away by Australia at home in their last series and with a few fresh faces in their squad; they will look to bounce back as well.
Sri Lanka has hosted West Indies 9 times since 1993 under Arjuna Ranathunga. The men from Caribbean Islands are yet to win a Test match in Sri Lanka. The South Asian islanders have won 5 games and 4 have been ended as drawn encounters.
Sri Lanka will infrequently start as favourites with an experienced side but the Windies are capable of creating a major upset though they faltered badly in the warm-up game. With only eight tests, new West Indies skipper Jason Holder is one of the most inexperienced men to captain an international cricket team, “I’m not too disheartened. It was just a practice game where we felt we needed to spend some time. Seeing how the batsmen have been moving in the last few days, they look very, very confident” he explained on their performance in the three-day match.
Weather & Pitch
As always, Sri Lanka will face monsoon rains in October which will most likely to spoil the party. In 2010, players had to stay indoors than outdoors. Lead up to the Test series has also been hampered by rain and weather forecasts suggests that heavy rains and thunderstorms are expected through the five days and we could see many sessions washed out due to rain.
The Galle pitch will always provide loads of assistance to the spinners but due to regular showers, it might change a bit this time, “This pitch is a little different from the last two we had here. Those pitches had turn from day one. I don’t think this will turn from day one, but you can never predict what a pitch will do 100%.” Mathews said in the pre-match press conference.
Interim Coaches
Former fast bowler Eldine Baptiste, will serve as West Indies interim coach for the tour when head coach, Phil Simmons suspended for the tour for speaking out against his board’s selection policies. Sri Lanka’s coach Jerome Jayaratne is also officially an interim appointment but knows that a strong showing in this series’ could do no harm on his reputation.
Sri Lanka
Mathews is the backbone of Sri Lanka’s batting, and captaincy has done wonders for his scoring-rate. Mathews the captain averages 68.80 as against his overall career average of 52.06. Openers, Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunarathne will need to put up noteworthy performances if they need to be long-term solutions for Sri Lanka while struggling Lahiru Thirimanne will have to bat out of his skin out in order justify his place in the team. Milinda Siriwardana’s unbeaten 105 against West Indies in the tour match at Colombo have guaranteed his debut in Galle.
In the last couple of series, Sri Lanka seamers, Dhammika Prasad and co have made a good beginnings, but have struggled in the latter stages. The form of their two spinners Tharindu Kaushal and Rangana Herath is going to be crucial.
Herath returned to form when he picked up seven wickets against India in the second innings during the first Test at Galle to help Sri Lanka register a terrific win, but his knee injuries have often troubled him. The spin legend hinted that he will be retiring from international cricket after ICC World T20 2016 and he will look to make a mark at one of his favourite hunting grounds, Galle.
Squad – Angelo Mathews (captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Kusal Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Tharindu Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera.
West Indies
West Indies’ insistence of not including Shivnarine Chanderpaul once again means that players like Jermaine Blackwood, Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo will have to do the bulk of the scoring in the middle-order.
West Indies have brought two frontline spinners on tour in the uncapped left-armer Jomel Warrican and leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, but their attack is expected to be heavily pace-oriented on Jerome Taylor, Jason Holder and Kemar Roach.
Squad – Jason Holder (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite (vice-captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajendra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican.
