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Mahela on Sri Lanka’s long road to greatness again  

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Rex Clementine
in Sydney

After a painful rebuilding process that dragged on for years, the Sri Lankan cricket team is showing signs of turning things around. Their brilliant show in the Asia Cup in UAE was proof that the team has turned things around. The World Cup should have been the next big step forward but injuries to six players has made Sri Lanka less effective. Former captain Mahela Jayawardene is with the team as Consultant Coach and he is confident that the process that’s in place will bring the team the desired results.

“We have tried to address a few issues like fitness and fielding. You saw in Asia Cup how well we fielded. We have to maintain that. It was a program that we started and we need to persevere with that. We have some good talents and we need to make this side competitive again. Within one year, this team has improved in quality and competitiveness. The way they think about the game has changed. They have taken smart decisions.  That’s what we need to keep working on,” Jayawardene told Sunday Island in an interview.

Sri Lanka were beaten by Australia earlier this week. But it was a close game than what Marcus Stoinis eventually made it to look having smashed a 15 ball half-century. “If you take the Aussie game, it was a different pitch. It was a new stadium. We had plans accordingly. Batters did a decent job but the middle order didn’t get us enough runs. Probably we were 15 or 20 runs short. A couple of mistakes on our part. Then losing Binura in the first over was massive. On that wicket not having your fast bowler was a huge blow. Australia knew that the wicket was not offering much help for our spinners and they went after them,” he explained.

“We did a few good things in that game but more importantly, we have to rectify those mistakes and move forward. You have to face games like that in a World Cup. This Sydney wicket is totally different from what we got in Perth. So we need to plan accordingly and if we do things right, we can make it to the semis.”

Lahiru Kumara was the cynosure of all eyes in Perth having bowled a hostile spell. Mahela was impressed that coming back from injury, Kumara didn’t take much time to make his presence felt. “Lahiru has done that before. He was injured and he was almost out for nine months. He has not had match experience, but since the first game in this campaign he has been on the money. He has pace and he has control. That’s important. He troubled quite a few Aussies not just Maxi.”

After the Perth games Sri Lanka were ruing injuries to Dushmantha Chameera and Dilshan Madushanka.  With those two guys in, a total of 157 could have been defended. “More than Dilshan not having Chameera was a blow.  Playing in Australia if we had someone like him that would have been superb. Very unfortunate. But we have players who have a lot of skill over here. They may lack experience but they can improve and could become an asset.”

But what’s been the reason for so many injuries. “We can’t point out one reason. Geelong was the venue we played, so that could have been one reason as it is a football ground and there was a lot of rain and the surface had become soft. We had played quite a few games at a stretch and that could be another reason. No point of chatting about it now but once we go back home, we need to get down as a group and discuss how we can avoid such situations in the future. We had a few chats. But we need to go back home and address these issues scientifically.”

Sri Lanka play two games in Sydney and Mahela felt that the spinners need to get their plans right with one boundary being short. “The wicket is good in Sydney. If we can adjust quickly that will be an important thing, both batters and bowlers. The bowlers in particular because one side of the boundary is short and we need to get our plans right. We have a chance. The path for our World Cup semi-final dreams are still in our hands. “

“We saw the past games in Sydney and analyzed how teams bowled and all that. We need to think out of the box. Our bowlers are different to theirs. Every game is important and we have some pressure and we need to control that pressure.”

While the top order has done their job, leading into Saturday’s game against New Zealand, the middle order is yet to fire and Mahela hoped that they come into the party soon. “It’s important that our middle order batters get runs. These things happen in a World Cup. Not all our batters could be not amongst runs. When you are at the business end of a World Cup only you need to raise your performances. Players like Dasun and Bhanuka are very important for the side. They were amongst runs in the warm-up games. We haven’t got big contributions from them yes but I am sure at crunch games they will deliver.



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Asalanka’s ton and Theekshana’s four, down Australia

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Charith Asalanka scored 127 out of Sri Lanka's 214 [Cricinfo]

A captain’s innings of 127 off 126 balls by Charith Aslanka and a four wicket haul by Maheesh Theekshana helped Sri Lanka to defeat Australia in the first ODI played at the Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 214 in 46 overs [Charith Aslanka 127, Dunith Wellalage 30, Kusal Mendis 19; Spencer Johnson 2-44, Aaron Hardie 2-13, Sean Abott 3-61, Nathan Ellis 2-23] beat Australia 165 in 33.5 overs [Alex Careyb 41, Aaron Hardie 32, Sean Abott 20; Asitha Fernando 2-23, Maheesh Theekshana 4-40, Dunith Wellalage 2-33] by 49 runs

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Sri Lanka elect to bat in first ODI

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Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in the first ODI against Australia

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (c), Janith Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando

Australia: Matt Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cooper Connolly, Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

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Shanaka in trouble with SLC after two matches in two countries in one day

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The board's chargesheet to Shanaka includes the allegation that first-class match referee Wendell Labrooy had been led to believe Shanaka had a concussion, in order to approve a substitute [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka Cricket will conduct an inquiry over allegations that Dasun Shanaka left a first-class match in Colombo hours early, in order to play for the Dubai Capitals in the UAE that same evening  on February 2.

The board’s chargesheet to Shanaka includes the allegation that first-class match referee Wendell Labrooy had been led to believe Shanaka had a concussion, in order to approve a substitute. This is according to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, who told ESPNcricinfo “SSC [Shanaka’s first-class club] would probably be conducting their own inquiry as well”.

Shanaka, however, told ESPNcricinfo that de Silva and others had been aware that he would have to leave the first-class match early. According to Shanaka, he had left the ground soon after being dismissed on the third morning of the the three-day match. He said he visited a doctor at a nearby hospital first, to inspect a blow to the neck he had sustained while playing a sweep shot that morning, and then headed off to Dubai to play that evening’s T20, after a separate physiotherapist had cleared him to play.

“SLC and the club knew I had to leave,” Shanaka said. “I only came back because there was a request from the SSC to play this first-class match. But my other team wanted me back, as I’d helped win two games for them earlier in the tournament.”

For SLC, however, exiting a league game early, particularly with suspect reasons, is problematic, not that it has yet been established if there actually was any pretense involved. The board CEO de Silva explained that while Lasith Malinga had also famously played a Mumbai Indians match and then broken records in a domestic match in a match at Pallekele the next day, Malinga had played until both those matches reached their conclusion.

On the surface, though, Shanaka’s looks like a spectacular cricketing feat. He had been among the three players called back from the ILT20 by the SSC for their fixture against Moors Sports Club in the Major League Tournament, as SSC strove to avoid relegation. Shanaka had played the first two days of this three-dayer, bowling 21 overs and taking a wicket in Moors’ innings, before finishing on 39 not out at the end of day two.

Day three is when the absconding is alleged to have occurred, but before he left, Shanaka crashed a further 84, hitting 123 off 87 balls in total, 88 of those runs coming in boundaries. Though SSC’s innings ended not long after he got out, Shanaka did not bowl an over in the next Moors innings (the third of the match), and played no further part in the game.

What is clear is that several hours later, he appeared for the Capitals in Dubai, and struck 34 off 12 at No. 5, helping his team to 217 against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. He didn’t bowl in the Knight Riders’ innings either, however.

Capitals would go on to win the ILT20,  Shanaka playing three further games for them. He has not appeared for SSC since February 2.

[Cricinfo]

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