Fitness under scrutiny as Sri Lanka begin training  

by Rex Clementine

There’s been a lot said  and written on fitness levels of Sri Lanka’s cricketers in recent days. A fitness test scheduled for  last week was delayed after the players were forced to self  quarantine with top order batsman Lahiru Thirimanne and Head Coach Mickey Arthur testing positive for COVID-19. Thirimanne had attended cricketer Sadeera Samarawickrama’s wedding and  his close contacts were made to stay indoors.

The players and support staff were made to go through PCR tests before they could resume training and after all tests returned negative,  health authorities have given them the green light to go ahead with training.

The players’ skin folds will be tested today along with other fitness measures. Skin folds  are an indicator of total amount of body fat.

But the biggest  attention will be on the two kilometer run that has been introduced as a new  fitness  measure. The two kilometer run will take place on Saturday evening and the players will have to complete the distance in eight minutes and 35 seconds.

Several probables for the West Indies tour had failed the fitness test a fortnight ago while one-day opener Avishka Fernando had failed the fitness test twice  in the space of ten days.

Sri Lanka Cricket had promised to address the issue of poor fitness levels among players firmly; earlier indicating that anyone who fails the fitness test will be ineligible for selections. The board also has threatened to cut down on players’ salary if anyone failed a fitness test. The board also pulled out No Objection Certificates (NOC) for some contracted players to take part in a franchise tournament in UAE.

The more scientific approach seems to be that if someone failed a fitness test, he would be given a month long period to prove himself. A second failure will result in a player being made unavailable for selections.

With most players having had little time to train during their self quarantine period at home, they will be hoping for more leniency from the coaching staff.

SLC said that the squad will resume training on the 16th of February with the hope of taking part in the tour of West Indies. The details of the tour are being discussed with Cricket West Indies. The teams are set to play two Tests, three ODIs and three T-20s in the Caribbean.