Sports
Batting woes dim progress in New Zealand

by Rex Clementine
It’s been a bruising fortnight for Sri Lanka’s cricket fans as the team stumbled through the bilateral series in New Zealand. While losing the T20 series would have stung, the ODI defeats laid bare the long and winding road Sri Lanka must travel to truly compete with top-tier teams on foreign soil.
For a side that once rewrote the script of white-ball cricket, watching their current struggles bring disappointment. Yet, there are glimmers of hope – pockets of improvement that, if nurtured, could eventually transform this team into a force to reckon with again in the shorter formats.
The middle order’s performance has been, to put it politely, underwhelming. The selectors must take stock of whether they’ve hit the right combination or if it’s time to reshuffle the deck. At the moment, Sri Lanka is fielding two seam-bowling all-rounders in Janith Liyanage and Chamindu Wickramasinghe. Unfortunately, the captain seems to trust their bowling about as much as a cat trusts a rocking chair.
With the bat, these players can chip in with 20s and 30s, but modern cricket demands lower middle-order batters capable of smashing run-a-ball half-centuries or better. Instead, in both ODIs, Sri Lanka suffered batting collapses that begged for someone to dig in, weather the storm, and bat out the full 50 overs. Alas, no such hero emerged.
It must be maddening for the selectors. They’ve plucked players who’ve shone in domestic cricket, only to see them fumble on the international stage. It’s a tale as old as time – Sri Lanka’s domestic system is about as good at preparing players for international cricket as a tricycle is for the Tour de France.
This is where ‘A’ team cricket and the Provincial Tournament come in. These formats offer a more competitive environment than the cozy confines of club cricket.
The real question for the selectors is whether to persist with Liyanage and Wickramasinghe or try someone like Milan Ratnayake. Primarily groomed as a Test cricketer, Ratnayake seems to have the tools to succeed in 50-over cricket.
Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Last year was an excellent one for Sri Lanka in ODIs, highlighted by a stunning series win against India. A setback in New Zealand doesn’t make this team a bad one overnight.
For years, Sri Lanka lacked representation in the ICC’s top-ten rankings for batters or bowlers. But thanks to consistent performances by Pathum Nissanka, Maheesh Theekshana, and Wanindu Hasaranga, the team has started filling that void. The bowlers, by and large, have been doing their job, keeping opposition batters in check. It’s the batting that has turned into a house of cards.
Charith Asalanka had a series to forget, his brain fade in Hamilton – taking on a single to mid-off – being the lowlight. But let’s not forget he was Sri Lanka’s standout batter last year. Meanwhile, Kusal Mendis also had a rough series, and the critics wasted no time sinking their teeth into him. Funny how they gloss over the fact that Mendis was the world’s leading ODI run-scorer in 2024.
Had Sri Lanka won the series, they would’ve climbed to fifth place in the ICC rankings—a lofty perch for a team still finding its feet. Instead, they return home with more questions than answers.
One topic sure to spark debate is whether Kusal Janith Perera should have been retained after the T20s. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing—it always knows the winning lottery numbers after the draw.
The fielding, at least, has been top-notch. Two years ago, Sri Lanka’s fielding resembled a circus act without the fun, but now the energy and commitment are palpable. If only they could pair that with a reliable batting lineup, this team might finally roar like the lions on their crest.
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Zimbabwe, Ireland look to enhance their ODI cred as road to 2027 World Cup begins

Zimbabwe and Ireland are set to play three ODIs starting on February 14. The series is not wrapped in a larger context but is working towards the 2027 ODI World Cup – a converging goal for both teams. ESPNcricinfo looks ahead to what the teams can do to align themselves towards their goals in Harare.
Zimbabwe’s summer of 2024-25 is galloping towards its finish, and while they were able to snatch an ODI win each against Afghanistan and Pakistan, they are yet to win a series. In fact, they are yet to win a series across formats. They have three ODIs and three T20Is to change that before heading to England for a Test in three months.
Ireland came out of the cold to seal a hat-trick of Test wins, and they now have the opportunity to whet their appetite in white-ball cricket before their home summer, which also starts in three months.
Both teams did not qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup, so they were not in contention to make the upcoming Champions Trophy. But they do have a carrot to run towards.
Zimbabwe will co-host the 2027 ODI World Cup along with South Africa. Ireland, who were unable to qualify for the last two editions despite ODIs being the format that helped them break into the international stage, have a chance to make a comeback.
On the flipside, the absence of high stakes can free the teams to test out tactics and players if they wish to do so.
The first ever ODI between these two teams, which took place in the 2007 World Cup, ended in a tie, and since then, Ireland have won ten of the 21 ODIs that have been played. The extent of their dominance is magnified in their last ten completed games, out of which they have won eight. They have won five of the 11 games in Harare, but are coming in with a streak of three wins at the venue.
Zimbabwe will be boosted by the return of Craig Ervine, who missed the Test due to a family emergency, and Sikandar Raza, who was with Dubai Capitals – the winners of the third edition of the ILT20. Their top-seven batters, who have averaged 16.69 since the start of 2024, will need to step up for the team to go through an upward trajectory.
In that period, Ireland have played five ODIs, compared to Zimbabwe’s nine. So, time in the middle will be significant in and of itself. They have a settled top-six, with captain Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie at the top, and a seasoned bowling line-up, led by Craig Young and Mark Adair.
Only three ODIs have been played in Harare in the past 12 months. But in the 19 games it has hosted in the last two – including the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in 2023 – the pacers have picked up 144 wickets at an average of 30.38 and economy of 5.37, while the spinners have taken 94 wickets at an average of 36.08 and an economy of 5.10 . However, those numbers could be a result of the fact that all 19 games have been played during the day, where the new ball assisted bowlers in the powerplay before conditions eased out in the middle overs.
So, top-order runs and early wickets in the first innings are likely to carry a premium, as will good defensive spin bowling in the middle overs.
[Cricinfo]
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Vandersay wins ESPNcricinfo 2024 men’s ODI bowling award

Jeffrey Vandersay has won the ESPNcricinfo 2024 men’s bowling award for his feat of 6 for 33 in the second ODI against India in Colombo.
Sri Lanka hadn’t won a bilateral ODI series against India since August 1987. They came into this one having lost each of their last six ODIs against India. They came in on the back of losing two unloseable games in a 3-0 T20I defeat.
This Sri Lanka side had finished ninth out of ten teams at the 2023 World Cup, and had missed out on qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
In the soil of Khettarama, however, lay a possible route to redemption. Spin. The first ODI, a classic that finished in a tie that shouldn’t have been, showed the way.
But Sri Lanka’s chances of bettering that effort in the second ODI took a blow when a hamstring injury ruled out the talismanic Wanindu Hasaranga. In his place came Vandersay, a perennial understudy who had played only 22 of Sri Lanka’s 158 ODIs since his debut in December 2015.
By the time of Vandersay’s introduction with the ball, Sri Lanka were struggling to stay in the game. India, chasing 241, were 80 for no loss in 11 overs. Rohit Sharma was batting on 53 off 34 balls. Sri Lanka had packed five spinners into their attack, but the three who had bowled till then had gone for 57 in seven overs.
Onto this stage strode the unlikeliest of heroes. From his second over to his seventh, Vandersay struck six times as India slumped from 97 for no loss to 147 for 6, scything through a star-studded top order on a pitch that, albeit helpful, wasn’t bringing his spin colleagues any success. Vandersay’s removal from the attack contributed to an India fightback, but he’d done enough damage by then, and Sri Lanka eventually wrapped up a 32-run win. They went on to win the third ODI too, and seal a most unexpected series triumph.
What did Vandersay do differently to Sri Lanka’s other spinners? He came on after the first powerplay, and spread-out fields allowed him to settle into a rhythm. He bowled legspin, and got the wristspinner’s natural bounce to go with generous amounts of turn – this widened the extent of natural variation he was able to extract from the surface. And above all, his line and length heightened the natural variation’s venom; releasing his legbreaks with subtle adjustments of wrist and seam orientation, he got the ball to test both edges of the bat from off roughly the same area of the pitch while relentlessly keeping the stumps in play.
The lbws of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer summed up Vandersay’s menace; both batters stretched out to defend, and both times the ball hurried past the inside edge to strike the front pad, straightening a touch but turning far less than expected.
It wasn’t a classic legspinner’s dismissal, but it sowed the seeds of everything that followed: Rohit caught at backward point for 64 off 44 balls, failing to keep a reverse sweep down. That wicket broke open the floodgates, and the way that ball turned and bounced also contributed to future dismissals, putting the threat of the big legbreak in the batters’ minds and leaving them particularly vulnerable to the skidder.
The ones apart from Vandersay to pick six or more wickets in an ODI against India are Muthiah Muralidaran, Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews and Akila Dananjaya .
[Cricinfo]
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Pakistan vs New Zealand in a title clash and a dress rehearsal

It’s rare for a tournament final to be a dry run, but that’s almost what this Pakistan vs New Zealand game will be. There’s a trophy on the line in Karachi, five days before another Pakistan vs New Zealand game in Karachi – that is the big one, the opening game of the Champions Trophy. In that sense, when this tri-series was planned, this was the final that would have made the most sense, if you’d asked anyone bar, perhaps, South Africa.
New Zealand have comfortably been the team of the tournament so far, but Pakistan arguably come in on a bigger high, riding a wave after coming back from the dead to steal the second place on the table after an epic ODI chase against South Africa. The execution of the win was more satisfying than the fact that it happened. Two men in Pakistan’s middle order stringing together Pakistan’s third-highest ODI partnership – Mohammed Rizwan and Salman Agha put on a whopping 260 for the fourth wicket, masterfully pacing a chase while seemingly not playing a single shot in anger. Most notably, it will allay fears of an over-dependence on Fakhar Zaman up top if the middle order can find a way to stand up for itself more regularly, balancing Pakistan’s batting line-up ahead of the Champions Trophy.
But Pakistan’s death bowling remains a cause for concern. They conceded 98 in the final six overs against New Zealand and 87 in the final seven on Wednesday against South Africa. On both occasions, one man in a purple patch took the attack to them – the fast bowlers in particular. It was Glenn Phillips one day, Heinrich Klaasen the next. It keeps New Zealand in the game till late, knowing they can catch up against a bowling line up that has revealed it it vulnerable.
New Zealand have just about played two perfect games, with control the key feature of their performances. There is a calm this side exudes when it appears a passage of play is going against them. They didn’t panic when they weren’t quite at the run rate they wanted to be against Pakistan until deep in the innings, keeping their ammunition dry until the opportunity to use it presented itself. When Matthew Breetzke took them on at the death, they retained their composure, aware the target was still below par, and then made short work of it with a near faultless chase.
Most notably, New Zealand have shown how to use spin as a leash for the opposition on these surfaces, and possess more experienced, more varied and, frankly, superior slower bowlers. Mitchell Santner has been in the middle of special run the last few months, and stifled Pakistan alongside Michael Bracewell, Phillips and Rachin Ravindra last week. They bowled 26 of the 47.5 overs through that innings, and while Pakistan’s spinners bowled a similar amount, they weren’t nearly as effective.
It is a game with silverware up for grabs, and the group-stage rubber between the two next week inflates its importance rather than diminishing it.
Kane Williamson followed up a half-century against Pakistan with an unbeaten hundred to vanquish South Africa. New Zealand haven’t played too many ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, but he appears to have picked up where he left off, on surfaces that are perfectly suited to his immense ability. He showed in the first game he could grind it out on a “tackier wicket”, as he put it, while picking the pace up on the flatter surface against South Africa. His legendary unflappability has handled far bigger occasions, with his current form not just a warning sign for Pakistan, but every side he comes up against in the next few days.
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