Another Test series for Sri Lanka starts tomorrow and this time against minnows Bangladesh!
It’s a series comprising of two Test matches and then the ODIs and T20 games. After their disappointment in UAE Sri Lanka will naturally be looking for a change of fortune and get in to winning ways. I mean disappointment is due the fact the Lankans had the series well and truly sealed going in to the fourth day of the final Test match only to surrender it and let Pakistan out of jail! The tactics of the Lankans or more directly Mathews was baffling to say the least. One doesn’t need to be a former great to put a finger on the cause for the defeat as the ordinary fan on the street knew it exactly well and understood it too.
What bothers me is whether the Sri Lankan fans may lose heart and stop following Test cricket after the rather poor and unbelievable show on the last day of the Test. At a time when the world is looking to push Test cricket to the pedestal, countries need support from their fans and the effort such as the one the Lankans came up in the last Test can dampen it.
A peep in to the last day of the third Test against Pakistan made me wonder whether the chase of three hundred two in fifty nine overs was on a different pitch! When the Sri Lankans batted, one was both disappointed and baffled at the fact that they took caution to an extreme. The approach on day four was understandable as they had to ensure a no loss situation at least! But what took place on day five was inexplicable. If defence was the way to go mixing it with careful aggression, then the approach of both Prasanna Jayawardane and Mathews didn’t suggest it.
One watching would have assumed that the Lankans were backing themselves to challenge Pakistan and possibly bowl them out and hence looking to give the bowlers some time to have a go! Considering the strength of the bowling unit, Sri Lanka could have defended the set target under any circumstances. At least that was how I rated them.
The approach then should have been to pin the Pakistan batsmen and keep creating doubts in their mind. Modern cricketers do understand better than most that chasing targets are not as what it used to be and in the context many an Everest has been scaled. Hence what they needed to avoid at any cost was to allow two bastmen to get in! Sadly that is precisely what took place in the form of Azhar Ali and skipper Misbah. Once you have two players batting freely and having the measure of the bowling scoring more than a run a ball to win if that is the case in the last twenty overs, it is considered a walk in the park! In Pakistan’s case it never touched a run a ball scenario and when it was down to the last ten overs it was less than a run a ball with six wickets standing. If Pakistan was not going to clinch a win from that position then there would have been a finger pointed at them for other reasons and with it anotherblack mark difficult to erase was to be created. It was that easy for them in the end as they were never hurried.
From a Sri Lankan bowling point of view one has to ask a few questions and the first and the most important one was the tactics? I mean tactics here is, was Sri Lanka looking to be attacking and aggressive or was it going to be an all out defensive approach? Looking at the bowling and the approach it was an all out defensive approach. Otherwise how will one justify having no slips when the fast bowlers were on and in only the eighth over?
The approach was akin to a limited overs game with fielders patrolling the boundary to save it than looking to take catches. In that situation what would you expect your bowlers to do? No amount of dots will help as the freedom for runs are available to the batsmen. In that situation if you are a bowler you are in a no win scenario! Then bowling the most experienced and possibly the best left arm spinner in the world Herath from over the wicket looking to pitch the ball outside the leg to hit the rough wasn’t correct too. Herath is the type who can both defend and attack bowling his normal style and with his guile and approach from his usual angle, he could have easily dismissed a few Pakistan batsmen thus creating the doubt and curtailing the freedom in run making.
Dilruwan Perera who was played first for his off spin and who has enough experience at first class level and also bowled at T20 level for Sri Lanka was never given a single over which was the most baffling decision Mathews made on that fateful day. Trying him on early was an option which was never even considered. What surprised me personally is the approach of Mathews who appeared to be having things very much under control in the series up to that time. It appeared he had not put a foot wrong and looking good. Sadly in the final Test too Sri Lanka had won the first four days only to lose the crucial fifth and with it the Test match. From a Sri Lankan point of view one has to hope that Mathews will be stronger with this experience and wiser for the betterment of the team. With a brand new coach in Paul Farbrace the partnership Mathews forms with him is bound to be decisive in the years to come.
