Sports
Awful planning leaves Sri Lanka in mess
By Rex Clementine
President J.R Jayewardene in July 1981 pardoned underworld kingpin Gonawala Sunil, a convicted rapist. Just a reminder that Presidential pardons were nothing new. The government didn’t stop there. Sunil was made a Justice of Peace. Thirty years later, Sri Lanka’s selectors borrowed a leaf out of the ex-President’s book. They appointed Kusal Mendis as the national cricket team’s vice-captain less than a year after he was arrested and released on bail for causing a motor accident in Panadura killing a 64-year-old man.
SLC gave thumbs up while Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa ratified it. Today, all three would not touch Mendis with a barge pole.
Into the bargain, Kusal had lost his place in the side. He was out of form and there were concerns about his off the field demeanour. Still the selectors thought he was the best bet to be groomed as our next leader.
We keep hearing that Kuasl has got talent and all but talent alone will not help you succeed. There are other ingredients like discipline, hard work and commitment.
Both Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella are serial offenders and very little effort was made by powers that be to put the players in their places. Hence, we are faced with today’s shame where Sri Lankan cricket has become the laughing stock in front of the public.
It is earnestly hoped that SLC deals with the trio firmly. Another slap on the wrist due to club or other affiliations is only going to do the game more harm. The signals that you are getting from Maitland Place are mixed. Here’s why?
If you wonder who was the last Sri Lankan player to be sent home from a tour, it was Jeffrey Vandersay. A night out in St. Lucia during Sri Lanka’s tour of West Indies cost him dearly. He has not represented Sri Lanka for two years but suddenly he is back in the reckoning now ahead of the India series as he has entered the Bio Secure bubble. Has he done anything significant to merit selections? That’s not the case. So why all of a sudden go back to someone who has a colourful history when it comes to discipline?
When Sri Lanka left for England, you sensed this was going to be a 6-0 affair. But then, England did not field their best team. There’s no Ben Stokes and Joffra Archer while Jos Buttler and Jason Roy have appeared sparingly.
Even then you would say that England are too strong and you can understand Sri Lanka’s struggle. But surely, we could have done much better. We made some strange decisions on tour and our think tank has been exposed. Both selectors and management have little clue on what has happened in the last two or three years and they have failed to keep pace with the game globally.
Not just Kusal Mendis as vice-captain, even their choice for captain was rather strange. Kusal Janith Perera did not captain Royal. He was vice-captain to Yasitha Abeykoon in 2009, a remarkable year for Royal. After school, KJP joined Colts Cricket Club and has remained there for 12 years now. He succeeded Angelo Mathews as captain but has skippered the club for barely three games or so.
So on what basis you pick him to captain the side? If it is experimental what you do is that you hand him the captaincy in one format. But KJP was given both ODI and T-20 sides’ leadership when there was already Dasun Shanaka who had skippered the side to a series win in Pakistan against world’s number one ranked team. As Kumar Sangakkara once said, like God, selectors move about in mysterious ways.
When Dimuth Karunaratne was appointed captain for the last World Cup, he had not played an ODI for more than four years. But the selectors then had very good reason. Sri Lanka were struggling to bat out the full 50 overs and Dimuth was expected to bat through the innings, a role he did to perfection. But all of a sudden he is sacked as skipper and dropped from the side. Again old problems resurface as Sri Lanka are not able to bat 50 overs in England.
What’s the toughest position to bat in cricket? There will be many opinions but most would agree that it is number three. There’s this promising young cricketer Charith Asalanka who makes his debut in Chester-le-Street and where does he bat? Number three. Who’s batting for England there? One bloke by the name of Joe Root. Who’s batting for India in that position? There’s someone called Virat Kohli? What about Australia? Oh, they have got Steven Smith. And Pakistan? Well, they have world’s number one ranked batsman in Babar Azam. Pramodaya Wickramasinghe gets a debutant to bat at number three! That was one of the most bizarre decisions you have seen in cricket.
You feel for players like Asalanka and Oshada Fernando. The whole world is laughing at them but the problem doesn’t lie with them.
It is earnestly hoped that at least now without wasting further time that authorities invest on the Inter-Provincial competition. Officials in order to show solidarity with clubs avoid the Provincial tournament like the plague and if we continue to do so the world will keep laughing at us.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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