Sports
Tharanga justifies Wellalage selection
by Rex Clementine
Former captain Upul Tharanga was an admirable bloke when he was playing cricket and he is earning bigger accolades as Chairman of Selectors. Since assuming duties early this year, he has held a media briefing before every home series or tour explaining his decisions. Yesterday was no different as he met journalists at SLC headquarters to discuss the squad picked for the T-20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States.
Tharanga shed light into every selection that was made explaining some of the tough calls the selectors had to make. Tharanga’s committee has shown transparency, honesty and accountability. Had it been showcased by his predecessors, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have suffered the humiliation of missing out on a Champions Trophy slot.
The selection of Dunith Wellalage had surprised a few as the all-rounder is yet to make his debut in the shortest format of the game although he had been a regular in the ODI format. Tharanga explained why the 21-year-old was picked.
“When you take the conditions in United States and West Indies, we believe the wickets will be slow there. We played two spinners this year during our bilateral series. We believe that during the World Cup we might need an additional spinner. The left-arm spinner gives you the option of bowling during Power Plays. He also gives you the option of playing a spin bowing all-rounder instead of a seam bowling all-rounder.”
But should Wellalage have been featured in T-20s had he been in the selectors’ plans? “You can’t say that he wasn’t in our plans. But our combination didn’t allow us to play him. Dunith only gets a break when the front-line bowlers aren’t available and he has done justice from the opportunities he has got.”
Sri Lanka also have Dhananjaya de Silva in the 15-member squad and Tharanga said that the squad had enough fire power and the all-round spin bowling option was preferred over the others.
The national cricket team will leave for New York this evening (Tuesday). The team will have a two-week preparation camp in New York. Their campaign gets underway on the 3rd June against South Africa.
Sri Lanka are pooled in Group ‘D’ alongside the Proteas, Nepal, Netherlands and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka will be in US for a month and will play Dallas and Florida as well apart from New York. Their last group game is in St. Lucia in the Caribbean and if they qualify for the second round will move to Antigua.
Mitchell Marsh came back to captain Australia, but called late at the toss in practically a must-win match for them. Dasun Shanaka decided to field, a decision Australia lived to regret against Zimbabwe. However, in a night match, dew must have been on the mind when Sri Lanka made that call.
Australia made three changes in all, but none of them involved Steven Smith. Also out went Matt Renshaw, their highest run-getter in the tournament. Australia also brought in Cooper Connolly and Xavier Bartlett for Matthew Kuhnemann and Ben Dwarshius. The structure of the side, though, remained the same perhaps with Connolly providing more batting as the left-arm spinner.
Sri Lanka’s structure remained the same as well with only one change. Kusal Perera replaced Kamil Mishara at the top of the order.
This was a huge match for Australia after they lost to Zimbabwe in Colombo. Even a win against Sri Lanka was not certain to assure progress into the next round. Their best bet was to win this match and hope for Zimbabwe to lose to Ireland. In case Zimbabwe won against Ireland and lost to Sri Lanka, it would cause a three-way tie. In case of a defeat, they would be left needing defeats for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka and Ireland.
Sri Lanka were better placed, but a defeat could prove catastrophic for them, making their match against Zimbabwe crucial.
Playing XIs
Australia Mitchell Marsh (capt.), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Cooper Connolly, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
Sri Lanka Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka (capt.), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana
[Cricinfo]
At least there is no danger of England peaking too early. This latest nervy win over Associate opposition – punctuated by a heavy defeat to West Indies – ensured their progress from Group C, but Harry Brook’s side will have to play far better than this to stand a chance of becoming the first team to win the men’s T20 World Cup three times.
Italy ran them far too close for comfort at Eden Gardens, eventually bowled out for 178 in pursuit of 203. They were 1 for 2 after Jofra Archer’s first over, but destructive innings from their Australian-born allrounders Ben Manenti and Grant Stewart – who hit 11 sixes between them – made England sweat throughout the second innings.
For the second time in four matches, England were indebted to a fine hand from Will Jacks at No. 7. Against Nepal, Jacks launched 38 not out off 19 balls – including three final-over sixes – in a four-run win; against Italy, he belted the fastest half-century by an England player at a T20 World Cup, an innings that proved vital in another tight defence.
They had stumbled to 105 for 5 when Jacks walked in, England’s top order again misfiring after Brook had won his fourth toss of the tournament and chosen to bat. But thanks to Jacks – and with help from Sam Curran and Jamie Overton – England thrashed 78 runs off the final five overs, leaving Italy with an imposing target to chase.
It looked miles off at 22 for 3, but Manenti and Justin Mosca added 92 for the fourth wicket to keep Italy in the hunt. Both men fell in quick succession during a collapse of 4 for 24 through the middle overs, but Stewart’s late blows – including consecutive sixes during a 21-run Adil Rashid over – took the game deep.
That left Italy needing 30 off the final two overs – an equation that looked possible if Stewart could land a few more blows off their seamers. But he sliced Curran to short third to end the game as a contest, before Overton struck twice in the final over to seal England’s passage to Sri Lanka for the second phase.
Brief scores:
England 202 for 7 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 28, Jacob Bethell 23, Will Jacks 53*, Tom Banton 30, Harry Brook 14, Sam Curran 25, Jamie Overton 15; JJ Smuts 1-24, Ali Hasan 1-37, Grant Stewart 2-51, Crishan Kalugamage 2-41, Ben Manenti 1-37 ) beat Italy 178 in 20 overs (Ben Manenti 60, Grant Stewart 45, Justin Mosca 43, Harry Manenti 12, Jaspreet Singh 12; Jofra Archer 2-35, Jamie Overton 3-18, Will Jacks 1-34, Adil Rashid 1-43, Sam Curran 3-22) by 24 runs
[Cricinfo]
Even as the smog grew thicker in the Delhi afternoon, Azmatullah Omarzai delivered an all-round performance of immense clarity to give Afghanistan their first win of this T20 World Cup. UAE had them on the mat, huffing and puffing, with 52 needed off the last five overs. The required rate, routinely achieved in the age of modern T20s, looked bigger on a pitch that had stayed slow and grippy throughout.
Omarzai eased the nerves of a close contest – Afghanistan had tied three of their previous six T20Is in India, after all – to seal the match with 6, 4, 4 off his final three balls. He finished on a 21-ball 40*, with a strike rate of 190.47 on a day when Darwish Rasooli’s 143 was their next best. Consequently, Afghanistan’s careful approach had dragged them into the final over of their chase. Two balls into it, Omarzai’s four over covers finished it off.
Despite scoring an under-par 160, UAE sensed a close contest brewing when Junaid Siddiaque had Rahmanullah Gurbaz mistiming a lofted drive to backward point on the second ball of the innings. Ibrahim Zadran’s consolidation was back to its best after a quiet start to this World Cup. He brought up a 37-ball fifty to keep them in the contest.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 162 for 5 in 19.5 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 53, Gulbadin Naib 13, Sediqullah Atal 16, Darwish Rasooli 33, Azmatullah Omarzai 40*; Junaid Siddique 2-23, Muhammad Jawadullah 1-39, Muhamad Arfan 2-30) beat UAE 160 for 9 inn20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 10, Sohaib Khan 68, Alishan Sharafu 40, Syed Haider 13, Haider Ali 13; Azmatullah Omarzai 4-15, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-31, Raashid Khan 1-24) by 5 runs
[Cricinfo]
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