Kamindu at three in long run, a good move

Rex Clementine in London

The Finance Minister has more clout than the Central Bank Governor but while the Finance Minister can be a person elected by the people and some strange ones have held the plumb portfolio, the Central Bank Governor, who has equal privileges as a Cabinet Minister, is generally chosen after careful consideration. The reason being that he plays a pivotal part in holding the economy together, making key decisions on monetary policy, financial stability and reserve management.

Similarly, in cricket, seniority earns a player the captaincy but number three in the batting line up is handed to someone after careful consideration. The whole batting unit of a team revolves around the number three. He can be in the middle facing the second ball of the innings after the opening batter had picked up a golden duck or he can be padded up for two sessions and walk in after tea at 190 for one. Number three is not for the faint-hearted.

Sri Lanka have generally placed a lot of emphasis on their number three. The men picked to bat in that position are mostly been technically sound with an ability to grind the bowling and bat for long hours.

In Sri Lanka’s early days, Roy Dias occupied the slot and then Asanka Gurusinha was drafted in at number three while Roy was still around. Roy moved down to number four making way to Gura. Now, that’s grooming the next generation.

Then after Gura prematurely retired, Marvan Atapattu was tried in that slot. He was solid. But then, once the need for an opener arose, Marvan was pushed to open the innings. Number three fell vacant again and various players were tried out with little luck.

Eventually, Kumar Sangakkara settled in there nicely and occupied the slot for his entire career that stretched for 15 years.

Unlike, Marvan, Roy or Gura, Sanga was not known for his technical brilliance. It is his strong mindset and willingness to learn and improve that pushed Dav Whatmore to give him the prime slot. That proved to be a masterstroke as Sanga pushed all limits and went on to end up as the leading run scorer for Sri Lanka in Test match cricket.

When Sanga started, his cover drives went through the fine-leg or mid-wicket region. But by the time he was done, there was no better role model for technical perfection than him.

Physically, it would have been a lot demanding as well for Sanga for the first six years of his Test career, kept wickets. But finally, when Ashanta de Mel decided to take the wicket keeping gloves from him in 2006, it proved to be a wise decision as he went on to become world’s number one ranked batter for a number of years.

Since Sanga, for nine years now, the number three slot has been tossed around with various batters tried in the position and none have been able to secure it.

Given the form that Kamindu Mendis has enjoyed in Test match cricket in his brief career so far, the selectors were pushing hard to get him to bat at three.

It nearly happened at Lord’s but with the series still in line, they didn’t want to push it. But at The Oval, with the series lost, they were going in that direction. In the 11th hour, they put an hold to the move but it is bound to happen in Galle, when Sri Lanka play the Kiwis in less than two weeks time.

Good call for someone who has played all his cricket in Galle. The home ground is a much better option than the overcast Oval. But, Kamindu over these few months has shown that he has got it in him to overcome any condition. It was certainly dark and gloomy at Old Trafford when he notched up that fabulous hundred.

Many have lamented that Kamindu at number seven has been wasted. He was denied a hundred at Lord’s in the second Test as he ran out of partners. In the second innings at Lord’s, as Sri Lanka employed the nightwatchman, Kamindu was pushed further down the order to number eight and there was very little he could do batting so low.

It will be a good move letting your best batter bat through the innings rather than pushing him too low where too often he will have to bat with the tail.

Most seniors like Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal are in the twilight of their careers and are unlikely to be around in the next 36 months and smooth transition is something that needs to be done.By pushing Kamindu to three, Sri Lanka in fact are looking at the future.