Sports
Stability in ODI team but flaws still exist
by Rex Clementine
One Day International (ODI) cricket has been played for over half a century now and early this year the sport saw the biggest ever defeat in that format of the game in the Indian city of Trivandrum when Sri Lanka suffered an ignominious defeat by a massive 317 runs at the hands of India.
On that fateful day, Sri Lanka (SL) had been shot out for just 73 runs with rookie Nuwanindu Fernando top scoring with 19. SL had got their combination awfully wrong in that series. They were playing five all-rounders in that Trivandrum game – Captain Dasun Shanaka, Ashen Bandara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage and Chamika Karunaratne.
Those who follow the game closely well know that former captain Mahela Jayawardene (MJ) plays a very much hands on in his role as consultant coach. Be it team selections, selection of coaches, support staff or structure of our cricket, all these need to be okayed by him. There’s no harm in giving him full powers, but on his part he’s got to take up responsibility for his decisions too.
Certain individuals have an axe to grind with MJ. They believe that given his monthly USD 18,000 pay packet from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), he is not spending enough time with the national cricket team. But the real issue is not that. MJ is like a MOSSAD operative carrying out secret missions rather than acting openly.
His sidekicks – the selectors – have not addressed a single media briefing to explain their policies although they have done the job for more than two years now. The conclusion you can draw is that they simply don’t have the answers for decisions that were not theirs.
You find that when Sri Lanka wins the Asia Cup, the Chairman of Selectors praises MJ. But when debacles like Trivandrum happen, the blame is quietly palmed off to Chris Silverwood. Coach Silverwood doesn’t pick teams. Surely, someone of MJ’s stature should be aware that playing as many as five all-rounders was a strategy that was tried out by England two decades ago and it was recipe for disaster.
Thankfully, lessons have been learnt and Sri Lanka have moved away from banking on all-rounders too much. Recalling Dimuth Karunaratne was one key reason for Sri Lanka’s success in the three-match series against Afghanistan. In the crucial second ODI, he provided the platform for the rest of the batters and that turned out to be a winning formula.
It is for that very reason that Dimuth who hadn’t featured in an ODI for four years was recalled for the 2019 World Cup where he did a decent job. But the current selectors dumped him in 2021 and it is a supreme irony that they themselves have recalled him. It was an admission of ‘Yes, we got it wrong.’
But are they being held accountable for the current mess where Sri Lanka is playing the qualifiers while other teams like Bangladesh and Afghanistan have qualified for the showpiece ICC World Cup event later this year?
While the squad selected for the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe is commendable, there are flaws. It’s been said umpteen times that both Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne are players of similar style and with Dasun certain to play, there’s no room for Chamika.
Then why do you have to take two leg-spinners to Zimbabwe? Hasaranga is anyway going to play. So why do you need a Dushan Hemantha? Worst, Sri Lanka are only carrying six specialist batters for a tournament where there is so much at stake. If someone breaks a finger or pulls a hamstring, the squad doesn’t have a replacement. Then we will be back to square one with both Dasun and Chamika figuring on the team sheet.
When the 16-member squad was selected for the Afghanistan series, it was obvious that if Hasaranga was fit, Hemantha was going to miss out from the trip to Zimbabwe. But it was the big fish, Angelo Mathews, who was axed.
Mathews like Dimuth was recalled to the ODI side after more than two years when Sri Lanka toured New Zealand. Since his comeback, he managed only scores of 18, 0 and 12. The selectors may argue that he deserved the chop. But what about Kusal Mendis?
This year he has played all three ODI series’ that Sri Lanka participated in but managed just one half-century and that too only last week. This is a clear indication that the players are served with different spoons.
Six batters is an awful choice. Mathews should have been there. The selectors will not utter a word. Neither will MJ. The conclusion that you can draw is that some people are trying to settle old scores. That is simply not cricket.
Pallekele was the stage, just under a week ago, for Sri Lanka’s turbo charged victory over a shell-shocked (and soon-to-be-eliminated) Australia. One minute the Aussies were 104 for 0 in the ninth over, and the hosts themselves were the ones contemplating an anxious exit from an unexpectedly competitive Group B. The next thing you knew, their spinners had ripped out Australia’s soul, and Pathum Nissanka had come howling through the breach with his wonderful 52-ball century.
Pallekele’s passionate, opinionatwd, fanbase made their presence felt that night, and as the concurrent scenes in Colombo have indicated, Sri Lanka is somewhat gripped by World Cup fever right now – notwithstanding their team’s shock loss to a surging Zimbabwe in their final group game.
That six-wicket defeat made no odds to the Super Eight, with the pre-seeded pools now awkwardly featuring all the group winners on one side of the draw and all the runners-up on the other. But it was conceivably an untimely bump back to earth, just in time for Sri Lanka’s reunion with a familiar set of foes. England won five matches out of six on their white-ball warm-up tour of the country last month, including three out of three in the T20I leg.
None of these wins were emphatic, but each of them was sealed by subtly different means – Adil Rashid’s spin strangle in game 1, Tom Banton’s middle-order awakening in game 2, Sam Curran’s guts and glory on a tricky turning deck in game 3, in which England’s back-up tweakers, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell applied the coup de grace.
The net effect was to give the impression of a well-rounded England team, one that was ready to march into the main event with form to fall back on and faith in their myriad methods. And while that might still be the case in an eminently surmountable Group 2 which also features the known unknowns of New Zealand and Pakistan, the sheer terror of those near-misses against Nepal and Italy cannot be easily forgotten. Nor the disturbing passivity of their old-school trouncing in Mumbai by West Indies.
The stage is therefore set for Sri Lanka to pounce on the big occasion, as they have often done in the recent past, most notably with their wins at the 2019 and 2023 ODI World Cups, when their brace of victories went against the grain of their one-sided bilateral records.
Sri Lanka’s batting has broadly fired across the group stages, with Nissanka leading the line and Kusal Mendis contributing a trio of fifties in four matches, but agonisingly they’ll have to take the stage without the raw pace of Matheesha Pathirana, whose slingy action had England’s top order in all sorts of bother throughout their bilateral engagements. He lasted just four balls of the Australia game before succumbing to a calf strain, and has been replaced by Dilshan Madushanka.
Pathum Nissanka joined a curiously niche club when he smoked Australia to the brink of elimination last week. Only Chris Gayle before him had managed a T20 World Cup hundred, in addition to an ODI double-hundred and a century in all three formats – and if he’s got some way to go to match Gayle’s twin Test 300s, then a career-best 187 in his last series against Bangladesh suggests he’s tracking in the right direction. England did not see the best of him in the bilateral series just gone, but they’ll remember it alright. At The Oval in 2024, he blazed a superb fourth-innings 127 not out from 124 balls to swipe the third Test from under his opponents’ noses. At a time when England’s own batting lacks a touch of bravado, Nissanka is perfectly placed to steal a march once again.
Adil Rashid has been an unlikely barometer of England’s struggles. On his day, he remains absolutely integral to his team’s hopes of adding to the silverware that he has been instrumental in collecting over the course of the past decade. In England’s loss to West Indies, he did not concede a single boundary in serving up figures of 2 for 16 in four overs, while a combined haul of 5 for 69 in 12 in Pallekele last month suggests he will be right back on the mark on his return to a happy hunting ground. In between whiles, however, he has been treated with rare disdain by a succession of Associate batters, serving up combined figures of 4 for 121 in 11 overs, including a brutal outing of 3-0-42-0 against Nepal. Part of that might come down to a lack of inhibition from a succession of unfancied opponents who had licence to take him on. But with Brook’s tournament stratergy lean8ng so heavily on spin, England cannot afford many more bad days from their veteran. They aren’t programmed to cope when he goes missing.
England’s nerves haven’t been settled, but their team certainly has. Their depth of batting and bowling options came to the fore on their previous trip to Pallekele, and while there’s no expectation of wholesale changes, Brook did hint that some tweaks might be needed to avoid becoming predictable. Whether those are personnel or positional remain to be seen, although Luke Wood’s skiddier left-arm seam might be restored in place of Jamie Overton’s heavier lengths. The cut to Jacob Bethell’s bowling hand (sustained during the match against West Indies), may prevent him from bowling, because those fingers are still strapped. Brook hoped he’d recover in time, however.
England: (probable) Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (capt), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Luke Wood, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
Pramod Madushan made his first appearance of the campaign in the Zimbabwe defeat, with Dushmantha Chameera taking a break with qualification already assured. That short-term arrangement is likely to be reversed, with Madushanka keeping his spot.
Sri Lanka: (probable) Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Dunith Wellelage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera
(Cricinfo)
New Zealand and Pakistan will share the points after rain forced a washout in Colombo. The officials waited over two hours from the official start time for an improvement in the weather conditions, but the steady drizzle that began at the toss only grew heavier and never quite relented.
With puddles forming on the covers and the overhead conditions no closer to improving, the umpires made the inevitable call.
There was a strong chance of showers as toss time approached. The previous day, Pakistan’s evening training session had to be cancelled due to rain. At the toss, which Pakistan won with Salman Agha opting to bat first, a drizzle began as the captains were speaking, and the ground staff began to move the covers into position. From thereon, the fate of the game was sealed.
Pakistan had left Khawaja Nafay out and brought in Fakhar Zaman, while New Zealand made three changes, including welcoming their captain Mitchell Santner back into the XI.
Both teams got off the mark in the Super Eight, but are left with little room for error. Pakistan will play England next on Tuesday and Sri Lanka a week from today, while New Zealand take on Sri Lanka on Wednesday and England on Friday. All games in this group take place in Sri Lanka.
(Cricinfo)
Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the ODI series with a tense ten-run win over West Indies, thanks largely to a match-defining performance from Inoka Ranaweera.
After being asked to bat, Sri Lanka posted 240 for 6, built on half-centuries from Hasini Perera (61 off 86) and Harshitha Samarawickrema (66 off 105). Captain Chamari Athapaththu made 27, while useful middle-order contributions from Nilakshika Silva and Kavisha Dilhari kept the innings moving at a controlled rate. A late cameo from Dewmi Vihanga, who struck 14 off six balls, ensured Sri Lanka pushed towards a competitive total in St George’s in Grenada.
But it was Ranaweera who tilted the contest. The experienced left-arm spinner returned figures of 4 for 44 from her ten overs. She removed the No. 3 Shemaine Campbelle cheaply, dismissed Chinelle Henry soon after, and then returned to break the dangerous stand of 89 between Stefanie Taylor and Jannillea Glasgow in the 40th over, just as West Indies were threatening to surge ahead. Ranaweera also accounted for Shawnisha Hector at the death.
Taylor’s 66 off 83 balls and Glasgow’s 50 off 67 had revived West Indies from early setbacks, and with Aaliyah Alleyne in the middle, the chase remained alive deep into the game. West Indies needed 18 from the last two overs, and 12 from the last six balls. However, Sri Lanka’s spinners held firm, with Dilhari finishing with three wickets, including two in the final over, to complement Ranaweera’s starring role.
West Indies were eventually bowled out for 230 in 49.4 overs. Sri Lanka have now won four of their last five ODIs against West Indies since 2017.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women 240 for 6 in 50 overs (Harshitha Samarawickrama 66, Hasini Perera 61; Hayley Matthews 2-46, Karishma Ramharak 2-57) beat West Indies Women 230 in 49.4 overs (Stefanie Taylor 66, Jannillea Glasgow 50; Inoka Ranaweera 4-44, Kavish Dilhari 3-49) by ten runs
[Cricinfo]
Stage set for Sri Lanka to turn the tide and pounce on England
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