Sports
What’s England doing right in Sri Lanka
Rex Clementine in Galle Fort
There was a time when England barely lasted three days in Galle. The extreme heat, tracks that turned square and skilful spinners brought misery upon successive England teams. But they have found a way to turn the tide. What is England doing right to succeed in Sri Lankan conditions? In the last ten years, England have visited the island on three occasions and have never lost a series.
The easy answer is to say that the Sri Lankan team has lost some big names and the team is in transition. That’s not the truth. When England squared the two match series in 2012, the big three – Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and T.M. Dilshan – were very much part of the side. So, they must be doing something right to do well here.
To start with England and Wales Cricket Board initiated a programme whereby their young First Class players performed in our domestic cricket. Some of the names that come to mind are Ben Foakes (Colts CC) and Moeen Ali (Badureliya CC). There were many others. The experience these players gain by playing on our surfaces against some good spinners is invaluable.
Foakes for example made his Test debut in the last series in Sri Lanka and he looked pretty comfortable. He went onto top batting charts scoring 277 runs. His wicket keeping was flawless too and he was named Player of the Series.
How many of our players have gone onto represent county cricket in the last ten years?
The other important thing is that England’s development squads are constantly touring sub-continent. This prepares them well when they engage in Test match cricket. Sri Lanka rarely sends their ‘A’ team on overseas assignments these days. We had a former board president who went on record saying that ‘A’ team cricket was a futile exercise as they didn’t bring any money!
The other thing that England have done well is to plan properly. Last year when they were here, they spent more than two weeks before the first Test match and they were involved in two warm-up games. The tour was aborted after the outbreak of the pandemic. This time too, they spent nearly two weeks in Sri Lanka before the opening Test match although they didn’t have the luxury of warm-up games against local sides due to health restrictions.
Sri Lanka’s planning has been extremely poor. The gap between the LPL final and the first Test in South Africa was ten days. That sums up the story. In both Tests against South Africa and the first game against England, our batsmen have been in T-20 mode and we have had little momentum. When will we learn?
The Track and Field season commenced with some of the best athletes in the senior and Under 20 age categories producing notable performances during the two-day Junior and Senior Selection Trial concluded at Diyagama on Tuesday. Here are some action pictures from the day two of the event.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
by Reemus Fernando
Sprinter Aruna Dharshana gave athletics fans both joy and heartache on an otherwise remarkable day as the Junior and Senior Track and Field trials concluded with a number of athletes achieving their personal bests at Diyagama yesterday.
Athletics analysts were waiting for Dharshana to reach his personal best in the men’s 400 metres final after the Army athlete produced the best performance in the heats where as many as five athletes clocked sub 47 seconds. When Dharshana followed up his 200 metres winning time of 21.12 seconds with a feat of 46.43 seconds in the 400 metres many expected him to produce a sub 46 seconds performance in the final.
But the shocking foul start meant that he will have to wait for more than a month to test his true potential. Incidentally, Kalinga Kumarage, who was off-colour in the heats (47.51 secs – second in heat 3) won the final with a feat of 46.27 seconds. However, 100 metres sprinter Medhani Jayamanne who was disqualified for a foul start in the women’s 100 metres heats was not so unlucky, as athletics officials gave her an opportunity to compete in the women’s 100 metres final, though her place was (2nd) not recognised. She clocked 12.16 seconds in the final.
Chamod Yodasinghe reached his personal best to win the men’s 100 metres.
In Dharshana’s absence four others, namely, Kumarage, R.N. Rajakaruna, Dinuka Deshan and Pabasara Niku clocked sub 47 seconds.
In the corresponding women’s 400 metres, schoolgirl Tharushi Karunaratne continued to shock her senior counterparts. Having won the women’s 800 metres on day one, the Ratnayake Central prodigy also bagged the 400 metres victory as she clocked 53.41 seconds to beat Asian Championship participant Nadeesha Ramanayake.
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- Aruna Dharshana, who produced the fastest time in the heats was disqualified in the final for a foul start. Dharshana is disappointed after official Rohan Stanley showed him the red card. (Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
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- Rumeshika Ratnayake won the women’s 100 metres.
In the men’s 100 metres Chamod Yodasinghe reached his personal best as he clocked 10.37 seconds to win the final.
In the women’s 100 metres final, Rumeshika Ratnayake clocked 12.01 seconds to win running against the wind (-2.9). In the heats, she clocked sub 12 seconds.
In the morning, Gayanthika Abeyratne finished the women’s 1500 metres just three seconds shy of her national record mark as she clocked 4:12.53 seconds to win closely followed by steeplechase national record holder Nilani Ratnayake. Abeyratne’s national record established last year stands at 4:09.12 seconds.
In the Under 20 age category events Malith Yasiru produced the second-best performance of the Asian region in the Under 20 boys’ triple jump this year when he cleared a distance of 15.43 metres to win the event.
The Sri Lankan national team of two sailors and one windsurfer, with the Navy team of a sailor and a windsurfer, were invited to participate at the first Chief of Navy Staff International Sailing Regatta 2023 held from March 14 to 20 in Karachi, Pakistan. Twelve countries including Australia, Bahrain, Croatia, Egypt, China, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, Thailand and Turkey had sent their teams to Karachi. The Sri Lankan national team consisted of Laser Standard sailor (ILCA 7) NGMU Ghanawardene, Sri Lanka Navy, Priyantha Gunawardene, Sri Lanka Navy participating in the Windsurfing RSX Class and Laser 4.7 (ILCA 4) sailor Tharen Nanayakkara. The Navy team consisted of Laser Standard sailor (ILCA 7) JMPL Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka Navy and WAS Weeratunge, Sri Lanka Navy participating in the Windsurfing RSX Class.
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