After an agonizing crawl through the Baseline Road traffic, followed by an unpleasant and sometimes unnerving weave through the mob that engulfed the R. Premadasa Stadium, I finally made it to my seat to see Dilshan play his last game for Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, like most testimonial contests, the Sri Lankan effort with the bat lacked application. After some senseless willow-wielding we actually did well to put up a score of 128. The only noteworthy exception was Dhananjaya De Silva who continues to prove that he has the skill and the mindset to be a mainstay on the big stage.
The runs on the board were never really enough, and after ten overs the game was all but gone with Glenn Maxwell carrying on from where he left off at Pallekelle with another swashbuckling knock of 66 off just 29 deliveries. With the game all but gone, there was some resilience shown when Seekuge Prasanna eventually out-witted Maxwell to disturb the furniture that set off a mini collapse for the Aussies. Dilshan picked up two wickets to send the home crowd into a frenzy, causing the visitors some anxiety. However, the useful Travis Head and Peter Neville saw Australia over the line with just over a couple of overs to spare. A clean sweep in the T20’s to go with the comfortable 4-1 win in the one-dayers would have been a hugely satisfying return for the Australians. Particularly after their capitulation in the Test series.
They can complain all they want about the pitches, but when you are rated the number one team in the world (as they were at the beginning of the Test series) you have to be able to formulate a strategy to win in any conditions. Steven Smith’s team just couldn’t live with having to graft through spin friendly surfaces. If the pitches were so bad, how did young guns Kusal Mendis, Dhanajaya De Silva, as well as Chandimal score big hundreds? I don’t buy that. They were simply outwitted, outsmarted, and outclassed.
Evidently however, the new faces that arrived for the ODI series uplifted the Aussie playing group. Taking a break to safeguard against fatigue and to recharge the batteries is needed. There is no dispute of it in this professional age where athletes ply their trade virtually all year round. However, for Smith to abandon his charges and jump a plane back home midway through a series seemed nonsensical and ill-timed. Then why play the first two games at all? Anyway, the show moved on, and rather ironically it appeared to bring out the best in David Warner, who stood-in to skipper the side. The only blip in the series came in that second game at the Premadasa, playing on a tired looking strip. It was just too much to chase down. But Smith departed and from there the Aussies just kicked on. Despite losing the toss and having to bat second in all the games, they never let the hosts settle down and post an imposing total. Mitchell Starc carried on from where he left off in the Test series by picking up early wickets with some hostile spells. James Faulkner picked up crucial wickets and his variations proved impossible to work out for the Sri Lankan batsmen. Adam Zampa further enhanced his case to be picked for the longer format. The leg-spinner has well and truly applied the pressure to be picked ahead Nathan Lyon. For me, another unsung hero for the Aussies is former skipper George Bailey, who topped the batting charts with 270 runs and an average of 67.50. Ever reliable, Bailey was a calming influence in the middle order, which was the perfect foil to take the sting out of the Sri Lankan spin attack. What’s more, he gave the Aussie the perfect lesson on how to play on turning tracks.
At the end of the tour, there’s probably quite a few Aussie fans who feel they picked the wrong side for the Test matches. If Shaun Marsh played from the very beginning? If George Bailey was in the middle order? If Zampa was part of the spin attack? Or if you dare to imagine Genn Maxwell had played as an all-rounder? You would never know. What it will do is make the selectors think long and hard on who they pick to tour India. A strong case for ‘horses for courses’ has been made.
On to the hosts. The Test series win for me, has been the greatest achievement for Sri Lankan cricket since our World Cup triumph in 1996. It was just what the sporting fraternity needed following a lean spell in the lead up. You could sense the rejuvenated spirit in the air again with everyone talking about our cricketers and exciting new entrants in the team. To sustain that level of performance in the ODI’s was always going to be a tough task. The format demands a different aptitude. You go for it early and falter, you’re in trouble. You leave it too late, and you’re in trouble again. There’s no one way to play the game. Look at how well England are playing under Eoin Morgan. They have Alex Hales and Jason Roy, who are distinctly comparable to the way Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana used to make the most of the early field restrictions. Then they have the likes of Joe Root and Morgan to keep the runs rolling along, with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler to provide the fireworks at the end. The Australian side has a similar make up.
After the highs of the Test whitewash, the ODI series was a timely reminder that the Sri Lankan team is very much a side in transition. Dilshan, the last of the Mohicans has also made way. The realization became more and more apparent as the series wore on. Whilst we all applauded the selectors for blooding youngsters into the Test side, serious question marks need to be raised as to the basis by which the ODI squad was picked. In total, Sri Lanka used 19 players across the 5 games. They decided to give rising Under 19 star Avishka Fernando a game. Opening the batting he falls to Starc (like many before him did) for no score, and then he is banished. Young Lakshan Sandakan, a revelation in the Tests, has one off day, and boom, he’s dropped. Upul Tharanga, who played well in England, is brought in only for the fifth game. Given his experience, why not let him open the innings and thwart Starc, who’s so dangerous with the new ball? They chuck him in the middle order, gets duped by one that sticks in the pitch, and back into Abyss. Apart from Chandimal, De Silva, and to some extend young Kusal Mendis, the only other positive from the ODIs was the unearthing of Amila Aponso. Good talent to work on, and seemingly a very competitive attitude too.
As we got to the T20s, Sachith Pathirana also showcased a lot of potential. He’s another player for the future and should be invested on. What became more and more disappointing was the tendency to revert back to players who are long past their ‘sell by’ date. Chamara Kapugedera batted well in the first T20, but the game was put to bed by Maxwell by then. He failed in the second. Sadly, Senanayake has not been the same bowler since his action was remodeled. Based on what credentials would you pick him? But above all, what I simply can’t get my head around is the persistence with Thisara Perera – the best possible example of how cash-rich T20 has ruined a promising talent. Picked as a bowling all-rounder he returned an economy rate of 15.40 in the T20’s scoring only 7 runs with the bat. Rewind to the ODI’s, he did markedly better – an economy of 6.66, the worst of all the Sri Lankan bowlers, and just 56 in 4 innings coming off his bat. Mind boggling.
All in all, I for one am very excited about this new passage in our cricket. A tour to South Africa looms not too far away. We have good talent in the island, we just have to pick them, blood them, and then nurture them through. I believe we have a good coaching set up under Graham Ford to do that. The step up from Sri Lankan domestic cricket to that of the international stage is a huge leap. We have to give our young team the benefit of time. With Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep, and Dhammika Prasad set to return from injury, we should have a pretty decent pace attack. So what’s not to say we’ll have a well-balanced side? With the World Cup three years away, we have the time, but need to use it wisely. We need to be brave enough to persist with the good quality at hand, but at the same time, cut adrift those who are on the way south. Hope the Selectors decide wisely.
