For a nation that revolutionized the way white ball cricket was played, Sri Lanka have been boring to watch in the modern day.
There aren’t any batters who are capable of clearing the boundary frequently, mystery spinners aren’t running through the world’s best line-ups anymore and there aren’t any more toe-crushing yorkers that snatch us victory from the jaws of defeat. Sri Lanka have failed to compete at the highest levels. Such is the plight of our cricket. But listening to Chris Sliverwood the other day, it looks as if all that is set to change.
Sri Lanka’s new Head Coach spoke of playing a ‘brave’ brand of cricket and playing without ‘fear of failure’. A look at Sri Lanka’s recent tour of India where both Test matches ended inside three days, it looked as if the batsmen ran out of ideas. You also tend to get the feeling that some batsmen, who are known for their attacking nature, were rather content to play it safe and save their places.
Silverwood was stressing on the way Sri Lanka have been playing limited overs cricket but our approach has not been different in Test cricket either. The approach of ensuring a draw first before trying to win needs to stop; Sri Lankan cricket has been at its best when they have played a fearless and aggressive brand of cricket.
When wheels were coming off our limited overs team, the selectors went in reverse gear, picking players who had been identified as red ball players. They reasoned that we needed to bat out the quota of 50 overs. Sure, no one doubts that. But converting Test match players into the 50 over format players is not the answer.
It was painful to watch Sri Lanka’s 2019 World Cup campaign as all what they were keen to do was get to a safe score rather than posting a competitive one or showing intent when chasing down a stiff target. The approach has not changed since then and no wonder Sri Lanka are relegated to number eight in the ODI rankings and even further below to number nine in T20 cricket.
The batsmen clearly have lacked the intent to score. Sri Lanka have relied heavily on conventional openers and haven’t been brave to gamble with a pinch hitter when the fielding restrictions are on giving him the license to throw the kitchen sink and the assurance that failure will not result in axing.
That’s one reason why our rebuilding has gone haywire. Nobody wants to take risks and we are fascinated with our dot ball rates simply for the reason that we should not get bowled out inside 50 overs.
There was an effort sometime back to hire the services of Power Hitting Coach Julian Wood in the UK. Wood had worked successfully with several English counties before having a stint with ECB and could have had an impact with the local players. However, that recommendation was shot down again on flimsy grounds.
It remains to be seen whether Silverwood takes the bold approach, bringing in fresh ideas to the limited overs team rather than relying on Test match players to deliver the goods in one day cricket. If you want examples for square pegs in round holes, you have plenty of them in our backyard.
One area where Sri Lanka made improvements during Mickey Arthur days was building up a formidable bowling unit in the shorter formats of the game. In Dushmantha Chameera, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana there is certainly a promising attack and they just need to figure out which other bowlers can fit into the equation. Lahiru Kumara is probably the quickest man in the country but he has let the team down time and again and gives the impression that he is a slow learner. Silverwood’s expertise is on bowling and Kumara has much to learn.
Bowling has been the least of Sri Lanka’s worries in one-day cricket though. What’s been bothering them is the batting and they need to fix it with the World Cup less than a year away. It was a bold decision to get Kamindu Mendis bat at number three in ODI cricket but are we going to persevere with that decision remains to be seen. That will give you an indication whether people are willing to back their strategies hoping they will pay off in the longer run.
If the brave brand of cricket that Silverwood promised is going to be initiated we need to show consistency and identify the right players. How Niroshan Dickwella keeps his place in the Test side and finds it tough to make it to the shorter formats is beyond comprehension. There aren’t blokes who are more fearless than Dickwella.
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