Sports
Sri Lanka search for answers as Bangladesh eye clean sweep
Although they are 2-0 up and have sealed the series, Bangladesh will not allow themselves to relax in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Dhaka today. The home team has just got out of a ten-match winless streak and there remain many areas to still get right, with bigger challenges coming up later in the year. The same, if not more, applies for Sri Lanka. It has so far been a tough few days for the visitors who, after enduring a Covid-19 scare, went down in both ODIs quite easily.
Sri Lanka’s biggest headache on this tour has been the lack of runs from their recognised batters. Wanindu Hasaranga is their highest run-getter with 80 runs, including a half-century in the first game. But those runs were made from number eight, with Sri Lanka’s top seven yet to register a half-century across both matches.
But as much as there has been criticism of their selection policy to drop some of their experienced players from the squad, the likes of Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva have been around for long enough to carry a batting line-up. Pathum Nissanka, Ashen Bandara and Dasun Shanaka are relatively new, but they all possess the ability to play spin.
What should have heartened the team must be their bowling and fielding in these two matches. Dushmantha Chameera and Lakshan Sandakan have been among the wickets, while Hasaranga has bowled some accurate leg-spin too. Sri Lanka have had Bangladesh on the ropes a few times, but the home side has fought back from situations like 99 for 4 in the first ODI, and 15 for 2, 74 for 4, and 184 for 7 in the second to eventually post match-winning totals.
This is where the experienced Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah have made the difference between the two teams. Whenever they have faced trouble, one of the three has stood up with the bat. While Rahim has made 209 runs in the two matches, equally important have been his partnerships of 109 and 87 with Mahmudullah from difficult positions.
Bangladesh’s bowling, though, has really come forth in difficult times. Mehidy Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman have been great support acts to Shakib Al Hasan, while youngster Shoriful Islam didn’t look out of place either on his ODI debut in the last game.
Mehidy is now the second-best bowler in the ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings, having picked up seven wickets in the two matches. He has taken control of Sri Lanka’s middle overs while using a fine mix of flight, spin and accurate length.
Dushmantha Chameera bowled a superb first over in the second ODI, removing both Tamim and Shakib in the space of four balls. And though Sri Lanka couldn’t take advantage of it, Chameera has come off as one of the highlights for the visitors on this tour.
Niroshan Dickwella could replace Ashen Bandara to beef up Sri Lanka’s middle order. Although all-rounder Ramesh Mendis and Akila Dananjaya are also in the squad as spin-bowling options, it is the team’s batting that needs more attention.
Shakib needs one wicket to become the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in ODIs. But he needs two more to overtake Mashrafe Mortaza as the one with the most wickets from his country in the format, as Mortaza took 269 for Bangladesh and one for Asia XI against Africa XI in 2007.
Sri Lanka (Probable): Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Perera (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (Wicketkeeper), Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Isuru Udana, Lakshan Sandakan and Dushmantha Chameera.
Bangladesh (Probable): Tamim Iqbal (Captain), Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicketkeeper), Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Mustafizur Rahman.
A Sri Lankan innings that never really got going eventually parked itself at middling total of 219, as they were bowled out in 49.3 overs in the second ODI in Colombo. It’s a total England will fancy themselves to chase down as they look to level this three-match series.
Sri Lanka’s innings was headlined by Charith Asalanka’s 45 off 64 and Dhananjaya de Silva’s 40 off 59, but at strike rates of 67.79 and 70.31 it tells you all you need to know about how well England kept a lid on the innings.
For the visitors the wickets were spread out, with Adil Rashid, Jamie Overton and Joe Root picking up two apiece, the latter with the final two balls of the innings. There were also wickets for Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and the returning Will Jacks.
And much like in the first ODI, England’s varied attack – no less than eight options were used across the innings – sought to give little away. “Keeping the stumps in play,” was Harry Brook’s refrain, speaking after losing the toss, and on an uber-dry surface with boundaries square and behind mostly protected, the onus was on the Lankan batters to use their feet in order to access the boundaries at extra cover and deep midwicket.
That sort of strokeplay however proved detrimental to the Lankan cause with four of their top five falling in their attempts to access the boundaries in front of square. Kamil Mishara sought to bring some impetus to the innings after a miserly early burst from the England seamers, but his attempted lashing cover drive could not clear Ben Duckett in the circle, who held on at the second attempt.
Pathum Nissanka, who had patiently waded through the opening powerplay when the scoring rate sat below four an over, then sought to capitalise on his added time in the middle, but only managed to loft an inside-out drive to long-off.
Later on in the innings Dhananjaya whacked one low to Root at midwicket, before the set Asalanka found deep midwicket with a slog sweep.
And arguably Sri Lanka’s best batter at accessing those regions, Kusal Mendis, ran himself out for a ground-out 26, when he cut one straight to point and absentmindedly set off for the single. The throw from the fit-again Jacks was pinpoint and found Mendis easily short as he sought in vain to fling himself back to safety.
There were promising stands between, notably a 42-run effort between Nissanka and Mendis and 66 between Dhananjaya and Asalanka, but none of the batters involved were able to push on and up the rate of scoring over any concerted period of time.
Pavan Rathnayake’s 29 off 34 had also shown promise, but he fell foul looking to clear the straight boundary as he sliced one to long-off, and in the process silenced an energetic Khettarama crowd.
The frustrating nature of Sri Lanka’s innings was illustrated by the fact that five batters scored at least 25 and faced at least 30 deliveries, but the highest score remained Asalanka’s 45.
England, to their credit, stuck to and executed their plans well. The use of eight bowlers – six of them spinners – meant Sri Lanka’s batters were ever really able to get a measure of any one bowler. And while the lengths were consistent, the pace of the deliveries was varied. It meant that even when a set batter such as Nissanka sought to take on the attack, Rashid was able to successfully deceive him in the flight.
Dunith Wellalage once more looked enterprising during a late cameo, but despite finding two boundaries in his brief stay, his 20 off 19 was far less damaging to England’s cause than had been in the first ODI.
England bowled 40.3 overs of spin across their innings, breaking their previous record of 36. That came in Sharjah in 1984-85, when Norman Gifford captained England at the age of 44, and took four wickets. The team wore black armbands during the first ODI after his death last week.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 219 in 49.3 overs (Charith Asalanka 45, Dhananjaya De Silva 40; Joe Root 2-12, Jamie Overton 2-21, Adil Rashid 2-34) vs England
(Cricinfo)
(Cricbuzz)
Sri Lanka elected to bat first in the second ODI against England at the R Premadasa International Stadium
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, 4Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
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