Turning to a pace based attack an inspirational move

Rex Clementine
in London

Cricket is a game that provides you a lot of entertainment and even if your team loses, there are moments which brings you joy like for example Asitha Fernando’s five wicket haul at Lord’s, Kamindu Mendis’ century at Old Trafford and Dinesh Chandimal coming out to bat with a heavily strapped thumb and posting an entertaining 79 in the first Test.

The captain on a cricket field has to take spur of the moment decisions while selectors and team management have a longer time to ponder and take some unpopular decisions.

One such was taken at The Oval last week. Dropping of Prabath Jayasuriya didn’t get the approval of everyone. Jayasuriya has been the fastest Sri Lankan to 50 wickets and The Oval has a history for assisting spin bowlers which is why some of Surrey’s finest overseas signings have been spin bowlers – Inthikab Alam, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed. Plus, Kumara, Vishwa, Asitha and Milan were no Roberts, Holding, Marshall and Garner.

You need a spin bowler to contain the free flowing England batsmen, many thought. But that was defensive thinking. The positive thinking was let’s go out there and test England with pace although our resources are limited. Pace was the only way Sri Lanka was going to win this Test because conditions were so overcast, damp and with the sun not coming out, spin was redundant.

To their credit, the quartet of seamers that Sri Lanka picked bowled superbly and tested England’s skills. The four of them are four different types. Asitha is someone who always tries to make something happen. He hits the deck hard, unsettles the batsmen, reverse swings the ball and has a large heart.

Kumara meanwhile is the quickest of them all with an ability to bowl above 140 kmph regularly. The extra pace he generates is quite handy against batters who play a lot of premeditated shots. He bowled Ollie Pope in the second innings off an inside edge and may have ended Dan Lawrence’s England career with a peach. The send off that he gave Lawrence was something. Less than 24 hours later, England named their squad for three Test tour of Pakistan and Lawrence was axed. Kumara is quite a character and his vow to go after England batters after being peppered by short balls made him an instant hero among the fans.

Much was expected from Vishwa Fernando, who had a season with Yorkshire this year. Although he was below par, Vishwa did the job for the team executing the plan to Joe Root so well. That yorker that swung back in late had Root plumb in front. It was such a vital breakthrough for the former England captain had been a thorn in the flesh of Sri Lankans.

Milan Ratnayake was the find of the tour. The all-rounder finished with 151 runs and ten wickets. While he may not get many opportunities while playing at home, when travelling overseas, to places like England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, he could be handy. Sri Lanka have been searching for a seam bowling all-rounder for decades now with little success and the team management will be desperate to have him around.

One of the things that Sri Lanka have struggled really in recent years is injuries to fast bowlers. It was so good to see the set of quicks going through a tour without any injury and managing their niggles. The strength and conditioning coaches and physiotherapists need to be commended for their work.

Sri Lanka’s Fast Bowling Coach Aaqib Javed during one of the media interactions suggested that Sri Lanka should have stuck to four seamers from the first Test onwards. With conditions too much to the liking of the quicks, yes, probably they should have gone on that direction.

How often a Sri Lankan seamer comes to England and outperforms the locals. That’s exactly what Asita Fernando did finishing with 17 wickets. He was the highest wicket taker in the series. Kamindu Mendis, yes, everyone would appreciate him winning Player of the Series, but no one would have faulted if Asitha had been chosen for that award. It’s after all a batsman’s game mind you.