Sri Lanka’s fielding was impressive in England

One key area that Sri Lanka have been focusing a lot to improve their cricket is fielding. At one point one of the best fielding units in the world, the team’s fielding standards were not so great in recent years. To address the issue, Sri Lanka Cricket drafted in former Test cricketer Upul Chandana and the results are there to be seen.

Chandana has been with SLC for over a decade and has been working with Under-19 teams and development squads. His promotion to the national team as Fielding Coach happened this year and he has turned things around.

During the current series in England, Sri Lanka took 40 catches which is quite impressive. On the other hand, they dropped just two catches – Nishan Madushka at Lord’s and Asitha Fernando at The Oval. Comparatively, England dropped about ten catches.

Fielding has certainly been top class on this tour. The diving catch that Milan Ratnayake took stunned Lord’s. More can be done to lift fielding standards and with Upul Chandana in the midst, you can only expect it to improve further.

Players dedicate a lot of time to fine tune their fielding skills. Not just high catches and direct hits, but Upul has introduced novel fielding drills and as a result the team is able to maintain high levels of fielding standards.