The next three weeks will be crucial for Sri Lanka’s lead-up to the 2015 ICC World Cup.
After the shambolic 5-0 whitewash in India, the team will engage in a seven-match home ODI series against England where they hope to regain confidence and sort out their combination for the World Cup.
The humiliating defeat in India – apart from being Sri Lanka’s first ever ODI series whitewash – took the momentum away from their World Cup preparation. After the home series against Pakistan, the Sri Lankans got a two-week break and those who were not part of the Champions League Twenty20 in India resumed training in early September.
The coaching staff had arranged a comprehensive ten-week plan running up to the last week of November, just before the series against England where the players were supposed to work on their fitness with special emphasis being given to fielding. During the third week of October, they were supposed to start on skill work, match situations and game plans. But the hastily announced Indian series forced the Sri Lankans to abandon all plans.
The massive defeats that they suffered in the first four ODIs confirmed the players’ concerns prior to leaving for India. World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, while making a special statement in Parliament, even said that the team’s performance and winning the World Cup were hardly Sri Lanka Cricket’s concern. According to Ranatunga, SLC was only concerned about money.
With all preparation gone off track, Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews is looking at positives from the Indian series. “We did quite a bit of experiment in India. We will stick to a set batting order during the England series,” he said a few days before the first ODI on November 26.
However, there are panic signs. Kaushal Silva has been solid in Test cricket this year. In order to fix the problems in the top order in the limited-overs side, the selectors have named him in the side that will play England in a practice game and the signs are that he will open batting with Tillakaratne Dilshan during the ODIs.
The selectors are wary of continuing with Kusal Perera who had a tough series in India or to revert back to Mahela Jayawardene, who has scored heavily while opening the innings. Jayawardene averages 44.76 as an opener, significantly higher than his career average of 33.15, but the selectors believe that his vast experience is most needed in the middle order. That argument had solid reasoning 12 months ago, but with Mathews emerging as a reliable middle-order batsman, promoting Jayawardene to open the innings isn’t a bad idea.
There will also be new additions to the Sri Lankan coaching staff during the series. Trevor Penny, the former assistant coach under Tom Moody, will now be the fielding coach. Penny is contracted till the World Cup and will help Sri Lanka improve their fielding.
Former England international turned sports psychologist Jeremy Snape will join the team just prior to the series and will work with them for 17 days. After Sri Lanka lost four ICC finals in a row, former chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel suggested that the team should employ a sports psychologist to overcome those below-par performances in finals.
Penny’s arrival is extremely vital. Head coach Marvan Atapattu, after the thrashing in India, stressed the importance on fielding. “We could have done better and had better results had we fielded well in India. That was a big blow,” Atapattu told journalists after the 0-5 loss.
When Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996, their coach Dav Whatmore insisted on excellence on the field. The theory was that the team’s biggest drawback was bowling and that disadvantage needed to be taken off through excellence on the field. Atapattu, who was a member of that World Cup squad, has similar problems with just two class bowlers in his side in Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath and others chipping in. He could be thinking on the lines of Whatmore.
When the teams met early this year in the English summer, the series was closely contested. Sri Lanka secured the ODI series 3-2 coming from behind and won the Test series with the penultimate delivery of the series deciding the outcome. It was Sri Lanka’s first Test series win in England.
During his first media briefing in Colombo, Alastair Cook spoke of this being a ‘revenge’ series. There was plenty of build-up six months ago when these two teams met in England. Paul Farbrace, Sri Lanka’s coach, had defected to England’s ranks just two weeks prior to the tour. The players were also angry that the English and Wales Cricket Board cut down one of their Tests restricting the series to two Tests and increasing the India series to five Tests.
There was quite a bit of sledging too. England’s Joe Root needled the Sri Lankans throughout the summer and the tourists kept it till the last moment and went after Root at his hometown of Headingley where the last Test was played.
Another interesting series is on the cards. These are evenly-matched sides too. England are ranked fifth in the ICC rankings while Sri Lanka are fourth with just one rating point separating the teams. The absence of Stuart Broad and James Anderson due to injury will be a massive blow for the tourists. The home team is without Malinga, who is recovering after surgery.
