Throughout Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup campaign and during the bilateral series against Bangladesh prior to that, several young player stepped up to take on the challenge and performed admirably well.
Sri Lanka look set to edge out India as the second ranked team in the world in ODI cricket rankings and a good showing in the home and away ODI series against England in May and December, the home series against South Africa and the away tour of New Zealand, the Sri Lankans can enter next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as one of the top ranked teams.
The Sri Lankans have done exceptionally well in ICC events in the last seven years having reached two finals in World Cups and two finals in World T-20. What will also stand in good stead for them is the fact that they will tour New Zealand just before the World Cup on a six week tour and that will help them to acclimatize to the conditions in the two islands of New Zealand.
Sri Lanka have a set batting line up and the presence captain Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera is an additional bonus for them as the two seamer all-rounders give the side balance. That is luxury that very few teams in the world can boast of and more importantly seaming all-rounders is the requirement in conditions in New Zealand and Australia.
The emergence of Kusal Janith Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal and Kithruwan Vithanage has ensured that the team is not short of batting talent. Add to that the experience of Kumar Sangakkara, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews and Sri Lanka’s batting looks formidable. Perhaps one of the best in the world too when you add the explosive power of Thisara.
One area that Sri Lanka need to work though is their pace bowling attack. Inconsistency has been the fast bowling department’s biggest problem. During the tour of UAE, Sri Lanka’s seamers – Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep bowled admirably in certain games but lost spark and were indiscipline in other games.
Lasith Malinga obviously is the stand out and when Nuwan Kulasekara returns from injury he fits into the side automatically. Sri Lanka’s selectors need to find three more seamers who will last the tournament without breaking down or losing form. The spin department looks rich too. Rangana Herath has successfully completed a knee operation and will be a key factor during the World Cup. Sachithra Senanayake has done well from the limited opportunities he has got and the bonus is that he can also bat. Ajantha Mendis looked losing his impact a few months ago, but he has bounced back well during the Asia Cup and he could be one of the three spinners in the World Cup squad.
Fielding is another area that has been disappointing in recent months. Why the 1996 World Cup winning team performed so well was because they compensated for the bowling deficiencies by being a fine fielding unit. Only Hansie Cronje’s side had a better fielding unit in the 1996 World Cup than the Sri Lankan team.
A conscious effort needs to be put in to improve fielding during the next 12 month as Sri Lanka gears up for World Cup challenge.
Although they weren’t the main reasons for defeat, Sri Lanka did some costly fielding errors during some of the ICC finals they lost. Sufficient time needs to be allocated to improve the discipline called fielding and with everything falling in line and with a brilliant lead up to World Cup behind them, the Sri Lankans should do well.
The upcoming World Cup will also be the last ICC event for some senior players and they will be motivated to win an ICC event before they retire having lost so many finals.
