Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Why Sri Lanka ODI Cricket standard has been declining?
17th March 1996 was just another ordinary day for rest of the world. But if you are a Sri Lankan that was the day you will never be going to forget. Sri Lanka , The Pearl of the Indian Ocean, was crowned as the Cricket World Champions, beating more fancied Aussies in the grand final at Lahore,Pakistan. Arjuna Ranathunga known as Captain Cool, led the side admirably and showed the worth of making brave experiments such as opening with dashing left hand-right hand Sanath-Kalu combination.
But what has happened to our ODI cricket recently? Being the proud runner-up in World Cup 2007 held in Caribbean Islands we are yet to win an ODI series from then on, except against cricket minnows Bangladesh where they registered 3-0 clean sweep in front of the home crowd. Defeats in the hands of Englishmen at home and resurrected West Indians in WI are unforgivable. Even worse performances were shown in CB Series held early part of 2008 in Kangaroo soil where they have just been able to win 2 matches out of 8.
Actually lot of SL supporters are disappointed and tend to criticize Mahela Jayawardena's captaincy. Mahela is a very intelligent and aggressive skipper who doesn't afraid to take these blame on him. But my view is Sri Lanka Cricket is lacking assistance of an energetic and influential coach. People like Dav Whatmore, Tom Moody and Bruce Yardley have been very influential for Sri Lanka's success of their respective engagement periods. But a puppet like coach do not have the ability to direct our cricket to right way.
I have observed that Sri lankan team management and captain have really afraid of doing experiments. Have they taken the real use from a vastly talented player like Farvees Mahroof ? Being a genuine all-rounder, Mahroof has gone passed half century mark only twice in 52 outings up to date. His batting average is meager 19.51. Why our team management is afraid to promote Mahroof up in the batting order? I believe he should be promoted as the opener in ODI because he has the ability to hit over the 30 yard circle in first power play overs pretty easily. Some may argue that he doesn't have the right technique to cope with quality opening bowlers. Then how come a batsman like Sanath Jayasuriya opens the batting? Mahroof has his unique technique which can be disastrous at some times but when he gets going it is a pleasure to watch. Except Sanath, Mahroof is the player in the current SL team, who has the ablity to hit sixers at any stage of the match. Look how Indian team management are capitalizing on Irfan Pathan. At times they send him as an opener. In the very next match he has to bat at no.7. or even down the order. Now he is a very fine batsman who can bat at any given batting position without any hesitation other than his special bowling ability.
When it comes to batting order of Sri Lankan team I noticed one thing that their lack of ability to chase a target successfully. In mid nineties, the golden era of Sri Lanka cricket, we are considered as the best run chasers from all cricket playing nations. I remember at the Asia Cup final presentation ceremony in 1997 which was held in Sri Lanka , then Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar told that doesn't matter your team scored 1000 runs, Sri Lankans can chase it with ease. That sums up the situation then. My suggestion to demolish this weakness of run chasing, SL skipper Mahela Jayawardena has to bat down the order at least no.6 position. I found that in the recently concluded CB Series Indians and Kangaroos were felling very comfortable once they got rid of Mahela and Sanga pretty early. Sanga is no 3 batsman and Mahela is no.4 batsman. When you are chasing a target this type of scenario could be happened inside the first 10 or 15 overs. From there onwards opponents know there are no experience batsmen left ,so they keep their morale very high. Therefore rest of the batting order have to be in an immense pressure. If Mahela bats down the order not only does it give hopes to Sri Lanka spectators but also provides opportunity to talented youngster Chamara Kapugedara to bat higher. If this strategy become a success it could be applied when we bat first too.
The other classic reason for our recent failures is the failure of the star duo Sanath and Murali. Notably both their failures have occurred in the same period. That hurt Sri Lanka very badly and ultimately Sanath had to be eliminated from the ODI squad flied to WI in March. There are no doubts that Sanath and Murali are considered as our cricketing legends but one day they too have to get retired from cricket. But do we have players to replace Sanath and Murali? Their replacement should not produce another Sanath and Murali. That is what Mahela Udawatte and Ajantha Mendis showed in their debut series in West Indies. Actully Ajantha was the most impressive finding. He has unbelievable variations in his bowling armory and can bamboozle even great players of spin. But selectors and management should not be hurry to force him to become another Murali. Ajantha is a very unique bowler like Murali. Murali is already a legend in world cricket history .Let Ajantha find his own mark and develop him self as a mystery bowler. The scenario is same for Udawatte. Lot of critics have rated him to be another Sanath Jayasuriya before he plays his debut series. But that has really pressurized the 22 year old guy as we clearly saw he was going to hit every ball out of the park in order to equal Sanath's amazing shot making ability. Udawatte no doubt is having a bright cricketing future . He has the potentialas a big hitter, so let him do his work in his style.
There are number of young cricketers who are willing to represent the national team. Players like Kaushalya Weerarathne, Thilan Thushara, Ranga Dias, Dilhara Lokuhettige,Suresh Perera are capable all-rounders for ODIs. So it is up to team selectors and team management to give them a reasonable run to get use to the international atmosphere. Let us think positively. Short term failures can make a new path open. That will one day guides Sri Lanka to lift the precious World Cup for the second time in 2011.
But what has happened to our ODI cricket recently? Being the proud runner-up in World Cup 2007 held in Caribbean Islands we are yet to win an ODI series from then on, except against cricket minnows Bangladesh where they registered 3-0 clean sweep in front of the home crowd. Defeats in the hands of Englishmen at home and resurrected West Indians in WI are unforgivable. Even worse performances were shown in CB Series held early part of 2008 in Kangaroo soil where they have just been able to win 2 matches out of 8.
Actually lot of SL supporters are disappointed and tend to criticize Mahela Jayawardena's captaincy. Mahela is a very intelligent and aggressive skipper who doesn't afraid to take these blame on him. But my view is Sri Lanka Cricket is lacking assistance of an energetic and influential coach. People like Dav Whatmore, Tom Moody and Bruce Yardley have been very influential for Sri Lanka's success of their respective engagement periods. But a puppet like coach do not have the ability to direct our cricket to right way.
I have observed that Sri lankan team management and captain have really afraid of doing experiments. Have they taken the real use from a vastly talented player like Farvees Mahroof ? Being a genuine all-rounder, Mahroof has gone passed half century mark only twice in 52 outings up to date. His batting average is meager 19.51. Why our team management is afraid to promote Mahroof up in the batting order? I believe he should be promoted as the opener in ODI because he has the ability to hit over the 30 yard circle in first power play overs pretty easily. Some may argue that he doesn't have the right technique to cope with quality opening bowlers. Then how come a batsman like Sanath Jayasuriya opens the batting? Mahroof has his unique technique which can be disastrous at some times but when he gets going it is a pleasure to watch. Except Sanath, Mahroof is the player in the current SL team, who has the ablity to hit sixers at any stage of the match. Look how Indian team management are capitalizing on Irfan Pathan. At times they send him as an opener. In the very next match he has to bat at no.7. or even down the order. Now he is a very fine batsman who can bat at any given batting position without any hesitation other than his special bowling ability.
When it comes to batting order of Sri Lankan team I noticed one thing that their lack of ability to chase a target successfully. In mid nineties, the golden era of Sri Lanka cricket, we are considered as the best run chasers from all cricket playing nations. I remember at the Asia Cup final presentation ceremony in 1997 which was held in Sri Lanka , then Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar told that doesn't matter your team scored 1000 runs, Sri Lankans can chase it with ease. That sums up the situation then. My suggestion to demolish this weakness of run chasing, SL skipper Mahela Jayawardena has to bat down the order at least no.6 position. I found that in the recently concluded CB Series Indians and Kangaroos were felling very comfortable once they got rid of Mahela and Sanga pretty early. Sanga is no 3 batsman and Mahela is no.4 batsman. When you are chasing a target this type of scenario could be happened inside the first 10 or 15 overs. From there onwards opponents know there are no experience batsmen left ,so they keep their morale very high. Therefore rest of the batting order have to be in an immense pressure. If Mahela bats down the order not only does it give hopes to Sri Lanka spectators but also provides opportunity to talented youngster Chamara Kapugedara to bat higher. If this strategy become a success it could be applied when we bat first too.
The other classic reason for our recent failures is the failure of the star duo Sanath and Murali. Notably both their failures have occurred in the same period. That hurt Sri Lanka very badly and ultimately Sanath had to be eliminated from the ODI squad flied to WI in March. There are no doubts that Sanath and Murali are considered as our cricketing legends but one day they too have to get retired from cricket. But do we have players to replace Sanath and Murali? Their replacement should not produce another Sanath and Murali. That is what Mahela Udawatte and Ajantha Mendis showed in their debut series in West Indies. Actully Ajantha was the most impressive finding. He has unbelievable variations in his bowling armory and can bamboozle even great players of spin. But selectors and management should not be hurry to force him to become another Murali. Ajantha is a very unique bowler like Murali. Murali is already a legend in world cricket history .Let Ajantha find his own mark and develop him self as a mystery bowler. The scenario is same for Udawatte. Lot of critics have rated him to be another Sanath Jayasuriya before he plays his debut series. But that has really pressurized the 22 year old guy as we clearly saw he was going to hit every ball out of the park in order to equal Sanath's amazing shot making ability. Udawatte no doubt is having a bright cricketing future . He has the potentialas a big hitter, so let him do his work in his style.
There are number of young cricketers who are willing to represent the national team. Players like Kaushalya Weerarathne, Thilan Thushara, Ranga Dias, Dilhara Lokuhettige,Suresh Perera are capable all-rounders for ODIs. So it is up to team selectors and team management to give them a reasonable run to get use to the international atmosphere. Let us think positively. Short term failures can make a new path open. That will one day guides Sri Lanka to lift the precious World Cup for the second time in 2011.
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